Completely Exhausted

Completion when it came on Friday was early, very early.  There was no chain so we weren’t expecting it to be late in the day but we certainly didn’t expect it to happen before 10.30am.  Of course we weren’t ready, I was still cleaning and Phil was up in Harriet’s loft when he took the call from the agent.  After that, it was all mad panic stations; I had finished the house and had the remainder of our stuff on the drive but I couldn’t pack it in the car because Phil had my car and the land rover was stuffed to the gunnels.  It was almost midday by the time Phil came back, he was gone ages and I was getting concerned not to mention bored and impatient.   He said he’d tried to ring me to say that he would be a little longer because he had go to Morrison’s to get food fresh for the guinea pig but I’d left my mobile in the caravan and by this time I had dismantled the landline phone.  Phil took meter readings and scribbled these down on a scrap of paper, he took the front door key off my key ring and then promptly lost it.  This sent him into a real tizzy and after a frantic search with no joy, we gave up.  So no emotional goodbye house moment, no tears; there was no time, we simply shut the door for one last time and that was it.

Phil took the one door key and dropped this off at the agents in Newport.  I went to the tip to dump the rubbish and went round to Sue’s house as we’d made arrangements to go to Ikea to have a look at soft furnishings.  Phil came round for some tools which he needed to do jobs at the caravan and then with a loaded car, set off for Overstone.  Sue & I went to Ikea.  We looked around the showroom part first to get some inspiration but nothing really jumped out at us.  There were no must-have moments which is rare for me.  Mind you, that’s probably a good thing for me, there isn’t room to swing a cat in our caravan and I already have a storage unit full of stuff, I don’t need more stuff but Sue does.

Sue brought us lunch in the café, it took ages to get served by some rather reluctant staff but we got there in the end and celebrated my completion with a glass of wine.  And why not, I think it probably did us both good to sit down and take time out.  Of course wine at lunchtime doesn’t bode well for getting things down in the afternoon but we checked out the market place and came away from Ikea with a fab mirror, a chest of drawers, 2 bedside cabinets, a couple of picture frames and an Audrey Hepburn print.  It was a bit of a challenge getting them all in Sue’s car but we managed just about and get them off loaded with no problems at the other end.  Then for me, it was back to the caravan park. 

Phil was already reclined when I got home; ummm did I say home, it doesn’t feel like home quite yet, more like a base.  I don’t think the reality of our brutal downsizing has sunk in yet, I still feel like it’s all a bad dream.   I had to unload my car and put away some of the stuff that Phil had unpacked and then on Friday night, we drew the curtains, put on every fire and slumped in the front of the telly.

I didn’t impress Phil much because I was up at 4am and managed to wake him up too.  I think he did try to go back to sleep but didn’t succeed and by 6.30am we’d eaten our porridge and were ready to get on the road.  We needed supplies and decided that whilst it was quiet on the roads, we’d drive to Wellingborough to try and find Homebase.  Phil knew there was a Homebase because he’d been there before but the one-way-system in Wellingborough is confusing and in the end we gave up and headed back to Northampton.  We saw a Sainsbury’s so we filled up with fuel and then got some shopping.  I knew that that there was a Homebase on retail park just a few miles from Overstone so we went there.

In the cold light of day (literally) it has become obvious that we have quite a bit of work to do on the van before winter really sets in.  First job is to lag the pipes under the van to try and stop them freezing; Phil got some insulation from Homebase and fitted this around the pipes.  It wasn’t an easy job because he had to lay on his back and ease himself under the van and unfortunately we didn’t have quite enough insulation so he will have to go underneath again.  We also need to try and fit the skirting which is missing at the back of the van but before we can do this we need to fit an electric socket to power the washing machine. Phil wants to get tarmac laid so he can park his car and he also wants to plant a hedge to define our boundary but I can’t think about landscaping for the moment, the inside needs to take priority.

The people that owned the caravan before us smoked inside and the smell of stale smoke hits you as soon as you walk inside, even though the lounge/kitchen area has been painted, the curtains have been washed and new carpets have been fitted.  I think it must be impregnated into the whole fabric of the van.  I’ve painted both of the bedrooms and these now don’t smell of smoke but the bathroom and the dressing room and the inside of the storage cupboards reek of smoke, so these will have to be painted and sooner rather than later.

