Tag: England

We have made the difficult decision to leave the UK and go home, so we resign from our jobs the day after we get back from holiday. The standard notice here is one month, which will mean we have been working here for only a little over 9 months. It hasnt been a decision made lightly and there are many reasons. Upon reflection it perhaps was the best final month as we had several short weeks with which to get used to the idea and decide on our plan of attack.

The weekend following our return from Malta, we decide to go away for a weekend in the van. A lot of campsites arent even open yet, but we find one near Winchester and head there on the Saturday morning. We havent been anywhere in the van for a few months and we need to see if things are still ok. On setting up at the site, Scot opens the side storage locker only to have the strutt side hinges snap. That isnt good as it is near impossible to get parts for a van even this old. Then we find that the bathroom tap appears to be spurting water and not from the spout. The spout join has corroded so we have to keep the pump off whilst here now. On the Sunday we find that the tap on the fresh water outlet is leaking badly and we are losing water. This is life in a van. Winter is never kind to them here and they arent good sitting for any length of time. It is a good shake down though so now we have some work to do to find parts. The next weekend is Easter so i get searching the internet for parts and have most ordered and arrived before Easter hits.

We have been offered a house sit down in Brighton for Easter looking after 2 dogs. Although we said we wouldnt look after dogs again, we figure its only 4 days and the owner has said that Lola and Jimmy are very well behaved dogs. On the Thursday before Good Friday i get a call from my GP’s office to say they need to see me that day about an xray i had done on Tuesday. This is when i find out my bone is broken in my foot. No plaster though, they say try to stay off it and walk with solid base shoes if necessary. And we are looking after 2 dogs needing walking and we wanted to see more of Brighton, bad timing!

Needless to say we did walk the dogs and they were just adorable and very well behaved. Exploring Brighton didnt really happen, but we saw a little. It was a nice break away.

The following weekend we got to, with all the parts ordered and set to, to fix the vans broken bits. The universe works in wonderful ways, since we had very few tools, this place we were staying in was also a base for a removal company the owners ran. So there was plenty of parking space for the van and Norman had a multitude of tools he could lend us to get the job done. I had even devised a way of fixing our 2 year old broken hinge that was no longer available anywhere. We worked all weekend to replace the bathroom tap, put a new fresh water tap on, fit a new hinge to the storage locker and dummy up a new hinge for our door and screen. We had to do a couple of adjustments to the bathroom piping as water was seeping a bit but we managed to get a joiner the following weekend and it is fine now. The hinges are brilliant and i am quite chuffed to have worked out a way to fix them when new ones arent available. The van is fit for habitation and hope all goes well with our check coming up in a week.

The owners of The Farm and Boris approach us to sit over summer but we tell them that unfortunately we wont be here and they ask us to sit for a final week early May which fits quite nicely.

It is quite strange for us leaving here when we are just starting to make friends and just starting to feel like part of the community. We go to a local gathering at Lyne house near Rusper which is an old historic house that has been made into apartments so that it can be kept maintained. The Morris dancers have been going there on this particular weekend every year for over 45 years. All the locals come along and bring a plate and drink to share and we join in the festivities. Scot even joined the Morris dancers for their final dance of the day. Lyne House was part of the Broadwood Estate for many centuries. The Broadwoods made exclusive pianos for centuries to people like Chopin among many others, so this house is steeped in history.

Our final week and we join in with the locals watching a community screening of the movie Sully which is very good. We feel like the local teenagers as everyone at the community hall is much much older than us. On our last day of work we both say goodbye to our work colleagues. I get a beautiful gift to remember them by and Scot gets shouted beers all night – how appropriate. It still seems strange and i am not sure how i feel about it all. In a lot of ways it is sad as there are so many things i had planned. It was going to be incredibly difficult though to stay. We had to save about £10,000 to get a place to live and one of our wages would have been taken by rent and utilities alone. That would mean that plans to do all the many things would never have happened defeating the whole purpose of being here.

We are at the farm for our last few days and here we get ourselves sorted out and packed back up in our only home here, the motorhome Morrie. We have decided to head to France as it is cheap and we never saw much when in our van. We have saved enough to do some more travelling before coming home so plan our next move.

Once we leave the farm on the Wednesday we head to our favourite little camp ground in Slinfold for one night. We need to charge the van, test out all our fixes and relax. It has been a bit of a stressful month one way and another. The next day we head to a tiny village called Englefield. I believe this is where my family originated. It is just to the west of Reading. There is a magnificent estate called Englefield House and a church nearby called Englefield church of St Marks. The house belonged to Sir Francis Englefield until the late 1500’s when he had it taken from him by Queen Elizabeth 1st. This was due to the belief that Sir Francis was part of a group comspiring to de-throne Elizabeth and have Mary the catholic put on the throne instead.  The grounds are huge and they have many deer wandering freely. When we tried to take photos i was politely told to leave the property as i was trespassing on private property. We found out that Pippa Middleton was getting married in the church in 2 weeks so there was a lot of suspicion of strangers there. We left there after lunch and headed down to the new forest which we believe is lovely. In this area there are wild horses and deer that roam freely. Houses have an animal grate on their driveways so the horses dont come onto their property. It is amazing to see the animals just wandering where ever they want to go.

Friday we head to Weymouth to spend our last couple of nights with Michaela and Mick before we catch the ferry to France. We have a lot of laughs and enjoy our time here and then its time to head off. Sunday we drive the 2 hours to Portsmith and await our ferry.

More photos will come later. We have no power in France and it is difficult to upload photos from cameras and phones.

Since the last time I blogged we have been working hard and trying to see and do as much here as we can.  We won’t go into a lot but will mention some of the places we have been.  Our jobs are not difficult and we also get paid a paupers wage but it doesn’t matter since we have no travel costs really and we do 35 and 36.25 hours a week.  We work 5 mins from each other and Scot drops me off at work on the way to his work so we don’t have to have 2 cars.

We joined the local golf club which has a gym and pool which keeps us sane each week as we swim most days and Scot has subscribed to spin each week which he loves (well mostly). The club is a blessing here as they also have a Jacuzzi and steam room which we use after a swim. They have a restaurant and bar which Scot frequents as often as he can get away with it 🙂

We did our 2nd stint looking after the farm and Boris which was between September and October.  It was more difficult this time as one daughter floated in and out during our stay and being a teenager was not exactly a clean or neat freak so that was a test for us.  Once we finished there we rented a room in a share house in a shed conversion which we call firewood farm.  We leave there in two weeks time which we are looking forward to as it is very muddy outside and quite a small place.  Whilst here we have spent most of our weekends away seeing the nearby countryside.

Places we have been to are Weymouth to see Mick and Michaela.  I have to say if we had seen Weymouth before we settled in Horsham, we would have gone there.  It is a lovely town on the waterfront with a great atmosphere.  Mick and Michaela have a great place close to all the action which will no doubt be transformed as they have time. We spent a weekend at Weston Super Mare which is a lovely place near Bristol but on the waterfront.  when the tide goes out from there it recedes almost as far as Wales it is the longest tidal draw that I have seen in years .  On our way back from WSM we saw Stonehenge – only from the road, but it was so close and it costs far too much nowadays to go and see it, that it isn’t worth paying the price.  They had a half marathon on the Sunday we were there so we spent an hour or so clapping and encouraging people.  When you have had this done to you when doing a triathlon you know how much it helps so it’s nice to give back to others.

