And now we wait. We have no idea how long, we’ve discussed dates, but we can’t move forward. Something is holding the house move up again. We don’t know what and our solicitor is trying to find out, so we wait, and make daily calls to everyone we can to speed things up.
Life in a van isn’t all about sunny days and beaches, everyday things continue. The shopping (OK, it is more interesting when you are trying out new supermarkets) and working out what you can cook in a small space on a 2 gas ring hob, and cleaning. I like a nice tidy space, neither of us like clutter and trinkets, the removal firm, while on a video walk round the house call to provide a quote, suggested we were minimalists. I’m not sure I agree, but we don’t have ‘stuff’ everywhere. Some people love having things around them and there is nothing wrong with that, but we don’t. Plus I would get sick of dusting, who wants to dust so many things? In the van, space is restricted. However much we try, there is always stuff. There is such a thing as a van shuffle. Not just to get past each other in the choreographed dance moves that allow us to get to the cupboard we need, but the stuff shuffle. There is always a pile of something that moves around the van depending on the part of the day. It’s on the sofa over night, the passenger chair in the day, or possibly the bed as we drive. It’s a random collection of things, hoodies, magazines, kindles, a phone and maybe the odd packet of biscuits. It drives me mad, but it is part of van life.
The other thing is in a small space we seem to produce huge amounts of dust, and however hard we try, grass and dust is ever present, so a daily sweep is required. This week I managed to both cut my finger, knocking it on the corner of the cupboard (not realising I was bleeding until I wondered where the trail of blood covering the floor and bed sheets came from), and bruise my thumb. No idea how that happened, but it hurts!
And then there’s the washing up. I hate washing up. When I was younger I did a lot! We would often have loads of people over for meals, whether family gatherings or things related to dad’s job, our house often had 30 people for a buffet. Mum was in her element. I was not. A stroppy 15 yr old does not love washing up, but it was my job and I may have argued, but I always lost. I remember saying to mum during on of the marathon events, “when I have my own home the first thing I buy will be a dishwasher,” and I did. OK, it wasn’t the first thing, that was a bed, but I got the dishwasher before the sofa. Old garden chairs would do to sit on until I could save up. I was not doing any more washing up than I needed to. I've had one ever since. I can’t be sure, but I’m fairly certain Ian hates it even more than me.
But now we have been in the van for just over 5 weeks, with no dishwasher (obviously). We may be having one-pot meals, but we still seem to create far too much. So it’s gloves on, off to the pot wash room and get on with it. That was working fine until the mosquito's moved in – we have been bitten to XXXXXX and they love the washing up room. It’s a comedy battle of washing, drying, swatting, jumping, and generally swearing to get it done. Washing up has just got a whole lot worse.
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