Finally, I sat down to write

Sunday/Monday

We drove into the campsite at Blackmore, Malvern on Sunday afternoon and set up home. I think of Sid as ‘little house on wheels’. This is because, when we tried to explain to our internet provider that we wanted to cancel and didn’t have anywhere to renew because we’d be living in a motorhome, the person we were speaking to had to go and find out what a motorhome was. She came back with ‘Oh, little house on wheels’. So that’s Sid then.

An Elddis Sunseeker is very different to a Winnebago Rialta. The loo system is far more complicated in Sid. Win had a black tank which is where everything from the loo landed. It would have been dark down in its depths but who would want to check out the contents? No-one. Then, Leanne bought us a little light to fix on the loo seat. When it was dark the light would flash red if the loo lid was down and green if it was up and safe to go. Unfortunately the light’s moorings weren’t very good and within a couple of days the light had fallen down the hole. I like to think it flashed its way from Land’s End to John O’ Groats all up the right hand side of the UK and all the way back down the left hand side.

Sid has a cassette toilet. It’ll be a new experience emptying that but we didn’t have time to think about it.

There were other things that needed our attention. The loo wouldn’t flush, the sink wouldn’t drain and the water system had so much air in it that it was whistling and hissing when we turned on a tap. We’ve solved two out of three now which left us with finding out which way to point the aerial so we can get tv if we want it. We didn’t have an internet connection last night because we weren’t given a code when we got here. On Monday morning Colin paid £20 which will give us internet access for 12 months. Seeing as our little house on wheels will be here every sixth week, twenty quid sounds like a bargain.

Monday morning and the kitchen sink has drained overnight. I set off for the shower block and stepped into a winter wonderland. Every blade of grass was separate because each had its own coating of frost on it. It crunched as I walked over it.

Grandad left to visit a client so I decided to have sort out little house on wheels because we now know that what we put in Sid is mostly in the wrong places. There’s a small bookshelf. It has a lip so books don’t fall out when we move. More time was spent arranging books on that shelf than in all the other cupboards put together. Travelling without books would be impossible. Once everything was stowed to my satisfaction I was happy. Everything had its own place and I knew where it all was, from diaries down to dental floss and sweaters to soup tins.

Finally, I sat down to write. And that’s not as easy as it sounds. The table with folding legs is stored in the wardrobe. It fits between the two long seating units which turn into beds at night. Then the laptop is in a cupboard above the front windscreen but the plug-in mouse and keyboard, which I prefer, are in a cupboard at the back end. Finally the stand I put the laptop on and which is now doubling up as bedside table had been shoved between the driver’s and passenger’s seats. I like my screen to be at eye level. It stops me getting neck ache and sore shoulders.

Finally, I sat down to write. But a cup of tea would be nice, said that little voice from the procrastination department of my brain. I switched on the kettle. There were no clean mugs. Washing up was a priority but I didn’t want to take it all across to the shower block where the laundry and dish-washing facilities are. I used the kitchen sink. Washed up. Pulled out the plug. Nothing happened. The sink is blocked again.

Finally, I sat down to write. The sink can wait.