Keeping myself amused

I have been told, on occasions that I am childish, I do like a laugh I admit, and some might say that my sense of humour is a little sick, neither of which are true, of course. It's just that sometimes I see things a little differently to some people. On a recent journey from point A to B I noticed the amount of "road kill". The crows and magpies have a banquet first thing in the morning, don't they. The next time that I sat down to give my guitar a good beating a few light hearted lyrics kept popping up in my mind. Before long, I had the makings of a little song, so while things were quiet I thought that I'd record it in a video. Have you ever done that, as soon as you press the record button, your mind, hands and brain seem to lose all coordination. Any way, eventually I had something that I thought was worth saving, so if you click on this link http://youtu.be/13fZEz8zesU you can have a look. Hope you like it.

We are not alone

Are we the only people that this happens to? Arriving at a new location, (bearing in mind that we never use commercial or club sites) and given the choice, I take into account many things, some of which are.................

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  The points of the compass, because I like the sun to shine on the door.


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  Wind direction, because I don't like the wind on the door.


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  The landscape, we like to have a pleasant view.


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  The proximity of trees, we don't want heavy rain water or branches drumming on the roof.


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  The location of other trucks or caravans. I like to have some space, nor do I want to disturb other people.

So with all of these things in our thoughts, we choose our preferred pitch. I don't care about the proximity of hook ups, water supplies or waste disposal points etc. We settle in, take in the surroundings and relax to enjoy our new view. I could almost bet a months pension on it, that soon after we are sorted, another outfit arrives and no matter if the site is huge, comes and parks either right next to us or right in front of our view. What are they doing? Why do they do that?.........Invading our newly found haven! Yes; I know that we are on a touring site and all have the same right to use it. It is funny though, how we become somewhat possessive of our temporary space or am I getting grumpy? Sorry.

Close encounter

Today we have left behind the damp grey weather of North Wales and headed back to the midlands. Our route took us along a few miles of the A5 which is in places a little on the narrow side for modern traffic. We had a close encounter with a tractor on a bend, that pulled out in front of us while we were moving at about 50 mph, happily we were able to stop in time. A little further on and a truck, that was coming towards us, was barely able to keep to his lane, due to the width of the road. One of its mirrors struck our off side mirror with a bang, our truck being left hand drive, poor Pat nearly needed a change of underclothes. Fortunately the damage was minimal but it was a little too close for comfort.

My new 12 string acoustic guitar.

For more years than I care to remember, I have attempted to play the guitar, had I been left to my own devices I would now own many. Pat has never understood the attraction, to me, they are instruments of beauty, made to be caressed with affection and feeling. Because space is at a premium I have never carried one in the truck, but I have missed my guitars and earlier in the summer I made some space by removing a few non essential items and installed my 12 string, which is now a little more than forty years old. A couple of weeks back I decided to treat myself to a new one, we travelled 145 miles to buy it and Oh how I love it! Maybe one day I will be able to play it as well as I would like.

Early sunsets

The early sunsets and distant flocks of cackling geese, as they fly in streamers across the horizon have made me only too aware that another summer is all but over. The "Vagabond Trail" I know, has been neglected and I make no apologies, nor am I going to attempt to fill in the blanks, we have been busy, there have been ongoing episodes of family illness, our own medical issues and also the marriage of our youngest daughter (to Danny) have all taken a little of our time, some more than others. None the less, it has been a great summer and we are still, very much enjoying our alternative lifestyle. We are currently sitting in the morning sunshine, with about four acres to ourselves, and still thinking how lucky we are.

Mundane can be good.

New subject matter, that's what I have been hoping to find, but I have to confess that I am struggling, the last few weeks have been spent mostly making more leather goods (but I don't wish to bore you with more pictures of that) keeping warm, interspersed with a little fishing. So, nothing new there then. In fact, mundane is probably a good word to describe the last month or more. On one occasion, I even mowed acres of grass (free of charge) on the site for something to do, it was quite fun, riding on a tiny tractor after having repaired three punctures in one front wheel first. I have also repaired a leaking water pipe, unblocked toilets and assisted with the repair of several cars, in addition I have re-erected awnings that were flattened by the wind, emptied waste bins full of water that were filled by children for a little fun and yesterday replaced the ignitor block on our own heating system. The last time this device failed (in 2005) I had to wait three weeks for a service agent in the midlands to get the part from Truma, imagine my delight, yesterday (a bank holiday Sunday) when discovering the fault at 08:00 hours and fitting a replacement before 11:00 hours and for twenty pounds less than listed on the Internet. We have of course re-kindled a fair few old friendships as people have turned up for weekend breaks and it has been good to see them all healthy and happy. I think that we will be moving on soon even if only to break out from under the perpetual cloud that has covered the skies here for a fortnight or more.

This place, this time.

