The Art of the Deal – Kath’s way.

“Oh botheration!” said Kath ( or words to that effect).  En route to Cropredy, we had detoured into Bicester to get some Cobblestone fuel bricks for our Cobb barbecue thingy.  They sell them at Lakeland, at least they are supposed to, but when we got there they had none and wouldn’t be getting any more until spring.  Feeling disgruntled, we were walking back towards the car when we passed an outdoor/camping shop with a sale on.  We didn’t need anything but we wandered in to mooch about.( It’s for reasons like that that we have at least six tents at home.)

In a corner we spotted a nice little picnic table.  I prodded it.  “Looks odd,  very sturdy, I wonder how it folds.” We squatted down to investigate.

The eagle eyed shop assistant smelled a sale and was upon us in a flash.  “Nice little job that.  Very clever.” 

He did a little demo of how the table folded up, and we were impressed.  It’d take up no space on the boat.

“It’s in the sale.” said the man.

We looked at the sale ticket. £77 reduced from £110.  "

“Blimey that’s a lot for a little table.  Too much for us anyway.” We turned to walk away.

“Aah, hang on,” the shop man said, sure he was about to play his ace card,”today were taking an extra 15% off, so that’s, um, er, just a minute.” Maths was obviously not his speciality.  He walked over to the till and pressed some buttons. “That’s £65 today, You won’t beat a price like that anywhere.”

We were tempted because it was such a good table.  I knew what would happen next, and stood back while Kath demonstrated the Art of the Deal (Trump, eat your heart out).  “No it’s lovely but that’s more than we can afford.  How about £55?”

The shop manager had by now wandered over to supervise the negotiation. Sensing the steely glint in Kath’s eye and seeing that it was her final offer he sighed.  “Oh go on then, £55”

Well it still ain’t cheap for a camping table but we’re really pleased with it.  Here’s why.  Here it is in it’s bag, about the size of  a youth’s cricket bat

Open the bag.

Pull it out and unfold the hinges

Erect the legs and fold across the braces

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It all feels very rigid.

Here is the finished article

The legs are adjustable to three different heights and the feet screw up and down to cope with uneven ground.  It sits very steady and the top is much flatter than the side light makes it look in the photo.  The wood is bamboo, so very hard and sustainable too. The metal is all aluminium and the hinges and whatnot are all really firm and strong.  In short we think it’s a damn good table. We used it during our September cruise and it was perfect.  Quick to put up and down, and easy to adjust so it stands level on uneven ground.

If you can get one at what we paid, go for it.  Sadly they seem to be going for around £90 on line. It’s an Outwell Cody M.