Long long week & even longer weekend nights

Where to start? Last Monday is as good a place as any. Paul texted to say he'd sorted the wheelbearing for £60 & that I could pick up that night. He also mentioned that "the whining noise had gone". To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what he meant because if there was any noise as Arthur goes along, it's more of a roar that I always felt was coming from the dodgy gearbox. Anyway, got up there to pick up, pushed cash under door, found keys on top of sun visor (nice Hollywood touch there I thought) & off we go......

A 1984 Transporter with god knows how many miles on the clock is never going to be silent running but we are certainly now in the quiet category - good result for £60 & a little grief last Saturday. Actually, the result is that I can hear a few other squeaks & rattles that the old roar had been blotting out but nothing to compare to before. The radio can now be used for the spoken word & music other than the mad bad loud stuff that I had to (had to?) listen to before.

Tuesday - long night working on Arthur after work. Got the 240v hook-up finished (so I thought, see later), cupboard mountings fitted, curtains fitted with wires to tuck the bottom of them behind when in use, tiebacks fitted. Came in feeling like a bit of an Alpha Male (after fitting curtains? yes I know, it's all relative) & slept the sleep of the righteous.

Wednesday - went round to the eldests to meet his girlfriends mum but ended up dragging all out of the house to show off my handywork. Bore? Me? Never.................

Thursday - did a preliminary pack-up of all the bits n bobs. We had been thinking that space would be tight but in the end it turned out that there's more room than we thought. Didn't sleep well, really worried that Ann wouldn't like it & that things would go wrong.

Friday, before work - packed a few more bits & went off to the Workhouse with a head full of campsites, sunshine & promise of real ale. Can't remember much about the day but suppose it was a day like any other full of appreciative articulate customers.

Friday , after work - the descent into Hell began. For some reason, we'd agreed to food-shop for the weekend after work on Friday - YES I KNOW, WHAT WERE WE THINKING?

Dropped Ann at Tesco, took the middle one home & came back to Tesco. Met the youngest there & in we go to find Ann. Methodical sweeps of the aisles found nothing, I'd left my mobile in the car so I sent the boy in to look while I continued to prowl up & down looking along aisles. Lost 15 minutes I didn't want to lose doing this before finding them both. Got home, finished packing, gathered us all together in a kind of pre-match huddle & gave the pep talk, "Lets all try to be calm, we've waited a long time for this, things will go wrong & we will have forgotten things but lets not stress each other out"

Off we go.

1 mile down the road, I realise I've forgotten my wallet. Ah, the joys of telephone banking, I can call First Direct & get them to transfer cash to Ann & we'll find a cash-point somewhere.

2 miles down the road, I realise I've forgotten my painkillers. Bigger problem here, I can cease to function as a polite human being without Tramadol if I take too much exercise & the intention is to drive, pitch camp, sleep out, walk all day Sat & then break camp again Sunday. Traffic back to home is horrendous due to roadworks so I decide to say nothing for a bit so I don't get pressurised into turning back. Can't spare the time, putting up a new awning for the first time with the light fading is no basis for a stress-free weekend, so decide to go up the A6 to get cash and armfuls of Paracetamol/Ibuprofen at the Sainsburys in Hazel Grove.

Did I mention that it was Friday rush-hour? The A6 in Friday rush-hour? A fully laden bus with a decidedly iffy 1st gear on the A6 in Friday rush-hour........great. A nose to tail 45 minutes later, we broke free & raced off through Disley, Chapel & over the top down towards Castleton. Winnets Pass is a 1 in 5 descent but nothing was stopping us now as we charged downhill. The brakes worked as intended & we proceeded calmly through Castleton, into Hope, out the other side & arrived at Laneside Caravan Park (www.lanesidecaravanpark.co.uk).

Friendly owners showed us to our pitch & left us to it. My biggest worry was that we would provide some kind of floorshow for others as we demonstrated our brand-new status by cocking everything up, by me using my very best polite sarcasm "Actually, you'll find if you do it this way, it is perfectly simple" etc, etc.......Didn't turn out like that. Awning went up easy enough though pegging out was a struggle. I'd booked a hard-standing pitch thinking this meant a strip of concrete for the bus to sit on while the awning was on grass. It didn't, it meant hard-packed limestone all over that you have to pound pegs into with the back of an axe because you've lost your mallet. Never mind, live & learn.

Sent Ann & Stu off to the village to find the Chinese take-away while I finished off setting up. It was at this point that I discovered that the hook-up didn't work so mobiles would be flat & coolbox would be battery only. No matter, you live & learn. They came back with a great big box, we ate like kings (should be Emperors I suppose) & we settled down for the night. No toothpaste, ah well, you live & learn.

Off to bed, Stu in the awning, me & Ann in the bus. Ann couldn't sleep, draughty, cold & what I thought was the best sleeping bag & had given to my lovely wife clearly was not up to the job of keeping her warm. Tears followed, not mine, but felt dreadful. Ann was only doing all this to humour me & to not feel excluded when me & Stu nip off camping somewhere. It was a long, long, night...........Still, a nice bacon & sausage barm in the morning will help to, ah, no, wait, forgot the fry pan. You live & learn...................

