Growing up in the Seventies, we were on the brink of the modern age. But despite a brave new world of Casio hand-held calculators and digital watches, one thing remained the same: the family holiday. For the Seventies child, summer holidays didn't mean the joy of CentreParcs or the sophistication of a Tuscan villa. They meant being crammed into a car with Grandma and heading to the coast. With just a tent for a home and a bucket for the necessities, we would set off on new adventures each year stoically resolving to enjoy ourselves.For Emma Kennedy, and her mum and dad, disaster always came along for the ride no matter where they went. Whether it was swept away by a force ten gale on the Welsh coast or suffering copious amounts of food poisoning on a brave trip to the south of France, family holidays always left them battered and bruised. But they never gave up. Emma's memoir, "The Tent, the Bucket and Me", is a painfully funny reminder of just what it was like to spend your summer holidays cold, damp but with sand between your toes.
Never, ever go on holiday with the author, especially a camping holiday.
I am not a big reader but this book had me hooked right from the start.
It tells the stories of the Kennedy family's summer holidays through the 70's. To say they had some bad luck would be an understatement, they were battered by gales, tortured by strange noises and attacked by wildlfie. Not to mention their terrible experiences concerning all aspects of the digestive process. The retelling of each years disasterous holiday is extemely funny and sometimes so detailed that you can smell the stench. So be warned you'll need a strong stomach at times.
If you grew up in the '70s and still have the mental scars this book will evoke lots of memories of a simpler times. When cars were rubbish, technology was that gear shifter on a Raleigh Chopper and the height of luxury was a curly wurly.
If you camped as a child it will remind you af your own disasterous episodes. I remebered fondly the night we had a river appear under our tent and the other time we all slept in the car. They seemed like minor annoyances by comparison.
A very funny and well written book, perfect reading matter for when you're in a tent :-)