We met Ruth and Mick in Castleton in the peak district for a weekend when they were over for a short time.  We were very fortunate that it had snowed just before we arrived so had our first taste of winter there.  They picked us up from the train station and getting back to the accommodation was a little hairy with ice/snow on the road.  We walked up into the snow in the morning to get a magical view over the surrounding area which was so lovely.  In the towns nearby the Christmas lights were all just being turned on which created that magical feeling wherever you went. We went to Eyam a town that has it’s fame due to being the only place that the Black Plague got to outside of London. The people in the town isolated themselves so that it wouldn’t spread. It made it’s way to Eyam by way of fleas in a bundle of cloth taken there. It was the fleas that lived on the rats that spread the virus and not the rats themselves. We visited an amazing cave and watched a Hawk in action – quite spectacular. We really enjoyed our weekend there and it was sad to have to say goodbye when we both left.

We took a weekend trip over to Whitstable (famous for welks, oysters, mussels & cockles) where Scot believed it was a lovely place.  We met Lauren there for the day which was so nice to catch up with her before she left England to travel back to NZ.  We spent the day and evening walking around checking out the local area and stayed at what turned out to be an unfortunately crappy B&B in Birchington on Sea.  We had mulled wine and fruit mince pies in Whitstable whilst singing Christmas carols which was really cool.  On the Sunday we saw Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.  Margate has definitely had it’s day and is a a bit rundown and far too expensive for what it is.  Broadstairs is a very cool place that has a great beach.  I imagine it to be packed in summer.  This was the home of Charles Dickens once upon a time.

Our last weekend away was spent at Folkstone in Kent.  We really liked it when we were there for a couple of days before heading over to France so decided to go back and have another look.  This time we got the B&B right and it was amazing. We had clear skies and cool weather.  Saturday night we ate at the Grand hotel which would have been a stunner in it’s day.  Sitting inside, I was able to imagine it in it’s grandeur during the war days with officers and soldiers sitting inside with elegant ladies.  It has a magical spot overlooking the sea up on the hillside.  We found an awesome café that made the best Victoria sponge I have ever eaten!  We did a bit of tour around the countryside driving home and came across a lovely village called Rye which we must get back to at some stage.

That pretty much concludes our visits to nearby locations before we left for our latest amazing holiday.  Updates of that to come shortly.

We weren’t sure if we were going to continue our blog but I know there may be some waiting for updates.

So we left the southern area of West Sussex and partially settled ourselves into our room in our share house and then had to leave to do a house sit in Warboys which is near Cambridge. This sit was only for a week looking after two lovely fluffy cats, Buddy and Mini Moo Mouse.  We loved our time here in a very small village with the two cats who were just adorable.  Mouse is rather rotund and needs to diet but it is difficult since her owners work crazy shift hours and it is impossible to regulate her food.  She still manages to jump up on top of their fence though and get up on most bench tops etc.  She loved nothing more than to come and cuddle up on the bed in the night.  Buddy was a little more reserved having been rescued obviously from someone who hit him as he was quite timid, but thankfully he is now in a loving home.  He looks like Freddy’s cousin it is uncanny and quite strange as I look at him I expect him to act a little like Freddy and have to remind myself it isn’t him.

We didn’t have time to explore much as it was a bank holiday weekend when we were there so everything was closed and the roads were too busy to go very far.

After this sit we headed back to Sherington where our room was and we had a couple of days there before we had to go to our Gifford Park house sit. We went to have an explore and go to the shops in Milton Keynes only to my surprise to see that it was really huge and absolutely chaotic.  After battling for 20mins to find a car park – even the furthest away we could get was full – we finally found one.  At this point I was not feeling comfortable with where we were and was not liking the area we thought we would settle in.  When you drive around there, all roads are either horizontal or vertical and there are roundabouts at every intersection.  All housing and business etc is surrounded by greenery which is nice, however you have no idea at any time where you are or what is behind the greenery.  It is a very strange area and not our cup of tea really.  It may be nice in some of the little villages behind the greenery but there are many areas that are just dense apartment style living which looked ordinary and quite unkempt and there are many many more new ones being built.

We got to our next sit in Gifford Park looking after Sylvester who was a lovely English blue cat. The house was detached with lovely gardens but was in a really isolated area.  This was the house we had to make a decision about with staying for 6 months.  We weren’t comfortable with how isolated it was and to get to a supermarket it was a 20 minute drive.  No walking down the road or a 5min drive to get some milk etc.  There was a pub 10 mins walk away but it wasn’t very nice.  During our stay there, there was a breakin a few doors down with the burglars getting over 50,000 pounds worth of jewellery and money.  It made me feel quite unsafe in the area since I already had felt isolated.  We then made the decision that we weren’t going to stay here.  Nothing felt right and although the house was fine, the bed was far too old and uncomfortable to sleep on for 6 months and there was a lot of maintenance needing done to the place.  It worried me that there would be problems especially when the upstairs shower started leaking through the ceiling onto downstairs furniture.  We also had had no luck with jobs where the recruitment agencies were not even doing us the courtesy of getting back to us.  After my job interview I never even got told whether I got the job or not which is just plain rude.  To this day I was never phoned by the fellow I had dealt with, but I did hear via other means, only by asking, that I didn’t have it.  It seemed we were battling with too many other people for jobs and the companies had their pick of people.  We forget we are in our 50’s and in a lot of people’s minds that may be getting too old to employ.  We are also new immigrants which I am sure also puts people off us, even if we are English speakers.

During our stay here we had friends stay with us for a few days. It was nice for them to get out of their campervan for a couple of days and it was nice to have company for a change.  Scot and I had been together every day for 14 months with no time apart really so other company was definitely welcome.  Whilst they were with us we visited Stratford upon Avon and Stow on the Wold which are lovely places.  We had mostly great weather but did a bit of relaxing whilst we watched the squirrels stealing cherries off the tree outside the conservatory.

So now that we realised this place wasn’t for us, we had to make a decision about where we would go. Horsham was the place we had loved the most so far and we had felt really at home there.  Then I got a message from the farm owners so I asked them if they still needed a sitter for Sept/Oct and if so maybe we could still do it.  They were very pleased to have us back and said they would help with whatever we needed to help us get settled there which was so nice.  It was quite a relief making the decision to go back down south as I hadn’t slept well for days and I felt quite ill not knowing which way to go.  All we really wanted was to get ourselves settled and into a normal routine again.  It is nice to travel but after a while you really crave being back in one place in a routine and having things kind of normal again.

Once the owner at Gifford Park came back we told her we wouldn’t be able to do the 6 month house sit as we were moving back down south. We had 2 other house sits in the north we had committed to which we weren’t going to let anyone down.  After Gifford Park we had a few days in Sherington before we again headed back to Warboys to look after Buddy and Mouse. Prior to driving up there we had to go down to Horsham for one night as I had an interview with the RSPCA close to where we were going to move to.  We stayed at a bnb close by rather than worry about the van which was still in storage at a close by nursery.

Buddy and Mouse were more comfortable with us this time we were back in Warboys. We also found time to visit Cambridge where they had a graduation day on that day, so the city was filled with students in robes.  They have park and ride places all over the surrounding area so we parked up at St Ives and took the bus, which uses a dedicated busway purpose built so no cars can drive on it, into the city.  Cambridge has lovely buildings mostly belonging to the university, but if you were looking for anything else there wasn’t much.  We also went back into St Ives township on a Sunday to have a look and they just happened to have a bike show on so Scot was very pleased.  It is a lovely town with some cool buildings and a river running through.  On another day we went to Duxford Aerodrome which is an aircraft museum particularly with aeroplanes used in the wars.  Scot saw a Catalina which was like what his father flew in the war.  They had flights in a spitfire fighter plane which we thought would be great but on finding out that it cost £3000 for 30 mins flying we thought it best to give it a miss.  We enjoyed a couple of drinks at the local pubs close by and a meal of local fish and chips.

