Normalsky

John woke up miserably a few days ago and said 'When will things be normal in here?' meaning the Campin Car - so I gave him a normal Ruth bollocking, cooked a normal breakfast of german bread and ham, and we normally drove off to a new place we had never been before to where John got out a new phrase book and learnt a new language!

John has a Complaint

The complaint is that verschluginger Microsoft have changed all the menu titles so that the cunningly contrived and exquisitely executed Posts I have saved onto stick and into memory cannot be pasted into this blog because I don't bleeding well know how to do it!

internet hell

Dear Friends and family,
we really do want to keep uap our blog but we have lost it - again - and again - this will indicate how. We are in the globe in Prague competing with a band and trying to get online. My PC battery is failing - we have no connections and our phones don't skype or even work. We can't access bank acounts friends or e-mail contacts easily. It rained - all day - hard - and shrunk John's hat!
We have much to tell you.
It has been hell - 0n wheels.
First though - we had great parties seeing our friends to say goodbye - they were great and we should do it again because we miss you. Can't post those photos - you - may be glaqd of that! We will try!
We spent two nights in Olney when we found out the water and power failed. We got stuck in the mud in Maindenhead and were puylled out by tractor. /we got over the Channel (by ferry) and got to Tournai. We found cold showers and went to Brussells and saw friens - very good! It was cold and the gas failed. I needn't tell you that it has been a close thing for John and me on several occasions even though he is a good steady driver and reasonable map-reader!
We are still together on account of the fact that I haven't got a suitcase big enough to take my books and clothes out of the van. This adventure will be the making of us. I hope to upload some pics but will upload this first so that you know we care about you all!

Thanks and Goodbye till we speak again!

We have new posts to post variously titled 'Hell on Wheels' - what else?
Thanks to friends for kindness and support. Party pieces about our three farewell parties!
Goodbye with tears to beloved families and friends
Thanks to David at Cranes for his patience and brinkmanship - is that the right word. We will blog again soon and have a few photos for you. Have stayed at Olney, Maindenhead, Tournai Overijse and now Luxembourg. On to Trier and Krakow now

Identity and Personality (Part One)

This is written in haste as we are in the early days of absence from the UK, but I thought I should reassure those readers of this blog who are favoured to be among our email contacts that I do still exist, despite appearances or non-appearances to the contrary. Ruth and I have a shared email address, but it has only just been apparent that all messages sent from it carry only Ruth's identity. What seems to have been several light years' research on the ISP's website has failed to reveal how I can assert my separate identity if, indeed, I still have one. I'll keep trying, though and one day, God and Microsoft willing, I'll prove it. I may even develop a separate personality and get a few posts into this blog.



Cheers,



John

(It really is me.)



(Or was it.....?? Hoo, ha, ha, ha, ha...)

If a pack of Pickfords packers . . .

If a pack of Pickfords packers pack a pick of packing cases, what a pack of packing cases, the pack of Pickfords packers pick!

If a pack of Pickfords packers pick a pack that's picked for packing in a particular van and put that picked pack in a pantechnicon instead, what a pickle Pickford packers put two persons in!

Pickfords were perfect nearly!

The blue holdall in the bottom picture is labelled Campervan and contains all the bedding for the Van. This bedding is relatively the most pricey equipment in the van. We bought a silk duvet in Shanghai (very cheap) and silk sheets in the UK, (very expensive) in the belief that they would be lighter, more compact as well as easier to launder and dry. Pickfords packed it! Pickfords also rescued it and returned it to us! Thanks Tony!

You can see John, the calm centre of the move relaxing in his study all set to be picked and packed!

You can also see an astonishing phenomena!

As the Pickford packers pack the contents of the house swell up and enlarge enormously! This is clearly illustrated by the picture of my studio which shows the boxes have taken over the entire space! As Pickfords packed the numbers of men and vans needed to complete the job doubled and tripled - with a final push the Pickfords packers triumphed and completed the task on time!

Packing up the past.

This photo is just to set the scene. The real hard work in organising this trip started before Christmas..
This is PEW my Megane, loaded up with paintings at my dear studio at Cardington. Sad to leave such a good place after two happy years. Thanks all of you at POG!
This first move was done months ago and involved shifting my stuff in one garage for a month or so and then into our garage in readiness for the big day!
If we were only leaving home for a short trip round Europe it would be a great deal simpler. In fact the sorting, selecting and packing that had to be done before the packers came has taken us months!

Home and Away?

Two more photos!

The Van back in the close in the sunshine!

The anti-theft device!

It is full of baby spiders having spent two years in the garden shed.

John will perhaps tell you about the paperwork involved in getting the Van registered here in the UK! The good news is that he managed to do it - but -

the paperwork has to come through the post and will take about 10 days so we have to delay the start of our trip. We will in fact go away for a few days - the house is let early next week - then we will return collect Laika and depart at last!

Dick says that Laika is not a Campervan but a Mobilhome. The registration form says it is a motor caravan. John will call it the 'Van'.