What are you all up to
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There are a few benefits which automatically entitle the recipient to a B/B, but largely it is assessed on physical ability. The more evidence you attach, the better. Screenshots from the NHS app make good supporting evidence.
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We applied for a BB soon after Mil came out of hospital. It was an easy process mainly due to the Stroke Support Unit providing documentation stating her limited walking capability. This was rubber stamped straightaway and we had the BB for her within the week. No benefits taken into account, which was good as she doesn't get any.
I do recall, a few years ago, one of our near neighbours, a lovely old farmer who had had Strokes and Heart Attacks and used mobility scooters to get around, re-applying for his badge. He was asked to attend at the local council offices and they were sited on the first floor without a lift. So anyone making it to the office was denied a badge. His daughter accompanied him that day and made the administrator come down stairs to see him. She wrote to the council and press and the system was changed. It was quite some time ago.
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I applied online for OH's Blue Badge. There was quite a lot of 'backwards and forwards' with them wanting various bits of information but there was at no time any mention of benefits which was lucky as we don't get any. I think the fact that he was waiting for the operation on his back swung it in his favour. I sent all that info to them. I am not sure what will happen when it comes up for renewal as he has now had the operation but his mobility is still not good. Also he needs to be able to open the car door to it's fullest extent to be able to get out of the car which he can't do in most spaces in a car park. We shall see what happens in 18 months time. I might get one of the GPs at our surgery to give us some help this time if they will.
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Is anyone else fed up of sitting in the dark ?…for the last 3 days we have not seen the sun, in fact we have barely had any day light, and today is just cold & miserable, and the solar panels have been generating less than 1kw per day, but we have had to have lights on indoors so that we can see and the central heating is struggling to maintain a temp of 21 degs, OH suffers from raynauds disease, so although she sits wrapped in one of those electric throws, she still needs an ambient temp of 20 - 22 degs.
Our Spanish daughter was cycling in 19 degs yesterday and clear blue skies, Oh! how I wish sometimes that we had taken the plunge and emigrated to Spain or maybe Cyprus, but way back we always looked at things like our health going forward and said to ourselves how we would miss our World Beating NHS having had things like new knees in double quick time, how things have changed, now you go to A&E to possibly die on a trolley in a corridor, but, have to say the NHS has looked after us so far in our hours of need, but only 2 years ago when OH was in hospital in the universtity hospital of Cartagena I did look on in wonder at how much better the overall service/conditions were compared to the UK, and i read on here the difficulties people are now having to get what we have essentially paid for over a period of time, even our blue badge took 3 months to be approved, by the time it arrived we did not really need it but was advised to keep it, in the meantime the caravan sits on the hard standing next to the bungalow, only been used as a guest bedroom since last September and no chance of it moving until May time due to other committments, oh! and the weather, afraid to say these days sitting in a field when it is freezing cold is not our idea of caravaning , gone are the days when we have had to shake the snow of the awning roof to get the door open, happy days 😁
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That looks like a wonderful tour @Takethedogalong. I so wish WW was nearer to us.
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I am not 'blaming' the NMW in any way at all @DavidKlyne and neither would the Cathedral. I just mentioned it as something that has to be considered in the general financial aspect of the Cathedral and also many other businesses.
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@Takethedogalong - brilliant - wish I'd been there to hear that. Good for your Dad🤣 Can't stop laughing!
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Not a bad day here today dull and cold but dry so I took the opportunity to get the caravan cleaned as it’s not been washed for months. Moved it in to middle of the drive and got the ladders out to do the roof took a couple of hours but van is now white again not grey. Looking forward to getting away now hopefully get away for a weekend soon and we are planning a 9 night trip for early March possibly to Chester or Blackpool.
Hope everyone else is having a nice weekend
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It has been another dull and cold day today, too chilly to be working outside in the garden, at least for me. Waiting to take the caravan in for it's repair before we can decide when we can get away on our next trip.
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It has been a very grey very cold day here today. We went to the Volunteers Evensong this evening and the young choristers had their thick winter cloaks on throughout the service. They usually only wear them to come from the song school to the Cathedral and back again so it shows how cold it was!
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It was grey and very cold here yesterday as well, but we got togged up and had a nice walk around Clumber Park, with the hound in his chariot. We stuck to good paths, kept out of the mud, but it blew the cobwebs away nicely. Quite a few folks out, but you have to park in with lots of others nowadays. We did the ornamental gardens from Central Bark, not an area we usually do as we tend to be cycling the perimeter paths. A nice afternoon.
