Busy busy

 I've got loads to do today, so there's really no excuse for me to be sitting here typing a blog post!  Except that I'm having a coffee and a break, having already done 2 loads of washing (one was done overnight) and got it all out on the line.  And been to 2 shops - the supermarket for a few bits and B&M for some more oddments for the caravan.  And replied to an email from the electrician re their engineer leaving the immersion heater switched on.  They admitted it was their mistake, said he'd been spoken to (he also admitted he'd done it) and have asked us to send them a copy of our next bill, so that's all good by the sound of things.  I've also written more lists of things we need to take to the van, and a job list of the next items on the agenda for the next few days we're staying there.  I've got the rest of the van lounge and diner curtains to take up - I'm not using the spray glue anymore, it does do the job very quickly, but me and everything else gets covered in sticky glue and it leaves the curtain hems quite stiff.  So i'm caving in and sewing them instead, I have 5 more pairs to do, having done 2 pairs with the glue.....I'll get them all cut and the hems pinned and sew as many as I can this afternoon, whatever I don't get round to sewing I'll take to the van tomorrow and finish them off there.

I'm glad my dentist appointment for this morning was cancelled, having a tooth out and more of the dreaded gum disease treatment would have meant I wouldn't feel like doing much.  Although they give me umpteen anaesthetic jabs (I'm a coward when it comes to mouth pain), so I don't feel anything whilst they're doing the job, once the anaesthetic wears off my mouth is very painful for a few days.  Also, the effects of the anaesthetic seem to last ages on me, the last time part of my upper lip and the left side of my nose were numb for a couple of days afterwards, a very strange sensation.

Husband is cutting the front hedge, the persistent rain we had last week (and being away for a few days) has meant it's grown so much the postman has to almost hack his way through!  And the back half of the back garden is turning into a tropical rainforest and, guess what, husband's strimmer has temporarily packed up 😒.  Well, he'll have to go the oldfashioned way and use shears then, haha.

A nice, if wet, weekend in the van

 Well that was a good first weekend in the caravan.....apart from the weather.  Early last week it had been forecast to be ok, but that rapidly changed by the time we went away - we did have a few brief spells of sunshine on Saturday, interspersed with showers, but yesterday it pretty much piddled down all day.  Not that it mattered much, except for taking Betty out for her ablutions, as we were busy a lot of the time.

We put all the curtain tracks up - a joint and somewhat fraught effort, and that's all I'm saying about it!  They're up though and that's all that matters.  Husband laid the new vinyl flooring in the bathroom - it instantly makes the bathroom look so much better, he'll be wallpapering in there when we go back again mid week.  I started painting the top coat around the kitchen door, in the lovely aqua colour kitchen & bathroom paint (we'd already undercoated the walls).  Hmm, whilst it is a lovely colour, it's a bit too bright for my liking, not really what I want in the kitchen, so I've decided we'll just do the kitchen in the same subtle dove grey as the lounge.

Well, husband couldn't get the TV working, he thinks it's a problem with the aerial (the message on the TV kept saying No Signal) - I haven't a clue, I know nothing about tellies.  So it was a good job a) we had plenty of work to do, and b) I'd bought the stack of DVDs so at least husband had something to watch in the evenings.  Just as well neither of us likes football and I'm not very interested in tennis, otherwise we'd have been a bit annoyed!!  We do have a lovely little DAB radio in the caravan, so it was nice listening to old classic rock and pop and Classic FM while we worked.

I was a bit worried that Betty might not settle for her first night in the van, but she did - not a peep out of her all night.  When I got up in the night, she was pleased to see me, but went straight back to her bed as soon as I told her to.  She's been no trouble at all, in fact she's slept most of the weekend!  

It was certainly quiet over the weekend - out of 37 static vans, only about 6 (including ours) were occupied, and none of our near neighbours were there so we were pretty much on our own in our little area.  There were only a handful of touring caravans, so again very quiet.  When we left to come home just after lunch today, just 2 or 3 tourers there and 1 other static van occupied.

