What are you all up to
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Left the Lakes today at 10 and were home at 1.15, having had a quick comfort stop at Abington ( I think ) services on the M74. Very few caravan spaces, all occupied by anything other than caravans, so stopped in the HGV area which was almost empty. Was fine when we set out but started raining heavily as we stopped. Lots of water on the roads in Glasgow, but the rain eased as we got home.
After a quick lunch, and getting the caravan onto the driveway, we had to go down to the Guide hall as there was a problem with the heating, turned out just to be a stuck button on a time clock, which is about to be replaced anyway.
Then there was the car to empty as we need to use it tomorrow, and also managed to bring in a few essentials from the caravan and turn off the fridge. Still plenty stuff out there to deal with, one downside of returning from a trip. Will get to it all eventually!
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I spotted that just before, David, thanks for it..
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Some more photos from our day out today, around the Walled Garden and Woodland at Culzean.
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Then there was the car to empty as we need to use it tomorrow, and also managed to bring in a few essentials from the caravan and turn off the fridge. Still plenty stuff out there to deal with, one downside of returning from a trip. Will get to it all eventually!
I’m afraid to say KjellNN but this scenario was one of the reasons we sold our caravan. I, particularly, was getting to the ‘I could scream’ stage!! When the preparation for a trip and the sorting after a trip was no longer a pleasure or joy we couldn’t see the reason for doing it albeit we enjoyed the being away part. As you say, it all gets done eventually.
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Bet I'm the first one to read your post heddlo - assuming the times on here being correct!
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Same here heddlo. I suddenly realised that I just wasn't looking forward to all the preparations and packing and then all the sorting out, unpacking and cleaning when we got home. So we had a discussion and decided to sell the van. It is a good job we sold when we did as we would have been forced into it this year with all OH's ill health which would have been a totally different scenario. I hope you are enjoying Maccau. Dont wear yourself out KjellNN. As heddlo says it will get done eventually.
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I suppose that we are all different, I never once minded the caravan packing, in fact I enjoyed that bit, and the unpacking was never an issue. While cleaning the caravan I’d often take a break in it and just sit for a while. However the hooking it up, getting out of the drive and the actual journey made me very anxious, and I wasn’t the one driving! With so many cars on the roads now and I’m afraid to say, so many stupid drivers, it was getting worse. I see that they are saying again that Smart Motorways are dangerous. Well whoever came up with the idea wasn’t at all ‘smart’, I hate travelling on them. OHs health made us give up and it was the right time and the right decision for us. We have some great memories though and visited some lovely places.
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The thing I hate most is cleaning the outside of the caravan.... especially the roof. We clean the inside of the van just before we leave the site for home.
All clothes, food etc travels in the car (when we just have a 3/4 night trip). We take things from the car to the caravan when we arrive on site, and then repack the car before we leave. We take the caravan stright back to storeage and then unload the car when we get home. We tend only to take a tiny bit of food with us.... we buy when we get there and use it before we leave. Everything in the car fits into foldable crates.... usually a maximum of just 3 foldable crates, so we just carry the crates from the car to the house.... It works for us.....
However, I do have very detailed lists of what we keep in the caravan and where we keep it, and what we need to take in the crates. (My lists have to be seen to be believed!!! 😀😀)
We don't use an awning these day.... just the wind-out Thule canopy. Outside chairs and cadac travel in the car and tend to stay in the car permanently during the late spring to early autumn.
David
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I too despise a roof clean David, a friendly fellow suggested a product called Wet & Forget but I’m a bit concerned about using unknown chemicals. The wind-out canopy is also a chore I’m non too keen on.
I’m never happy about keeping food stuffs in the unoccupied van, particularly those that may attract rodents.
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And we're the opposite, David. I think Ros has spent too many years living on / being on boats and applies the same principles to the caravan and no amount of 'discussion' about weight seems to have any effect!. The freezer is full, as is the fridge and cupboards contain a fair amount of tinned and bottled goods - 'just in case'! Even if away for two weeks, we don't have to do a great deal of shopping. I fear that even our very generous payload is compromised sometimes
. All the really heavy stuff goes in the car and the fact that there is also a dog cage in there means that packing it is quite an intricate job and there certainly isn't much room left.0 -
We use Wet & Forget on our composite decking at our static caravan, very good stuff. We apply, spray on, on our first visit in the spring, then just leave it, once it rains it starts working, gradually all the dirt, green and algae just comes off, after a few weeks it looks like new. Not sure about caravans though, never used it on the van. Couldn’t use it this year though as the river rose and flooded even the decking, leaving all the river debris behind, needed a days power washing to get it all off.
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I'm very conscious about weight, Richard.... Every so often we visit the weighbridge.... and I have a list of *absolutely everything* that's in the caravan when it is weighed.... I then judge from there. Out last visit we were 1890kg (out of 2000kg). We're due another visit now we've had the E & P fitted. I'm expecting aroud +25kg for the E & P.