We had told Wendy at the share house we would be leaving to go down south so we left Warboys and packed up our things in Sherington, got our van out of storage and a couple of days later headed back down to Horsham. We had found a farm near Horsham we would stay for a few days that had a shower and toilet for use.  It had been raining before we arrived and I nearly got the van bogged trying to get it parked up.  We stopped at the farm for 3 nights but found we had little or no internet access which wasn’t going to be good for us trying to apply for jobs so we up and moved to a small campsite in Slinfold just outside Horsham.  Slinfold had recently been voted as one of the top villages in England and it is easy to see why as it is very quaint and the people we met are friendly. They had no facilities but did have a toilet dump and fresh water which was enough for us.  We went back to washing hair outside in a bucket which is no biggie really.  I had an iron so if I needed job interview clothes ironed then it was easy to do.

We enjoyed our stay at this site and met some lovely people whilst there. Most days were filled with looking on the internet and applying for jobs.  We found that the recruiters were more on the ball here and did follow up and get back to you very quickly.  I heard within 2 days that I had been pipped at the post for the RSPCA job which was a shame as it had seemed perfect for me but there is obviously something else out there I am supposed to get.  We did a little tripping around whilst we were back down south.  We went and met up with Jenny down in Worthing and tripped around the local area also seeing Arundel again.  I had another job interview at Cats Protection Society which turned out to be an hours drive away which although I would have liked the job, the drive would have been awful so was quite thankful when they decided they wanted someone with programming skills which I am not interested in doing anyway.

Then we both got an interview for the same company – a campervan company which we thought would work, but the owner seemed to be so full of himself and was quite rude when he interviewed us together that we didn’t even bother following up with him. It wasn’t right for either of us.  Scot got himself some work for a few days helping a fellow out with sanding and painting work which I think he found quite hard after so long off work. It has been a long time since his fingers have bled!

About a week into July Scot gets 2 interviews on the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. After both companies interviews he is wondering which one he should take if he gets offered them.  About 6 that night he gets an offer for the first job which he ends up taking.  He knows that the other company wants him to work for them as well but the job would end up frustrating him so I am glad he made the better choice.  He will be Technical Executive for a company that sells damp proofing products.  With his knowledge he will be able to learn these new products quite easily and sales will be a breeze for him.  We are both really thrilled that he has a job, now it’s just me.  We have to do our last house sit up in Northampton so he will start his job on the 1^st of August.  It is right in the heart of Horsham and only 10 minutes drive from “home” where ever that will actually be.  We do have this dilemma of where we will live now but more about that later on.  The next day I see a job in Horsham that has been advertised several times and it appears they can’t find anyone so I decide to phone them.  I have an interview in no time scheduled for the next afternoon.  So I complete the interview, we head back to the van and have to get ourselves packed up again to head away.  The van goes into the carpark at the farm where they have allowed us to park it for a bit and the car is all packed up and we head first to Sherington to pick up some books I had ordered and Wendy had made us lunch which was really lovely.  Then we left and arrived in Northampton.

We are looking after an elderly cat – Bruno – who is around 18/19 years old and has kidney disease. He is a lovely ginger boy who is quite frail but still manages most things quite well.  We just have to make sure he has his medicine each day with his food.  This is where we still are at the present time.  We have been here for 10 days and have 7 more to go before we head down south permanently.  On the day we arrive here I get a phone call to offer me the job I went for.  It is quite funny as it is also in Horsham only 5 minutes from Scot which means we can drive to work together and home again and don’t need another car.  Although both wages are quite low, we won’t have to spend the thousands of pounds a year travelling like most people do in this country, so a huge saving there.  It is nothing for someone to spend the likes of up to £8,000 on train travel a year.  The big plus is we will have hopefully low stress jobs with a good work/life balance and can spend time at the gym and pool for our health.  The big plus is there is an awesome golf club and country club in Slinfold we looked out and to join is not much more than the local pool when you take in parking fees and includes gym, classes,  sauna, pool, restaurant’s etc and also golf for 7 days a week so when the $$ come in we hope to join.

So whilst we have been here so far we have been to Foxton Locks where the canal boats go through a number of locks to get the boats up a hill. A very interesting place and the temps are starting to go right up.  This particular day was high 20’s.  We went to Rockingham castle which has lovely gardens and an interesting history.  It is still lived in by the current generation of the family who has owned it for over 400 years.  We went to Fawsley and then Banby which are cute country villages.  The temperature was mid 30’s on this day which was too hot for me.  It is not nice over here when it gets hot as no one is geared up for it.  No one has air conditioning so if you go into a pub or a shop the heat is unbearable and you can’t stay long.  All the beer is not refrigerated like in Australia so the beer is warm and the fridges don’t cope so anything coming out of a fridge is not cold either.  The buses don’t have air con so are dreadful to travel in.  When we spent the day in the city in Northampton we found that only that large stores have air con so they are the best place to stay shopping in.  We had to do some shopping as now we are both starting work on 1 August we need work clothes as we have very few.  It will be better buying them once we start to earn but we need to have a few to start. Luckily Scot’s few earned dollars doing a bit of painting will come in handy.

Yesterday we had lunch with the Warboys couple which was so lovely. We went to a little pub – the Snooty Fox out near Thrapston.  A lovely lunch and great company.  I feel like we have a few friends here now which is nice. On Tuesday we are meeting Wendy from the share house in Sherington for lunch at the near Castle Ashby which is supposed to have lovely gardens which at this time of the year are spectacular( photos to come).

Work starts on 7 days so the countdown is on….

 

We arrive at the campground which is near the small village of Newchapel near Lingfield and Scot is happy to see a quaint local pub just down the road. We are shown in by the warden who is from the Czech Republic and he is interested to know we have travelled to their country. We have a pitch where we can put the car next to the van and it is a bit weird to be back in the van again but at the same time we feel like we are back ‘home’. We settle in and get ourselves sorted out.  It is weird having a little car with us but it will be great as we can leave the van to charge up in the campground and head off somewhere.

April 8^th

We leave the van in the campground for the day and head off in our wee car to Dorking. We drove through this village one day and decided we wanted to come back and explore and also check out the op shops for some cheap work clothes and that time is coming nearer again.  After breakfast we head off up there.  The roads in these areas are all very narrow and it is ok in a small car but everyone drives like maniacs and do terrible speeds on them that it does get a bit scary.  I am not happy doing over the speed limit as even then it seems to be too fast for some of their roads but seemingly I am too slow and get passed at high speed even when bends are approaching.  Crazy bastards really as there is nowhere to go if a car comes around the corner. Tailgating is also very common.  It never bothered me in the van as they can see I am driving a large vehicle and I go as slow as I need to in it.  People forget that campervans have all your crockery, glasses, bottles etc and you can’t jeopardise that by flying around corners.  I hate it being back in the car though but I just slow down and make them wait if they are that crazy.

In Dorking we park up and check out the shops. The chicken is the town symbol as apparently they breed a lot of them in this area, so the main big roundabout has a large chicken on it.  They have heaps of op shops which we take our time going around.  I find a couple of things to buy plus a jigsaw puzzle that I am looking forward to doing.  I love puzzles but you have to have the time to sit and figure them out which normally wouldn’t happen.  The puzzle I did in Woking was fine until one of the Vizlas ate a piece that fell on the floor – buggar!  We did get the piece back but it was a grey salivary blob that at the time we weren’t 100% sure it was a piece of puzzle until the end of it and there was a piece missing!  We have lunch at a lovely little café in town where they make all their own food and they are a little more healthy.  Funny that over here a café does not have to have their own toilet for customers.  You have to go down the road if you need one.  I am grateful there is a Waitrose in town as it appears that they have the only loo in the main centre and it seems that everyone has come to use it.

