Friday 3rd September - Ive Caught Up With Myself!

Its Friday, its almost 5.30pm so its Crackerjack time! Sorry showing my age!

Finally caught up with myself, its been a bit of a blur this week, what with everything going on, next week is looking hectic, we move down to Harmans Cross - Swanage for the Steam Show on Thursday for the weekend so got to get the awning down the in early part of the week, will be watching for some dry weather.

Below is a picture of our stationary engine its a Wolsely WD2 approx age 1945 with a Lister water pump, not a very good picture but the others are on the other PC (still not connected up)!

Taken at Portland steam show July 18th 2010 - The views were amazing, all though a little windy!

Our Wolseley WD2 (not a brilliant pic)

Looking out of our caravan towards Portland Bill!

This weekend will be spent, sanding down four farmhouse chairs which will then be painted with farrow and ball paint and put onto ebay, offers invited!?

So as its that time of the day, Im off home to the caravan, will have to shorten caravan to something else, van doesnt sound right so we will have to name the caravan - or is that being soft?!

Anyway off now - its cider o'clock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Till later.......

Thurs 2nd Sept! Time Is Flying!

Well, Thats a week in the caravan! Im not too sure where the week has gone - its flown by.

We still have grins on our faces, every time I drive upto the van, I say to myself, is that really ours?

We seem to be going to bed earlier and earlier! Its got to be the fresh air, talking of fresh air they have just moved cows into the field behind us and they have a bit of an odour about them. Not that Im a towny, I grew up in the little village of Childe Okeford in Dorset, near to a farm, but these certainly had a good whiff about them! I can just imagine some out of towner complaining about the smell.

Recently down this way in a nearby village, there were complaints from the weekend city folk about the sound of cockerells and chickens. Must say if you want to live in the country then thats what its all about, of course if your happy with polution, lorries, and general grime then fill your boots and bugger off back to the smoke! But leave us country folk alone!

Another half day at the antique dealers today, then back to the lockup - more books to be listed!

All is well with the van, still on the hunt for an aqua roll, its not untill you have to shift every litre you use that you suddenly realise how much water you actually use! No wonder there are water shortages, if everyone had to fill up an aqua roll for their house, there would be surplus of water, and Norfolk would be a lake!

Ordered "M"s birthday present today, lets hope it gets here in time! Ebay is just so good for us blokes, we dont even need to leave our chairs to go shopping! I cant stand shopping, I dont mind food shopping, thats not a problem at all, but shopping for presents/clothes etc, well, Id rather be put in the stocks for the day!

Till later......

Caravan For Sale!

Our beloved old caravan will be for sale on ebay! Its done us proud over the last 18 months but its now time to say goodbye, its been no trouble and a delight to own! Sad to see it go!

ebay.co.uk Item number 400150686899

If any one is interested please get back to me on here and Im sure a deal can be done!

The link may not work yet as its scheduled to start this Saturday at 1400 hrs and its on for 10 days, starting price of a very reasonable £99.00 - Bargain!

What a smart little van!

Till Later.....

Weds 1st Sept 2010 Cornetto's All Round!

Tested the freezer compartment out, my cornettos are in tip top condition! Its a good size compartment, excellent for rapid cooling of cans of blackthorn as well!

"M" went off to the laundrette, £7.00 for two loads, hung up to dry outside on some airers, will be bringing them inside later to turn the awning into a Chinese laundry!

Talking of Chinese....

Spent the day ebay listing at an antiques dealer, back there again tomorrow, allways an interesting day, as I learn something each time I go in there - Did you know that the word/term clobbered comes from the art of over painting a plate! In years gone by when blue and white plates were imported from China, in our wisdom and taste we decided that they needed a splash of colour, so off they went to factories where they were overpainted, re-fired and then put out to the market, the technical term for this process is called clobbered!

So there you go, more useless information next time!

Nearly caught up with myself on this blog now, just a day or so to go!

Till later......

Tues 31st August - Back To Work!

Back to work today, I could of easily lazed around the van all day or got lost in the awning! But needs must, so "M" is in Ringwood and Im in Shaston.

Got here and suddenly realised I didnt have my keys to the lockup! So called "M" at work, she had forgotten her mobile, and agreed to drive upto Shaston to let me in, as I had a customer turning up to collect some things she had bought from me off of good ole ebay!

5 mins later I found my keys, quick call to the office but "M" had all ready left - whoops!

Expecting the worse I looked for a pair of ear defenders but its a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack at the moment!

As it was, she wasnt too bothered, a cup of coffee sorted her out!

