Ady and the kids dropped me off at work this morning and went off to do some store visits for the day.
I did the banking, sang songs with quite a large audience of parents and babies (10 adults, 14 children, 24 pairs of eyes all looking at me to see what else Old McDonald had on his farm and just who else was riding on that rotating wheeled bus), had lunch, made letters out of old envelopes, ripped up newspaper and string to form the words ‘Green Reads’ for my next adult display and cut out letters to form the words ‘Michael’ and ‘Morpurgo’ in the font used on his books to be part of the next junior display. I spent time on the desk, joked with colleagues, teased a very nice man who came in to join the library and generally had a pretty good day.
Ady, Davies and Scarlett came to collect me and Davies and Scarlett were bursting with something they wanted to tell me about at home. They managed to resist until we actually got home and Scarlett presented me with the first duck egg. It’s pretty small for a duck egg (as first eggs often are) and is a lovely greenish colour. Hurrah for Sploosh :). Ady and Scarlett have both seen the ducks mating so we knew they were mature enough to be at that stage and were expecting eggs but I had thought it might not happen til spring. yay for duck eggs :).
I got changed, gathered up all the cash and Ady and I went off to collect the campervan. The kids elected to stay home and wait. We paid, filled out the log book, had a quick show round which key is for what (two sets of keys, both with seven keys for all the various locks, doors and ignition) and then Ady went off as I had insisted he did and I settled into the driving seat. It started first time but juddered to a halt and needed some choke (how many years is it since I had a car with a manual choke!?). We then struggled to work out where the lights were and finally I was off. She stalled again at the end of the road but started straight up and from then I made my rather hesitant way home. It was fine, if weird to drive. The height and width didn’t really bother me and I was largely oblivious to the length, I don’t think it’s much bigger than my Sharan really but the steering will take a bit of getting used to having had the luxury of power steering for several years and the automatic-ness of it will also need adjusting to. I more or less got it in position to reverse into the drive but Ady was slightly flappy and kept wanting to do it so in the end I let him. It does need re-doing actually as it is too much over to one side making it a bit of a squeeze to get in the drive but we’ll sort that tomorrow.
David from across the road appeared and came and had a look inside before finally leaving us to it. The kids scrambled about up in their bunk and then Ady and I worked out how to get the sofa / chairs to convert to a bed. Ady then took the kids in to sort some dinner out for them and I had a quiet ten minutes or so in there by myself. I put the bed all away and opened every cupboard and drawer, folded out the kitchen-y area and stood in the shower. The previous owners have left things like a kettle, toaster, mini tv, hook up cable etc all in there along with a heap of paperwork including instructions for all the appliances, a service history and other interesting looking things which we’ll look properly over the next few days.
Finally I turned the lights off and came out locking it up behind me. Ady said I looked so happy in there :). It reminded me of getting my first car, a clapped out old mini, bright yellow with furry brown seats when I was 17. I got it the week before I passed my test and it cost me £450. I remember sitting in it and just feeling like I’d never had such freedom, I could go anywhere I liked it in, sleep in it if I wanted to, keep whatever stuff I wanted in it. I’d never owned my own little bit of space before to do whatever I wanted with and it was one of the most exciting moments. I felt a bit like that sitting in the campervan tonight :).
I nipped up to Sainsburys for some food supplies – felt very strange driving Ady’s new this year company car after the van :). Back home we had a minor drama as I dealt with Scarlett and the firesteel incident 🙁 before settling into toasting the van with a glass of fizz, a very late bath and an even later dinner.
And now I am exhausted!