Big Bang 2013 Friday/Saturday

Big Bang was held at Santa Pod, and we made a late-ish decision to go for the weekend, and chance our arm with the bed.

Brian had been into the garage for the week previous, and had come home with new ball joints and boots, an oil and gasket change, and an MOT pass.  There was also a note from the garage man.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NO ANTI-ROLL BAR FITTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Not only that, but he was driving completely differently than he had been before, down to the new ball joints actually doing their job, and so it was a difficult day.  Paul-the-Garage-Man said there'd be no problem getting one and fitting it, and so not to worry, go away if we were going to.

So we did.

We left here straight after school, having packed up the night before.  We'd realised we couldn't take the awning, nor yet the bunks, as the roof won't stay up, which is an issue for both of those items.  However, we had no children that weekend, so it wasn't that much of a problem.... for us......  Pete (who'd been planning on sleeping in the awning) had to bring his tent instead.

We had been sent Brian's bra from Spirit of the Fifties and it had arrived on Thursday.

I'll do a proper photo post for it some time, but this is it fitted, and he looks fabulous.

We got to Santa Pod with no worries, found our friends, and parked up, pulled the ring on a can, and that was us.  ARRIVED!

Previously, we've had to put up a tent, organise beds, sort out storage, and so on.  This was much nicer.  Pitch up and park certainly seems to be the way forward!

Friday night was all about catching up with people, eating bacon sandwiches, drinking cider, and relaxing.

And then we put the bed up.

At this point, Dear Reader, you need to know some things.  I am 5ft3.  My other half, Jack, is 6ft2.  We have a Dormobile conversion on a van with a roof that doesn't open.  I can stand up, just, but Jack can't.  No way.

The bed is very high on one of these conversions, as the table is slotted in, then the seat is pulled up and rests on top of it to make the bed.  The head end is over the engine bay, but a Dormobile conversion has a big storage box that sits on top of the engine bay, and thus the space is limited.

To this.

As you can see, there is not a lot of clearance space!  However, as you can also see, the curtains are Very Blackout and work very well and look awesome.  We were warm, we were as comfortable as we could be on pads that are 42 years old, and woke up in the morning in excellent moods.

It was great to be able to get up and brew tea.  Previous shows we've had to wait until the butty van opened so that we could get a brew. This time, I got up, pulled on some REALLY COLD jeans (mental note to self, put clothes under my pillow or at the end of my bed or something next time!) put the gas on and made a cup of tea.

We had a good wander about the show, which, to be fair, had some good bits.  There wasn't the vast array of traders there that some shows seem to have, but there was also a distinct lack of the 'tat' stall that is appearing at so many places.  (BVF was like a rummage sale in places last year.)  The Autojumble was spread out and had plenty to look at and there were a good range of show and shine vehicles on both days.

My favourites (seeing as I had the camera!) were these.....

My absolute favourite was obviously this blue pickup.  Utterly gorgeous and something I've always wanted.  And then it was for sale..........

So we went back and raised the Scotty's Little Soldiers flag because Pete had brought string, and I thought about it some more.

Obviously in the evening there was the usual fairground things, the live entertainment (A fairly good Take That tribute band) and the highlight for me were, as usual the fire poi people from the Poi Bus who were their fascinating, fabulous selves.

Evening led us to this shot - the Scotty's flag at sunset.  A beautiful, poignant shot.



Anyway, I'll do Sunday tomorrow.  There's a fair bit to write on that!

Bacon, bacon, bacon! (and tea!)

Yes.

It has finally happened.

Brian has been cooked in.

See the beautiful weather at Sunny Hunny?  See how it is ACTUALLY sunny at Sunny Hunny?  For the first time in several years (it feels like.....)


Brian shone in the sunshine.

The stomachs of the children rumbled in the sunshine, and so....... up came the seat, and out came the cooker!

The cooker in Brian comes up from under the front passenger seat.  J had already replaced the gas pipe and we'd had a brew in Brian in November last year.

This time... it was serious.

Three fat slices of bacon cooking in a pan.  Admittedly, it's a small pan, because the rings aren't massive, and I'm not sure we'll be able to run the pan and the kettle at the same time.  But you only need 2 slices of bacon for a sandwich.

Ok, and bread.  And butter.  (And red sauce if you are the younger child.)

We used kitchen roll and ditched the idea of taking plates with us.  The younger child binned everything once we were done.

Then the kettle went on...


... and in short order, a lovely brew accompanied our breakfast.


The boys had a quick run around the beach, working off their sandwiches.


The view from our breakfast table, so to speak.  Gorgeous.  I mean, what else would we need?  (The younger child says ice-cream, but mummy says "Not for breakfast!"

What we now know is that the cooker rings work, we need to WD40 the knobs a bit, we need to try and do toast in it next (there's a grill bit under the rings!) and we will be heading out with a Wonderbag full of casserole next.

The world, and every lay-by in it, has become the mollusc of our choice.........

Happy days!


(There are many other things to write about, but they can all wait whilst we glory in today!)

When is a Camping Show not a Camping Show?

