Decor and artwork for the (as yet non existent!) caravan

 Thanks everyone for the lovely comments on our static caravan plans, I can hardly wait to go and have a look.  A lot depends on the internal condition and style of the caravan, but I already have a colour scheme and general 'look' in mind, having spent some time looking at ideas, Pinterest boards and makeover pictures from people who've done up their vans.  It's all really exciting, I'm so looking forward to actually having our own caravan and doing it up, on a budget.  Once we get going, I'll take lots of pictures and document our progress.

Joy, you asked if we could 'unofficially' let our van (once we get one!) to friends.  No, I don't think that's an option.....I asked for and was given a printed copy of the site Ts&Cs, in which it states that no subletting is allowed, the site owner also told us verbally, so I reckon it's a no.  I will ask him though if friends are allowed to stay in our absence, as I know a couple of our friends would be very interested - in fact, they've already asked if they can come and stay!

On the subject of pictures.....I want to do some artwork for the van (I have some canvases I bought quite cheaply) so have been doing some drawing this morning.  Here's one:-

I've branched out (sorry! 😂)

I fancied trying something different to the usual flowers I do, so had a go at trees.  I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt.....did it on art paper for a first go, now I'll go ahead and do it on a canvas.

Yuck weather again today, and pretty much the same for the rest of this week apparently.  Oh dear.

Can't hold it in any longer!

 Some news I've been holding off from talking about for weeks now, because it's not yet finalised.  It will be soon, though, and I'm bursting to talk about it, as I'm getting more excited every day 😁

Some time ago, we'd considered buying a second hand static caravan, partly for our own use, but mostly to let out to paying customers, for the income.  However, after joining a few caravan forums and getting advice from them, and a lovely knowledgeable fellow blogger (thank you Sue!), and also a couple of friends, one of whom cleans holiday caravans, we've decided against it.  Too many cons - caravan cleaner friend had some real horror stories to tell of the state some holidaymakers leave caravans in (why?  are people really that careless about property that doesn't belong to them?  Obviously they are!).  Increased costs, e.g. extra insurance, having to have all the appliances etc properly tested every year, cleaning and letting admin costs the park charges if you don't do it yourself, repairing/replacing things broken (or stolen!) by paying guests.  And to make any money, the van would have to be on a large park with plenty of amenities, which means much higher site fees.  Plus large parks like that have a strict policy regarding the age limit of vans (I've even heard of some requiring you to change your van every 3 years!).  So that was a no no.

However, we've always liked the idea of having our own holiday place - can't afford a cottage, so a second hand static caravan is the next best thing.  Husband, after a lifetime of driving HGVs for a living, and now having heart failure and being 70, no longer wants to drive long distances, even for a holiday, so the idea of having a caravan on a nice small, quiet park with no clubhouse or pool or playgrounds (and thus no screaming kids), and not far from home, really appeals.  We've spent the last few weeks looking and have found what we think is a lovely park, which suits our needs and wants perfectly - it's only 40 mins drive away, has just 35 static caravans on site, all owner occupied and for personal use only, no letting allowed (although it does have a small area for 20 or so touring caravans).  It has no leisure facilities, but is a lovely peaceful site surrounded by trees and shrubs and with amazing countryside and hill views (near to the Mendip hills), not far from Cheddar Gorge.  Pub that serves food next door, and a small village with a couple of shops just down the road.  Larger shops (and the beach) not far away in Weston super Mare.  The site owner is lovely, the site has been in his family since 1933, started by his grandfather, and his daughter helps to run it now, she will take over in due course.  He refers to the other caravan owners as his extended family and says they all get on like a house on fire.

