So good to be back

 I was a bit anxious about what we might find when we got to the caravan yesterday - well there was no need to worry at all, everything was absolutely fine.  The only casualty was ONE flowerpot blown over, and quite a lot of small twigs and leaves etc covering the garden, blown off the trees behind the van.  Inside the van, no problems at all, everything was dry as a bone, no leaks or damp or condensation, the tubs containing the moisture absorbing granules didn't even contain a single drop of water and no clumping.  No cobwebs or dust either, in fact it pretty much looked like we'd only just left the week before, and everything smelt fresh as a result of the washing machine scent beads I'd mixed in with the moisture granules.  I was so relieved.

We were the only static owners there, there was someone else parked down by the touring caravans on permanent pitches.  I suppose there might be a few more owners there at the weekend, most of them live a lot further away than us.  We saw the park owners and had a nice chat with them, they confirmed there had been no storm damage at all on site, as far as they were aware, although a couple of trees had come down on the driveway approach to the site.  Those trees were on the neighbouring property though, a large pub, so it was their responsibility to clear them, which they'd done last week.

Most of the Spring bulbs are still in their pots, a very few had been disturbed by the squirrels but not many.  A few of the bulbs in flower, not many as yet, although lots pushing through and in bud.  Still a nice welcome for us though.

We put the electric on and had a coffee first thing, it was so nice to be sitting having a drink (and a piece of flapjack) in our lovely van again, looking out of the windows.  Betty was running around everywhere, having a good sniff.  We then set to uncovering everything (I'd used fleeces and tea towels as dust sheets), unloaded the car, then dismantled husband's bed and leaned it up against a wall, to make space to store the new furniture when we take it over there.

All the old sofa cushions were loaded into the car, a few new kitchen things unpacked and put in place and packaging put in the car (we disposed of everything at the tip on the way home).  We then had a good look at the structure and woodwork of the built in sofa, working out which bits to leave (the framework along the walls of the van), and which we can safely remove without affecting the structural integrity.  We'll start tackling that the next time we go back, which will be Friday (it's forecast to rain pretty much all day today).

I'm ringing the GP this morning, as my knee pain has got considerably worse over the past couple of days and is now swollen.  Just when I can do without any further medical problems - I don't have time for this right now, more important (caravanny) things to do! 😁

It's a domestic day today, I made bread dough yesterday evening, it's been on a slow rise all night and looks ready to bake very soon.  And we need to go shopping, fresh stuff is fast running out and even the freezer has lots of spaces.  Oh, and it seems people are panic buying fuel again - we needed fuel on the way home and stopped at our usual supermarket garage - no diesel.  Big queues at the next one.  We finally got fuel in the 3rd garage we tried - considerably more expensive than our usual garage though.  Our friend filled up after us at the same place we'd got fuel and said he'd also tried another (different) garage to us - no diesel there.  The garage we both used then told him that they only had an hour's worth of diesel left.  I guess people are panicking about the fuel prices going up and up seemingly every day, and what that madman Putin might do with the fuel.