I got plenty done in garden on Saturday, but we need to decide about fence or not in the next couple of weeks, before stuff really starts to grow. Don’t like fencing, but need to block out some of the nasties coming from next door as it’s making the hedge and border upkeep very hard work.
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@milliehull it is a very special place, absolutely vast, and there’s easily a weeks worth of visits that would keep any history lover well entertained, as there’s all the Estate, the Follies, the surrounding areas, the preserved village, Elsecar Heritage Centre, plus some more obscure links. They do have a dedicated digital team who are producing plenty of YouTube videos, so you might enjoy watching some of these……..some are short, some are long!
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Workmen in today to reconfigure and refit MiLs shower room so we had a 7.30 drop off of materials. I then had to take the campervan into the dealers, yet again, as we still have an intermittent gas flow problem which we want fixing full stop. Had to hang around for a while whilst OH waited in for shower fitters to arrive from Bolton. By the time we got home it was lunchtime. After lunch I headed off to Tesco. Thought I'd settled in for the afternoon but had to go to pick up a filled prescription.
House is freezing as the workmen are in and out.
We have had quite a bit of rain today even though the forecast was for a dull but dry day.
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@richardandros @DSB @nelliethehooker @Takethedogalong @Wherenext
Thank you so much for your well wishes! :-) We've just returned from our 'maiden voyage' and we can call it a success! It was all a bit chaotic, but we got there in the end and did not want to leave! We managed to charge the battery enough for the motor mover to work, so all was well. We've made a two page list of items we will need next time that only became apparent when living in the caravan. Hitching up is still fraught, mind! Hopefully we will have another mini break in February and then a longer one in March.
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@Maplesparents The initial chaos is all part of the fun😊
David
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@DavidKlyne 100%!! 😀
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@Maplesparents before you go purchasing all the things you think you will need have a good look through what you have in the house that can be used. Also you may find that some of the items that appear necessary initially may only be used on the rare occasion, so not worth the added expense.
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It has been a rather miserable day here with periods of drizzle and rain showers. We took the caravan in to the dealer's for it's repair this afternoon and had a short walk between showers while we were there. Will now just have to wait for a phone call when the job has been completed
Hope the workmen were able to get the job done, @Wherenext , and that those at the M/H dealership were able to resolve the problems with the gas.
Glad to read that you managed a day out and a nice walk around Clumber Park yesterday even if the weather was not that good @Takethedogalong
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Pleased you had a good time. It does get a lot easier. Don’t rush and buy too much stuff initially, but if you are going to use your outfit a lot, including through the Winter months, it can be helpful to buy some stuff just to leave in your outfit. But always think weight and as your outfit is in storage, don’t leave a lot of valuable stuff inside.
@milliehull article in Guardian newspaper today about Peterborough Cathedral…..
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I hope you get your MH sorted out Wherenext, very frustrating. We need to fix a couple of things on our MH, but nothing major and thankfully DIY. Battery had gone flat, it’s been so dull the solar panel hadn’t charged it, but it’s sorted now. Drivers door needs a new catch as well, but that’s ordered. Good luck with the bathroom work as well👍
Sure it won’t be long before you are back out Nellie😁
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Glad you had a good time @Maplesparents. Making a list is an excellent idea. You'll probably think I'm mad (😀), but I am pretty OCD about it and have a detailed spreadsheet of the stuff we leave in the caravan all the time (+ where it is kept) and the stuff we put in on a 'need to take' basis etc... plus a column for when I take things out... I also have a column for the value of each item/ how much we paid for it etc... It totals the lot up for me which helps me decide how much I need to insure the contents of the caravan for.… I wouldn't be without my spreadsheet!! 😀😀😀
We're off out to Tredegar House CAMC site very soon now...
David
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Thank you very much for this link @Takethedogalong. An excellent article that sets all the problems out very clearly.
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@DSB Good morning! I think your spreadsheet sounds a fantastic idea!! Before we went out, I put things in the caravan like a dish cloth caddy, kitchen utensils, batteries etc BUT didn't make an 'inventory' what I did leave in there. Six weeks passed and it was finally time to set off. I assumed I had put in a little bottle of washing up liquid and didn't, nor did I have a wooden spoon. I love this forum, it's a treasure trove of ideas 😊
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I'm glad you had a good maiden voyage. It's a super hobby.
