I worked this morning. Davies had YACs and it was being held at the Wood Fair at Bentley. Last year we all went and had a really good day out as although it’s not cheap to get in to once you are inside most stuff is free and it is very much the sort of bushcrafty, survival type stuff we are in to. Ady wasn’t fussed about being there without me and we are being penny pinching atm so he and Scarlett dropped Davies off and went on to Raystede animal shelter for a couple of hours instead.
Davies tells me he had a really good morning, enjoyed going round the various stands and looking at stuff (but missed me), Scarlett tells me she had a great morning looking at all the animals at Raystede, wants to see if she can arrange some sort of keeper experience there for her birthday and wants Sploosh and Lucky (her ducks) to go and live there when we leave. (Oh and she missed me too).
I had an easy morning at work and arrived home about half an hour before the others so made myself some lunch and hung some washing out. After lunch we decided we would not do a car boot sale tomorrow after all but would do some getting stuff ready for ebay and general junk clearing. We debated getting on with some of that this afternoon but the desire to be out and about won over so we decided to go and look at some campervans. We know we will be looking for very old, rather run down vehicles given our limited budget but aside from my friend Helen’s campervan we’ve never really looked round one so we thought we should go and have a really good look at some and get our heads round what we’ll be calling home for a year.
There is the Sussex Caravan Centre fairly near to us so we drove out there and had a look round but they are very fancy, predominantly caravans rather than campervans and not at all within our price range or suitable. We had a copy of this weeks Friday Ad so we found a classified ad for a localish campervan and caravan centre the other side of Brighton and drove over there. They had about 50 vans out on display, all unlocked so you could have a proper look inside and with no salespeople lurking to pounce on you. I guess we were there nearly two hours looking in all of them and discussing the pros and cons. The kids got a really clear idea of just how little space they will have and how few belongings they will be able to bring along while Ady and I sat in drivers seats and wobbled about actually driving them. We decided the smaller the better given how unwieldly they seem, we like the kids bed over the driving seat idea, we both liked the idea of a rear windscreen so you can actually use a rear view mirror, all feel a toilet is essential and are keen to have as much storage as possible.
All of the vehicles we were looking at were about 90% more than our budget but it was really useful for clarifying layout and size ideas, answering some questions and throwing up new ones. We were able to prioritise our needs a little better when faced with lots of options.
On the way home I rang about a campervan for sale here in Lancing. It’s on the market for £2500 which is bang on the budget we had been looking at (although we don;t actually have that money yet and it’s a good 2 months earlier than we’d planned to be looking). We pulled round to look at it and have rather fallen for it. It is a bit rusty and decrepid, petrol rather than diesel and not very ecomonical. It’s nearly as old as me and the shower heater doesn’t work. But the kids fell in love with it and urged on by the woman selling it clambered up the ladder and lay on what would be their bed, Ady and I sat in the drivers and passenger seat, stood at the cooker and sink and on the sofa and got a good feeling about it.
We have £1000 on Friday which is payday and I could borrow £1000 from my Dad on the condition we pay him back when I sell my car (I think) so are debating offering £2000. It’s too soon really and throws all of our planned calendar of events out of kilter and I guess really we shouldn’t have gone to look at it but it sort of all fell into place. If the guy doesn’t accept the offer or my Dad says no he can’t sub us til I sell my car then it’s not meant to be and we return to Plan A with all it’s meticulous timescales and planned order… watch this space!
Back at home the kids had tea, we watched X Factor, my lovely children assured me I should be on it 😆 😆 😆 and then they had a very long, drawn out bedtime. Ady and I had a curry and rejoiced at not needing to be up at 5am tomorrow :).
watching . . . been to ww too.
Comment by michelle — 19 September 2010 @ 5:06 pm