Saturday dawned bright & noisy. So many birds tweeting, sheep bleating, etc. Sounds I love but not after probably 4 hours sleep between us. Stu, of course, slept like the dead & awoke bright and so happy we could have strangled him. Previous nights Chinese made the missing fry pan a moot point as the thought of food was far from our minds. Bought toothpaste on site, got clean & we wandered off. Site has a river running past with stepping stones so a morning went just passed by wandering about & watching Stu getting his feet wet. Into Hope, found a cafe & had breakfast for lunch then wandered off to Castleton - 2 miles across fields full of lambs. Possibly the best walk ever.

Back to Hope by bus & into a pub for the FA Semi - least said about that the better. My one comment would be that if you truly wish to appreciate "citeh" & their 6 woolly-toed following, do it in a small Derbyshire village pub.

Return to site & Ann decided to sleep in the awning rather than the van, swapping places with Stu. The price you pay for a crystal clear April day is a bitterly cold April night so she was back in the van in the small hours - good job it's a full width bed.

Morning came & armed with a fry pan bought in the site shop, bacon & sausage barms were made & tasted as good as anything I've ever had on a campsite. Packing up after this was a breeze & back home via the Snake Pass - Arthur performed brilliantly & although the road was clear ahead, I was only holding up 5 cars at the most.

Today was spent washing & putting stuff away and thinking of next time & what can be done better. Whether Ann will be with us is up for debate - will depend on whether the brilliant days can offset the horrible nights - will get a 3-season sleeping bag if nothing else & I suppose better planning/execution on my part will help. Lets see - days are long enough when Ann isn't by my side & nights are even longer x

So I lost my virginity at last.........

.....bet that got your attention but it's sadly true.

Got Arthur back from Pauls early yesterday am. Leisure battery fitted & various other bits done including gearbox oil change - more of that later. Set off home, all good. As we got close, we noticed a squeaking from the front nearside. Thought nothing of it - he's an old boy & if I've learned nothing else, it's that when one job is done, you notice something else that needs doing.

So finally after 5 months of tootling around, first time starting & a general smug-ness about my perfectly functioning T25, I have a breakdown to report. A wheel bearing gave up when taking Ann (my lovely wife) and Stu to Lyme Park to meet grandkids for A Big Day Out. Ann wasn't happy, I thought it was funny, Ann really didn't think it was funny, I thought this was even funnier. I sat in the back, Ann sat in the front, arms so tightly crossed that it made me feel breathless. Luckily, the eldest was available to pick her & Stu up & deliver them to Lyme Park for a beautiful day in the sun rolling down hills & eating picnic. I got a trip to the garage on the back of a breakdown truck driven by that bloke who knows exactly how to sort this country out. You know him, he's the salt of the earth, that uncomplicated bloke who is fashioned from the common clay, the bedrock on which this fine land of ours solidly stands, or to put it more simply, a moron......................

It's a tick off the list though, been meaning to call Britannia Rescue just to check if campers are covered. Thankfully, they are and we're now proper camper owners. Should be back on the road Wed pm once Paul weaves his magic.

Gearbox? Gearbox, gearbox, gearbox................ It appears that a rebuild/replace will be necessary unless it was part of Mr VWs design for little bits of metal & ball-bearings to come out when you change the oil. Getting into 1st gear has always been a bit of an issue but other than that, it's fine. No crunching/grinding at all but definitely noisier than it should be. Perfectly drivable at the moment but will be sorted as soon as we're back from Hope Valley on Sunday.

I hereby appeal now to all Gods of Motoring, past & present, to grant us an uneventful drive there & back. Oh, & if you could throw in some nice weather & the thick end of £1k for a gearbox, that would be nice

Quiet week really - fitted the 240v hook-up socket to the back of the rear numberplate flap, widened the bit on the rear platform where the bed frame rests (don't really want the bed to collapse every time one of us rolls over in the night) and covered the kickboard in lining carpet to match the bus walls.

Booked into Pauls for next week for leisure battery fitting & for another look at the gears. Having problems getting 1st gear again once we've been running for a while - 80-

90 forum suggests bleeding the clutch slave cylinder - hopefully that'll sort it out..

After grandkids day out last week, took Ann, Stu & Ann's dad Albert round to Jays new place in Chorlton - pic below. Ran sweet enough but as above, 1st gear a little problematical. Still arrived with a silly grin on my face though.

Two weeks until 1st camp-out in Hope Valley - I've got a snaglist a mile long & running out of days to do them in. Will all be worth it though if all goes as well as hoped.........

Didn't keep my promise to myself to put an hour in each night this week but decided not to make myself pay a forfeit as I would only be robbing Peter which would then make me unable to pay Paul (Paul being my tame brilliant mechanic, do keep up at the back)

Lots of planning done though which came to the fore today. Back to yesterday first - having promised the Grandkids that we'd have a picnic day out in the bus, we finally did it. This pic sums it up. All the dreaming, all the planning, all the looking at the magazines, all worth it. Grandkids are on the outside - the big daft one in the middle is my fault...............