Not best pleased when we got home, though.  When husband washed his hands when we got in, he discovered the water was very hot - which it shouldn't have been, as we'd turned the water heater off when we left on Saturday morning.  Upon looking in the airing cupboard, he found that the immersion heater was switched on - we never use that as our water is heated by the oil fired system, which is a damn sight cheaper than the immersion heater.  We had an electrician in to check and service the electrical system on Tuesday of last week, instructed by the Landlord - we left him to his own devices and went off to the caravan for the day.  The electrician must have put the immersion on to test it, I'm guessing, and then failed to turn it off!!  So it's been on for almost an entire week, gobbling up electricity no doubt.  I've emailed the electrical company to put in a complaint.

And on the way home, I had a phone call from my dentists cancelling my appointment tomorrow (the reason we were coming home today) as my dentist has been pinged by Test & Trace and is having to self isolate.  Oh well, I certainly wasn't looking forward to going, and we'd have had to come home anyway as I also have a chiropodist appointment first thing Weds morning.  But we're going back to the caravan straight after my feet have been done - we have the Man with a Van coming again to take hopefully the last load of rubbish from the van.  We'll be staying over for 3 or 4 nights this time, doing some more work there.  We'll be finishing off the bathroom and possibly the kitchen top coat on the walls and ceiling.  If we have time (or the inclination), we'll make a start on the small bedroom.

We've really enjoyed our first weekend staying there, being able to work at a slower pace and stop whenever we want, and not have to drive home and then back again the next day.  It'll be even nicer from midweek onwards, as the weather is forecast to be really good - dry, sunny and warm, 24 degrees apparently.  So there'll probably be more fellow owners turning up, which will be nice.

And we're off

 All packed and ready and off we go.....it's raining, well showery actually, but who cares.

We're just going to lay the new vinyl flooring in the bathroom today, and then probably do nothing.  If husband feels like doing any more (like decorating the bathroom) then we will, but I don't mind if he'd rather have the weekend off.  He's worked so hard, he deserves some time off.  I've bought him a stack of DVDs from the charity shop, so he'll enjoy watching those.  I've got a pile of books and some magazines, so it'll be feet up and reading for me.  We're having easy ready-cooked meals for our dinners, and Ploughmans for lunches, so no major cooking for me either.  (For overseas readers, a Ploughman's lunch is a plate of cheeses, cold meats or pork pie, with pickles and crusty bread.  Some fruit goes nice with it too, a sliced apple or some grapes eg).

I wonder what Betty will make of her first night in the van?  If she doesn't settle, I'll go and sleep in the lounge with her.  Our neighbours in the vans on both sides of us have all gone home for a few days, so it'll be very peaceful there, I imagine (depending on how many touring vans are there for the weekend).

I may try a short post on my phone tomorrow, otherwise I'll post again when we're home Monday evening.

All ready to move in

 Thanks for the comments all of you lovely readers.  Oh and Gemma's P, yes husband went off to get the mattress on his own - fortunately, it came rolled up like a giant cigar packed tightly in a big plastic bag, so he could get it comfortably inside the car, so that was good!  So no I wasn't needed to have my arm through the window clinging onto the mattress on the roof 😂😂 (much to my relief).

Whilst husband was gone, I unpacked 4 big plastic lidded storage boxes and 2 cardboard boxes and put everything away - now the lounge is looking clear and tidy again and things are in their proper place in all the cupboards.  So for the next few weeks, husband will constantly be asking me where everything is 😒😂 (he can't find anything unless it's literally right in front of his face).

Getting the mattress in the bedroom, the topper on and making the bed was, erm, interesting.....the bedroom is quite cramped.  Not that it bothers me, it's only the bedroom, we'll only be sleeping in it.  I'm pleased that the lounge is quite large and spacious, for a caravan, as obviously that's where we'll be spending most of our time, or outside in the garden.

The bedroom when we bought the van - the filthy cushions were hiding the horrible brown stains on the headboard.

Betty clearly approves of the new bed - she jumped on it as soon as we'd finished making it.  The headboard is a bit of a work in progress - we should have covered it before we put the bed in there, but totally forgot (schoolboy error), and there's not much room at all now the bed's made.  Anyway, within the limited space we started covering the headboard with the excess material I'd cut off the new long curtains, I was holding it in place whilst husband used his super duper electric staple gun to fix it down.  Except.....the bloody thing gave up the ghost after just 4 staples 😝, so we had to make do with double sided tape for the rest, and it's a bit skew whiff because the damn tape was sticking to everything including us and we had such a tiny bit of space to do it in and we were getting frustrated!!!  You get the picture lol.  Anyway, it'll do for now, it's better than the bare chipboard which is all that's left of the horrible headboard.

