Z Is For Boing Said Zebedee!

A-Z Challenge 2012

Z is for Boing Said Zebedee!


Those of you who are not familiar with "The Magic Roundabout" it was a kids TV show which was absolutely brilliant! One of the sayings at the end of the show was always "Boing Said Zebedee"! That would be the end of the show.

Above is Zebedee

And so after a month of posting on the A-Z Challenge this is the final post and the end of this show!


So a massive thank you to all of you who have dropped by, and taken a look at my ramblings of  our life in a caravan.


For those of you who are now following us, thank you, you will now be subjected to my rantings and observations of what goes on in our lives. Day to day life as seen through the eyes of a middle aged, young at heart, portly, some times happy, some times sad, cynical grasper of life!

As I sit here on the edge of a field which is mostly underwater due to the constant rain we are currently having, (you would never guess we were subject to a hose pipe ban at the moment). I wonder where we will be this time next year?


What will my A-Z Challenge 2013 contain? Will I still be breathing? You just don't know do you?


So make the most of what you have and enjoy.


As in "The Magic Roundabout"  "Boing Said Zebedee"!


Till later......................

Y Is For Young At Heart

A-Z Challenge 2012

Y is for Young At Heart


I'm refusing to become old! I think becoming old is a state of mind, ok the joints may ache a bit more and it takes me longer to recover from a heavy night of drinking fine ale. Oh and I do need earlier nights!  But basically my outlook on life hasn't changed too much.


I've become more cynical over the years, but a life of experiences have molded me into who I am today.


Young at heart doesn't mean i wear my jeans hanging off my arse, nor does it mean highlighting my hair, piercing my eyebrows or talking in text speak!


But, to me it does mean that I can feel free to enjoy and express myself how I want and when I want.


I know people that are old before their time, I'm sure you do as well? When I hear things like, cant wait X Factor tonight! I could curl up and die! Whats wrong with going for a pint and having some social interaction with real people with real opinions.


Nothing wrong with staying in, we do a lot of it, but we do talk to each other, listen to music, read and enjoy each others company. We don't spend endless hours watching other peoples lives on the box.


I hope that in years to come youngsters will look at me and see me laughing and having a good time and smile and think to themselves, I hope I end up like that.


Which reminds me of a couple of older friends back in Shaftesbury. Paddy and Ron, Ron is no longer with us, he was lost to cancer, but those two had me in fits of laughter on a regular basis. A couple of old boys who enjoyed a pint and a joke. They would fit the description of "Young At Heart" perfectly.


Till later.................

X Is For X Marks The Spot

A-Z Challenge 2012

X marks the spot


We move from site to site on a regular basis. During the summer months with the vintage rallies we can be moving every weekend. During the winter it is every 28 days due to the current rules and regulations.


So home is really where ever we end up parking up.


It takes us no time at all to be fully set up and back to relaxing.



Our large awning takes the longest to set up at approx an hour to do these days, our first attempt took us 6 hours!


Getting ready to move takes no more than 30 mins to do the caravan and an hour for the awning.


We are moving today (Saturday) we will be moving from our current site, 100 yards down and across the road! So not far at all, so no travelling today!


In saying that we will be driving a few miles as the turn in from this direction is a little tight, so a trip around so I can get a good swing in is advisable.


I've now lost count how many times we have moved, it is all documented in our hard copy diaries, but it must be a few now!


I look forward to moving, I'm not keen on the packing up, but I like exploring around the new site, with different views etc. This will probably be the shortest move yet.


Our new site we checked out a little while back, it has showers, but we didn't take a look at those, so we will find out how good they are a little later.


Do we miss not having a definite base? Personally the answer is no, home is where ever you make it. My birth town is Shaftesbury which I always will have strong connections with, but do I miss the place? The answer again is no.


I guess since the age of 16 I have always moved on a regular basis, and so moving does not bother me at all now.


Moving house was a nightmare though, you tend to have so much clutter that you never use or need. Now, we have very little to worry about.


But we do have a little clear out and get rid of various magazines and old unwanted paperwork. It's surprising how soon it all mounts up even in a caravan.


So now off to move to our new "X marks the spot"


Till later......................

W Is For Water

A-Z Challenge 2012

W is for Water


Water is a basic requirement for life, and here on site it is obviously no different.


Living back at our old house we never appreciated how much water we used and wasted on a daily basis.


On site you soon realise that wasting water requires extra trips to the water point to fill up your aqua-rolls.


Now, for those of you who haven't a clue what I am on about, on site there are dotted around taps which when turned on supply clean cool fresh water.


This is then transported back to your caravan in a container, we choose aqua-rolls for this.

We use two 29 litre rolls, there is a bigger size available, but you have to consider that a 50 litre aqua roll weighs approx 50 Kg which is bloody heavy, and "M" would struggle as would I!

If you are lucky enough to have your own tap near by you can buy kits that fit direct from the tap to your aqua roll and give you a constant supply of water. We have never stayed at a site yet where we could get near enough to a tap to be able to do this so we simply haven't bothered.

Our caravan has a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water, a full size shower, and a flushing toilet and wash basin with hot and cold water.

You can get around 3-4 minutes of hot water on one roll for your shower, and the water is scolding hot if not mixed with cold!

