Motorhomes, motorhomes everywhere!

We have been invaded. The National Motorhome show is at the East of England showground this weekend and motorhomes started to arrive in droves yesterday. Last night every layby for a five mile radius was full of motorhomes packed in like sardines. Our home CL started filling up earlier in the week which feels a little strange after having it to ourselves for the most of winter.

It has been a mixture of lovely sunshine, rain and hail today so the ground is not great, I imagine the showground will be a bit boggy but sunshine is predicted for the next 2 days so it should dry out nicely.

The picture is of the showground at the end of the rainbow this evening - the large white blob in the distance is the new exhibition centre. The dinky white blobs are the closely parked motorhomes.

We are off to the show on Saturday which is fast become a very busy day. The beetle will be collected, the bill will be argued over, we are visiting the show and going to a wedding do. Its also my birthday ... I am about to hit the next marketing bracket - gutted!

Showerless :(

Our motorhome bathroom is currently in disarray. There are no shower walls, no floor, the sink (which is suspended by masking tape) has no drainage, no running water and the toilet is balanced on polystyrene and plywood. Humph!

The cause? A cracked shower tray. Welcome to the joys of home repairs whilst full timing.

We carried out a few temporary repairs to it over the last year when the crack appeared and kept reappearing but finally enough was enough. One morning the crack became a gaping chasm and no amount of sealant was going to fix it.

We spent a fun sunday dismantling the entire bathroom. To take out the shower tray we had to remove everything above it, except for the light, which was the only thing that did not get in the way! Even with an empty room, the shower tray was still a sod to remove as electrics and pipes actually passed through it.

The tray is now off being used as a mould for a new one, we had the option of repair but as the van will be sold later this year, we didn't want anyone else having to go through this again.

It has been 3 and a half weeks since our shower tray left home - I miss it.

Beetle woes

We have owned a 1971 VW beetle for around 10 years now. We bought it in a reasonable condition and have gradually done it up to how we wanted it.

Our beloved bug went to the garage 6 weeks ago with the instructions to fix the bonnet catch, give it a service, fit an exhaust that we supplied and MOT it. Nothing else. They were asked to call us if anything else cropped up that needed doing for the MOT.

Get a call today saying the bug is ready to collect and the bill will be just over £900. Mr P decided to take a trip to the garage in his lunch hour to view the £900 worth of work that had been carried out, just in case we were really now the proud owners of a gold plated car.

As soon as he saw the bug he decided to leave and go back at the weekend. The mechanic had stuck the front number plate onto the bonnet - yes physically stuck the number plate onto our perfect paint job with sticky stuff - and the guy professes to love beetles. Wow, hate to see what he would have done had he not like them ... stapled it on?

Watch this space! £900 my arse.

Can dogs tell the time?

6am. That is the time I opened my eyes and stared blearily at the clock this morning. During the week the alarm is set for 6am, I get up shortly afterwards. However, at the weekends the alarm is off and I go to sleep dreaming of the long lay in I am going to have the next morning ... woo hoo, no alarm, just acres of warm duvet.

Dreaming is as far as I get now that we have young master Reef in residence.

We have not had Reef for very long, about 10 weeks. 10 weeks ago was the last time I had a lay in at the weekend. He has the most uncanny ability to wait for the time to hit 6am then he starts yawning and stretching. If that does not elicit a response he'll yawn a little louder and add a little whimper. If that fails too, his yawns become operatic (really hits the high notes) and he sits there moving from foot to foot so I can also hear the tapping of his claws on the floor and the shuffle of his butt.

At this point, Bodie joins in. When I peer from under the duvet they are usually sat like a couple of bookends just staring at the bed. If I happen to move at all, 5 minutes of frantic greeting, wiggling and stretching ensues. At this stage I am not allowed to retreat back under the duvet .. it is morning walk time.

Roll on the day I manage to wake up before Reef and launch myself at his sleeping self for a bit of revenge ... I just can't wait. May have to set my alarm for 5am next sunday just to throw his internal clock out. Snigger.

Forget the past

Today I happened upon this blog that I started last year. At first glance, due to the lack of posts in the last 6 months - in fact due to the lack of posts full stop! - it looks like one of those blogs started with good intentions on a wet sunday afternoon and then dumped as soon as it looks like becoming a chore.

However, this is about to change ... sort of a late new years resolution you might say. I am still not smoking so the resolutions do occasionally work and I am trying only to partake in alcoholic beverages maybe twice a week (thats a toughy) so I do need something to keep me occupied.

I have decided that I will do my utmost to make at least one post a week. I'll not back date the posts to follow on from the oct07 one but I will start writing about the here and now - forget the past. So dear reader, you'll not hear about our travels to date but you will hear of our lack of travels at present and our shower woes. Sorry!