David
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Did you go for the full system - or the Compact, David? I found the system had a few 'quirks' to start with but it's fine once you get used to it. If you have any questions - please ask and I'll do my best to answer them. We've had ours for nearly five years now - so I've had plenty of time tome to play with it. Fitting the twin Alko locks is an absolute doddle with E&P and I'd say it was worth it just for that - well, for me, anyway
I keep threatening to take mine to the weighbridge fully laden but that would mean interrupting things when we were ready to go away, so I never get round to it. I really ought to sort something out.
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Didn't realise you were in Maccau, heddlo - which would account for you apparently posting at silly-o'clock
Hope you are having a nice time.0 -
We do not go out between October and March so most things are taken out of the van for that period, plus it has to be pretty empty for service in March, so packing for the first trip of the year is always lengthy. More so this time as we had DD and the boys with us for a week, so extra stuff to take, and remove when we got home. Will take a day or two as some other things to deal with first.
Other trips are much easier to pack for. Food packing depends on where we are going, but we generally take some stuff from the freezer at home, any contents of the fridge at home that need to be used, and bits and pieces to get us started.
When it is just us we often do not use the awning, which is only a lightweight, 3.9m porch, but we do take it with us in the summer when we usually have a 5 week trip, however we can cut back on outside furniture. Just bought 2 new folding chairs which take less space in the car.
Now we have given over the smallest bedroom to storage and put in good shelving, we have somewhere to keep the caravan stuff tidy and all together, which does make life a bit easier.
But I agree, it is quite a chore, and when we do find it too much we will be giving up. May only be another year or two, depends on how our 16 year old van fares too!
It is looking rather unkempt at present as the weather did not allow for cleaning before our trip, and I still have the new wheel spat to fit, for the same reason.
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Just been into the city centre, by bus, to see if OH’s I pad can be fixed, it will not take a charge or switch on properly. Fine one night, pretty dead the next morning. Have left it to be looked at.
OH had her car to pick up from DD, she borrowed it for the trip to York, so she came along and was kept busy sorting washing and dishwasher as DD was busy working. We will hopefully stay for lunch, food supplies here permitting, then I have some things to do on the way home.
Off to remove DD’s roofbox as we do not need it.At least it is not raining!
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🤣🤣 I hadn’t noticed the time!! It was around 10.30am here when I posted, we are 7 hours ahead of UK at present. Yes, it’s a nice time, mostly, we are here babysitting our grandchildren while our son and wife are away in America for a couple of weeks. Although the amount they FaceTime we are wondering why they went?! Granddaughter is 5 so she is at school, grandson is 15 months and teething so that’s why I said, mostly! We are tired, though fortunately they have a helper for around the house, cooking, and the little one. The weather is 30/31 degs and 85% humidity so that doesn’t help with our activity. We are here for another few weeks and spending a few days with our other grandchildren (and son’s ex wife) in Hong Kong before we come home.
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Being a childless couple we missed out on the anxiety ridden day that you hand your child over to the care of a schoolteacher. Maybe you then go on to enjoy a peaceful morning but guilt ridden for doing so.
Well today we caught up with you as we handed over our very own 91 year old child to the care of her Craft Class friend to deliver her there and bring her home. So we had 3 hours to enjoy a beautiful days sunshine so we decided against wasting any of it by getting in a car and settled on a walk and a stop at a pub halfway around. Beautiful countryside, new flowers out, birds singing. It was bliss, interrupted every so often by a "Wonder how she's getting on?"
She seemed to enjoy it and just used her pronged walking stick. A big step forward. Big thanks to everyone there for making her feel part of the group. Have to admire her pluck.
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Yes, we went for the full system, Richard. Everything seems fine. Back home now..... the worst part was dropping off the 'van at storeage..... had to try and reposition the small broken paving slabs to coincide with the slightly different position of the steadies. We also need to get some slabs for the central telescopic 'arms'. When we've got this all sorted it'll be fine. 🙂
David
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That sounds like a successful day WN. So glad it worked out so well for all of you. Onwards and upwards.
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Good news about MIL, WN. Hope that her obvious improvement continues.
Have had yet more problems posting on this thread, what a bl**dy pain it is at times, lost another post last night!!
Best get this in before it happens again.Great day for getting the washing done, warm and sunny with just enough wind to dry the clothes. Walks in the forest and by the Loch, site full with 5 caravans tonight after 4 on last night.
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David - I don't know if you had them fitted but I can recommend having the extra large bases for the rams. They are literally as wide as a dinner plate and stop the rams from sinking into soft ground. They were on offer - free to members of this Club - when I had mine fitted - don't know if that still stands but they really have turned out to be a big bonus.
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Brilliant update WN, so glad MIL is enjoying getting back into things she likes doing. It is a huge step handing over to anyone else, and glad it went well. So pleased you got some time out together as well, vital for you both.