Today then. Up bright & early despite the clocks changing. Insulation then new laminate then kickboard & speakers. Stu was a great help fetching, carrying, brewing up and sitting on wood to stop it moving when being sawed. Finally found a use for his butt (that sounds creepy but it's staying in). A good days work even if the back/knees/hands are now muttering their disapproval. Ann (my lovely wife) came back from shopping with her Dad with new scatter cushions that I suppose will double-up as pillows - present from Albert to Arthur, thanks Albert.

He came round later to drop off this book - do you think he's trying to tell us something? The anatomically correct graphically illustrated section on emergency childbirth is especially informative if a little shocking to the boy - he'll learn....................

Revelation.............Solution................Intention

Back to last week & the revelation that the storage unit won't fit when the bed is down.

Easy solution: unit will be fitted with clips that hold it in place when driving & allow it to be lifted out into the awning when all 3 of us are away or turned sideways behind the seats when it's just me & the boy. The things you think of at work when only 5% of brain is needed to deal with the Great Unwashed.

Not much else to report really - knees haven't been great so not been able to do as much as liked. I bought the stuff for the 240v hook-up & I stripped the storage unit down today to give it a proper sanding & a coat of varnish. Found a sheet of plywood in the garage that I can use for the kickboard and measured up for that & for the new flooring.

Intention: 1 hour each night this week on bus related matters. If I fail to reach this target, I will have to pay a forfeit to myself. Not sure what this will entail yet - open to suggestions

Highs & Lows, High & Lows

As it says in the title really if slightly over-dramatic........

Highs: took Arthur to Pauls to get the bed fitted and the socket cut for the table leg & he got it sorted for very little cash. Found a gem there (www.minichanics.co.uk) - mind you, this is the bloke who finished work in Stockport on Friday night & then drove to Perranporth in Cornwall because a mate was having trouble with her Mini. After arriving there at 12:30am, he slept until 9am ish & then stripped the top of the engine down & re-built it fortified with bacon butties & pasties (him, not the engine). He then drove home covering 300+ miles in 4 & a half hours. Impressive bladder control on the M5/M6 if nothing else.

Now the proper back seat is in & the seatbelts are in play, I could take the grandkids for a drive. All those months of just reading Camper & Bus fell away as they climbed in, we buckled up & away we went. Who smiled widest? The 2 year old, the 4 year old or the 46 year old? Can't say & don't care - the bus is OURS now, not just mine & I don't have the words to describe how that makes me feel.

Lows: well, low (singular), my nice new storage unit doesn't fit. £160 & 150 miles at 23 miles a gallon counts for nothing if you've mis-measured how far your rock n roll bed swings out when flat. So back to eBay you go, Mr Storage Unit, & we'll think again about what fits there. IKEA might have to be visited this week & not just for the Daim cake & meatballs....................

Minor low (& only because she's just mentioned it), Ann - my lovely wife - insists on making Clampett references whenever she's out in the bus. "Should we put a rocking chair on the roof?" & "It'll be ok if we're on proper holiday" - whatever that means. I'm thinking of getting a CD of Deliverance style banjo music to play whenever she is parked in the passenger seat. Mind you, it wasn't me who banged my head on the sliding door when closing the sliding door, was it, My Sweet? Love and decorum prevents me from pointing out who Ma Clampett really is in this scenario so long as I'm the young one holding the steering wheel

Run out today- over to Doncaster to pick up a cupboard unit. Saw it on eBay. Dead simple, 1 big cupboard on the left for water carrier (or whatever), 2 smaller cupboards on the right for whatever & a lift up top that a stove could sit on or under which a flat-screen could hide (practical v bling - we all know which will win - I'm a boring old fart). Hinges are a little flamboyant & might yet get replaced but basically it will do. Bloke who made it had an old yellow Bay parked on the drive that might just have had 50% of the worlds supply of filler in its wheel-arches but enough of that........

Drive over was great - Arthur coped well with the Woodhead Pass & there was no queue of frustrated car drivers behind us. Ate my first McDonalds in about 6 years on way over - called in for a McPiss & felt obliged to have a coffee to avoid making it a McPiss with lies. Paid with a £20 & the minimum wager serving gave me a tenner, a fiver & about £3 in 10p pieces so bought Sausage & Egg McMuffin with all the change. Counter-Boy then tried to give me £7 in change from the £3 I'd handed over for the £2ish grease-fest. My protestations met with "but the till says we owe you £7 change". Bless him. Told him to put it all in the charity box - cost me less than a quid to do this but he looked at me like I was a major high-roller. McShité tasted great but the immediate feeling of shame & the later feeling of greasy crap in the gut doesn't change.

Wasn't able to fit the bed myself. The 2 bolts through the floor would have been easy enough to do but the other 4 need to go through the bulkhead quite close to the mountings for the rear suspension arms & I'm not keen to drill those out so we're back to Paul for him to get his welding kit out. He can fit the table socket in the back too as this needs a hole cutting in the floor & I'm just not equipped or inclined to do this. Looking forward to meeting fellow T25 drivers so I can pretend I did all the work myself.................

Got back to find out that we'd lost to the Bin-Dippers 3-1. Who gives a fcuk? Tragedy? Put some flowers on it