Goodbye Spain, hello squalor!

So nearly six months ago we set off in a classic Chevy to road trip around France, Spain and Portugal. It didn't go anything like the plan but it did go brilliantly! We set off too late in the year and were worried that ice and snow would make the driving dangerous and the living miserable, but two days in we broke down and were told the can was scrap. After expecting to go home a friend of mine offered me her flat in Spain for winter and we flew to Javea, via the train to Paris. Shipping the broken can home, three nights in hotels and flights to Spain were all covered by my Europe wide breakdown cover for £90 a year! It totally saved us and is my top road trip tip. Also my only road trip tip, as we didn't actually go on a road trip!

In the end the Chevy was not scrap. It needed an expensive repair and we sold it for £1,800 to a lady in rural France who is very happy with it.
So it was off to Javea. We had never seen the place, I hadn't been in Spain since I was 16. We promised to stay all winter and hoped we would get on ok! I think I knew I'd love it within 10 minutes of landing. Javea felt like we had walked off the edge of the world and got Spain to ourselves. It's filling up now. In the next three months its population goes up 10x! It's shops are all open and it's getting the feel of a busy holliday town. It has a different buzz like this.

We have learned a lot, we have relied on each-other, with no one else we know around. We have played on the beach till my kids are fed up with it! Who knew that was possible?? Now we are for home. First week in May.

We have bought a van to convert into a basic camper. As we are going to live in it while we do this we will be starting out with mattresses on the van floor - living in squalor! Hopefully we can start to turn it into a cosy home quite quickly.

We could of course sell the van, use it as the deposit on a flat and resume being responsible, normal grown ups. But I don't want to. I've got my heart set on coming back here next winter. I want to learn more Spanish, see more cities, see Portugal too. But I've learned from my late-in-the-year dash across France in an unusual van. We will leave in September, we will bypass France and take the ferry straight to Spain, we will make no promises to be anywhere specific but potter south at our own pace.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm also going to be able to solve all the problems of living in a van bit by bit in a familiar country, hopefully get a little tour of Scotland and see my dad, then by September we will be old hands at living in a van and I will be used to driving it. Then we can face the new country problems having solved the first set. It will be a more manageable adventure.

Though Javea is warming up for the season we are all willing and happy to wish her goodbye as we want to see our families and friends.

Here are what will hopefully be before pictures on a wonderful before and after project! Our new home!

Curtains for my campervan with fairy lights attached.

I'm creating an artwork a day for two years, just for fun, the longer I do it the more I bend the rules - sorry!
Yesterday's is the design for these curtains and today's is all the sewing. Design and creation. Curtains and a hanging storage pocket thing. The fairy lights are for my daughter's bit.
#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Europe in a campervan, "I love it when a plan comes together?...I'm...ish!"

So selling my camper took a turn for the worse. I planned to blog about the whole adventure honestly (while trying to be entertaining) for my friends to enjoy, but I seriously considered leaving this out. I'll leave out the names instead. I usually have a strict policy of not sharing any bad news in the public domain but somehow it seems to me that I should share my complete adventure, ups and downs, and hopefully, over all, you will judge it good news.

We sold "Winter" I walked round her and pointed out all the little old vehicle eccentricities, we had talked already about how she needed her radiator fixed pronto, and that had been taken off the price. We smiled, shook hands, they drove off happy with Winter purring along.

On the way to her new home she overheated and produced smoke. The buyer went ballistic, he wanted his money back now, saying : "it was not his van, he was going to call the police and say there was a van outside the house with no tax and insurance, he was going to take us to court..." You've never seen so many CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation points in an email!!! It was very upsetting, and I'm a bit pathetic when it comes to being threatened, reading it made my hands shake.

Tim is a bit braver than me, he did the  gentleman's thing and took my phone for a while! They probably don't have a legal leg to stand on as we put all the faults in the listing or told them, but it's hard to know what they would try to prove as they will give no specifics, just a list of faults I showed them and threats. We call ebay and the police, (to find out what happens if they carry that threat out) they both say they are not interested, we sold the van, they took the vehicle, end of story. We discuss blocking the calls and leaving them to cool down and ether fix or re-sell Winter. Tim feels he should help them.

