W: My brother Mike has just done a course at the Green Park Camping School.
M: Really! What made him decide to do that?
W: Well, for one thing, some boys in his class decided to do it and they dared him to go with them!
M: You mean he didn't really want to go?
W: I think he wanted to go, but I think he was also a little frightened.
Of course, now that he's done it, he's very pleased with himself and he's always talking about it.
M: So he enjoyed it, didn't he?
W: Not exactly. I think he's enjoying the feeling of having done it more than he enjoyed actually doing it!
M: What sort of things did he do?
W: Oh, all sorts of open-air activities: hiking, camping, canoeing. One thing he had to do was to capsize a canoe and then right it again without getting out.
He said the water was very cold, but he hardly noticed it at the time.
M: Why not?
W: He was too busy righting the canoe!
M: That doesn't sound very comfortable at this time of the year.
W: That's what I said when he told me. On another occasion he had to spend a day and a night by himself in the open country.
M: Was he frightened?
W: He was at first, apparently, but then he got used to it.
M: It seems to me that the course did him a lot of good. I expect it's made him more self-reliant.