On Saturday morning Phil sorted out the wiring in the second bedroom which has now turned into an office. The boxing and the wiring of two sockets looked awful and I knew Phil wouldn’t be able to live with it.  He ripped out the boxing, rewired it into a new double socket making it all neat and tidy.  He filled the wall, I painted it and now you’d never know.   Phil also fitted another double socket which I didn’t really think we needed but a boy can never have too many sockets; after all, it’s no good having, an iPhone4, an iPad, an iPad docking station, an iMac and a Windows PC if you have nowhere to plug them in! 

Phil wanted to take the afternoon off and persuaded me to get in the car and go exploring.  He said he feels that I am putting pressure on him to get jobs done and pushing him too hard.  I suppose he does have a point but I only push him as hard as I push myself and he knows that I won’t rest until I have the caravan as I want it.  Relationships are all about compromise and I suppose that sometimes, enough is enough; so I relented and we went to take a look at the nearby villages. There are some pretty villages surrounding us but we didn’t find any pubs that we liked the looks of so we headed back to The Griffin in Mears Ashby.  We have been here a few times now and the food is excellent. 

It was nearly 3 o’clock by the time we got back to the van and whilst we were unloading the car we got chatting to our next door neighbours, Vikki & Dennis who invited us in for a cup of tea.  Their van seems massive compared to us although Phil says its only 12ft wide like ours.  But I think not, I think they must have a double base.  Vikki & Dennis seem very nice and very kindly answered our 101 caravan questions.  Which is lucky for us, because at the moment, I feel like we are like pigs in shit and need all the help we can get if we are to survive the winter.

I know I am a girl that likes the warm, but I have to say, and Phil will agree that it is cold in the van.   The electric wall mounted fires and the one gas fire are not sufficient.  We brought an oil heated radiator with us and we have this on all the time, day and night.  It’s only October and I am already getting dressed in front of the gas fire.  And I have to force myself to use the shower. Living here reminds of when I used to stay at my gran’s house; she had no central heating and when you took a bath you had to put on the paraffin heater.  If things get really bad, we have a very old and very ugly calor gas heater in the plastic shed outside that we can bring that in the van.  Only trouble is, I don’t know if I could bare to look at this rusty old fire let alone have it living with me and where would I put it?  But I suppose being warm wins over vanity and needs must and all of that.

Yesterday morning I was up early once again but then I did fall asleep on the sofa at 7pm so an early start is not surprising.  Poor Phil wasn’t impressed but realising there was no chance of more sleep he got up and cooked bacon and eggs. Phil says you have always got to a have a fry up when you’re camping.  Trying not to disturb the neighbours so early on a Sunday morning, we locked up and drove to MK in my car. Whilst our bedroom is at the back of the caravan, Vikki & Den’s bedroom is at the front of their van.  So what with me being an early riser, living next to us isn’t going to be so good for them.  Once off the M1, our irst stop was a visit to Sue’s to pick up the saw and then it was over to Steve & Jan’s to feed Norman and the few remaining fish. 

We had our gym bags with us but neither of us felt up to a workout so we had a Jacuzzi and a steam at DW and then went to McDonalds for a coffee and also to waste some time.  I managed to get 26 minutes on the free internet but this was nowhere near long enough to do what I needed to do.  It didn’t matter though as it was 10am by then and the shops were open.  We went to Homebase for more insulation, Paul Simon for blinds and Dunelem’s for bead curtains and Phil also picked up a small heater for the bedroom.  We did hope that we would hook up with Harriet but I knew she was out clubbing the night before and she said that she’d me ring when she was up. We drove down the A5 back to Northampton and when we go on the park, we stopped off at the Launderette to put on the washing.  I hadn’t done any washing for 8 days so I had a bin bag full of dirty clothes.  

Phil was going to cook roast duck with all the trimmings but it was lunchtime and he hadn’t even put on the oven so we decided to eat at the clubhouse.  The bingo was on and the actual main clubhouse was packed out but we were the only ones in the restaurant.  This surprised us because the Sunday roast is only £6.75 per head; we both had the roast lamb which was delicious.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and really we should have got on with jobs but both of us had run of steam, quite literally. After feeding the dryer 50p’s in the tumble dryer, I did manage to bring my laundry home and do all the ironing yesterday afternoon but that was pretty much all I managed to achieve.  Phil sawed a piece of wood but that was it for him; we finished the day with Sunday papers, crap television and ham sandwiches.

I shall look forward to the day when there are no pressing jobs, nothing on the ‘to do’ list and when our time is our own to do as we please.  Will that day ever come I ask myself?  Yes it will Clairabella, you just need to hold on and keep going for a bit longer.