It wasn't that I doubted if dad and granddad would be able to throw together a camping trailer; it was that I didn't think they understood the existential aesthetics of a Masonite teardrop camper. Some would have doubted their carpentry skills. Granddad was a tinsmith by trade, but he had a collection of woodworking tools in his backyard shed, and dad was a smooth-talking suave salesman who was everybody's best friend and would give anything a try. They built the camper on a small trailer dad bought. I think they made the design up as they went, and it ended up as a small camper with a tiny door able to accommodate two people in sleeping bags. And so our camping holidays became camping and caravanning escapades and kindled my need to discover the inspiration and idealism of the Masonite teardrop camper that I sometimes slept in on family holidays towed by a FB Holden station wagon.

This episode is also available as a blog at drinkingwithflies.wordpress.com