I am pleased to be able to tell you that our newly-modified mattress is very comfortable indeed.
It is absolutely splendid. Despite the compulsorily sociable dimensions of the bed, we both slept well and neither of us woke up with pins and needles in the underneath arm.
It was lovely to wake up in the camper van.
One of the modifications we have done has been to add three large roof lights to it. Because of these we can now get up in the morning and mill about without opening the curtains, but still in bright sunshine. This means that we don’t need to bother rushing about getting dressed. Obviously I don’t wish to spoil your breakfast coffee with unwelcome images, but since neither of us wear pyjamas it is very pleasant simply to amble around making coffee and visiting the bathroom invisible to the world and yet be warmed by sunny daylight.
We did not get up very early.
When we did eventually get up we emptied the dogs in a nearby field and then Mark installed some new cup-hanging arrangements whilst I caught up with some sewing. It was not interesting sewing. It was unravelled seams, but I felt perfectly happy to sit peacefully in the sunshine, restoring distressed trousers to functionality whilst Mark cut bits of adhesive foam and fixed things to the wall.
Eventually of course we had got to go.
We took the scenic route home, through Wensleydale and Hawes. This is actually the shortest route, but it is a winding little road, and because of rural things like cattle grids and narrow bridges it takes ages.
It took ages.
Eventually it took ages because we stopped in a secluded lay by by the side of a river and had some topically Wensleydale cheese and crackers. Then we thought it would be a good idea to add just a very small glass of wine.
After that we needed a little snooze.
When we woke up the day had wagged past at a frightening rate. We decided not to hang about any more, but to set off for home.
We had to stop a couple of times and take pictures, one of which is at the top, because the road from North Yorkshire through to Cumbria is really very beautiful. I was longing to stop and explore some of the little market towns, one of which was having an auction of lambs, because it is September already.
Mark said they were not fat lambs, but a general collection of extra lambs that farmers wanted to get rid of. This made me feel sad, because I like eating lamb, but do not like to think of the unhappiness of bereaved mummy sheep. He suggested that we stopped and had a look at the auction, but we would only have finished up owning a sheep, so we didn’t. We have owned sheep before. They are fast runners and grumpier than you might expect.
I could have hung around for days, but of course we didn’t. We had got to go home.
We like being in the camper van so much after all this time that we would have much preferred to stay in it. It is the very happiest place I can imagine being.
We thought we were very brave to unload everything into Mark’s taxi and make our way home, but of course once we got there home was lovely as well.
The lodger was having a day off and had very kindly folded up all of our washing for us. I should have put it away to show my appreciation, but I was too idle and so it is all still in a pile on the table.
Instead we had a cup of coffee and made sandwiches ready for work.
We are at work now.
We thought that we might try and go back to it tomorrow to do some more repairs. There is still loads and loads to be done, even though we are using it.
I can’t tell you how happy it is making me to have it back. It feels as though I have had the Pause button pressed on my life since it has been indisposed. Obviously this is not at all the case and I have been leading a rich and fulfilled life, but it is simply magnificent to be free again.
There is absolutely no feeling like it.