5pm and it is time to join the peak hour traffic and head back to the camper. We have had to fill the meter a couple of times and it is a bugger here where you have to put the exact amount in for the time you want or you lose the change.  So if it costs 3 pounds for 2 hours and you only have 4 pounds, it won’t tack on 40 extra minutes you lose the extra pound or you have to put say 4.50 pounds in to get 3 hours.  I am sure it is to profit from the fact that most won’t have the correct change to put in the meter.  Anyway we head off ‘home’ and the traffic is slow and there are long queues.  It’s no wonder  when people drive and the roads are congested when the prices of trains are horrendous.  An average trip on the train into the heart of London from just outside can be as much as 40 pounds return each.  That is why the traffic congestion is so bad everywhere.  I always thought they had a great train system – which they do, but at a horrendous price.

We get back to the van and decide since we have a pub within walking distance for the first time since we arrived back here we will go down and have a drink. It is quite packed since it is a Friday night but we have one drink – which is quite expensive – and then head back to Morrie for dinner.

Saturday 9^th April

We head out late morning as the owners aren’t going to be ready for us to arrive until later in the day but we decide to head up anyway and we can leave the van in their carpark and head into town with the car for an hour or two. We leave the van behind and head into Horsham town.  Being a Saturday it is busy but we find a park that is right by a pool we will check out for swimming later.  We walk into the town centre and we find they have a few market stalls around.  The town looks very nice and they have a big modern shopping centre right in the centre of it.  We will check that out another day.  We walk around and I am hungry so decide to buy a frittata in a deli style shop.  Unfortunately for me it is the worst food I have had in a while and it was expensive.  A small piece of frittata for 6 pounds, well you have to try these places and now I know I won’t be going back there again.

Mid afternoon we head back to the farmhouse we are looking after. This place is a part 13^th century Farmhouse on 5 acres.  It has a large lake which attracts all types of birds and has fish in it.  The gardens are lovely and we overlook lovely green paddocks.  It is certainly peaceful, well except for some housing development that is going on close by which is a great shame as this place was right out in the countryside and obviously a farmer has sold off his land for housing.  The owners show us around the house and then have so much to do to get themselves organised so we make ourselves at home whilst they then go out for dinner.  Boris the cat is who we are looking after and he is a lovely good sized pussycat.  A little aloof you could say but later I find out he actually loves cuddles and attention when given.

The owners leave the next day early and we proceed to move all our gear into the house after breakfast. I don’t feel comfortable to move all our personal possessions in and our food bins and fridge food while the owners are still around.  It feels much better for us to do this after they have left.  We check out the gardens and lawns we will look after and there is a swimming pool but it will remain under cover until they are back as they feel it isn’t necessary to burden us with getting it ready for the summer.

We enjoy our first weekend at the house where we have a comfortable good sized bed so we sleep well. We get ourselves organised in the kitchen which is huge and has massive cream bench tops which you really wouldn’t want to spill anything on or discolour them in anyway as that would be devastating. There is a large conservatory style room on the end where it gets sun all day and it’s a great room to just sit and read (and  great for puzzles).  Like all houses they have an oil heating system that starts up around 5am to warm the house up and switches off midmorning only to restart up around 6pm to warm the house at the end of the day.  I really would hate to be the one footing the bill for the heating in a house this large.

On Monday morning we head into the town centre as I was supposed to drive over to Swansea today to hand in our Aussie drivers licences and passports to swap the licences for UK ones. However after much thought and agonising we decided it wasn’t a good idea for one of us to drive the 5 hours trip over to Wales to try and get our passports back straight away so we post them all off hoping they don’t take too long.  We then talk to the pool staff and sign up for a 6 week plan they have on which will make it about 1pound per visit for the pool.  Not a bad price especially since most pools here are 5 or 6 pounds (10-12 AUD) per entry.  Very expensive paying 25AUD just for a swim for us both.  Anyway we then go in for a swim.  We only have a 25 metre pool but that is better than the 14m pool in Spain.  It has been a while since we swam in a 25m pool and we find the 1km swim quite tough on the first day but still succeed.  It will get easier each day. They also have many op shops here so we will be able to check them out as well.

Over the first week Boris doesn’t seem to be around very much and I feel he goes missing for very long periods of time. We have a morning where he has obviously just eaten elsewhere as he hasn’t had any biscuits at home and he brings up a whole lot of them encompassed in what looks like mouse innards – yuck!  Unpleasant to clean up.  He often brings in mice so he isn’t allowed into the main house area at night.  He gets shut into the kitchen conservatory area where he can come and go outside if he wants to.  There are mice traps in the kitchen for the live ones he brings in, but these ones are brilliant and very humane.  They just shut the mouse in the trap alive and you can see something has been caught when you get up in the morning and then let the poor mouse back into the bush outside.  Over the past 4 weeks we have caught 3 mice.  The first one got let go only I think to be re-caught the next night.  When we let him out the second time however he is very wobbly and goes around in circles.  We realise Boris has been hassling it all night and it is very unwell.  We still let it out but unfortunately a few minutes later a bird swoops down and he is history.  The next one is luckier, it gets to run away very quickly and we haven’t seen it since.

Since we have been here we have virtually had so little rain it has been great, but the gardens may need to start being watered if there isn’t much soon. The days we have had have been lovely and fairly warm in the morning, but seem to cool in the afternoon when it looks like it may rain but doesn’t.  We have had to mow the lawns each week which take quite a few hours even with the ride on mower. Scot has been doing some water blasting on the pavers for the owners which makes the outside areas look quite amazing.  I get stuck into some gardening as of course with spring there are many weeds popping up all over the place.  They have lots of nettles coming up in the garden which really just take over completely and the beautiful bluebell flowers get drowned by them.  I pull out as many as I can but it is hard work.  We buy some pansies and I pot them up to put on the patio.  I haven’t had pansies around since my teen years in Dunedin and I just adore their colour so I decide to enjoy them while we are here.

We have been for a couple of walks around the countryside and the lovely spring flowers are all starting to bloom along the walkways. We walked to Christs Hospital – a kind of suburb but was based on a snotty school that was built there.  They had a pool as well but they wouldn’t let us become members as we weren’t here long enough.  The main walk travels on a public walkway on a farmers property and follows the Arun river. We have stayed previously at Arundel down south with the big castle and the town is named after this river. The river here is quite small but the surrounding area is covered with bluebells and in parts is a fantastic sea of blue. Further in the walk the foliage is starting to sprout a white cluster flower which tastes like onion and garlic. Partway at the beginning of the walk you can look across at the house we are in and sitting in the sun we can see the walkers coming and going.

Our daily routine here consists of breakfast, emails etc and then off to the pool for our 1km swim, back home to a very green smoothie and lunch and then into the garden or waterblasting in the afternoon. Boris loves to join me in the garden in the afternoon.  We don’t see a lot of him except when in the garden or when he is asleep in his bed on the couch during the day.  We sit outside early evening with a book and a drink and watch the many people walking along the public path in the farm we overlook, with their dogs and children.  We have started to look for jobs and have completed our CV’s ready to hand over.  We have registered with a doctor – it is strange here.  You can only register with one doctor and they have to be within 3 miles of where you live.  You aren’t allowed to go to any other doctor, only the one you register with.  We don’t know yet how that works when you work away from your home and you need to visit a doctor.  You are allowed to go to another one a couple of times over a 2 week period but no more than that.  I guess we will find out down the track how that works.  We are just waiting on our UK licences.  We had to give them our Aussie licences and they get sent back to Australia and cancelled.  I wish I had known that before we paid to renew them just before we left, what a waste of money.

