Agy van is going on tour!

Agy is going on tour! This means turning Agy into our home on wheels again, rather than her being a builders van and static home. 

The washing is on the line, which means only one thing… The Octopus needs wrestling again. 

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure I wrote about this last year, but trying to fit a sheet to a fitted bed in a campervan that is tucked in a corner, quite high up….. It's like wrestling an octopus! The only way to do it is to lie on the bed, but lifting the mattress and fitting the sheet is a whole work out on it’s own! As you can see it is elegance personified.

But it is totally worth it, the cupboards are packed with sound deadening skill and we are ready to go. The ferry is booked, the neighbours informed ( they will be keeping an eye on the house while we are gone) and all we have to do is fill up the water tank. We have an hour before we need to leave for the ferry, so plenty of time. Except...it is pouring out the bottom as fast as it goes in. Ah, the valve is open, no problem, we can fix that. Valve closed, try again, still it pours out! Now it’s getting urgent, we’re planning to be away for a while, so we are going to need water! In the end we decide to just leave and sort it out later, the ferry won’t wait for us.

For some unknown reason the local Council have decided the best time to do all the major roadworks on the island is as the tourist season starts and lockdown finishes, so after multiple traffic lights and diversions we make it. Red Funnel here we come.

There is something very special about a journey always beginning and ending with a ferry, it feels like a proper holiday, properly away. 

It seems (from all the messages we had) that the weather wasn’t so good on the North/big Island. It was dull, and a bit spitty with rain as we boarded, but nothing to cause any concern. We had a very calm crossing, but as we disembarked the rain started to bucket down… we’ve got used to Island weather!

Our first stop is to see my dad. It's been almost a year and that’s been hard, just like everyone else who hasn’t been able to see family, so I’m both excited and a bit emotional. My sister and niece have been amazing visiting dad, taking him shopping and when allowed, going out for a drive, or even a walk. I know he is Ok, but I needed that hug and to see him myself.  

Turns out, I was worrying for nothing, he's doing well and was very pleased to see us. It was heavenly to be able to sit and chat, have time to be together and catch up on all that has and hasn’t happened.

Those of you who know dad will know he has been woodturning for many years, he’s very good and has made us, and many others, beautiful gifts over the years. He told us he had stopped turning now as he gets too tired (the church sales where most things were sold have stopped), but Ian was interested in having a go, so off they went to the shed. Dad instructing, Ian practicing. Before long a square bit of wood was round and many shavings were made. Ian wasn’t bad actually!

Before heading off we were able to see Ian’s brother at the pub we were staying at.  Agy had her first passenger; Dad had an appointment in town, so we were able to drop him off before heading off. I think he liked it!

Oh, and the water? We needed to press a button as we closed the valve! Dad supplied the water, so we were good to go.

Getting out and clearing out

 

We’ve been out! OK we are still under stay local rules, but we have ventured out to explore a bit more. We got the bikes out for their first trip. It was a short one, as I haven’t really ridden a bike since I was a teenager, and it turns out my right leg really needs a lot of work to get any strength for cycling. Ever since I had my new hip, which was 14 years ago now, that leg hasn’t been as strong. I can do most things, it’s brilliant, but I really want to try and strengthen it a bit more by cycling, so off we went. To be honest it was quite successful and we found a road free route from the back of the house that was beautiful. It wasn’t where I planned to go. We turned off too soon after the golf course, but it turns out, if we had kept going a bit further we would have found the red squirrels!  

As the weather gets better, doing jobs outside becomes more attractive, so we decided to investigate the gutters, just in case they needed cleaning out. To be honest I am thankful we have a bungalow because it was my job and they certainly needed doing. Half the beach and a forest full of moss were in there, particularly in the gutters between the breezeway and the garage. While I was up there I said to Ian, “can you take a photo for me?”  Clearly he took my best side! 

Having filled a bucket from this short section I moved on to the rest of the house, luckily the rest weren’t so bad, but that front and centre issue came back to get me as I struggled to get the bucket between me, the fence and the gutter again... I was going to call this blog “boobs and buckets” but somehow it didn’t feel right.

