This picture demonstrates why I am going to have to get rid of my campervan. When they built the houses in our road they did so with minimal parking at the front and access to the parking spaces behind via this little tunnel under an ornamental roof. Sadly the van is too high by a matter of six inches or so. I can’t park it on the road in the long run because the residents of the other road where I need to park hate me and my campervanning ways and write me notes saying that my sort is not welcome.

In case anyone here wants a campervan it is a 1987 Type 25/Type 3 VW Transporter, 1.6 turbo diesel. It sleeps 4 - 2 on the main fold down bed and 2 more in the high top roof. It has a sink (tap doesn’t work but I think that’s just a fuse) and 2 gas rings. It goes well and is very economical. It had a new MOT in July. The inside is very nicely fitted out with carpet on the ceilings and everything. The main thing wrong with it is the rust, which though cosmetic rather than structural is fairly significant. I’ll tidy it up before I sell it, but it will still decrease the value quite a bit. I don’t have a price yet, before you ask. On this page similar VWs are mostly going for £4500-6500, but the bodywork on mine will mean the bidding is likely to start at less than that.

Posted by Dave at 9:49 pm on September 7, 2006 and filed under Essex Life, Campervans.

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Above: My campervan being towed to the garage yesterday by the very kind men from Grange Service Station in Rayleigh. It is having a new starter motor fitted (again) and by some miracle has passed the MOT only needing new wiper blades (again).

It is looking likely that we will therefore have it for Greenbelt, as there is not really sufficient time to do the cosmetic bodywork required to sell it before the wedding even if I was to want to do so. It is likely that I will want to sell it in the longer term for the simple reason that I have nowhere to store it. The parking space at Maddie_C’s house unfortunately has a height restriction, the curse of high-top campervan owners everywhere.

Posted by Dave at 9:38 am on July 21, 2006 and filed under Essex Life, Campervans.

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The weekend has been terribly busy so I haven’t been able to blog until now, 10pm on Sunday, an almost unheard-of occurrence. This is a brief account of what we did. It’s OK, but not that interesting.

Yesterday we went to Cheltenham for a party. There were lots of musicians and spies there. Really. GCHQ is based in Cheltenham. I kept on feeling that people were watching me from behind trees and things but then that’s something I should go and see someone about rather than anything to do with Cheltenham. We did lots of driving but it was well worth the trip.

This morning we went to a very large church in Cheltenham. They sing lots of songs, have very comfy seats and we were made to feel very welcome. There again I might struggle to go there regularly as they don’t do any processing up and down the aisles in funny vestments. I love processing in funny vestments. I suppose there are more important things in church than processing in funny vestments, but it’s still pretty important.

This evening, having done some furniture moving we watched Top Gear. It’s rather fun, though it has rather turned into a platform for Jeremy Clarkson to air his views rather than anything much to do with cars. In tonight’s programme they went caravanning, which was quite amusing as they made everything they could possibly think of go wrong so as to make caravanning look really unfun. But it was so blatantly staged (crashed caravan into various things before eventually burning it down) that it made them look ever so slightly silly. The good name of caravanning, campervanning and camping in general was, I think, upheld.

Talking of which, this week I must decide the final fate of my campervan. I need to find someone to come and tow it (at a cost), mend it, MOT it and then I will need to tax and insure it and even then I will have nowhere to store it. Telephoning a scrapyard is beginning to look like the least costly option, though that would make me very sad.

Posted by Dave at 10:04 pm on July 16, 2006 and filed under Mundane, Campervans.

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Seeing as we’re talking about experimental mobile ministers here is a story from the Oxford diocesan newspaper ‘the Door’ about a Vicar who goes and sits in his campervan all day. The BBC reported on the story a year or two ago too. The idea is that parishioners come and ’share tea and religious discussion’.

I’m thinking of setting up a similar service as a cartoonist. I will sit in my campervan all day and wait for people to come and drink tea and discuss pressing issues of the day with me. Unfortunately the van still doesn’t go, so the offer is limited to my driveway. Actually, come to think of it it’s a bit warmer in the house, so we might as well meet there.

Posted by Dave at 10:16 am on February 9, 2006 and filed under Campervans.

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As far as drawing cartoons goes at least. See these links which explain how our government lost its vote because of an inability to do counting:

Independent Online Edition > Blair’s no-show causes defeat on hatred Bill
BBC NEWS | Politics | Ministers lose religious bill bid
The Times: Rowan Atkinson celebrates Government defeat
(By Ruth Gledhill)
and… ahem…
Mirror.co.uk - News - RELIGIOUS BILL BLOW

(That last one included solely for the line “One Labour MP said: “The Chief Whip will carry the can. She is toast.”” Mixed metaphors just appeal to me for some reason.)

In order to stay legal though I must now dash to the post office to get a tax disc for my campervan which currently lies rotting in the driveway. There’s still the slimmest chance it might see the open road again, who knows.

Update: Kerron Cross, interesting blogger with a Houses of Parliament pass supported this bill. There’s a thing.

Update 2: Don’t even begin to talk to me about the DVLA or Rayleigh post office. Pah.

Posted by Dave at 9:27 am on February 1, 2006 and filed under Current events, Campervans.

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I am beginning to think that some of the people of Essex do not love me. I keep getting little notes saying that I am not welcome as long as I drive a white campervan. At least this one was polite unlike the last one which was really quite severe in its tone. I’ll try and dig it out at some point as at the moment it is in a box marked ‘things’.

I am starting a new ‘campervans‘ category on the blog in protest. That’ll show ‘em.

[I would like to point out that some of the people of Essex are very lovely. I was using a shocking headline as a cheap way to get more readers. If you have been enticed in by this headline please bookmark this site and come back every day, thank you.]

Posted by Dave at 12:37 pm on October 12, 2005 and filed under Essex Life, Campervans.

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Oxfam are taking a green campervan around various festivals this summer. Their festival blog is here - look out for the green campervan.

Posted by Dave at 7:54 am on July 25, 2005 and filed under Blogging, Campervans.

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A caravan turned into an art gallery which tours the country. It shows wryly observed drawings, photographs and collages and is “particularly drawn to absurd anomalies and curious juxtapositions“. The caravan, in case you were wondering, is a diminutive mustard model (circa 1969), with white walls and beech floor on the inside. Sounds a bit like the sort of thing I’ve always wanted to do, except I bought a campervan which sits in the drive except for odd trips to Tescos. The Caravan Gallery website is here. I found it via Reach out and touch the screen, though after some thought and reflection realised I’d seen it on John Davies‘ site too.

Posted by Dave at 10:01 am on June 17, 2005 and filed under Art, Campervans.

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Today is my first day as an officially self employed person.

I woke up determined to get going in an efficient and productive manner. I’ve been at Maddie_C’s house as it has been her Easter holiday but I was all set to return to my house this morning. So, I jumped into the van, turned the key and… nothing. Like a fool and an idiot I had left the parking light on for 3 days so nothing was happening. I summoned Maddie_C and we pushed the van back and forth to turn it around, discovering that a VW van really is quite a heavy beast when you have to push it. Fortunately with a slight incline it did jumpstart ok and I was able to be on my way without further ado.

I have put this post into a new ‘Essex Life’ category. I don’t know what other items will join it. Perhaps nothing, we shall see.

Posted by Dave at 12:11 pm on April 18, 2005 and filed under Essex Life, Starting a Business, Campervans.

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