Got home, took all the empty boxes out of the car, put some washing on and then went straight out again to do the shopping, both for the weekend away and some for next week as the fridge here is bare having not had time to go shopping this week, and we're busy next week.  Home to put all the shopping away whilst husband nipped out to get fish and chips.  Andddd relax!!

Having an early night, then up early to pack the clothes and food and then we're off!  

Tomorrow we'll make a start on decorating the bathroom, but from here on in we're taking things a lot easier, so if it gets done, all well and good - if not, then that's fine, we've got plenty of time now.  I'm taking books and magazines, husband's taking his new TV and some DVDs - I just hope he can get it tuned in and working properly, or he'll be lost 😂

Clean and fresh bathroom

 I must apologise for not commenting much on your blogs recently - been a bit busy! 😂  I have tried to read them when I get a spare few minutes, hopefully I'll catch up properly soon.  I also need to mention that when we're staying at the caravan (our first sleepover is almost here!! 😁) it may not be possible for me to write a blog post - we have no WiFi there, haven't got round to doing anything about that yet as it's not really been high on my list of priorities(!!).  Some caravan parks have WiFi, ours doesn't, we have to make our own arrangements for that.  I do have WiFi on my phone, but it's dependent on signal of course - and signal there at the park is very hit and miss, I can be getting 4G sometimes, but in the next minute the signal has completely disappeared.  It's better outside in the van garden, but even then it's still unpredictable - and I'm not going to be sitting out there in the rain trying to get a signal 😂😒

This morning we collected the bed frame on the way to the caravan.  Putting it together was less of a hassle than is usual for flat packs (it's a metal frame) - in fact we managed without swearing at each other, threatening divorce or getting my fingers squashed....quite an achievement.

We then moved on to cleaning the bathroom, which made me heave at times, it was so filthy and smelly.  Not anymore though, it's lovely and clean and fresh smelling now.  Here's the little bath and shower before cleaning:-

The bath was really dirty - initially we thought it was cracked, but it was just streaks of dirt, it was also very cobwebby and the skylight above the bath was in a poor state, although it doesn't appear to actually leak.  As you can see, the waterproof boarding is bowed and coming away from the wall on the right side, although it'll be easy enough for husband to fix back into place.

The bottom photo is after I'd cleaned the basin, it took several applications of the bathroom spray, lots of hot water and half a packet of antiseptic wipes, but it's clean now.  The toilet was yucky, we're having a new toilet seat.

The bathroom is very dated, but it's serviceable.  Ideally, we'd like the bath taken out and a shower cubicle put in, along with new basin and toilet - however, that'll cost too much so we're not doing it, we'll just live with what's there.  The plastic mirror and shelf unit above the sink is going, we'll have a new mirror and shelf after the wall's been papered with the same waterproof vinyl we put in the kitchen.  That's a job for the weekend when we're staying in the van for the first time! (did I mention we're starting to spend nights there from this Saturday? 😁😁).  I'll put more photos up once we've finished decorating the bathroom and laying the new flooring.

There are several plastic lidded boxes stacked up in the dining area, full of kitchen and bathroom equipment, linens etc, awaiting putting away - I'll do that tomorrow morning when husband goes off to collect the mattress.  Then we'll go shopping in the afternoon, and then move in on Saturday!

Bedroom almost ready to sleep in!

 Thanks so much for the lovely comments, you're all so kind.

It's been a busy day today, with horrendous weather at times.  Typical British weather really - warm sunshine and blue sky one minute, absolutely torrential rain the next.  Betty didn't much like the sound of the rain hammering on the roof, it spooked her a bit, but she got used to it quite quickly.  One good thing about being in the caravan whilst it was raining so hard - we could check to see whether it was leaking anywhere....nope, dry as a bone, I'm pleased to say.  And a big advantage of our pitch is that it's high up (the site is terraced and on a hill, the lower slopes of the Mendips), so no chance of flooding where we're situated.  We also have a thick bank of trees and hedging right behind our van, so it's quite sheltered anyway.

