Time to Get Filthy

 I have been catching up with my recent trip to Norfolk, making myself do jobs that I have been putting off! Despite my best intentions, I had not filed any paperwork since Christmas so that took AGES! Nella has been enjoying her new part-time job in the Crathes Castle cafe over a busy Easter weekend. I took Nessie for a walk in the grounds and called in for a coffee. She was not at all impressed by the scary Easter bunny - a security guard in a dubious costume.

Since nobody here had miraculously shinned up a ladder and cleaned the caravan roof, I decided to tackle it myself. I should have put on a boiler suit or even a hazmat outfit. I don’t suppose it has been cleaned in 25 years as I was faced with an entire roof populated by moss, lichen and black fungus of some sort. I did not especially enjoy being up a ladder and my arms were not long enough to reach into the middle but I gave it a jolly good scrub, using Pink Stuff, a pot scrubber and elbow grease. The consequences of this were that the entire caravan body is now covered in filthy streaks and I had to soak my clothes in a bucket of washing powder. I discovered that the sealant along the rear seam of the roof had almost entirely disintegrated so I remedied that with a couple of strips of Duck Tape to prevent any more leaks. Having seen the extent of the roof from the top of my ladder, I am now not so enthusiastic about painting it;)

The Caravan Man told me that the spare wheel was rusted to the underneath of the chassis and was impossible to remove. I took that as a challenge, so with the aid of WD40 and Fergus' brute strength, we got it off, ready to have a new tyre fitted. In fact, I will be getting 3 new tyres since none of them have been changed for at least 10 years. I have come to realise that the previous owner was economical with the truth of its upkeep. It has all been a learning curve. Soon it will be time to have a practice camp-out at home then I will have to think about planning an actual trip:)