Well, when it's the Spring Caravan and Camping Show.

We went up in Brian this morning, to be there for around 9:30. The show opens at 10, but due to the wheels issue we weren't sure if we were going, so hadn't bought advance tickets. £10 each, children for free, which is fine by us! A top tip would be to take cash for the tickets as the card windows were packed, but the cash woman was doing nothing!

So far, so good.

Hall 1 looked like this......




Hmmmm. Lots of caravans. Not a lot of camping. This seemed to be the theme of the show. There was a 'tent city' section, which had lots of tents in it, (I think the clue was in the name!) but there wasn't the accessory and sundry items stalls that there usually are. Last time we went in October, was much more variety, whereas this show was all about the caravan.

Static ones. Towable ones. Massive motorhomes. Things to move your massive land snail with. (Sorry, is my camper bias showing?). Everything there pointed to us having made the right decision for us. Small, dependable, beautiful, practical, Brian, we love you!

However there were things there that interested us. A couple we will be buying in the near future, like the cool touch BBQ, and a Pro-Tec cover, and one we bought there.

This book is going to be a large part of our future.





The Britstops people have produced a book of places that you can go and stay at for one night, for free. The book is clear, easy to understand and well organised. I first found them on twitter (@Britstops) and then found the website, http://britstops.com and today we bought the book!

The book itself was £25, but staying at 2 places will more than cover that cost.

Obviously I will update the blog with how things go, where we go and what we do, but this seems ideal for us. Several of the places are pubs, for example, which means we could phone up, see if they have a pitch, go, eat, drink, sleep over and go home in the morning. Or move on to somewhere else. Or we could go and see friends, stay somewhere and have had a free nights accommodation. The book clearly states what facilities are available at each place, and have a 'Code of Conduct' which is basic good English manners!

We're definitely looking forward to using this a lot! (And it's in nifty globe box size!)

Overall the show was a bit 'meh!' but the book might have just saved it!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone so don't mock the spelling and I'll be back later to sort the layout!

Up, up and away!

On a cold, grey, slightly depressing Norfolk morning, we loaded 4 wheels into the back of Brian, and the box of wheel nuts, and pottered off through the cold, grey, slightly depressing Norfolk countryside to Swaffham and Paul-the-garage-man.

It was early. We had allowed for tractors, horse boxes, cyclists, in fact anything that could slow us down and stop us being there on time. Paul was fitting us in after last weeks illness/other van on he ramp scenario and so we were prepared to do whatever we had to do. Obviously, because we had allowed time for all those things, we encountered none of them. Even the cement mixer was doing a decent pace. This meant we were there long before we needed to be, and were forced to go and get breakfast.

Terrible, I know.

So.

A before picture from the garage yard.





I think we can all see the lean here! For some reason Brian has been lowered at the front but not at the back. It makes the ride feel tipped forward, especially from the back.

Approximately 60minutes, a hot chocolate all round, and a wander through deserted Swaffham later, and Brian looks like this!





The ride is much different. We're all sitting more upright, and Brian feels much more steady.

However..... (And you knew that was coming, because Brian always leaves us with something to do!) Paul-the-garage said that Brian appears to have a saggy back right corner. Without wishing to be personal, he's right. Paul's main thinking on it has to do with the fact that Brian wasn't lowered evenly at the front, and therefore may not have been lowered evenly at the back.

As we know Brian has to go in and have the boots done that go over the ball joints, Paul-the-garage is going to have a look then. It's not a major problem, but it does go along with part of the personal issue I have with modifications done by people who don't know what they are doing, of which more in another post.

Anyway. Brian finally is raised at the front. He has his new wheels on with tyres that we feel confident in, that are the right PCD and the correct weight bearing level. I have 2 more sets of curtains to change, and a roof set to do. I need to make a small bag for the front curtains to go in when they aren't in place.

We're also going to the Camping and Caravan show tomorrow, so I'll be blogging a review of that as well.

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And they're in....

The aim of this weekend was to put the wheels on yesterday and have Brian raised, and curtains in today.
Well, we managed the curtains.
For mostly illness related reasons, Brian did not go over to Swaffham to be done.
For mostly massive antibiotic related reasons, the curtains did go in today! Most of them...
Just as a reminder, Brian's previous existence was in Burberry check.




All round. All over.
The first curtains to go in we're the back ones.
For any curtain nerds out there, it is clear that Brian's old curtains were hung with household runners and hooks. He now has camper runners and hooks.
Off came the end stop (don't lose this!) and on went the new runner loops.




The smaller one is the correct one.
And da-dah!




How gorgeous are they?
We did the sides at the back on both sides, then the long curtain along the sliding door.




From the inside, the red is really striking but also has a really cosy feel.








The curtains haven't been pulled yet, I'm letting them drop a bit before I do that. They are very stiff at the moment, which is to be expected from 3 layers of material.
The curtains also look great up against his cartoon door cards.




The front windscreen curtain was slightly more tricky, as we had to put some extra press studs into Brian before we could mount the curtain.
The original ones look like this, (yes, headlining is on the list of things to do!)