We called the lady who had offered the asking price if I would let psyco-buyer down. (I wish I had not been so high on my integrity.) She still wanted "Winter" yes, she fully understood it needs the radiator fixed and can overheat till its fixed. More could be wrong too, we don't know as the new owners have not taken it to a garage, just left it in the street and attacked us (turns out they left it in their street 100 yards from a garage).

Tim found out where Winter was and met the lady who still wants to buy her there to view it. She had to bring her two pugs and there five puppies, which were too little to leave all day! They dropped Tim home and we all got to see the puppies! :)

Other people from the list of people interested would all still like it. Her new owner calms down and is ok. All the people interested need to know what it will cost to fix her, Tim books her into the nearest garage. He spends a whole day helping them to re-sell Winter.

I now feel so threatened and cowed that I just want to stay home and hide from the world forever, preferably in bed, but I think we would all regret that. Also I keep wondering if I did something to merit all the furious threats, I know she needed fixing and I had a long chat with him on the phone about that, he told me confidently he had the friends and skills to do it. I told him I was no mechanic.

I decide I have to continue as if my heart was in it and wait for my courage to catch up. So Jasmine, my mum and I go for "Sparkle" the very non-sparkeling van which is more right for us because it has four seatbelts and is ready to go. We take five trains to get there and my mum and I take turns to drive her back. My daughter was traveling 12 hours without complaint, bodes well for taking her all over Europe. Sparkles seller is a brilliant chilled out, alternative sort of accountant! Have you ever even thought of a hippy-accountant! You should meet one, they are awesome! He really likes our plan I tell him "If my kids grow up and want to be like everyone else that's fine with me, but I want it to be an informed choice, not just something that happened to them, that's the backbone of my travel plans." 

Sparkle runs just as well as Winter always did for me. But she's not got the above cab bed, so she's much less rocky and wind resist-ish to drive. Oh! And the power! I'm in love with having a 5L engine, hang the petrol costs, it's so nice to have so much, get-out-of-trouble extra there if you want it. Frankly, sitting on the left and driving on right hand side roads sucks!!! I'm going to prefer driving her in Europe for sure. Sparkle has nothing inside but a bed seat and lights, and one 12v socket (that's the cigarette lighter sort) We are going to fit a second battery and an awning. Then we will get all plug in separate things, plug in cool box, plug in kettle... You get the idea. It's going to be more camping-ish, less little-home-on-wheels. We will be able to park and drive her closer in to cities and use her more like a car. We will not have running water, it's a trade off.

The next day Winter's buyer is back to making threats. We are going to have to tell him, "It's your van, you bought it, drove it off and we told the DVLA, we are helping you because we feel sorry for your bad luck, we sold her in good faith, running fine with an oil leak and a radiator leak both in the listing and discussed with you, if you don't stop sending threats we will have to stop helping you find a new buyer."

In the meantime I'm trying not to let all the hate and threats stop me feeling pleased with Sparkle (I'm going to have to put something that sparkles on it to make sense out of my daughter's name for it).

Hopefully these people will calm down if they get a new offer for Winter once we know what she will cost to fix.

I'm so wishing I'd said yes when I was offered the asking price and pick it up today, if only I'd known how vindictive the person I was keeping my promise to would turn out to be.

I had planned to say "I love it when a plan comes together" because Sparkle is the van used in the new A Team movie but it's not really where I'm at right now. I am pleased with my classic American campervan.

Bye bye Winter, Europe in a campervan

Europe by Campervan:

I'm lying on an air mattress surrounded by so much stuff. How can we still have so much when I've been giving it away every day single day for a month? It's been sneaking off and multiplying clearly. After 22 hours of intensive cleaning, and I know not how many sorting and giving away stuff I've given back my house keys, we are rent and council tax free and homeless, on my mum's floor.

So the news is good, we have sold our previous camper "Winter Dolphin Magic" (I have a romantic streak as wide as the Nile and a nine year old) and got a fair price for her! Few! Turns out I could have got more if I was an arse. The whole thing was a roller coaster of raw emotion.