Having got all the garage equipment back, the final big job of the clean up could take place. The cleaning of the drive. It is a big drive and it was really filthy, so out came the jet washer and Ian got to work, it looks so much better, the photos don’t do it justice with all the sunlight and shadows, but it really does look great. 

Having started on jet washing, it seems Ian couldn’t stop, so Agy got a good wash too. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can be out and about in her properly, you know, travelling and seeing people.

As we missed the turning on our cycle ride I had been looking for previously, we decided to head off for a walk and weren’t disappointed. We live fairly close to the only train line on the island that goes from Ryde to Ventnor, it’s being renovated at the moment and is closed, but the island has a lot of cycle ways and footpaths along old railway lines that are perfect for getting out and about away from the traffic, and this is what I had been looking for on our ride. There is the old railway line that goes all the way from Sandown to Newport, and it is really close to us so off we went along the red squirrel trail and this is what we discovered.

 Highland cattle (I love Highland cattle), 

and a community orchard. Originally Sandown Community Orchard was part of the cottage gardens for people employed at the waterworks nearby. The first waterworks were built in 1861, and the waterworks just across the road still serve the town now. It’s great to have all of this on our doorstep and we are really looking forward to learning more about our new home as restrictions lift and we get our second vaccination. Fingers crossed it won’t be too long now! 

Front and centre

The ‘to do’ list is getting shorter, all the major jobs are done, but there are a fair few little ones that need doing, and this week we tackled one we had both been putting off. Way back when we were in the loft on a regular basis, I noticed a hole filled with a birds nest in the eves, I managed to get most of the nest out – it was very old, but this left a hole that needed fixing. We didn’t have any leaks, but when you know you have a hole in the roof, you don’t want to leave it. We also needed to sort out the pull socket we had disconnected in the bathroom, so we could finally take it out.

So up I went. 

The first job was to work out which cables were connected to what and what was needed to remove the switch from the bathroom. Ian wiggled from below as I looked out for a moving cable, having spotted it, we realised it was connected to a junction box, so although we could remove the fitting and pull the cable up, it needed to be disconnected at the other end too, and working out what was what took a while. Nobody likes a free flapping live cable in the loft.

There was no way I was doing that bit on my own so Ian joined me up top and managed to sort it all out identifying about 3 other cables that were just randomly connected to nothing. Luckily none of those were live either, but there were a few double check moments before taking a firm grasp and pulling.

While we were there we decided to tackle the nest/hole. Last time I just couldn’t reach the actual hole as there just wasn’t space, flat out on my stomach, arms outstretched I just couldn’t get close enough as the roof was too low, I needed to be flatter to fit and I haven't lost weight, so I needed a plan. I used a stick to get the nest out before, but I was going to have to get in there this time. So I came up with a cunning plan… Front and centre did not work, so side and flatter it had to be. ( some will get this reference, others less blessed may not!) It gave me a little extra space and ta da, I could reach the hole. I had the sticky roofing material to stick on all carefully prepared; it was just unfortunate it wouldn’t stick!

After all that, I couldn’t fix it from the inside, so Ian got the ladder out and after about 20 minutes of him trying to find the hole in the roof from the outside (it was not in the same location as the internal hole in the lining), we finally found the issue… the lights went out in the roof. Ian had found the source of the problem. It seems the flue from the boiler wasn’t that well sealed! A bit of sand and cement later, and it was fixed.

Having removed the pull socket from the bathroom, we were reminded of the state of the house when we arrived. Ewww, this bit of ceiling was... shall we say... in its original state! So we fixed that too.   

We also decided it was time to get our final belongings out of storage and work out where on earth we are going to keep it all. The final container had most of the garage content, some of which we now needed, but also my Kenwood Mixer ( well mum’s, but it’s mine now) and my weighing scales. Oh how I have missed them. No more guessing cup measurements. I can weigh out ingredients once again! Bliss….