It’s been a while

I’ve been blogging here for seven and a half years. Yes, that’s a long time, especially as most of that is drivel. When we started fulltiming (living in a motorhome without a base which lasted for four and a half years), I religiously posted here every day. And then, when we stopped our major European adventure (after about 14 months), I dropped the blogging to twice a week: pretty much Wednesdays and Sundays. And I haven’t missed one of those. I think that makes it close to 1500 posts. What did I have to say? ‘Not much’, was the stern reply.

I now follow just two motorhomers, Eric and Shazza – https://moreswervesintheroad.wordpress.com/ and Ju and Jay – https://ourtour.co.uk/home/, both of whom I’ve been following from the beginning, and both of whom were (and are) inspirations. Ju and Jay are the most famous motorhome bloggers in the UK, have written a number of books on the matter and have appeared on the BBC among other media outlets. They’re currently in their van in Spain (on a campsite) and they post at least once a week. Their journey is pretty fantastic and if you want to get inspired to give up most things and follow a dream, their site is worth a visit. Eric and Shazza are much more like us – older and little more sensible. They now have a bolt hole in Spain, along with a motorhome. Their’s is an interesting story if your looking at fulltiming at the moment – what with the Brexit restrictions and that they are not Spanish residents.

We, as you know, are not fulltiming and probably never will again; that box has been ticked. I think I probably would, post covid, but I couldn’t inflict it on C. But we remain travellers. Even during the rubbish 2020, and strictly obeying the rules, we had 4 weeks skiing in the Alps, 6 weeks in Yorkshire in Doris and a final 6 weeks in Korea. And Doris is ready for her first adventure in 2021 – once we open up!

how lucky am I?

And how have we been? Well work has generated some more work, which is nice. I’ve finished the 360s and I’ve been asked to provide a departmental planning tool for the school (a days’ work for me). And I’ve got six interviews next week with an MoD team. So all that’s ongoing and keeping me out of trouble. We’re still walking/running and my guitar follows me around begging to be played – and I am managing as much as I can. Which brings me onto a bit of a story …

,my fave (so fa) Henry photo

… I need a full size guitar, like my little one – which is a fab Yamaha 3/4-sized – but bigger. So a quick look at Gumtree (where I found the Yamaha) and I spotted an almost unused £300 Tanglewood, down to £130 (after negotiation). It was on sale in central Bristol, which isn’t an essential journey, and I knew I couldn’t easily test it on the man’s front lawn. Anyhow, I bought it pretty unseen, picked it up (masked and everything), brought it home and … it has a lovely tone. That’s all I’m going to say. Well, other than it is completely unforgiving. I cannot get a decent noise out of it without my fingers protesting. So … big mistake. I will sell it and not buy anything else until I can get into a guitar shop and test a complete range. Ho hum.

How are you? I suppose the upcoming cold snap is a good thing, in that crispy winter is better than miserable rainy days? I hope it is for you. I’m still spreadsheeting our electrical usage. We appear to be at an irreducible minimum in terms of heat and dials, and our average spend (remember we don’t have gas) is about £3.50 a day. That’s pretty good for mid-winter. And we aim to cut that in half during the summer. The beauty of living in a small house, I guess.

Keep safe. Don’t go on any unnecessary journeys (like buying a guitar …) and wear a mask in enclosed spaces. You are so close to getting your first jab. Don’t catch it now. Oh, and final TV recommendation. I loved The Serpent on BBC – C less so. And if you’re after some detailed, short comedy, have a look at Staged, again on the Beeb. Post Schitt’s Creek, it’s really fab.