She was no good to us because the law has changed and you can't add rear seatbelts any more (I'm a researcher but I tripped up here, I can't stress enough, don't just do research, do ACCURATE research!) but the list of jobs was getting a bit daunting too - she needs some love.

Well we listed her and got a storm of interest, cool surfer dude turns up first, I pull up at the same time as him and the radiator starts leaking down the street!!! Cool surfer dude heard me swear, those who know me will know I hardly ever swear! So we get a quote to fix it, bring down the price, get a temporary fix and edit all the listings to include the new problem.

The camper garage told me it's worth £5,000 but I get a series of calls saying it's worth nothing from chancers, and offers for £900. I start to freak out, I've spent a lot of Tim's money on it and then my step dad got it serviced and four new tyres, what if I've wasted their hard earned money. Just when I've taken to waking at 4 in the morning and making contingency plans, we get a good offer and say yes. Then I get lots more interest! Several people say "I'll give you the asking price and come get it today." I told them I had to keep my word. I'm happy it's defiantly worth what I've sold it for. I phone the people who have bought it, they are coming in a few days. They are perfect because they are a couple (no seatbelt problem) and he was once a mechanics apprentice, he's still friends with them and can get her fixed up, I'm very straight with him about what needs doing and what's good too. I tell him I'm getting higher offers now, but I'm keeping my word. We get on. After the phone chat he put the rest of the money in Tim's account!!! They don't have any van, paper or keys!! They just trusted me! Goes to show - you get the treatment you dish out!

Now what? Well I've fallen in love with an American Beast that Jasmine wants to call "Sparkle!!"

It has four seat belts (built with four). I say beast as it's a 5L engine, my pervious camper was a 2L engine for a two ton vehicle, this is smiler and more than double, it beasts along!

Remember the A Team? It's their van but longer. In fact it's the one used in the new movie but not the original series. Now we have to re-edit our stuff to fit a smaller van, oh! Help!

However, we will be able to get closer in to cities, cover more ground faster, it's not so high top, so it's less rock-like-a-boat to drive. It's also totally un-rusted and apart from a service sound enough to take on a two or three thousand mile trip tomorrow. Oh and it's right hand drive? Left hand drive? Europe way around!!

I have a question, so you have heard of a learning curve right? Why is it all my life I seem to set myself up to go up the learning CLIFF, straight up? Please can someone point out my comfort zone on the horizon so I can at least head that way one day? In the meantime, wish me luck driving a wrong way round van all the way home on Friday! :)

Europe by motorhome, we may need a different van!

I'm gutted, My motorhome has to go. We called her “Winter” after the dolphin that still swims eagerly with a prosthetic tail. Becuse it's got 16 dolphin stickers on it! You can watch Winter the dolphin live on webcam cam here:

https://www.seewinter.com/animals/webcams/winter-zone-cam-1/

Turns out the tail is a little too prosthetic for us! It has some rotten wood at the back which needs replacing and it's too much work for us as we need to go soon, before real winter comes and finds us homeless!

Fortunately the camper garage experts also say she's worth £5,000 even needing a little work, so I have definitely not wasted Tim’s money.

But we put heart and soul into her and we have now to find a newer van and get that all checked out! Also it's two weeks till we are homeless so we are probably going to have to camp on my mum's floor while we van shop! I keep going back and forth on sell or not to sell.

Also it turns out that the law has changed, and despite what you will read on line you cannot add seatbelts or seatbelted seats to a vehicle built without them and then get a UK MOT. I have it straight from the camper garage, so we have to get a van which was built with four seatbelts. Winter will be wonderful for a couple who can both be in the front.

So I need to;

Empty and clean my house by the 9th!

Sell Winter (the motorhome).

Find and buy a newer motorhome (automatic with four seatbelts).

Continue to parent a 9 year old and a 2 year old.

Move out and live on the floor!

So it's all pretty glamorous here at the moment.