At last the roof mounted solar panel has been earning it's keep, with a little more sunshine and of course the lengthening days of spring. We have been able to hand wash some clothing and dry it outdoors saving a significant amount of money on visits to the local launderette. The fishing has been sporadic and so have attempts with my leather work productivity. We have enjoyed many hours with friends, some old and some new, including one lady from the USA and another from Brisbane, Australia, with the later taking a bespoke leather cigarette box back to the land of "Skippy". Gus, a local terrier, is sporting a new collar bearing his name and my makers mark. We have been given rhubarb, fresh eggs and cake by the site owners, which of course have all been put to good use and the local crop of wild garlic is just about ready to start adding to our meals. If you haven't tried wild garlic, then you really should if you get the chance. When finely chopped, the leaves give a very pleasant but mild garlic flavour to any meal. All we need now are a few fresh fish, which I am of course working on. I have indeed caught many fish, far too many to keep a tally of, but as usual, they are quite small here so I have returned them all. Yesterday evening I went with my brother, Ian and Damon, a friend, to see if we could catch some mullet. After a couple of hours, our sum total was zero, but what a lovely evening, the sort you see in films about distant places. We saw some truly huge fish, cruising like silent submarines and creating huge bow waves that could be seen from 100 metres or more, in the shallow waters near the estuary. We saw trout, leaping into the air, two feet high or so and crashing back into the water shattering the silence of the warm, still surroundings. This place, this time, was paradise and I would defy anyone not to be taken by the tranquility and beauty. Even the gnats were friendly, as they nibbled quietly on my ear lobes and buzzed softly as they departed with full bellies. I wished I had brought my SLR camera, I could have taken countless photographs. All too quickly, we had to leave and begin the mile walk back to our base before it got too dark, where we were greeted by the ladies and the usual leg pulling of more empty fish bags. So, this is not a tale of "the one that got away" but a reminder of why we chose this life style and the experiences that we would not otherwise have the delight to encounter.

The Good Life

During the middle of last week, the call of the coast became too loud to ignore, so with a freshly washed and fettled truck we made our way to Wales for a spot of "The Good Life". The journey was fine, apart from the rain that is, the truck was filthy by the time we arrived on site. Once at our desired location I filled a couple of buckets from the river and quickly washed off the truck, I hate it looking dirty.

It didn't take me long to get the fishing gear set up either and soon I was hauling in the first wild brown trout of the season, remembering the difficulty I had catching this time last year, I was very pleased with myself and this fine fish (albeit small). The next couple of days were quite relaxing, fishing whenever the mood should take me, enjoying a reasonable amount of sunshine and when I wasn't fishing, tying a few flies. Sadly, the weather began to take a turn for the worse, winter made a stealthy attack, and left teeth marks in our rear, the river has been running fast and brown since. So the last couple of days, have seen us confined to the "not so great indoors" and the comfort of the gas central heating. I took to making a few more items from my leather stocks, the first is a belt that I carved, I really like the pattern, it is not too garish and I left the leather in it's natural colour, just polished it with some beeswax. I may put it in my internet shop. Then, I thought that I would treat myself to a new wallet, so for two days solid, I sat building the most ornate wallet that I have made to date using calf skin and some cow hide for trim. It's a bit fancy, but what the hell and it is probably worth more money than it will ever carry at any given time. Of course, I made a matching

belt loop and rein to go with it and I even remembered to put my makers mark on this one. Now the forecast is for a few days of warm sunshine, so with a little luck it will be back to spot of fishing and maybe a little saving on the gas.

The west coast is calling

Our last stop off was on the Welsh border near Oswestry, the location was on high ground with superb views across the Shropshire plain towards the West Midlands. Given the time of year, the weather was quite reasonable but we were still both glad of an electric hook up, specially at night. Most days I sat making small leather goods, taking in the views and dreaming about a spot of fishing.

Encouraged by friends and family, I have now opened an internet shop, (you may have seen the link on the right) how time consuming is that? It has certainly put me off advertising items on E-bay despite the number of people that use it. The early response has been encouraging though, with over 400 views in the first week.

We now move into that time of year when, despite four years experience in this way of life, we never know whether to strip out much of our winter clothing, or leave it a few more weeks just in case the winter sneaks up from behind to give us a defiant nip. The problem is, that we can not carry an all season wardrobe, there is just not the storage space or load capacity in the truck. I suppose the answer is, buy a larger truck, but with diesel now around £7.00 per gallon I am reluctant to do that. The last few days have seen us "Spring cleaning" washing the curtains, putting a little paint on the wheels etcetera in order that we do not look even more like a couple of destitute vagabonds. One thing is for certain, the west coast is calling and the voice is getting louder with each passing day.

