So here we are second week of September, not shaking
down the moho, but having random sleepovers on peoples drives in the meantime.
I don’t really care, I’m past caring, I’ve accepted the fact that the best laid
plans of mice and men sometimes diverge from their true course, and that we are
fannying around doing bits that we couldn’t do until we had the moho back, cash
in the bank and skilled tradesmen to do works.
We are both dead on our feet, but we have several days
of tomfoolery to go, before we can launch.
We’ve been on other peoples timescales for several
days, if not a fortnight. We’re still waiting for paperwork from the DVLA: Log
Book, and licenses with a permanent address change (and in the case of the
Logbook, are we to be inspected or accepted based on the evidence provided).
Towbar man can’t fit us in until next Wednesday, Stereo man can’t see us until
next Tuesday, and behind the drivers seat bespoke cargo safety net man won’t
dispatch our super new elasticated floor to ceiling net until next Tuesday at
the earliest, along nets shapped to be fitted to the back of the passenger
seats for books and bits.
Today Thursday 13th September its drizzle
and mist so I’m stuffed for doing external work for Sunday installation of the
`spare wheel mount’, I can however fit a hanging rails under sink and outside
the shower room, and we have some tut to take to the dump, and we can probably
get at least one run to the lockup sorted out.
It’s not that we aren’t making progress, it’s just that
progress is slow. We spent three hours the other day being ruthless in the
lockup ... some of that stuff has already been in storage for a year, forgotten
and unused ... you have to ask: Do you need it now, or at any point in the
future. We made space and prepared the way for the final big items and our
remaining clothes.
We’ve spent a shed load of money on bits large and
small. Satnav, new stereo, and a towbar (as above), Aires Guides, assorted screws,
webbing, wastewater tank, nets, bags, tupper wares, specialist adhesives, an
airer, a throw, cotton sheets to make big sleeping bag liners, yaddah yaddah
yaddah. I have to keep referring to the budget sheet, to see if things were in
the original plan and that we aren’t carving chunks out of our travel pot.
Selling the car made a big difference, as much of what the car sale money had
been earmarked for got bought during the previous year, so when the car money
came along it ended up, being hived off as my personal buffer, both in saving
and current account, to feed my one remaining direct debit ... the ubiquitous
mobile phone.
We have also done a bit of pragmatic robbing Peter to
pay Paul, or just binning wafty ideas, that cost with very little practical
advantage (alloy wheels being the biggy). I think we’ve surprised ourselves
with how much stuff we’ve had frm the previous weekender bus, and stuff just re-purposed,
or adapted from the manufacturers original design or designation to our future
needs. A simple example being Skubb fold up nylon drawer boxes from Ikea, they
weigh nothing, are square sided so wasted space is minimal, and come in a wide
variety of shapes and sizes, they are also made of thick nylon, so are quite
tough; perfect for dividing and retaining in lockers (Skubb Ikea http://tinyurl.com/ouks3mp.
A Halfords boot tidy likewise, and a fantastic rigid sided fishing bag covered
inside and out with net pockets.
This is the thing I think we’ve found in the last
couple of weeks ... almost all the non-kitchen items that make life easy, and aren’t
clothes are fiddly odd shaped and small. And each of these compartmentalizing
things then spans a set of activities, domestic routines, indoor leisure, outdoor
leisure, emergencies, cooking, drying, driving, maintenance. It may seem a
little anal, but I see campers in cars, and in other campervans, shopping bags
and bin liners as luggage ... admittedly lovely and light, but never neat and
secure, and an absolute bastard if you have to pack up in the rain.
There isn’t much else to say today. Amanda is packing
some bits for a trip to the lockup this afternoon, I’m a having a scribble, and
in half an hour or so we’ll be on the move,
Lockup, B&Q, today’s shopping, motorhome tweaks and an early night.
Until next time, ttfn.
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