Oh What a Life by the Gibson Brothers

Now I would’ve been about 13 when this was out… 13 and going on camping holidays around Wales with just mates. Ahh yes I forgot, one of them was 15 so he was classed as the adult and in charge of us. Walking around Wales with absolutely no clue which direction we were going in and no mobile phones; bate, eck, nezzy, paul and dave (nearly everyone had nicknames then).
This song always reminds me of a campsite, can’t remember the name of it because I can’t remember were we where, but there was a disco and this was ‘THE’ song of the day. But what it reminds me of most is paying about 2 pound a night to stay in a farmers field in the middle of nowhere, this is prior to the campsites we have nowadays with toilets, showers, bars, entertainment etc.
We had a stream… that’s it just a stream and a field. The stream was the toilet and the shower, the entertainment was ourselves and there were no bars… just bottles of milk and cans of lemonade. I remember waking up one morning, poking my head out of the tent and there’s dave cleaning his teeth in the stream, scooping up the water and rinsing his mouth out and there’s nezzy about six foot away, up stream on the other side of the tree, having a pee!! Ahhh, they were the days.
We’d been there about 3 days and were packing our stuff away, when a caravan turned up on the field. A caravan so posh they had an awning attached to it, so they could eat under cover (luxury). We couldn’t believe our luck because this caravan not only had and eating area, but also had a real toilet.
The new arrivals asked how far the village was and set out for a gentle walk. So, we grasped the opportunity laid before us and took turns in filling their outside chemical toilet before we disappeared to the next village. what joy!!
This is were we came to the end of our adventure and made a telephone phone call, (you know the red one’s you put 10p in), to our dad’s to come and evacuate us …
Well this is the song that reminds me of a time that most 13 year olds may never experience… and some might say they never want to. lol Ohhh!! What a life!!