If I had an inkling of how difficult it would have been to set up our awning I might not have bothered. My only criticism of the company we bought them from, who were efficient and helpful throughout, were the useless instructions that came with the poles. We stood and pondered for ages, my Dad and I couldn't stop laughing which is typical for us in these sort of situations while poor Tom struggled holding up poles. In the end I resorted to a YouTube video on my phone which gave us one very useful bit of advice. Lie the poles flat on the ground when you assemble them. We had spent an hour trying to do it upright! When they were all assembled and lying on the ground. I went round with six different colours of electrical tape and put corresponding colours on the ends of the assembled poles so we would know how they went for next time. Hopefully we won't look like total idiots when we arrive at the caravan site now. It was so much easier folding up the awning on my Dad's large back lawn and Tom and I got it nice and neatly into the canvas bag. We had only just finished, after two and a half hours, and everything put back in the car, when the heavens opened and there was a heavy hailstorm so someone had been on our side to let us get it all finished! I can start on the curtains now. I didn't want to waste my time if we couldn't manage to get the awning sorted in time for going away. I've been really looking forward to starting them, so that is definitely a job for later on today. I have been looking through the old online brochures from the awning company Isabella and have found this photo of an awning very similar to ours. That will be Tom and I in a couple of months, except maybe without the camel!
