I’m happiest when I have a project!
My projects in the past have been:
- my motorbike (a ZXR400)
- my dog (who I adopted at 16 weeks from a local shelter and ate one of each of my favourite shoes!)
- My list of 30 before 30 (which you can read about here)
- The Little Patch (an adventure in babywearing)
- keeping chickens (we currently have two and 6 eggs in the incubator!)
When I have a project I become a little obsessive! I need to read all the books, join all of the groups and forums and search all of the websites. My latest project is no exception…
Meet Willamina…a 1970s 2-berth Viking Fibreline Caravan.
I’ve had my eye on Willamina for a few years now and have always thought she could one day look fantastic. She belonged to my husband’s childhood friend’s dad, Bill, who has sadly passed away. Recently on passing her sitting cold and damp at the end of the short track to I mentioned to my husband’s friend David that I thought she could be beautiful and I’d love to get my hands on her. To my surprise he said she was mine (sorry husband….ours), and on 16th February 2016 we drove down in the Jeep to collect her.
After much grunting and rubbing of chins David and Leon managed to change both of the tyres, made sure she was roadworthy and hooked her up to the Jeep. We’d intended on leaving early afternoon so we could drive back in the daylight but whenever you go back to Leon’s home village there seems to be a time difference of about 3 hours. So a little later than expected and just as it was getting dark we set off with a caravan that hadn’t moved in 16 years! And, to top it off, our usual route was closed and as we found on the way down, the diversion would add 1 and a half hours onto the journey. I was put in charge of navigation and chose a route I believed would cut off the corner and bring us home more quickly! What I didn’t realise was that the route took us to the top of the moors (there was snow!) and up and down some significant hills. The 14% decline made me nervous but nothing could describe the fear I felt when we started the descent following the sign stating ‘20% decline for 2 miles’. Sitting in the passenger seat with no control over the brakes I’m not ashamed to say I was terrified. I now know how my dad felt when he taught me to drive – “Dad – I’m sorry!”
We made it home 4 hours later, tired and relieved. The cold light of day the next morning would show us what we’d taken on…
The Little Patch 