The office is fully functional now, and Ive more or less come across everything I need to function. I managed to get the Dongle working 1st time and its super quick! Even faster than BT Broadband at home! So well impressed with 3 which is where I bought it from.

Ive got the dongle rigged to my pc, as I still havent got the laptop yet! mind you its nice not having any work at home, as I was always sneaking off to take a quick look to see how things were going, 2 hrs later I would re-emerge! So now home is home with no work at all - bliss!

My new office! More room on Apollo Space Craft!

Now I know its in here somewhere!

Even with all this please note the fire extinguisher bottom right - remember safety first!

"M" went into B&Q today and bought a couple more fold up chairs for the awning for guests, we both have 3 position Vango chairs which are really comfortable, plus we needed something to fill up the awning. If the philharmonic orchestra are looking for somewhere to practice, Ive got the perfect place!

I also bought a bookcase back and a wicker dog bed for China!

Walked past our old house today - felt a little strange as China wanted to go in!

A 2 ring meal tonight - King Prawn Stir Fry - oh yes!!!! A couple of ciders to ease it down will be perfect!

Tomorrow off to do some ebay listing for an Antiques dealer!

Till later.......

P.S. Thought it about time we introduced to you all to "CHINA" our rescue dog, a cross between a corgi, a chuwahwah and a dark night!

CHINA

Please rub my belly!

Monday 29th August, Awning up!!!

We got to this lovely little site yesterday lunchtime, met the owners who showed us where we could go, its a lovely wooded and secluded level site, just EHU and a toilet, I think at £9.50 a night.

We managed to get the awning up in 2 1/2 hours without killing each other or any other campers! In fact it went up alot easier than I thought it would, It is absolutley massive!

Is it big enough?

Now thats what you call an awning!

However the skirt that goes over the wheel arch doesnt fit, so I rang the dealer who said that there wasnt alot he could do, well, Im afraid that after just spending nearly £800 that wasnt the answer I was looking for. I finally got a deal from him, and a correct part ready for collection next time we are passing.

We didnt bother putting up the bedroom annex as we have no guests arriving so the east wing is remaining in its bag!

We have finally unpacked the car, and found homes for everything, "M" even managed to iron some shirts tonight, yes we even packed the ironing board!

China (our dog) is shattered, she has taken herself off to bed, something she has never done before!

Back to work tomorrow, so up bright and early, drop "M" off in Ringwood, then swap cars and Ill take the Fiat 500 back to Shaston, to sort out the lockup and start listing some books on ebay!

"M" has insisted I add this! Whilst packing up at Orchard Lakes, I was getting ready to hitch up, so wound the jockey wheel up, but to my dismay I couldnt fathom out why the hitch wouldnt meet the tow ball and the jockey wheel was swinging free! - until our friendly neighbour with much delight pointed out that I had left the legs down! What A F***king Muppet Am I! I blame it all on the fact I had to dodge the wasps whilst doing all of this!

Till later........

Sun 29th - On The Road Again!

Woke up early but drifted back to sleep with a thick head, otherwise known as cider fuzz! Used the gas to fire up the water and a hot shower soon brought me back to a near human state. Its great being totally self sufficient, no ehu in sight either!

"M" got the breakfast on the go, and yes, double yokers again!!

Double Yokers!!!!!

Heading back to New Milton today, as its "M"s daughters birthday bbq so we are staying near by at Orchard Lakes, we are not in the top site, but down in the bottom site, again with no EHU, only £5.00 for the night - Bargain!

The bottom sites grass was a little long, and on a gentle slope, only two gripes about this site, firstly that the rubbish could of done with being emptied, as it was piled up and over the waste bins! It was clear that it hadnt been done for a few days, but did see someone clear it out whilst we were there, and no doubt as a result there was a wasp nest somewhere close by as there were hundreds of them! So glad we had flyscreens, if we had been in the old van we would of had to of moved, as they were everywhere! (Forgot to mention its not a big site with only 5 vans on site whilst we were there)

Rubbish point! Not a pretty site, and they wonder why they had wasps!

A slight lean to the left, need to get some levelling ramps (or old lengths of wood)!

"M"s daughter and her husband certainly put on a feast, Jack was bbqing for around 4 hours solid, loads of people there. I was driving so on cups of tea, to be honest I was still recovering a little bit so glad of a night off the booze! We left around 7.30pm and headed back via Barton-on-sea. We both ended up crashing early, it must be all this fresh air, when ever we have been away we always end up in bed early totally shattered!

Off to our next site tomorrow, in between Horton and 3 legged cross, precise location kept secret till we have left!

We are also going to be putting up the awning for the first time!

till later.......