We have also managed to secure several other house sits. It seems my fears of not being able to get any were completely unfounded.  I seem to manage to get any that I apply for now and have even been approached by several I have had to turn down as we are already busy or they are a little out of the area we are heading to live in.  This area is Milton Keynes which is a bit north of London outside the M25.  We have a house sit there for 6 months from November so we are heading to live there and we are looking at jobs there as well.  Over the next 6 months we have quite a few house sits, but we often have a couple or more days in between where we don’t have anywhere to live.  So I decided we needed to have a rented room in a share house where we can put the majority of our stuff and stay in between our sits.  After a couple of weeks looking I manage to secure a room in a share house which seems to be the way most people do it here.  It is really expensive to rent your own place and unlike Australia or NZ you pay all the council rates, water usage etc  etc.  Plus you pay a huge amount up front, that is non-refundable, for the real estate to do checks on you and that could easily amount to 1500 pounds or Aud3000 just to get into a house.  Then you pay your rent plus all other amounts each month.  So it is an expensive exercise so it seems most people just share a house with others as it keeps the cost down.  Our room is with a landlord and one other renter so we will see what that is like.  We will only be there when we don’t have a house sit but we will leave all our stuff there. Most are from Monday to Friday so the landlord gets the weekend free and the lodgers must spend the weekend at home. I would say that is because they are working away from home and this is the cheapest option. Our landlord has agreed to let us stay weekends but we have said we will probably either have sits organised or will be away exploring on the weekends.

We have visited a few areas close by. We went to Brighton and met up with a friend of a friend. Unfortunately we arrived on a day they had a marathon on so it was total chaos and took us ages to just get there, so we picked up Jenny and headed out of Brighton along the water front to Eastbourne.  It is lovely along the esplanade down south.  No wonder so many people head there for their weekends, however when you have a look at the prices for hotels or b&b’s it is so expensive.  The average price for an ordinary hotel room somewhere in Brighton is around 200pounds for a Saturday night but some charge 400 pounds upwards and they aren’t 5 star hotels.  We had thought we would go down for a weekend but I don’t think that will happen seeing those prices.  We had a drive around Eastbourne which is a lot quieter and far less touristy than Brighton and in fact I would probably prefer staying there for a weekend.

We spent a day down at Petworth which is a really cool little village, quite quirky and lots of antique shops. They actually had on an antique fair when we were there so there were quite a few people around.  It was a really warm day as well and I am sure we got sunburnt sitting having lunch outside a little café.  There is a huge house – Petworth House which we didn’t get a chance to have a look around but maybe we will go back some time. Driving around the countryside is really nice and we see some beautiful old (and new but look old) stately homes. Scot will have to photo them as he has started to draw them in ink. He has done one for the owners where we are currently staying and turned out quite good so hope they like it. Maybe he can sell a few as art here seems to attract good $$. Unfortunatly we have not really done justice to the area exploring as we have been busy which is a shame. Scot has repaired the fibreglass back of the van and fixed minor things so it looks good for sale. On one Saturday we went to the spring festival in Horsham town and had prime spot and had a coffee and watched all the dancing, drumming and bands which was very cultural and fun. We had such a good possie that we made the local paper photo, the trouble was it was our backs! Maybe the best side anyway. Vicki has already had a job interview and a follow up one soon so hopefully everything will fall into place. I will wait till we are up in MK and start looking as my type of work I think will be easier to find when I am there.

It will be a bit sad leaving this area and south of London but we are looking forward to our next sits and working life north of London and excited as well. Being more settled we may be able to explore more. We have purposely not got any housesits in August so we can stay at the share house and travel on the weekends hopefully even to Paris or Berlin. Also we want to see a few museums and Scot wants to check out a couple of the car, motorcycle and aircraft museums in the area.

Another update hopefully won’t take as long as this one has.

 

Saturday March 19th

We arrive at our next house sit which is 3 weeks in Woking looking after 2 Hungarian Vizlas. The owners welcome us and so do the dogs with full on excitement.  We discuss the dogs needs and then we take them for a walk to see a couple of the normal routes they get taken.  The dogs have  only been with the current owners for a year but they had 3 years with previous owners whom we figure didn’t provide any training or discipline as these boys really don’t listen to what they are required to do and they pull badly in great anticipation of getting to a place they can run free.  Anyway we get back and find out what their food routine is.  The dogs are inside dogs and are allowed to roam free in the dining/lounge/kitchen area. As a consequence of this, this area is not overly clean and does smell ‘doggy’ but we have to deal with it. We stay the night in the house, the couple are leaving later the next day. The next day we walk the dogs down the Green Lane (which we rename the Green Mile after the movie as we later feel incarcerated) with Kevin to St Johns wood which is a really neat area around a small village which has most amenities- but no bloody pub in fact there are none anywhere close- but it is very muddy and a fair walk with the dogs to get there.

Kevin takes us in the car later in the day and shows us where he takes the dogs for a run by car as it is too far to walk them. We are expected to take them in the campervan which we are reluctant to do but may give it a go and have a partition made quickly to stop the dogs from getting into the cab but this is not ideal. We take the dogs for our first walk to Green Mile and they are a handful and really pull on the choker chains which we don’t like but seem to work on them  as ordinary leashes would be hopeless and too tiring as there is no stopping the pulling as they aren’t trained for them. We end up turning the wrong way and end up at the golf course which is ok as there is a public walkway passing through it with wild bush on each side which is then surrounded by the golf course as it winds itself around. However the dogs do not play by the rules and stay in the bush and tracks but also decide to chase squirrels up trees (they love to hunt and chase as that is what they do) and run all over the course to the consternation of the golfers who are still playing and the other responsible dog owners walking their very well behaved dogs, well that’s what it feels like but who knows.  But as we are newbies we just shake our heads and try to get the dogs under control but the more we yell at them to come they run further away and it is a good half hour and nearly dark by the time we get them on the leash and get back ‘home’.  The area around here is really cool and lots of open space and lovely lanes and roads with amazing which we can’t wait to explore. We are surrounded by large brick mansions and this part is quite exclusive and possibly 75% of all the houses we walk pass (and the one we are in would be I million pound homes + with the rest not much less. We say goodbye to our house owners as they go off to the airport and settle in to the doghouse.

The room we are in is upstairs and we have a new ensuite which is great but the bed is way too small really only a large single and very uncomfortable so we have to get the memory foam mattress which helps but is not ideal. Over the next few days we walk the dogs each morning for a good 1 ½ hours then they get fed and we relax and have a coffee. We walk into Woking if the weather is fine or we don’t have to carry much as it is a real pain parking the van.

We are big time looking at a small car but what we can afford is at the low end and though not bad still most are not ideal either a bit rough or been in the hands of a smoker which is a real turnoff. We quite like the looks of the Peugeot 207 which are popular here and seem good value for money. We travel to outside Dorking to test drive one and though pretty good (it is ex smoker you can tell straight away) and the riding position is a bit low for Vicki even with the seat at its highest. We check another out which is closer to us and while we are looking at it(it is by far the best one we have seen) I wander out the back to look at the other cars there not on display-and also to have a pee- and spy a real tidy Toyota Auris which looks the real deal. By this time we are realising we can go round in circles looking in this price range. We look at the spiel on it and it has only done 73000miles for a 2008 model 2 owner and has been traded and has a MOT for 3 more months. We arrange for a test ride the next day and it is a tidy, clean car and runs great so we are sure it is a contender. You can tell sometimes just by the look of it and how it has been looked after, for example it looks like the boot(it is a hatch) has never had anything in it and all the doors shut beautifully and very little scratches and wear and tear.