Anyway, we went to look at a caravan there a few weeks ago.....for one reason or another it wasn't what we wanted, but the site owner thought another couple of vans would be available very soon.  Well, now there are indeed 2 vans that have become available, side by side (owned by a now deceased couple and their son, who no longer wants to keep his van now his parents have died).  One of them is on a plot that would be ideal for us and Betty - it has a readymade mostly paved garden, fully fenced, with lots of plants in pots.  We're going to have a look at both the caravans next week.  The site has no age restrictions, the owner allows vans of any age and for as long as you want, provided you keep the van well maintained - which we would, obviously, as it would be our pride and joy.

Although we've not yet got a caravan, we have been collecting equipment for it over the past few weeks - that's part of the fun!  We've bought a few things brand new (kettle, toaster and lovely little wood-encased DAB radio, e.g.), we had a few things already (towels, bedding, some kitchen equipment) and have bought other things second hand on the local FB market pages, at a car boot sale or in charity shops.  This morning I bought a second hand electric oil filled radiator (caravans, even with central heating, which some older vans don't have, can get very chilly) in a charity shop for the absolute bargain price of.......£5!!  PAT tested and in full working order.

Depending on the state/age of the caravan, should we buy one (and I do have a good feeling about one of the vans in particular), we are expecting to have to do it up a bit and give it some TLC, we may well even paper the interior walls and paint the woodwork, using chalk paint.  I doubt we'll be re-covering the sofas or changing the carpets (because of cost), but will get new throws and rugs.....although we may be able to get carpet or vinyl offcuts, there's a good carpet shop in town that does very reasonably priced offcuts.  Having briefly seen the van from the outside, I think we may need to buy new curtains.  Or they may be salvageable with a good wash but needing new linings, which will be cheap enough to make (even I, with my very limited sewing skills, should be able to manage to cut out and sew straight rectangles 😂 ).

Ooh, it's all very exciting!!

Rain! House martins, veggies

 The arm soreness has almost gone and I'm feeling much better today, despite not catching up on much sleep.  When I went up for a nap yesterday afternoon, Betty came with me....she kept fidgeting and changing position, and then leapt off the bed and raced downstairs barking when she heard a delivery van pull up outside - not for us, for next door.  Last night I slept fairly well initially, but was woken up in the early hours by torrential rain hammering against the window, it continued for the rest of the night.  The weather seems to be all extremes now - for weeks we had no rain, lots of sunshine but really strong cold winds, with frosts overnight.  Now it's rain nearly every day - well, it will certainly be ALL day today, according to the forecast.  I'm glad I don't need to go anywhere.  Bed changing day today, but I won't be doing the washing until tomorrow, it's not a day for washing on the line.  I load the machine and set it to come on overnight, as we have the cheap rate overnight electricity.  It's forecast to be sunny tomorrow morning, although back to rain in the afternoon, so I can get the bedding on the line first thing and hopefully it'll dry by lunchtime.

The house martins have finally arrived, several weeks later than usual, there were lots zipping around twittering to each other yesterday, I love seeing them.  Swallows, however, have already been here a couple of weeks.....strange.  There's a house martin nest in the corner of our bedroom window, it's used every year - yesterday though I saw a swallow going in it twice - a squatter!  Will have to watch to see what happens, whether the swallow will take up residence, or the usual house martin repossessing it.  No sign of any of the birds today, I don't know where they go but we don't see them when it's raining all the time.

Thank you all for comments.....HH, yes I have had a tooth out before, I'm just a total coward when it comes to the dentist, a jittery bag of nerves (which probably makes it all worse).  I didn't even have anything done yesterday, other than her prodding my gums with that sharp pointy thing and then putting the putty stuff in my mouth to take impressions - yuck, horrible, and I wasn't even allowed to rinse my mouth out in there (Covid restrictions), so it was just as well I'd taken a bottle of water with me.  I was spitting out lumps of pink plasticine stuff all day.  Even though I had nothing much done, I still felt pretty traumatised.....wimpy I know.  Must remember to take an anti-anxiety pill just before I go to have the tooth out in 2 weeks, I forgot yesterday.

