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.