A "Western" style wallet

We have now left our winter location and are back on the move. The truck has two new tyres on the rear, after the harsh winter had taken it's toll causing the walls to crack and bulge badly. The premium tyres that we had to scrap were only 2 and a half years old, had 6mm of tread remaining and were in a dangerous condition, I hope these new ones fair somewhat better. We also have 13 months MOT under our belt and a complement from the tester who said that the underside of the truck is exceptionally good. I have spent some more time working with leather and am now considering putting a few items for sale on the internet, but we shall see. The items that I have made recently have a "Western" style to them and I got a great deal of pleasure out of designing and constructing them. These items have been made using vegetable tanned calf skin that I bought a couple of weeks back. The greatest challenge has to be the construction of the inside and then assembling it all in the correct sequence. This particular wallet took about twelve hours to make and another two or three hours for the reign and belt loop. I have completed four or five different wallets recently along with a couple of belts and another handbag. For the next few weeks I will show them to friends and family and note the comments and reactions before making any decisions.

In the pink

The last few days has seen a slight curbing of my activities, due to my careless use of a knife the tip of my left forefinger is no longer where it should be. For several days I had been working on a very pink hand bag and whilst cutting the final piece of leather I sliced off the tip of my finger and it's attached nail. Isn't it amazing how such a minor injury can have such a debilitating effect, although right handed, it would seem that my left forefinger is used for almost everything that I do. Any way, I did manage to complete the offending bag albeit somewhat more slowly than anticipated. I told you it was pink! The following day, a local farmer here, offered me three wood pigeons that he had shot as part of his pest control regime. Neither of us had eaten pigeon before so I jumped at the opportunity to try something different. I removed the breasts from the birds and diced them while Pat prepared the other ingredients before putting it all in the slow cooker. I have to say that it was both very tasty and very filling. I have tried a little fishing but again returned empty handed, I believe that during the recent cold snap, when the river froze over from bank to bank many of the fish left the small river here for the deeper water of the nearby river trent and as yet have failed to return. So, I'm afraid that's about it for now.

Warmth on my face

I like mornings, the quiet, the stillness, the solitude and yesterday while the world was rushing about to get to work I went for a walk accompanied by Meg and my camera. The temperature was -5C and our feet made soft crunching sounds as we walked across the grass. I have no idea how many photographs I took but here are a few. On our return to the truck the frost had begun to thaw as the sun climbed slowly higher and for the first time in months I could feel its gentle warmth on my face. For ten minutes or so, I sat on the step in the doorway and savoured this almost forgotten feeling before setting about a morning of domestic chores outside. The truck had its first wash for several months now that the water was not going to freeze before it hit the ground, Megs bedding was given a good airing and I fettled my fishing gear before going off in search of fish. No fish............but I really couldn't give a damn, it had been a lovely day and bringing it all to close was as dramatic a sunset as one could wish for.

Voices in my head

I really ought to know better by now, but sometimes I ignore the voices in my head, usually at my cost I might add. I know that many would say it's rubbish, also that some will understand but I don't really care what others may think, the fact of the matter is, sometimes.............I know in advance that certain things are going to happen. It doesn't "spook" me, because it has happened for most of my life. I should explain...........For several days I have had a constant nagging about the mains electrical connections which are beneath the false floor in the wardrobe, I have even woken in the night and got up to check that we still have power. This morning, the sky was heavily overcast and the frost was beginning to thaw. I sat considering how to spend the day, be it fishing or working some item of leather when Pat asked if I would like some toast. The toaster however, refused to work and it was then that I discovered that we had lost our mains supply. Removal of the contents of the wardrobe followed by lifting the floor gave me access to the electrical components that distribute power around the truck. Removing the cover from the RCD exposed the problem, a multi connection block had melted along with several wires in and out. A couple of hours later, punctuated with only occasional expletives and I had replaced the damaged components. A few tests out of the way and "Bingo" we were cooking on gas (and electric) once more. It worries me that I did not inspect it sooner, the consequences could have been disastrous and I have enough similar experiences to know better, as those closest to me will know.

This is a closer look at the offending parts, which almost fell to pieces as I removed them. Thank heaven things didn't turn out worse.

January

January as usual, has been quiet for us, it is a matter of taking whatever the weather throws our way and waiting patiently for the spring. The occasional bright sunny day and slowly lengthening days are most welcome, so too, are visits from friends and family. With all of the melt water from the recent snow the river has resembled grandma's soup and so my many attempts at fishing have been completely fruitless. Our bird feeders have been well attended but not by anything out of the ordinary and we have watched the occasional fox jogging through the neighbourhood. I have made a few leather items in order to keep my hands busy and my mind active and my collection of fishing flies has increased by at least 100%. I think Pat has read the weight of the truck in books and I have read enough magazines to cover a rally field. With our winter need for mains hook ups and hard standing I don't imagine that we will be venturing far for the next weeks.