You don't leave the tap running when brushing your teeth either.

We get through between 2 to 3 aqua rolls per day.

This really isn't a problem to go out and fill up, we have two aqua rolls and we keep both full, so it's just a question of swapping them over.

The only problem we have had was the winter of 2010 when the taps on site froze up, but we simply went to "M"s work and filled the aqua-rolls up there. So no real issues.

Frozen pipes can happen to anyone, so we in a caravan are not exclusive to this problem.

Filling up the aqua-rolls can be inconvenient if its freezing cold or tipping down with rain, but there are worse things to do, and whilst I'm out there the few minutes it takes to fill up I take in my surroundings and enjoy noticing the changes that are taking place right under my nose.

So to some it may seem a chore, to me it's a few minutes of peace whilst I enjoy nature at it's greatest.

Till later............

V Is For Vacancy

A-Z Challenge 2012

V is for Vacancy


There is a vacancy here, right now, just a few miles away from where you are living, for some it may be even closer!


What am I talking about?


I'll tell you, it's the great outdoors, and it is massively under used and just waiting to be explored, walked on, ridden on, led on, sat on, looked at and enjoyed.


Before we lived liked this, a green hedgerow would be something that would be a blur as you drove by it in the car, a footpath by the sea would not be walked on, a trip to the New Forest meant battling with the Grockles through Burley, and relieved when none of them ended up under your wheels!


We spend as humans, so much time cooped up in our own houses or places of work that we forget that there is the Great Outdoors.


Some embrace it, others sit in front of the TV every night. We do have a TV, but I can honestly say that we probably watch less than a couple of hours a week.


Watching the sun set is a favourite past time of ours, a beer and watching the colours of the sky change through it's purples and reds as the sun glows and lowers behind the horizon.

Watching the birds in the hedges, as they flit about, simple pleasures which cost nothing, but are priceless.

Yes, we live in a wonderful part of the world, but there is beauty where ever you look, but that is the key. You got to look!


So preoccupied with the day to day grind, we often fail to see what is really happening to our countryside and how it changes through the seasons.

Certainly living like we do, we notice this more than ever.

Who cares that it is raining, it's not pleasant getting wet, but you wont dissolve! Take a quick walk even around your garden and appreciate what you have close by. Just ten minutes of your day to witness fantastic changes to the tree's and hedges at this time of year.


It does the soul good to just take in what is happening around you, and hopefully give you some inner peace as well!

All photographs taken by myself.


Till later.....................

U Is For Up Yours!

A - Z Challenge 2012


U is for Up Yours


We started out back in August 2010 we came under a lot of negative criticism not only from family but from strangers as well!


The reaction from some family and friends really surprised us, some really positive, but a few doubted that we could live like we do, or if we did we would give up within in a couple of months.


The strangest reaction though, was from other fellow caravaners! Yes, I was shocked as well!


When we started our research into living like this, I was very active on some of the forums, trying to find out as much information as possible.


It seemed to me amazing that for those who were on a specific caravan/camping forum could be so negative and rude!


I was even told that it was unhealthy to live in a caravan! Based on what scientific evidence is still a mystery to me!


In the end the only conclusion we could logically come up with was pure and simple jealously!


This we felt was a shame, but that is human nature for you.


I was even banned from one forum! UKCampsites was the name of the site, the reason has never been explained to me, even after countless emails asking why! I haven't included a link for this site as I would not use it if it was the last site on the internet.


So for all you doubters and negative people who still do read this blog, as every now and again we get strange emails, its "Up Yours" we are happy and content living the way we are. So when interest rates rise and your struggling to pay your mortgage, but you are so stuck in your ways that you would rather drown than be thrown a life line, we will be chuckling merrily!


For those of you, like us who have struggled but can see the sense in what we are doing, get on and do it!


It's a great way to live, fun, and with no hardships to endure, other than fresh air and open spaces!


Till later.............

T Is For Transport

A-Z Challenge 2012

T is for Transport


When we first started out on our life in a caravan, we had a Landrover Freelander 1.8 Petrol.


It did the job, but only just. Thankfully the Lunar was built using the lightest of materials so this helped it.


However, we had a problem with the four wheel drive system, the cost to replace was just not worth it, so we removed the prop shafts and it now runs on two wheel drive only. The only benefit to this is that the fuel consumption is a little better.


For towing it is now bloody useless, even just on wet grass the front wheels spin getting no traction what so ever. 


So the hunt for a replacement or rather an additional 4x4 started.


We sold the Fiat 500, which was a sad day, but it was totally impractical for living like this.

We looked at all sorts, plenty of Landrover Discovery's, but for the money we had available to spend we could only find dog rough ones with galactic mileage.


So we started to look at Mitsubishi Pajero's a Jap import, called Shoguns in the UK. We ended up with a 2.8 litre diesel automatic long wheel base with 7 seats, loads of extras, (which all work)!

I must say it's a great bit of kit, so if you are looking for a 4x4 look no further than these.


It's 18 years old, it drives like new, we just put it through it's MOT and it passed 1st time with no advisories.


Towing with it is easy, the problem you have is you can almost forget that the caravan is on the back, it could pull a jumbo jet with no probs!


Till later.............