Campervan

I'm creating a drawing a day, for two years, just for the art of it.
Today's is a campervan.
#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Maps on the ceiling of my motorhome to cover the ugly repairs

I'm creating a drawing a day, for two years, just for the art of it.
I've counted all sorts of creative things that are not really drawing. At the moment I have less than a month until I move out of my house and my beat-up-beautiful campervan becomes our full time home while we travel in Europe. At some point both skylights have been repaired, the repair does not leak but it's ugly. Today I papered the ceilings with maps and PVA glue on the repaired panels. I think it's artistic, I'm also knackered, so it's your drawing for today! Here are the before and after pictures, like a diet plan! 😂

#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Campervan: doing things I didn't know I could!

My current art form: campervan, or doing things I didn't know I could!

So we bought a motorhome (29 year old Mercedes) to travel Europe for a couple of years.

I've been weeping on poor Tim because I attacked all the damp wood with a claw hammer and then found the mess a bit overwhelming (classic Kirsteen, if I'm honest, throw yourself off to see if it's too high). Also my wonderful step dad paid for a service, but they were so disparaging about the rust, oil leak, tyres, pipes… that I've been going around expecting a wheel to fall off ever since! But we borrowed our neighbor's ladder and Tim helped me and I attacked the front of the van with a serious amount of sealant. It now looks like it lost a snowball fight with a mad artist but it's raining hard out there and my VAN IS NOT LEAKING!!! YAY!!!

Also I took out the great big seats myself, they are no good in a crash (which I won't be having) so we want to replace them with proper bus seats with seatbelts! I thought it was a job for a garage, but Tim sat on one and we ran over a bump and it collapsed! Yay! 30 minutes with a screwdriver and they are on the drive under a tarp!

Tim is referring to the camper as “My current art form” because any time Dylan sleeps and Jasmine is at a friend's house, I race out there and put new locks on cupboards, fix light fittings, lay flooring… but I think I've figured out what my current art form is, it's doing things I didn't know I could! Like driving it, let's hope that applies to driving it onto the ferry and down through France, Spain and another ferry to Morocco! You see we have a plan now, so it has an oil leak, so it's got so much rust it might not pass another MOT, well we are going to take it to Morocco and get LOTS of work done cheap! I'm calling it Moroccan Motorhome Makeover! Perhaps if their is money left we can have exotic carpets, curtains…

Here are some pictures of the huge seats I took out, and the huge can I drove, looking better!

I'm such a kid! I made bunting for my campervan

I'm creating a drawing a day, just for the art of it.
This is yesterday's and it's bunting not a drawing so I'm flouting the rules.
#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights

http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Campervan drawer becomes car track for my son.

I'm creating a drawing a day, for two years, just for the art of it.
Today's is the "floor" of my son's drawer in our camper. It's now a car track!
#drawingadayclub

https://www.bihr.org.uk

I should have put the mattress back down and sold it!

What a mess and it needs four new tyres too!
We bought a motorhome to live in and tour Europe.
So one thing at a time. At least my kids love it...

Dylan opened his eyes this morning and picked up a screwdriver he was keeping in our bedroom and persuaded Jasmine to take him out to the "big car" as he calls the camper to fix it! Poor Jasmine was dragged to the door in her pajamas and directed to put his shoes on for him and help him into the van. I found her wrapped in a blanket, yawning and saying "good fixing Dylan" in a sleepy voice every now and then, as Dylan tore around the van with his screwdriver pocking things!

I have the best friends and family ever, I keep reading advice in people's blogs and facebook groups, mostly it's, where to park for the night or how to deal with the language barrier, but there is also a lot about how to drop out of the machinery without upsetting your family and friends too much, how to deal with backlash, "you shouldn't be doing this because..." "you are irresponsible because..." So I'd like to thank all my amazing friends and family as I have not had ANY of that from ANYONE!!! Everyone has said "what a good idea it is to follow my dreams and would I like some money?" Or "I saw something on freecycle you could use.." Thank you all my friends and family, so much. Xxxxx

Dolls House camper shelf all done.

I'm creating a drawing a day, just for the art of it. I counted my Halloween facepaint once, today's is this dolls house shelf, all set up with the background I drew last week laminated and in place.

It's not really a drawing, but "installation" is an art-form and I'm counting it!

This is in a grand tradition, as my mum used to hand make us amazing toys when we were kids! Her space station and her rocking horse are the stuff of legend!

#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights

http://www.youthforhumanrights.org