So home and Vicki has to arrange insurance and we have to have our Oz drivers licences exchanged for UK ones as our internationals have run out. Anyway if I explained the 5 days of bureaucracy and run around to get someone to insure the van and the car it would run to 50 pages and I can’t believe Vicki’s tenacity but she is a marvel and finally all is sorted but we have to send our Oz licences and passports to Swansea in Wales as they are the only centre that do it here. We are reluctant to send our passports and Vicki toys with the idea of driving there but in the end our commitment to our next sit and the hassle makes us take the risk and send it registered with covering letter to explain we need our passports back asap as we need them to get jobs. Also the insurance company that insured us for Europe won’t insure us if we are not travelling overseas which is strange so we get quoted 1400 pounds by one but end up finding one who will insure us for 200 pounds. Whew. The fact that we have not held a UK license for long doesn’t help.

So we go through the rigmarole of buying the car and we think we have done well as it really is in good shape but time will tell. We get back and let the dogs out as 5 -6 hours inside is about the limit so we can’t be away long. We have after a week given up on walking them later in the day as we don’t think they really need it and we don’t need the stress either. When they are outside they run around a bit and play fight which is nice and they seem quite happy lying around inside when they can go out. By the end of the first week we are adamant that we won’t be getting housesits with dogs and will settle for cats. These two are really trying our patience but we remind ourselves that it is not their fault they just haven’t been trained to be on leads. They love to run and run as they sniff out rabbits and squirrels and are a joy to watch and they are really good around the other dogs we meet at the paddocks. We encourage them to run to tire them out but really they don’t need much. By the third week we have grown quite attached to them and they really are lovely natured boys and it is hard not to like them. Growling at them doesn’t do any good as they do not respond to it well so we just tell ourselves that it is not our problem and definitely won’t be next week as we count down the days.

I have taken the opportunity to start drawing with coloured pencils as it is a clean medium though I would love to do my oils I will wait till we are in a home where it is safe and I can’t do any damage. It was definitely out with the kittens and the third house is so tidy and newish that I won’t risk it but will keep on practising with the pens and pencils. I want to do pictures of the animals or the house for the owners. We have a routine here that is pretty good as it is my job to be first up to let the dogs out and make tea since Vicki got up early in the last house to feed the kittens and Henry and let Zilla the hen out.

We get through the 3 weeks with the dogs but aside from not being open to looking after dogs again – unless we absolutely know they are well behaved, we would prefer to check out a house at least before making a commitment for any length of time to make sure the cleanliness is up to our standard otherwise we will not accept the sit.  There is nothing worse than having to live in someone else’s unclean house especially when they have no cleaning things.

The day before we leave we think it is wise to top up the power in the van as it shouldn’t take much so we plug it in through a window for a couple of hours. Later that day Scot goes into the van to check it out and finds there is no power – WTF?  We can’t understand it but wonder if the house power had drained our leisure battery but I can’t see how it can.  Through the night I come to the conclusion that the rogue fan heater must have come on at some stage and drained the battery.  So our plans for where we are going to stay for 2 nights until our next house sit are messed up and we now have to stop in a campground so we can power up the van.

On the day the owners are returning we have cooked them dinner for that night since they have had a huge flight and will be jet lagged and Scot has cooked them date scones. The living area and fridges are definitely cleaner than when they left.  We walked the dogs for the last time and about mid morning we head off.  We now have 2 vehicles to drive so we can’t be in the same one with one navigating so I decide that I will drive the van with Kate my GPS lady showing the way and Scot will follow me in the car.  If I lose him he will have the tablet but I hope that won’t happen.  We drive through the busy traffic on the M25 and then find the camp ground I had pegged for the next 2 days.

We are looking forward to our next 6 week sit in Horsham as there is only one cat Boris who apparently does his own thing. In the end the previous sit has been done and though not ideal we have to take the good with the bad and take out the positives. We have been to the next sit to say hi so know what it is like plus 6 weeks will let us settle in a bit, get some swimming underway and establish a nice routine.

 

Off the ferry we drive and back into the land of the English speaking and back to some sort of normality if we can call it that (and driving on the ‘correct’ side of the road). I have teed up some screen shots of a place we can go and buy our English sim cards for phones and tablet which happens to be Chichester.  These small towns are the most difficult to find parking for the van to be able to buy the things you need.  As we travel on the motorway towards Chichester we are surprised at the amount of litter in this country that lines both sides of the road.  We just can’t figure out why councils don’t have people cleaning it up, there is so much of it. We notice this more coming off the ferries at the ports and heading out on the highways though there is litter on the side of the road elsewhere.

I have found a Waitrose carpark here in Chichester and we drive in. It is really busy and they don’t allow parks big enough for people like us, but we back into a park that won’t interfere with anyone else getting by. They charge in these supermarket carparks if you aren’t shopping at the supermarket but thankfully it looks like the ticket machine is broken.  We walk into Chichester and find the mobile shop and buy our sims.  Yay, we have op shops by the mile here in England and we go into the few we have time for before we think we should get back to the van just in case someone is checking our time in the park.  We find a couple of puzzles we can do whilst house sitting.  We haven’t had time for doing puzzles for years.  We will need to buy some new clothes soon as we have been washing our current small holding of clothes for 12 months and some are starting to get a little tatty looking so we will be dropping into quite a few op shops in the near future.

Back to the van and we head towards Arundel where I have spied a park that doesn’t cost much for campers. When we arrive there the carpark for campers is closed but there are a couple of older ones parked along the side of Mill road which is opposite a large castle here in the village.  These other campers don’t look like they have been moved for a while so we figure its ok for us to stay here for the night.  We park up and go for a wee walk around the village.  It is very cute but we won’t be able to look around the castle as it is closed for the winter and not opening for a few weeks.  We come across a pub and Scot figures we need to have a drink to celebrate being back in England as that’s what you do.  The drinks are very expensive and we find out that it is far more expensive in the south of England than what it is in the north where we thought the prices were really good.  One drink is ok, so we have that and head back to the van for the night.  It is cold and with no heater it’s a good idea to cook food and fill a hot water bottle to help heat up the van.

We are going to meet the owners of two of our house sits in 2 days time so we need to stay in Arundel for 2 nights, so the second day here we have a further wander around the village and see a bit more of the outer streets. It is cold so we stop for a coffee.  2.50pounds – 3pounds for a coffee is expensive but there won’t be a lot more of these, we have to start conserving money until we get some work.  We walk around the town and check out an old church – like every village, town and city has one or many.  It is a cute place but there aren’t many people around as it is quite cold and there has been a bit of drizzle.  We check out the odd charity/op shop and then take a walk along the mill road where the van is parked down to a lake where there are many ducks and swans.  We always forget to bring the bread when we visit lakes and rivers where there is bird life.  The ducks and swans are very used to getting fed so seem to hassle anyone entering the lake area hoping for a morsel to be given.  It is a lovely walk but a bit muddy and wet along some bits of the pathway which I think we will find quite normal in the UK.

We head back to the van to get some dinner on the stove to help warm the van up a bit.

Wednesday 2nd March

We thought we had lost this day as it was so insignificant that we couldn’t remember what we had done. We left the roadside park and headed down to Rustington and parked up in the Waitrose carpark.  I wanted to check out some of the op shops and a health shop.  We had 2 hours free parking here.  We perused a few of the shops and hurried back to the van just before our time was up.  We then headed off to a campground that was close to Horsham since I wanted to feel fresh before we met our house sit owners.  We had parked ourselves in a spot and had just set up when a storm came over and we had winds and hail.  It was cosy and warm in the van so we sat and watched tv whilst the weather went on around us.  A half day of rest for us.

