Critical Reading For Exams / Short Reading Comprehension 2

It seemed to me, as I kept remembering all this, that those times and those summers had been infinitely precious  and worth saving. There had been jollity and peace and goodness. The arriving (at the beginning of August) had  been so big a business in itself; at the railway station the farm wagon drawn up, the first smell of the pine-laden air,  the first glimpse of the smiling farmer, and the great importance of the trunks and your father’s enormous authority  in such matters, and the feel of the wagon under you for the long ten-mile haul, and at the top of the last long hill  catching the first view of the lake after eleven months of not seeing this cherished body of water. The shouts and  cries of the other campers when they saw you, and the trunks to be unpacked, to give up their rich burden. (Arriving  was less exciting nowadays, when you sneaked up in your car and parked it under a tree near the damp and took out  the bags and in five minutes it was all over, no fuss, no loud wonderful fuss about trunks.)