Another marathon session on the phone to O2 for me yesterday😡 It’s hard to think of another company that has been this inept and uncommunicative, but I persevered. Still no dialogue with anyone from the fraud section, and I was passed around from India, the Philippines, goodness know where, until finally I politely told one of them I had had enough, just give my PAC code and they could whistle for getting anything else out of me. Nothing impolite, all the call handlers are very polite, as helpful as they can be within the limited remit of what they can do, but the constant having to go through security and then retell the scenario (thirty one days, 15 calls, 18 text messages, 21 emails😡😡😡) is extremely wearing. You are battling good but heavily accented English as well, which doesn’t help. As usual, the threat of leaving kick starts more attention, and South Africa (I kid you not😳) finally got to the bottom of at least one issue, a faulty sim. But still nothing relating to a brand new IPhone delivered to house (very expensive model, I refused to accept it, videoed courier taking it away, took photos of parcel details, all records kept), the missing sim, also sent out but never arrived, the emails telling me my next payment will be five times my normal monthly fee! I ended up with a new tariff, 20gb unlimited call/texts, for a pound more than my usual monthly fee, the money they think I owe credited back, and a new sim on its way. Few months to get my credits used, then it will be bye bye. Not a company I can recommend. My dealings came about after VM and O2 merged, never had an issue when it was VM offering mobile deals. Next three days will tell if this saga has an ending.🤞
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TDA
I was with Virgin Mobile for many years going back to the time they had that sort of hybrid system of half PAYG and Pay Monthly. There was no monthly fee but you just paid for the calls which was ideal if you didn't use the phone much debited directly to your bank account. Then when I purchase my first Smart Phone from them I went onto a monthly contract, now like you I am with O2, fortunately no difficulties so far but I am still using the same phone when they changed. I think i am probably spending too much on the monthly tariff especially as they have recently hiked it up. I am considering upgrading my current Samsung phone so probably at that point I will look at more reasonable monthly packages.
David
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I have been with O2 since the days when they were BT Cellnet and have never had any issues. A couple of years ago I swapped to Virgin as I was attracted by their rolling 30 day contract and roll over of unused data. As they used the O2 network I had no qualms about it and, subsequently, no problems.
Like others, I ended up back with O2 after the merger but I’m happy with the service and the 100gb for £7 p/m deal they put me on.🙂
Hope your saga is at an end, TDA.
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We had the extra large feet for the rams. They should have cost an extra £100, but he said he wouldn't charge me for them..... 🙂 I am in the process of claiming the £50 M & S voucher (CAMC offer), and I paid the bill from a credit card (but 'paid off in full' 😀), so I could get a small cash back reward... 😀😀.... every little helps!! 🤣.
David
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Some of the competition is no better Ttda. I just think it's pot luck. You keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best. We've had problems with both EE and 3. Both seem to be resolved at present but we dread having to do any amendment to the PAYG for either phone.
Sprung a surprise on MiL today by offering to take her into town to go to the library but mainly because it was market day and she wouldn't have gone if she had time to think about it. She and OH toddled into a few shops ("Dolly Trolley" used) and the library. The Blue Badge came in very useful. She enjoyed it but full fitness still a long way off.
Spent a fair amount of time after lunch pressure washing the flags in the back garden outside the rear door. The pattern on them is slightly uneven and I was worried they may be slippy for MiL after wet weather, which we have been known to have.
Only managed half of them due to a technical fault, i.e. I was knackered!
Lovely sunshine again today. Hope those away having some of the same.
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Sunshine WN! We have had rain showers with occasional hailstones and only a very occasional glimpse of the sun. Good to hear that MIL is out and about albeit with the 'dolly trolley' and presumably slowly. Hopefully it will have given her spirits a lift which is good.
We had some friends round for coffee this morning. When we arranged it a couple of weeks ago I had the faint hope that we might be sitting in the garden
As it was we sat indoors with the heating on.0 -
I've always thought that your area, Millie, gets more rainfall than one would think, as it tends to get lumped in with the South East or East Anglia whenever we see a UK based forecast. The South East is constantly harangued by the ladies as a "Hogger of the best weather" so you get tarred with the same brush.
We do seem to have a lot of the wet stuff, probably not as much as we think, but it seemed never ending this winter.
Looking at annual rainfall totals you're not that far behind us in Peterborough.
We were walking on the hills above Grange in the Lakes a few years ago and talked a man who had moved from the East Anglia to the Lakes quite a number of years ago and he reckoned that, in general terms the West had better weather in Spring than the east but worse in Autumn. We've noticed he's not far off the mark.
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It's been a bit manic since we arrived home on Monday from a really enjoyable break, had to go straight into work, so left OH to empty the van. 😉 Been a bit not stop lots of jobs to do and I've even made a start in shortening the new curtains, mind you I am convinced the floor isn't level!! 😮😮
Great update about your MIL Wherenext, really pleased she is able to get out and about and enjoy her craft group.
Even here in the SE our weather has been a bit mixed, its also been a bit chilly. Had to dash out to bring the washing in yesterday as it started to rain, just got it all in when it stopped and the sun came out 😫
Nellie, We stayed at CAMC Blackshaw Moor site, not stayed there for about 18 years, last time it was to take the boys to Alton Towers. Booked earlier in the year and made use of the spring discount, so only £27 pn which we thought was a good price 🙂 I actually quite like the site.
Millie, hope you get the car sorted, shame you don't live a bit closer, could have sent Trevor round with his tool kit, he ends up doing plenty of repair jobs for friends and neighbours. 🤣
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