We're getting lots of asparagus this year, husband's cutting enough for a side dish for both of us every other day.  He's just bought some courgette plants, but it's too wet to put them in just yet.  We're still not growing loads of veg this year, but will have first early potatoes, a few tomatoes, courgettes and probably leeks, plus all the fruit (strawberries, blueberries, apples and pears.....maybe a few plums).  It's a pity the asparagus season isn't longer, I do love asparagus.  I might possibly have a wigwam of runner beans in a pot in the front garden, just the one (rather than the several rows husband normally grows in the back garden......he must think there's a small army of people living in this house!  We were inundated with beans last year....).

Scary thing done....well, delayed

 Had my 2nd jab yesterday.  In awe once again at just how efficient, smiley, friendly and kind everyone in the vax centres is - medical staff and volunteers alike.  They're all doing a wonderful job and I'm so grateful to have had both jabs now.  After the first jab (the Pfizer one), I had a bad headache and felt like I had flu for 2 days.....the flu-type feeling came on quite suddenly late in the afternoon, and went just as suddenly a couple of days later.  My arm was fine, a little sore but nothing to speak of.  Husband had a very sore arm and felt very tired and lightheaded after his first (he had the AstraZeneca), it only lasted a few hours.  

My arm's been very sore indeed since yesterday, it was painful to lie on it in bed (bit awkward, as my right hip is too sore to lie on for more than a couple of minutes, and the soreness in my jabbed - left - arm meant I couldn't lie on that side either).  It's still sore today, however I've had no other symptoms, no headache or flu-ey feelings.  Husband had no side effects at all after his 2nd jab a couple of weeks ago.

I'm glad I didn't feel too bad, as I had the dentist appointment this morning.  It's a new dentist (so something else to worry me!) as my last one left the practice last year, apparently....however, the new one, Laura, turned out to be very nice.  She wanted to take my wobbly tooth out, but I chickened out, just didn't feel up to it today.  Going back in a fortnight for it to be taken out, along with some gum work and x-rays, so I'll have to psyche myself up for that.  She said my gum disease has got a bit worse, but seeing as I'm supposed to go every 6 months for treatment and have missed 2 appointments because they weren't offering them due to Covid, it's hardly surprising.  Covid's got a lot to answer for.

I'm not feeling too good today - hardly any sleep last night what with sore arm and hip and worrying about the dentist, and stress/anxiety (amongst other things) making me feel jittery and tearful, so I might go up to bed for an hour or 2.  Husband can deal with the dinner, it's a cottage pie I made the other day so he's only got to warm it through and prep some green veg to go with it.

Good news

 Morning all, thank you for recent comments.  We enjoyed our holiday week, albeit mostly at home, but now it's back to normal life.  First thing this morning we went to the GP for husband's bloods and ECG results.....I went with him as he never remembers a) to tell the doctor everything, and b) what the doctor tells him, so I never get to know anything unless I'm actually there.

The GP (he's a new one, I've seen him once before, he's a really nice man) gave husband a thorough examination.  There's nothing concerning about his bloods, the BNP part of the test (which is specifically for heart failure) came back as relatively normal.  His ECG was fine too.  Doctor checked his abdomen and ankles and listened to his lungs and heart for fluid retention - nothing of concern.  So he's come to the conclusion that husband's recent breathlessness and angina type chest pains are down to the fact that he's put about a stone on and been quite inactive since his foot operation last October.  So the prescription is....get up off his backside and do more/longer walks.  (We both need to do that, actually).  It's a huge relief, for both of us, that husband's heart failure doesn't appear to be worse.

It's all medical things this week.....this afternoon husband has a chiropodist appointment.  Tomorrow morning I have my 2nd jab (hooray!), then Wednesday morning my dentist appointment (boo!).  I've been waiting a long time for that, it was January when I rang the dentist because I had a wobbly tooth that was quite painful, only to be told it wasn't an emergency (they were only seeing emergencies), they'd put me on a waiting list, and to rinse with salt water in the meantime.  Fortunately, the tooth hasn't fallen out and is no longer painful.  The last time I went to the dentist was February of last year, not long before Covid buggered everything up.

