One of the many joys of camping is to be immersed in natural sounds -- bird song, from dawn chorus to evening roosting; frogs croaking (they really do go "ribbick, ribbick" here), the rustle of leaves, the chimes of a stream, the triumphant roar of surf. Another joy is natural silence — the still air of the forest, the calm of a deep well of vegetation.

So why on earth do people bring huge ghetto-blasters with them, to camp sites and proceed not only to deafen themselves but also disentertain all around them? And why do they always choose the whine of Country and Western music or the visceral, mindless thump of electronic dance? Why are they always so insulted when we ask them to turn it down, as if they've never before met people who might have differing tastes or who might enjoy silence?

Occasionally I am tempted to blast them with my choice of music, be it the Pogues at full pelt or Mahler fortissimo or Beethoven at his angriest. But I've never had the courage, and I certainly wouldn't wish to create any more of a disturbance.

I awoke at 7.00am this morning to hear our camp-site neighbours complaining that their radio batteries had run down. "Hoo-bloody-ray!" I muttered into my sleeping bag

This makes me so mad I could turn up the stereo to full blast and scream!!