Those of you that have been following the bunking up saga will have realised that we now have 2 bunks in. The last one went on the Wednesday before we went to BusFest.
This is the view with both bunks in. For those who haven't followed this, Brian has a Dormobile conversion, and we have had 2 new covers from Jim at Dormobile (who is great) and we've refurbed the mechanisms and poles ourselves. We are that awesome.
Now, as you can see, the bunks don't sit centrally, don't sit squarely, but do, apparently, fit perfectly. These are, I promise, in the right places.
This is the mechanism for the passenger side, which has an extra hole in it.
Obviously, we did the child test. The child liked it. He found getting into it easy enough, by climbing up from the bed height, although more about that later.
This was the view on Saturday morning. As you can see, even fully loaded with 10 and 12 yr olds, there is not a great deal of bulging and so on, because the canvases supported the the boys well. The only real issue we had was the noise of sleeping bag on canvas, and the feeling of rocking whenever one of the boys twisted over. There were times, Dear Reader, when I could have sworn we were on a ship at sea.
We had also taken the new awning, the Khyam 5000XC, otherwise known as "The Albert Hall". It's bigger than the Albert Hall. Ok, maybe it isn't, but it feels bigger. It was ideal for the boys to be shoving their sleeping bags away in, and storing spare bits and pieces. The Mark slept in it (although he forgot his airbed....)
The extra bonus for us though, was the fact that we did all the things that one should never, ever do with a new awning.
We turned up late.
In the almost dark.
It had rained hard on the way there.
It was due to rain again.
It was Malvern, and therefore every other peg hit at least one stone.
We had never put the awning up before.
Or opened the bag.
Or even checked everything was in the bag.
And yet, it went up really, really easily. It did take 4 adults and 2 children to do it, but mainly because it was quicker with two mallets and with children holding onto poles whilst ropes were banged in. But make sure you don't do what we did. It was a lot of stress for tired people!
In the morning, the sun shone, and Brian and his extension looked beautiful.
Tragically, this is the only show picture I took, because I forgot the camera and only had my phone with me. I know. Hopeless. Never mind.
The show itself was fine. I preferred CamperJam to be fair, but then that's me. There was a lot of traders to look at, but typically Malvern in the chaotic layout, which meant we missed sections. However, we did see the main people that we wanted to see, which were All Things Timber and Bromsgrove Auto Trimmers. Oh yes.
It is all arranged. The deposit is paid with ATT, and Brian's slot is booked for April/May, meaning he will have a brand-new interior for next season. Importantly, essentially even, he will have a new bed. 5 inches of foam, 2 of memory foam, will beat the 2 inches of compressed horsehair that we have at the moment. Hinges being in a different place will mean Jack can sleep without his feet hitting the top of the hinge. The bed being lower will mean that I can get into it without a hernia. However, this may have implications for the boys getting into their bunks, but we shall see...... We are awaiting samples from them as I write, one of which is being machined up especially for us.
We've had a chat with BAT, and they are expecting our phonecall when they come back from holiday so that we can arrange a visit up there to sort out the upholstery. It could well be "Snodgers setup." I kid you not. This is what they called it. Lovely approachable people though!
We also made contact with Noisekiller, and will be ordering from them soon so that we can insulate and noisekill Brian before we send him to ATT.
Sunday was also brightish, and fairish, and the awning was soon dry enough to put down, and squeeze, and fold, and refold, and unfold, and fold again, until it all went into the bag.
It is a massive awning to go into this tiny (in comparison) bag!
This was the van we were parked up with, lovely people.
This was the van we were parked opposite. Should you ever see this hideously pink van, park a long, long way from it. At 11 am, it has a fabulous sound system. At 3 am, I didn't appreciate it so much. And that's all I want to say about that. (It's not, but it's all I can say and stay a lady!)
The show itself was fine, and we've decided that we'll go again to this one. The timing of it is terrible - it's booked in to be the first weekend back to school for the next 4 years I think!
The next trip will be to Back2Basics at Birdingbury. The tickets aren't bought, because we only decided last week, so we'll see about the weather, but I hope we're going. Brian is so comfortable, that short of a hurricane, we'll be there!
