Tag: travel

Christmas!..in a van??

I spent Christmas Eve doing a mix of things..lunch was celebrating my granddaughters 1st birthday. Maddison was 1 on the 20th but we met for a meal on Christmas Eve.

Straight afterwards Barrie and I dashed to Wigan to join our eldest daughter Rachel and son in law Phill and two granddaughters, Beth and Dorothy. Jenny, second eldest, and her husband Stephen, and their children..grandchildren Elisa, Hannah and Matthew joined us too.

We ate, played games, exchanged gifts and then went to the local Christingle service at St Anne’s Church in Wigan. What a joy that was! Truly magical, funny, and so very special. Hannah, Matthew and Dorothy even joined in the nativity. It was a lovely start to Christmas.

Christmas day was a mixed bag. Barrie spent his day with two if his girls and their children..I spent mine with four of my five. My four youngest children lost their dad to cancer in August and Christmas was always going to be hard.

The day was as good as it could be and ended with me sleeping in my van outside Jenny’s house! It was fabulous. I was surprisingly warm and cosy. I got some lovely gifts formy van and to document my travels too.
I still have a few things to add to my van…a radio for a start! I need to get the internal sockets checked and also make sure the plumbing is correctly wired! Once those things are completed then I’ll be ready for the road proper.

Great news today…..

My van can come home from the garage!!!

It’s very odd, as I haven’t owned him long, but I’ve really missed Vinnie being outside! I’m hoping to pick him up by the end of the week! Next on the list is to ask a lovely neighbour that I have to check up the inside, connect the gas, show me how the buttons work to. Then I can go out in it finally…well…when I’ve tried to drive it that is lol!

But truly, I’m so very happy. It feels like forever but it will be worth it. All my pretty things are piled on the bed in the van ready to be put away, hooks to be put up, shelves to be added but now useable anyway. The biggest decision, I guess, is where to go first! I’d like to try it out between Christmas and new year. I finish work for Christmas this Thursday 21st December, and I don’t go back until 9th January so I do have an opportunity to give it a good try.

I’m fully armed with lots of blankets, new pillows, a kettle, everything I need to cook and even some food. All I need is milk (for the very essential brew), some fresh food, (at the very least some bread and butter) and, obviously, tea bags!

Clearly I need to consult my list of the people who want me to visit them to allow them to have a nosey inside, and finally I need to pack…wool, needles, patterns, scissors, sewing needles, fleece, wheel, lazy Kate, bobbins, a book, pen and notebook (those who know me well will know this is not an exhaustive list of craft items), and I’ll be ready for the off.

(almost forgot, I’ll need some clean clothes too!)