Last year
I had promised my 8yr old son we would do some camping. That kinda fell through, so i opted to at least camp in the back garden of my mums house.

We put the tent up, filled it with an inflatable matress, two sleeping bags, some sweets and comics.. (for him)

we watch a film and at about 9am retire with a torch and a set of backdoor Keys in my pocket.

I downloaded a few ghost stories on my phone to read to him, but as he is rather smart, and can smell bullSh!t we giggled, rather than got scared.

About 30 mins after i told him to go to sleep, I notice the inflatable matress is no longer very inflatable, and can start to feel the hard ground beneath my back, all the while, my son to the right of me sleeps soundly sitting on the side thats still inflated.

an hour later Im still not asleep. Ive realised my long legs dont fit in the sleeping bag, and my legs are bowed like a frog. I had never noticed my mums garden was so noisy, Ill have to take care of that wobbly piece of fence thats clanging about, i think to my self, as it bellows backwards and forwards in the wind... and WIND chimes, fncking wind chimes, why did my mum get them? they arent relaxing in the slitest, theyre now clanging about in a very unmelodic way.

about an hour later, im still awake... then i notice the distinct sound of rain, quiet at first, the spitting gets louder, until we are in a full on downpour...ok i thought - maybe this white noise might send me off to sleep...I pull everything away from the edge of the tent to stay dry, i close my eyes. the rain dies down...

Flash

did I just see a flash? was this my eyes playing tricks on me? I wait a few seconds, and close my eyes again.

Boom

it was like a shotgun over the top of us. another flash, another flash, BOOM BOOM!!!

Torrential rain back - harder than before, FLASH FLASH

I sat there knowing the next day would be a write off. I wasnt going to get any sleep. It was 2am when i last looked at my watch... god knows what my son was going through, I couldnt hear him now - the rain was so loud.

then it was daylight again. I reckon i had slept about 3 hrs. I rolled over to my son who was still asleep. he woke up shortly after with no memory of any storm. unbelieveable.
(Dan dan dan They tik urh jerbs!!!, Wed 4 Apr 2012, 10:59, Reply)