The curtain had been deliberately made without poppers in, so that we could match them up in situ and get them exactly right.




Everything was provided, including studs, instructions and tool-thingy.




Instructions were clear.




J offered up the curtain to the right place and used a bradall to put a small hole in.




Ok, it's a circuit tester. However, the point is that is has a sharp point to go through all the layers of material.




The tool instructions were followed, and the poppers were popped into place.




Inside.




Outside.




Fitted!




Outside view of the fitted curtain. (I'll get a better picture another day.)




Back view!
There are a few bits still to do, but illness caught up with us again, and so we'll finish it another day.
However, it's a lovely job, and really suits Brian. We're really thankful to Sarah at VW camper curtains for doing such a great job with the material we dropped off to her!

Leave us a comment on his new look?
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Before......

This weekend sees major changes in Brian's appearance.

The first will be that he will be going over to the garage to be lifted, and to have his new wheels put on.

These......





... will be his new boots, and they will be the right load-bearing, the right PCD, the right everything.

He's being lifted because currently he is lowered at the front, and not at the back, which means he's right on the bottom if his leaf springs at the front. This is far from ideal on Norfolk roads, nor yet on town roads with their accursed speed bumps designed to stop joy racers in a gti..... ;-). Hopefully this will make him a more comfortable ride, as well as getting rid of the 'falling forward' feeling that one gets if one sits in the back!

The third big change will be his curtains.

Currently we have these....





..... which will replace these.....





.... a particularly offensive chav-tastic Burberryesque check!

They are not lined, nor yet fitted neatly. The rest of this post should show the reasons why these need changing....




The main van section.







Back window. The new curtains will be a pair as well.





See? Burberry check does not match Brian's 'fun bus' feel. His idea, not ours!




Roof lights. Also hideous.

The new curtains are also blackout lined, which will be lovely, and the red interior means that it should have a very cosy feel.

Obviously I'll be putting up photos as he's done, but this is his before post.

One day I'll explain why he's a fun bus, but not today lol! Today it's just exciting thinking about all the changes ahead!

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A fine day out.

Yesterday rocked.
It just did.
We spent the day in Brian, starting with a trip to collect our small companion for the day. He's 3, (4 in 1,2,3,4 weeks!) and fabulous company. He's at the why stage though.
We went over to Holbeach Hurn first of all, to drop these off.




The most clever Sarah of vw camper curtains sews from a busy workshop in the quiet countryside and spent time checking exactly what we wanted, how we wanted it, and how it was going to be.




She provided the small companion with paper and pencil for drawing, and she and J went to measure up the Brian.




I was in the workshop with the small companion, so there weren't many pictures, but what we do know is that the front curtain template that Sarah had from other bays doesn't fit the Brian! Oh, and the dormobile roof measures oddly so that it can't be mirrored both sides. Nothing is ever simple.....
On the other hand, we are leaving Brian's fabric with someone that we trust, whose work we have seen, whose price was jolly reasonable and who reckons we can have it in time for Dubfreeze!
(Oh, we aren't going to Dubfreeze to camp anymore. Brian is being raised and having his new wheels done on the Saturday! Proper post to come, obviously!)
Anyway, back to the day.
The small companions parents arrived at this point with the medium and larger versions, as well as the tiny version, and we bimbled up to Tattersall Lakes. The weather was gorgeous, but cold, and the small companion's mother joined us in Brian, and we followed his father up to the lakes.




Brian behaved beautifully, and the small companion had many questions that involved his speed, his bumpiness, his noises, and why we had a blanket in the car.
We had a pub lunch (very nice!) and looked around the park. It seems lovely!




We'll be spending some time there over the summer I think. We drove around different sites, looking at pitches and static vans and the small companion commented and questioned everything.
More importantly, the lady showing us around had never been in a camper. The clue came when she looked at Brian and said "Do you want to come in my car or......?" and when J said "We can take Brian if you want to come with us?" she was very happy! She loved his look, his belts, his sound, his feel, everything. Brian stuck a smile on her face and shared the VW love!
Then we headed back to the home of the small companion for an Indian and a film before driving home.
Fabulous. Cold, but fabulous. And that's an issue when you have a small companion who is vaguely blue around the edges because of the cold. According to the garage man (who will have his own post later!) Brian has some heat direction bits missing possibly, but when he's up on the ramp for his wheels we're going to have a look all over him. I don't mind cold, our boys are older so are fine with extra clothes, but I feel bad for the small companion. He didn't complain at all though! (Too busy with the why!
But why did yesterday rock? Well, aside from a whole day with the small companion, and wonderful friends, and delicious lunch, and moving forward with the next step of Brian's development, there was just a whole feeling of rightness. Brian was out, doing what we got him for, being comfortable (ish), being gorgeous, being the fun bus that he seems to want to be. We were in and out of him all day, he started first turn of the key every time apart from the last (but he was so cold!) and if we'd have taken the kettle and milk, it would have been a perfect day!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone so don't mock the spelling and I'll be back later to sort the layout!