3 March

We head out in the morning towards Horsham where we will meet the owners of the house we will be looking after 3^rd.  We hang around in a nearby carpark until it is time to go and visit and then head over to the house.  It is down a narrow little private drive where unfortunately progress has caught up to it nearby and there are huge developments going on but thankfully it hasn’t spoilt their outlook and you wouldn’t know it is happening when at the house.  The owners are lovely and after a chat we head off to the next place – Woking where our 2^nd house sit owners are waiting to meet us.  We stop on the way in Guildford to have a bite of lunch.  We park up in a carpark near a pub and go in and order lunch.  I then realise we are in a carpark that we aren’t allowed to park in and I have to go out and find somewhere else to park the car (leaving Scot at the pub….oh ohh….)  What a nightmare trying to find a spot with the van in a town like this.  I really don’t know where I am going but head down the road where I think there is other parking.  I find something but they are re-painting the parks and it is only a fluke that someone pulls out from a park where the van can go in enough to allow others to pass by.  It is one of the major challenges with the van – to find a reasonable park to go somewhere.  We can’t wait to get a normal car one day so we can do this travelling without the headache of parking and narrow roads.

After lunch we head to Woking and park up outside the next house sit. We will be looking after 2 Hungarian Vizlas here and as we meet the owners the dogs are very excited and overwhelm me.  It makes drinking a hot tea difficult with the 2 dogs vying for attention and trying to get on my knee.  I am wondering what we have let ourselves in for now.  It will be fine and we leave there and head towards the place we are house sitting first.  We don’t have to be there for another day so we decide to park up in Henley on Thames which is a lovely place.  The camperstop we spotted doesn’t turn out to be a good place to park as they fine you if you stay overnight and who wants to cop a 70pound fine for that.  I figure out we can park in the train carpark as they take long stay parking of up to a year in the carpark so we head there with the van and position ourselves so we are in a faraway corner and won’t get bothered.  We head to a local pub to have a drink which turns out to be horribly expensive so it is only the one and we go back to the van for dinner and sleep.

Friday 4 March

In the morning we have a wander around Henley and check out the shops. We imagine it will be incredibly busy here in summer and when they have rowing regattas on.  We leave and head to Watlington where our first house sit is.  We are actually staying in a lovely house just outside Watlington near The Chilterns which is a lovely green area west of the London circle.  We are looking after 2 kittens Lenny and Max, an elderly cat Henry and Zilla the elderly hen who actually looks very agile and spritely.  The owners are a lovely couple we get on well with so much so that we feel like we are old friends.  They cook us a lovely dinner as we settle in and make ourselves at home.  The next day after a walk around the local farm publicways they have a local rubbish pickup day so we join them and walk the local roadways picking up all that we can spot.  Mike takes us on a tikki tour around the local area to see a very old church (it has the crypt inside of the granddaughter of Henry Chaucer the English playwright and also has the oldest operating school in England) and graveyard and then takes us to a shopping area of Wallingford.  It is a cute village so we will come back another time to check out the local shops.

Mike and Rebecca head off early that evening to catch their flight and we are left to enjoy this lovely home, pets and location.

Sunday 5 March

We enjoy a short sleep in as the kittens are shut away for the night in a nearby room and they want to get out and have breakfast. Henry needs to be fed and of course Zilla also likes to have a wander in her pen or in the yard if we are close by.  We enjoy a bit of a walk around the paddocks again.

Monday 6 March

We are due at the local garage as we have organised to have an MOT done by them. It is due by the end of this week, so we drive down there only to be told by the owner that the van won’t fit under their door and it does have to be put on the hoists to complete the MOT check.  Wish they had told us that on Friday when we booked the van in.  Now we have to find someone else and in a hurry.  He recommends we go to Chinnor where their garages have higher doors and most likely will fit us in. So off we drive to Chinnor which is about half an hour away.  The guy is really busy but fits us in on the Friday afternoon.  Our niece Lauren is due on Thursday so that should all work in fine.  We head home.

Tuesday and Wednesday

The days are just spent relaxing around the house, playing with the kittens, enjoying ourselves outdoors. There isn’t any gardening to be done as it is all in order so we read and organise bits and pieces that we need to get done.  We also spend a couple of hours in Wallingford checking out the shops. Scot has started drawing with his pencils and trying to get creative again. I think pencils will be the cleanest to start as we don’t want oils over the carpet!

Thursday 9 March

We drive over to Bracknell to pick up Lauren from her nursing job looking after an elderly lady. We are right in the countryside and need to watch our van hitting the overhanging trees all along the narrow roadways.  We drive Lauren back to the house and we enjoy a drink and a catchup since we haven’t seen her since we arrived in London 11 months ago. As we travelled around Europe we always just seemed to miss where she was or was going.  As small as Europe is, it was always difficult for us to try and organise the van to get to another city.  We went for a wander over the local paddocks and public pathways and ended up getting almost told off by a local farmer when we turned the wrong way and went off the public way.

The next day we had to take the van into Chinnor for its MOT as now it was overdue but you are allowed to drive as long as it’s going to the garage to get it done. They will be an hour or so, so we leave the van and walk to the nearby pub for an ale while waiting.  The pub is full as it’s a Friday afternoon and all the locals have come down for a pint.  We head back to the garage in an hour but the news isn’t good.  We knew we had a leaking radiator pipe or something as we have had to keep filling the radiator with water and we get pools of water underneath the engine when stopped, so we had expected some kind of news.  However the news is that our rear wheel bearings are shot and need to be replaced so there is no driving the van until they are fixed and they approve our MOT.  We also have a leaking radiator and it needs to be replaced.  Bugger more money but it has served us well and they are totally necessary repairs so we book it in for the following Tuesday. The down side is that we can’t drive it anywhere other than to and from the garage. So luckily our kind next door neighbour will take Lauren to the Reading train station and so Saturday arvo we travel to Reading, drop Lauren off and have a look around the city (apparently you can call them a city and not town if they have a cathedral) which is quite busy. Vicki gets some blueberries at a small market at Spain prices which is great, we look around the huge shopping centre which to me are all the same the world over then head home via a slight detour to see the scenery on the way as it winds along the Thames and the villages and towns are beautiful. The next two days were quiet and restful with nice relaxing walks and playing with the kittens who are not allowed outside yet so they love to play with us and a little pottering about outside when the sun comes out.

Tuesday sees us drop the van off earlyish in the morning and then wait for the next bus to Thame where we are going to spend the day looking around then get the later bus back. It is very cold and though rugged up we spend a cold half hour waiting for the bus which duly arrives and is thankfully warm. Thame is another quaint town and has historical buildings and the typical looking English facades and signs that are so recognisable. Straight away we are in the middle of the markets and the veges and fruit prices seem really good and the produce is fresh so we buy some bananas. We would like to get a few things but can’t be bothered carrying them. We have a look around and as we have found in all villages and towns they have their fair share of charity op shops which we love to search. These are a lot more upmarket than ours at home and are in danger of not being the cheap option compared to retail shops but the quality is good and there are still bargains to be found. I search for books and any clothing that is quality especially if you can jag a good pair of Levis or similar. I am searching for the 3^rd book in a trilogy and so far I haven’t found it but will keep looking. Maybe it is still to new. Vicki is starting to look for good quality work clothes and op shops are great because compared to most retail shops a wide range of people donate clothes so chances are you can find ones that fit. I have no problem as in my size everything pretty much fits but Vicki can struggle but she has found some gems. We decide coffee is in order to warm up so do that and utilise an hour of van waiting time sitting with me reading the local paper and Vicki on the tablet researching something or another. We then explore more shops but in a town this side you can only go around once or twice and anyway it is lunch time so we find a small café and have a really hearty and tasty tomato soup and crusty bread. Again I struggle to pay the prices for anything substantial as we are not earning and when calculated back I find it hard to pay 20$ for a small burger or sandwich. We decide on a plate of chunky fries as well as only 2.50 pounds.

