Monday 18 April 2016

We're soon going to have a new home!

We're Soon Going to have a New Home!

Wednesday 13th April - Monday 18th April 2016

Well, since we got back to our home town of Ripley it has been an absolute whirlwind of visits and sorting out out new home - but more on that later!  Our first priority was to see  our children and spend very precious time with them and our Grandchildren - and as we did so, we were very well fed - Oh well the diet can start next week!



On Wednesday we visited Sarah, Paul, and Thomas, and were greeted with hugs, kisses and a few tears of joy. Then, amongst lots of chatter and catching up, we were fed a lovely roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings - which went down very well with a drop of vino that we found lurking about in the bilges of the T4rdis.







Thomas was a bit shy to start with, but he soon overcame this, and during our visit Grandad was dragged out  into the garden to dig (at 4 years old Thomas says he wants to be an archaeologist!). However, they hadn't been out there for more than a couple of minuets when disaster struck - Grandad broke Thomas's BEST spade - and he was in big trouble.  Luckily, John is quite good at 'bodging' things, so as the spade was very amenable to being 'bodged', (with the wooden shaft of an old toy rake) it was soon as good as new and Thomas was back to his happy smiley self.









Thursday was the day that we visited John's Mum, and then later, Adam, Vicky and Jack.   It was lovely to have time to  natter and catch up with all Rosie's news on how the rest of the family are doing.



Then it was up to Heanor for our second visit of the day.  Again, Jack was a bit shy to start with, but as we arrived with his birthday pressie in hand he soon got over it!  

Jack had chosen 'Heelies' - trainers on wheels, and of course, as you would expect, he was very keen to try them out! While we were visiting he mostly managed to stay upright with just an occasional helping hand - but the very next day, not only was he wearing nice new shoes, he was also supporting a split lip! Luckily, his teeth were all still intact - maybe I should have brought a gum shield to go with them - (I'm really sorry Jack xx)





Jack's fantastic Super Hero Birthday
Cake made by his Mum


Once again, while we were their guests, we were fed on a scrumptious roast lamb dinner (cooked only the way Vicky can), and we came away thinking that maybe we wouldn't need to eat for a week - but that thought only lasted till morning!












Now, on Friday and Saturday morning we did a lot more visiting - but this time we weren't visiting people - we were visiting motor home dealerships, because we've decided to upgrade our home!  The T4rdis has served us extremely well over the last year, firstly as a holiday van, and then since the 5th September 2015, as our home.  But, we have decided that if we are to continue living in a motorhome on a full time basis, we need a little more comfort and space than we presently have.  The layout we have  set our hearts on is a rear bedroom with a  large garage underneath, a mid-ship kitchen and a front lounge - but nearly every producer of motorhomes makes one in this configuration.  Therefore, to ensure we got  one that suited us best we'd got bit of excluding to do.  Over the last few weeks we've looked at dozens, both on the continent and in England, and either on line, or in the 'flesh', but in the end we've settled for a Chausson 717, and we were lucky enough to find a second hand one of a similar age to our T4rdis that has only done 2050 miles.


We actually saw it for the first time on Saturday morning, and almost instantly we both agreed that it was 'right' for us.  Therefore, we've taken the plunge and paid our deposit and requested one or two gadgets to be added for our comfort.  Only draw back is that we can't have it till mid May so our next adventure may be a little delayed.  Oh well, never mind, we'll have more time to spend with family and friends.




Once we had finished exploring our new home (I think it will be T4rdis2) we headed off to Treeton for another very special visit - This time Ben, Louise and their baby daughter Evelyn. In the months since we last saw Evelyn she has changed dramatically, and she is now full of coos, giggles and tricks that make every moment with her very special.








When we first arrived she was most definitely not keen on the two strangers that swooped in and wanted to give her big cuddles, but by the time we had been there for an hour she was more than happy with her two new play mates - and we were more than happy to spend our time playing!





Happily, we managed to fit the T4rdis on Ben's front drive so we were able to stay over till Sunday,  so on Sunday morning we went for a bit of a muddy walk, and then once again, we were treated to a feast for lunch - this time duck!







Sadly, our visit came to an end all to soon and in the early afternoon we had to depart and head off to the Brownhill's Motorhome Site at Newark where we had the T4rdis booked in for it's habitation check.  This was the last possible day for the survey, and it needed to be done to satisfy the requirements of our warranty, but hey ho, it's allowed us to park up for free on their 'on site Aire', and it's also given us time to go shopping in Newark tomorrow (Monday).

So what did we buy? A new mobile phone, a new wifi hub that will hopefully solve most of our internet access problems while we're abroad, an inverter for T4rdis2, and several other bits and bobs that are 'essential' to our ongoing adventure!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) it will be back to our base at Ripley and lots more family visiting - so for now I'll sign off, and maybe update again in about another weeks time xx

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