Caravan Diary, Day 45

Getting on with the decorating is a lot easier now that Mats has started going to nursery full time. I would have made even more progress had I not spent most of Sunday and Monday up to my shoulder in crap trying to unblock our main drain again (eurghhh!!!!). The amount of rubbish I found in its depths beggars belief: stones, broken bits of metal grate, blood sugar test strips... Well, anyway, after many hours of scooping out liquid and ladling out junk it is now flowing again (for the moment), but thank goodness its days are numbered due to our impending kitchen extension! Keep your fingers crossed that it'll not give me any more grief until the work on the kitchen starts in autumn.

But the weekend had much better moments as well: We had a visit from Vicky, Megan, Oliver and Rowan who stayed for lunch and a walk and extended afternoon tea complete with Kidlington-made scones. It was lovely to see everyone, especially Roo who has grown so much since we saw him last!

Many of you will remember how I whined about 2013 getting off to such a rubbish start. Well, turns out it could have been A LOT WORSE! For reasons too complicated to explain here I happened to end up in our old house on Saturday evening. As it happens, our buyer hasn't even moved in, yet, because he started a new job in Manchester three weeks ago. Phiuhh! In fact: mega-phiuhhh!!!!! Had our sale taken even a couple of weeks longer to go through it would most certainly have collapsed, because this guy would not have bought Princes Street after all!!!!!!!!! And it gets worse: last week there was yet another fire in the derelict pub next door, so nobody else would have bought it, either. At least not for the foreseeable future. I simply cannot put into words just how grateful this all makes me feel. We HAVE sold and we HAVE moved. And we're loving being in this wreck of a place and doing it up. Yes, it's stressful, and yes, it's cramped, but hey, it's only a matter of time. Even if it is months until we get rid of the chaos and the dust. What is that in comparison to what could have been?...

Caravan Diary, Day 39 (is it?? I've lost count!)

Today I picked my first ever lock. Am feeling quite smug now, as it was rather easier than I had assumed. Just needed a set of feeler gauges and a "how to" video on YouTube. Now which lock to pick next?

In other news I watched my dad paint our garage wall while I was trying to console an eight-month-old who was desperately tired but refused to sleep. The roof is nearly done now, more skirting boards have been fitted and the last of the hideous doors are resting against a tree on our front lawn waiting for a new home (ELSEWHERE!). The last lot of doors took all of two hours to disappear. Let's see how long these will take to go.

Now, how long is this current spot of rainy weather meant to last? 'Cause it cramps my style. Big time!

Caravan Diary, Day 35

 

Mats keeping himself entertained in the garden

 
Well, well, well! The last few days have seen so much progress, I don't even know where to begin!

• The bedrooms upstairs are newly plastered (at least where it was necessary. Everywhere else the bad bits have just been patched. I so wish I had the money to get every room replastered completely - it would be like a whole new house!...). Now we need to paint the walls and gloss the skirting boards and we're actually able to sleep inside. Exciting times!!
• The scaffolding has gone up ready for the roof to be done.
• The old useless chimney stack at the back has been taken down
• We have successfully demolished the hideous fishpond in the garden. The three remaining fish - which turned out to actually be quite pretty when viewed through clear water in their transport-freezer bags as opposed to the green slurry that was left in the pond -  have been ceremoniously set free in the River Sowe by Stoneleigh. Our frog, who re-appeared this morning, has been gently encouraged to find a new home in some neighboring fish pond.
• The airing cupboard in the boys' room has been knocked out.
• The cloakroom has been stripped (but we're now waiting for the plumber to repair the main stop cock before anything can happen that involves turning off the water supply. Also, Mark our builder is still scratching his head working out how to make a twenty-first century toilet fit onto the mid-century soil pipe. Watch this space!).
• The potting shed is becoming more and more a genuine option to retreat to n the weeks to come. I can really see myself in there starting future grow-your-own projects. i can't believe how much patience my dad has to find piece after piece of reclaimed wood that we can repurpose. So far the list of things we have bought for 'Project Shed' is limited to a set of hinges, a hasp and staple and one length of shelf. Not bad going for a shack that was at the brink of collapse :-)

The long-awaited scaffolding is going up at last

  
And what can I say, the weather has continued to be incredibly good to us. I can't believe that we're in England when I see all this blue sky!! Mind you, we unequivocally deserve it after the run of rubbish summers that we have had to endure recently...

Caravan-grown strawberries – yummy pudding for Willem tonight

Caravan Diary, Day 31

Unbelievable. We have been more or less happy campers for exactly a month now! And we haven't killed anyone yet, or had any major nervous breakdowns. Result!

Today has shown glimpses of what lies ahead. Big progress (suddenly the door between the hallway and the sitting room is blocked up; tomorrow we'll get the new doorway slightly further towards the dining room) and even more dust (our smoke detectors don't like it any more than we do; I might need to find a bag to tape them shut tomorrow to stop them from constantly alarming). So stage 2 has begun with our builder doing his first full day. Boy, what a difference it makes when you suddenly see structural changes. Amazing!

Dad has worked wonders restoring the old potting shed and making it useful again. It'll never look like new, but I reckon a lick of paint and we'll still get years of grow-your-own fun out of it. Shall we have a quick poll? What colour do you think we should paint the woodwork? (I won't promise that I'll take any notice at all, but I'd like to hear your  ideas)

Right then, we've got a crack-o'-dawn start tomorrow to clear the rooms upstairs for the plasterers. Night, night, all!

Caravan Diary, Day 29

Gosh, we're only a couple of days short of our first month living gypsy-style. Who would have thought we'd still be relatively sane at this point?

This weekend has had three major items of news:

• Opa Matten has arrived (complete with a car packed to the rafters with sanitary-ware from Germany (and tools - one can never have too many tools!) and his arrival has really upped productivity levels in the Schäfer household. It is becoming obvious that it takes at least three adults to get anything of any significance done. Two to do the work and one to watch the kids. Short of three and you're always stuck with something that you'd need another pair of hands for...
• The weather has been so kind! That must have been the third weekend since day X that was fantastically, amazingly sunny. We've enjoyed the garden including re-potting our first courgette plants and a big BBQ. Ooh, and the first ever pudding with home-grown rhubarb. Lush! It has generally felt like a bit of a holiday - despite all the work.
• Another friend's birthday party where Willem was shy and moody and didn't defrost until it was nearly time to go home. What is it with the child at the moment? It's really hard to take him anywhere because he seems to be having a really difficult time for the most part... Well, let's hope it's just a short phase...

Next week is set to become a big one: plasterers, builders, roofers - they're all starting next week, so hopefully that'll mean upping the pace. Watch this space!