The gas man came and fitted the new part to the boiler, so it's all done and working fine now.  We started off by thoroughly cleaning all the cupboards and drawers in the bedroom, including inside them - they were all filthy, as expected.  We then painted the ceiling - the walls are fine with just one coat.  Incidentally, we're using Wilko's own emulsion paint and I'd recommend it - very thick, goes on smoothly and covers well for a budget paint.  Vacuumed the carpet again, polished the 2 mirrors and all done - I can say I'm very happy with the bedroom now and will be content to sleep in there in the knowledge that it's all clean and fresh and we won't catch anything nasty!

Husband has decided to collect the new bed in 2 parts - the metal frame tomorrow, then the mattress on Friday.  At least that means we can put the frame together tomorrow, ready for the mattress to go straight on it on Friday.

We also fitted the kitchen window blind - had to cut it both length and width first, which went smoothly (for a change!).  Husband fitted the end panel of the kitchen worktop/unit, which he'd cut correctly this time.  He's just got a small area of pipework to box in and that's the kitchen finished - for now.  We still have the wall cupboards to paint white, but that'll get done probably next week whilst we're staying there.

We didn't get time to clean the bathroom (had to leave the park early as we had a couple of things to pick up in town), so that's on the list for tomorrow.  Husband and Betty are both snoring on the sofa here at home.....I'd join in if I didn't have dinner to cook and washing to put on 😂😒

The site owner said he had a peek through the van windows and is very impressed at what we've done - I'd told him when we bought it that he'd be in for a pleasant surprise!

Bedroom being done, and a card

 We were taking the horrible old bed out yesterday morning, prior to painting the bedroom.  Husband took the mattress out - on closer inspection, it was truly disgusting, no way could (or would!) we have slept on it.  When he lifted up the divan base, we found piles of rubbish underneath it - tons of used tissues, bits of paper, old receipts, a pair of scissors, a small toolbox complete with tools and - yuck!!! - several dirty socks and underpants, much to my utter disgust.  Once that was all picked up (with rubber gloves on, by husband), I filled the Vax up twice, vacuuming the terribly dusty carpet.  

I'd decided that rather than attempting to steam clean the filthy stained padded headboard, we'd just use a Stanley knife and cut it off the wall, or as much of it as we could, so husband did that.  He got all the material and padded sponge off, leaving just a 2cm thick piece of chipboard, which appears to be screwed to the wall from the outer side, so no chance of getting that off.  Doesn't matter, I'll stick with my plan of covering it with the leftover material from the new (long) curtains, it'll be easy enough to staple or even glue it in place on the chipboard.  The new bed is a metal framed one with a headboard, so we don't actually need a padded headboard on the wall, the material will just nicely cover the chipboard up.

We painted all the walls in the same dove grey we've used in the lounge - as it's a small room we did it fairly quickly, we'll see today if it needs a second coat.  The Venetian blind in there is also broken - most of them throughout the caravan are - so I'll be buying yet more net curtaining.  The bedroom looks nice now with freshly painted walls and a reasonably clean carpet.  We're not changing the carpet, will just get a couple of small rugs to go each side of the bed.

Husband couldn't finish the kitchen yesterday - all he has to do is fit an end panel to the worktop, but it needed cutting to size at home, only he didn't cut it the right size (normal for him!! 😒).  So he had to bring it home to cut a bit more off.....fortunately, he cut it too big, not too small - that would have been very annoying.  He's also got some pipes to box in.

Today we're doing the 2nd coat in the bedroom, if it needs it, then thoroughly cleaning the bathroom, which clearly hadn't been cleaned for ages by the previous (in poor health) owners.  Husband has the new vinyl flooring to lay in the bathroom.  The walls need painting (in a lovely aqua bathroom paint, which we've already got) in the next few days.  The gas man is coming to fit the new part to the boiler, it shouldn't take him long.

Things are moving along quite rapidly now, thank goodness.

Oh, here's a card I made the other day, drawn continuing my theme of monochrome with one feature colour:-