Back from the garage

Picked the bus up Sat am from Pauls. Seats are great, gear change less so but at least first is now a negotiable option. To be fair, years of modern cars have dulled the senses and I shouldn't really expect a 26 year old van with an 2 foot gear stick to be as precise as a 2007 Zafira. New battery will take the uncertainty out of starting up each day and a functioning heater motor couldn't have been more welcome given the cold weather recently.

Got home & grandkids were round for the day. Not seen them for a few weeks so got to show off the new toy. Made lots of promises about days out in the bus once we get warmer weather (& rear seatbelts) which went down well. Roll on spring...............

Finance now dictates the way forward. The loss of Anns car last weekend to a combination of freezing weather & little or no engine oil means that throwing a wodge of cash at Camper Shak for a flash interior is a definite non-starter. Will now concentrate on just getting a new full-width back seat/bed/seatbelts and a leisure battery set up installed by Paul. Selling off the old bed, seats & hob/oven should provide funds for the awning & we've got all the other essentials already as part of the tent/camping set-up. The tent will be sold in Spring too & should pay for the purchase of lowering springs/shocks. Other than that, saving up or getting a part-time job to raise more funds are the only options.

Have seen a couple of second hand storage units on eBay while looking for bargains. One of these is the bedbase unit needed for over the engine bay from a T25 breakers in North Wales called RCC Imports. Have heard & seen some strange things about this company on various forums, usually along the lines of them asking absolute fortunes for old crappy wheels & seats but this unit is priced at £18.75 & looks in really good condition. Will call them Monday am & see what they're about. The other unit is an old Westfalia cupboard that fixes on the ceiling over the engine bay. Not the most exciting colour but think I could cover it with stickers or some carbon-fibre effect vinyl. Will fire in last minute low bid & see what happens.

Picked up a few other bits and will fit light guards and intermittent wash-wipe tomorrow, but the new passenger mirror from eBay was a shocker. A listing that said "some small marks to mirror" turned out to mean "the top third of the mirror is totally unusable because the silvering has all broken down". Fired off an e-mail & the seller refunded immediately & told me to just throw the mirror away. Fair enough but makes me think that the guy knew he was selling shité and was chancing his arm that people wouldn't complain.

Off now - it's 5am & the cricket is coming back on. England giving Australia a slapping & me owning a bus - what strange times we live in..............