We wander a bit more then get the 3pm bus as we would rather be a bit early than late and miss getting the van and if it is not quite ready then we can sit at the pub down the road for a bit which we have to do. But the van is soon fixed and after paying a bloody lot of quid we head home but happy that the vans fluids are now contained. I know how the van feels leaking everywhere!! The next day we go to Wallingford to get some groceries as it has the closest Waitrose and we know we can park the van. After we do a small tiki tour to Didcot but not a lot to see but at least we are seeing a bit of the countryside and lifestyle. In the distance we can see the old power station that they are decommissioning and strange for us to see the huge cooling towers in the middle of the fields surrounding villages. But cleaner power beckons but unfortunatly this one had a tower that collapsed when it wasn’t meant to and has killed and buried 3 workers and they can’t find one of them. I had seen it in the news but to see it this close is weird.

The owners come home Thursday so we have dinner ready for them and I have made scones and Vicki biscuits as a thank you but we feel when you come home from holiday it is nice not to have to worry about dinner especially when jetlagged. Rebecca is off to bed early as she is shattered and we stay up a bit but it is an early night. It is with a bit of sadness that we head off the next day to our next sit in Woking as we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will miss the kittens especially but also the cat and hen as they have such distinct personalities. If all our sits are like this we will be very happy but figure that like life itself they will all be different and set their own challengers which we will just have to make the most of and enjoy the opportunities.

 

Internet connectivity has been very intermittent at the camping grounds we have been staying at so posts have not been forthcoming.

Peterborough turned out to be a lovely town and we stayed on the outskirts at Ferry Meadows. What a lovely place, we wanted to stay longer. The walks in the adjacent park and lakes was so peaceful it was a delight to be there. I fed the ducks and swans and watched the hundreds of rabbits everywhere feeding on the lush green grass. We will be back here one day.

Thursday we drove to Hertford. We encountered the worst traffic jam ever on the M1 where there had been a fatal accident. We sat with the engine off quite a bit whilst waiting for it to clear (fortunate to have a toilet on board just in case..we were tempted to hire it out to any desperate souls around us☺).  We didn’t get to see very much of Hertford as the next morning we caught the train to London. We arrived in the middle of a France club Toulon vs France club Cleremont rugby final (funny the colours were the same as Otago blue and yellow and Canterbury red and black) at Twickenham, but we had people to meet and places to go (much more important) so we didn’t go to the game which we would really have loved to go to…and there were tickets available too.

Had an awesome time staying with a lovely couple in Twickenham who made us very welcome. Started drinking early joining in with the pre game crowd at Barmy Arms pub, onto The Fox pub, then The Kings Arms and lastly The Sussex pub which is a real ale pub…see photo below. Scot thinks all pubs should be like The Sussex!! Beers change every day along with the ciders so there is a huge variety.

After a bit of an explore around Twickenham we went to The Sussex again to meet up with friends of friends and even met up with a fellow who had come to our wedding…amazing small world! Then off to experience a great London curry house followed by Irish coffees all round and then Brandy coffees all round. Great night…we’ll look forward to experiencing this all again with a great bunch of people when we come back next year.

Monday (bank holiday)…back on the train to Hertford, picked up the van and drove amongst the holiday people down to Canterbury. This is a university town…lots of teenagers around.  Castle walls all around the city centre like York but didn’t have time to explore. Tuesday off to Dover to have the front brake pads and discs done (as advised from our service). So very glad we did as they were absolutely F**ked and I have to say it strongly as they were so bad. Hadn’t been touched for years, they were worse than down to the metal. Now we know we are safe. Doesn’t bear thinking about really when I remember the steep roads I drove down from Thirsk to York!

Anyway we think the van is now safe to continue our travels. We stayed in Folkstone last night and tonight and the winds are very high. We are staying in a camping ground over looking the sea…wind whistling all around us and nearly got blown over walking into town today. Unfortunately couldn’t go for a beach walk this morning as the waves were metres high over the sea front walkway so we had to make do with a sleep in instead!

Scots cranky I haven’t once mentioned the delicious food he has been cooking so I will have to start taking some photos to prove they have been delicious. Seafood chowder tomorrow night again and photos will follow.

Ferry tomorrow morning Dover to Callais and we are on our way to Belgium and Luxembourg…..woohoo!!

Blogs will follow once we have an international sim.

Just letting everyone know we have read all your comments which we love to get but just haven’t had the time or connectivity to respond appropriately.

On Monday morning we woke to a frost and where our waste water had been dripping was a wee block of ice on the grass, so temp must have got down to well below zero. Lucky we were nice and snug in the van. Scot braved the cold and frost and went for a run. I still cant believe he got out of bed that early for exercise!! Our action plan on this morning – Chris from Kiwi Leisure arrived early and fitted a new gas valve and piping so he could test the whole gas system which is now all safe and we wont have any issues getting on any ferries. We headed off to Leeds to find an aluminium fabricator to get some aluminium angle and plate….where’s your brother when you need them….Steve???? We found this wonderful guy Richard at RJS Fabricators in Morley who saved our lives and gave us correctly cut and bent aluminium angle and plate and then lent us all the tools we needed to drill through the van wall and secure it to the inside walls. We can’t thank him enough for helping us as we had no tools and we were finding it difficult to get the right materials. He even bought out a cup of tea while we were working! We still need to water proof the new repair but the wall is now secured. That was our whole day.  Back out through peak hour Leeds traffic to Harrogate. Left over seafood chowder for tea, that was so delicious.

Yesterday a cold windy wet day in Harrogate … called for a sleep in and then laundry had to be done. Really a nothing day. We went to buy a small printer as there are some documents I need hard copies of and don’t know where to try and print them. Scot thinks its hilarious that we’re in a van and we have a printer but what else does an It person travel with? I have an entire draw with cables and connectors, camera equipment, laptop, tablet, 2 phones, gps equipment and now a printer, I think thats reasonable. Scot has the wine cupboard for his guiness, black sheep ale and assorted other beers and wine etc so we’re about even :-))

Today we have the van in being thoroughly checked mechanically and they are selling us some parts to keep with us in case they’re needed. We are  currently in a McDonalds – go figure…but im not eating any thing, just a coffee and warm place in the sun whilst waiting even though just being here goes against my religion!  We have a weekend in London planned and then a ferry next Wednesday over to France…fingers crossed.

9pm

We are now in Skegness for the night on the east coast. We drove down this afternoon and went via Grimsby. We stopped in at Bramham which is where my Grandfather was born. Quite a cute little village. I think I found the family house…see pics below.

Funny we pulled into Skegness and drove to the first caravan park – it was 5.05pm but they had closed for the night…damn who does that!! Closes early with no number to contact after hours to get in. Thankfully we found a place to stay. Unfortunately as Scot was backing out of a dead end he drove into by mistake, he backed into a gate. Neither of us realized until we pulled into a supermarket carpark and saw the back corner of the van and suddenly a breathless kid ran up and said you hit the gate back there. I thought we must have damaged the gate and fence but he said it was ok but he wanted to let us know where the damage came from. It wasn’t a big deal just a scrape but I’m glad it was Scot and not me!

Tomorrow we’re off to Petersborough or near there. We’ve been told the brake discs and pads aren’t very good and both need to be replaced so were making an appointment with a company in Dover for just before we head off on the ferry.