Show and Tell

We treated ourselves to a day out yesterday; we went to the Caravan & Boat show at the NEC, an excellent way to spend a rainy February day. Several thousand other people thought so too. Remembering Firkin Freezin when we spent the night at a jaunty angle, with the heating on full; we bought some thermal window blinds and bigger wheel ramps for the Kontiki and, wishfully thinking for the summer, a new awning.

The show itself was gob smacking, there were motorhomes, caravans, mobile homes, tents and awnings. Yachts, narrowboats, dinghies, canoes and a whole host of other stuff that has nothing to do with caravans or boats. There even seemed to be some stands left over from November’s Good Food Show but who can complain at another chance for some free sausages & toffee vodka?

We had a look round a brand new Kontiki, it was very sleek and curvy with a fixed bed and a garage, a whole world away from ours - as was the price tag! It was a great day and the piece de resistance was Ann-Marie’s fab new hat.

There were a few stands with electric bicycles, we first considered one when we saw them at Shackerstone Festival last September. We think a couple may be invaluable as cycling will be our only means of getting around when we’re on the boat. Also, it’s feasible for us to use them for getting to and from work at the moment, or at least when it stops raining – we just have to look into the funding as they don’t come cheap.

This weekend’s clearing out job was the little bedroom which we’ve used as an office and store room. We managed to reduce our bookshelves to just 4 boxes which we’ve packed up ready for storage and a small collection of novels and guides for our travels. The rest is ready for the yard sale at Easter.

We came across the slide projector and reunited it with the long lost screen which we found in the loft last week. Inevitably this led to a slide show of Dave’s RAF tour in Belize back in the 80s. We hope to have a return visit on our long way home from Oz.

Also this week we ebayed the Panda and Freecycled 4 old doors, little by little we’re moving towards our goal.  This week’s scores: Added to lists = 2, Ticked off list = 4, still winning!