Apparently, Boris is going to say (or has already said, I didn't see the news yesterday) that overnight stays with family/friends will be allowed from next Monday - fabulous!!  Husband is already planning to go and stay with his daughter up in the Midlands for a long weekend....I'll be staying here with Betty.  His daughter has a dog, a Staffy called Milo, he's a lovely dog but he and Betty don't see eye to eye, so best not to have the 2 of them under the same roof, don't want to stress either of them out.  Husband's not seen his daughter or grandchildren for around 18 months, so he's really looking forward to it.  I'll enjoy a few days to myself here with Betty (might even let her sleep on my bed, but don't tell husband!!).

Continuing our holiday at home

 Yesterday we went to Wells.  It's been so long since we last went that I'd forgotten Wednesday is market day there, so it was a bit busier than I'd have liked.  No problems though, most people were wearing masks (including us), even outdoors.  We really wanted to have lunch outside one of the cafes there (they all now have outside seating), but there was a strong freezing cold wind, even though it was sunny, so we decided against it - I just didn't want to sit there shivering and trying to stop my lunch blowing away!  Never mind, we enjoyed having a mooch around the shops and I did get a few things I wanted.  One advantage of having to wear a mask is that it keeps your face warm when it's cold!

It was cloudy with a couple of showers this morning, but cleared up by lunchtime when the sun came out (the forecasters are doing a very good job lately).  So off we went to our lovely Dunster beach after lunch, much to Betty's delight, she was charging around on the sand like a mad thing.  There was a lovely clear blue sky and plenty of sunshine, but boy was it cold - that blimmin freezing wind still.  No wonder there was hardly anyone there, sensible people probably stayed at home in the warm.  We didn't walk right to the end of the site like we usually do, it was just too cold and the wind was blowing right in our faces.  At least it was behind us on the way back to the car park.  Betty doesn't care about the wind and cold though, she had a lovely time.

We're thinking we might possibly go to Exeter tomorrow, it's supposed to be another sunny day, hopefully not with such a cold wind though.

Husband's consultant (for his foot) said he'd benefit from having physiotherapy, his foot is being very slow to heal and is still causing him a lot of pain.  He got the appointment letter through today......for a course of phone appointments.  What good is that going to do him?  He's disgusted and says he's going to see what his consultant says about it, he's due to see her again (an actual face to face appointment) the week after next.

I have my 2nd jab next week, husband had his last week.  He had no side effects at all, although with the first one he had a headache and felt very shivery and feverish for 12 hours.  I'm hoping I'll have no ill effects either, as I have the dentist the day after.

Home

 For various reasons, we've come home early from our holiday today - we were due back this coming Saturday.  It's not been bad, Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning were all mostly sunny and we did get out and about a few times.  It helped a lot being away, in that it consolidated our thoughts about our future plans and we gained some useful information.  And we're not just getting back into our normal routine now we're home, we're treating the rest of the week as if we're still on holiday.  So we're planning a couple of days out - a trip to Wells tomorrow, one of my favourite towns, a Dunster beach long walk with Betty on Thursday, and another trip out somewhere on Friday, yet to be decided.

The forecast storm yesterday afternoon and evening wasn't as bad as expected - quite windy and a few heavyish showers, but nothing drastic.  Looks as though it was worse here at home, several things blown around in the garden, both our polytunnel and next door's have taken a battering, the covers are ripped.  Well, never mind, we'd already decided we're not growing too much in the way of veg this year.

Betty is so pleased to be home, she's been charging round the house, up and down the stairs, in and out of the garden, clearly enjoying the space.  We stayed in a static caravan - very nice, but not very spacious for an energetic (and clumsy!) dog.