With regard to things in the 'van - we didn't have spreadsheets 🫣 but I did keep a set of toiletries each, toothbrushes and toothpaste, towels, and tea towels along with bedding in it. Towels bedding, etc. were brought home to wash and then stored separately, and that storage place emptied as we we were going on a trip. I also put in there new teabags etc when needed.
we also kept a couple of tins for an emergency meal, teabags/coffee in the 'van. But always be aware of weight, it's so easy to overload.
That way if the opportunity presented itself to head out at short notice, it was grab contents of the fridge and clothes and go 😃
If you have extra chargers that's always handy to store in the 'van too!
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@Bakers2 thank you 😊 We won't be able to do a spreadsheet as we are both 'computer idiots' 😂 but we will have a little log book with columns of items we have in the 'van, and a column with tick boxes if we need to replenish etc. You hit the nail on the head re being able to just get up and go short notice and not needing to spend hours packing what you will need. At first, I thought we could make do with taking our normal kitchen stuff like woks, frying pan ect to cook but as we store our 'van 40 minutes drive away in Staplehurst, it means we fill our car up with a lot of stuff on top of your usual clothing, food and dog bits. So we have decided to kit our 'van out with what we need to cook (luckily, as it is just us two we don't need big pots etc) and have staples like you mentioned 'on board'. We will also buy some stackable crates with lids that we can keep at home with the stuff that is more perishable/prone to get mouldy we can just grab. Fortunately, our sons have moved out and we have a spare bedroom that will now become the caravan paraphernalia storage room! Going on our first two nights away, our car was so full, it looked like we were going on a month long trip! It was also very time consuming to think of everything we may need, shove it all it numerous large bags and cram it into the boot… and I still forgot the washing up liquid 🤣
Our dream is that one day, we will be like you guys and just be able to 'grab and go' at a moment's notice :-)
PS: I have put extra chargers on my list!
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Hi Goldie
I think that it depends on who your local authority is a some of them appear to demand proof of disabilty benefits and others don't! My son was born with Spina Bifida and has always been a paraplegic who cannot stand, let alone walk and as he has always had miss-shapen feet it is very apparent that he has never been able to, nor ever will be able to walk, but I still have to fill in the damn forms every few years to obtain a new Blue Badge, which I find both ridiculous and annoying as his disablity is obviously permanent.
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@Maplesparents that reminds me we had small collapsible crates to pack our clothes in and other bits. Easy to store in our motorhome once we've stored the items.
Yes basics for the kitchen, travel kettle (lesser wattage), kettle for the hob if you go off grid, saucepans, plates, cutlery etc.
You certainly don't need to buy 'van specific items - an excuse to increase the price. IKEA, and other places do almost non breakable proper bowls/plates/mugs which we preferred to melamine.
Tea towels are great for wrapping things, to save breakages and rattles and usual on arrival so not extras. Non slip matting inside cupboards keeps things from slipping and sliding on your travels....
MMost of us had/have a large cupboard full of 'useful for the van items' that weren't!
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@Maplesparents I made lots of lists for when we caravanned. What we had in the caravan permanently and what we needed to pack each time we went. Also the most important lists were the ones I made for when we hitched up and unhitched. I made bullet point lists of absolutely everything we had to do in the right order. I kept one copy of each permanently in the caravan and one in the glove compartment of the car. We caravanned for decades until sadly we had to give up a few years ago and I used the lists absolutely everytime we hitched up and unhitched. It is so easy to forget something important in the heat of the moment. We kept all kitchen utensils, saucepans, crockety, cutlery etc. in the caravan. Bedding we always took out in case of damp and also towels but they were kept in the spare bedroom at home and could easily be picked up when we were ready for the off. We used to pack our clothes in the laundry bags that you can buy so we could then fold bags up and put them under one of the beds. Food we put in a collapsible box so that could easily be stored away when not is use. I am sure you will soon get the hang of things. Happy travelling!
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@Takethedogalong we had a day at Wentworth Woodhouse today. We have never been before but we did see a great TV programme about it a couple of years ago and your recent post about your tour awakened our interest again. Not a bad day either it was chilly but dry and still, and we had been going a bit stir crazy at home. What an interesting place, we really enjoyed the day and a little walk around. We will certainly visit again and maybe have one of the tours next time. There must have been so much more snow there than we had here, it’s still around in places!
This is really the back of the building apparently. The original front is the picture above but not considered grand enough in 1725!!
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