The day has not gone exactly according to plan. You may not be surprised by this.
We were supposed to be going to the dentist and we had decided to take the camper van and stay in Barrow overnight. We like Barrow, because of the seaside and the market and also because it has more sunshine than Windermere.
We were drinking our coffee and contemplating this happy prospect this morning, when the telephone rang. It was the dentist. She had broken her foot and did not feel like looking at people’s teeth with a broken foot.
All our plans instantly evaporated into the morning rain, which was a disorientating feeling. In the end Mark said that we should go to the camper van and instead of just playing at Wendy houses in it, and sighing happily and enjoying being in our own little box, we should start fixing some of the things that are still wrong with it, like the wardrobe or the bathroom or the kitchen drawers or the brakes, which are sticking more than they should.
We could still stay overnight in it if we felt like it.
I thought that this was a brilliant idea, so we packed everything we could think of and off we went.
We thought we would start with the bathroom. because of it being hard work to do the jug-and-bucket sort of showering when you are fifty. Also if we are going to visit Gordonstoun we do not want to look as though we have just had a wash in a bucket. I bet the Queen never, ever turns up there having just done that on the Royal Train.
We spent ages standing in the bathroom, trying the sink in different places to see if we could still get on and off the loo. This is an important part of building things, especially in a tiny space, because if you are wearing nice clothes you do not want them to become decorated with large wet patches from the sink every time you visit the loo. Actually this is tiresome even in scruffy clothes, and I don’t suppose that the Queen has that problem either.
We drew a line where we wanted the sink, and then discovered several more lines in different places where we had decided we would like to have the sink on the other occasions when we have done this, so we had to mark today’s line as being the Final And Definitive Sink Fixing Line.
After that Mark created a corner unit to incorporate the sink and the taps and the shower, and I did some painting, which is at the top.
It was nice to get things done but very odd. It felt very peculiar to drag everything out of its tidy storage places and to not be having an adventure in the camper, but to have it in bits in the shed again.
I was pleased to be doing the bathroom but it all felt a bit uncomfortable, as if we suddenly had a broken camper van again.
When it got too dark to see we got cold and fed up and went home, but the lodger had got a visitor coming, so instead of staying at home we thought we might prefer not to be under her feet. This is because she is a Young Person and we are old and dull. We came back here to the camper van.
I was secretly very pleased indeed to be doing this. I like being at home, it is warm and lovely, but it is nice to be back in our own little travelling house.
We did not travel anywhere. We are in the shed. We lit the gas and warmed things up. Then we ate a colossal dinner and drank some wine, and I wrote to you.
I have no idea how I am going to get it online. The wifi here is rubbish.
If you are reading this then obviously I have managed it.
