Holiday Season
This article first appeared elsewhere on March 23rd, 2008. What was true then is most likely not true today when I reposted it here.
Comment: and this is where the old blog died. I made one further post recently.The postman must be heaving a sigh of relief as the avalanche of motor home brochures has slowed at last to a trickle.
Theoretical study reveals that The Snails have a taste leaning towards Hymer/Burstner vans. Of course, they haven’t seen any real life vans yet, so they may be entirely wrong. The situation will shortly be remedied as the holiday season has arrived with Easter (and the snow.)
Mr Snail has subscribed to a number of camper van forums. He has settled in, introduced himself and the Great Snail Plan, and has asked for help and advice in planning a future as full-timers. He has made an offer to anyone bringing their van to Orkney: camp on our land, use our facilities, but show us your van – and especially, your bed!
Surprisingly, there have been takers: Mr and Mrs Snail presently expect an Easter visit, and also one in May. The May one is exciting, as the visitors have a Hymer of the exact model that is currently favoured and it is of the age such that it is the year and model they shall be seeking when they come to purchase. The Snails could not hope for a clearer demonstration.
Planning
We continue to plan, in a low key way, and have several conversations a week along the lines of “When we go, will we take ‘such and such’ with us?” and “We need to learn ‘this, that or the other’ before we go.”
Frankly, all that learning is going to keep us fully occupied for the next few years! Mrs Snail, for one, is particularly poor at languages, having no ear for them. The plan is to brush up on French and German and to learn some Italian, Dutch, and Norwegian at the very least. We both wrinkle our noses at the idea of Spanish, but I think that is because neither of us fancies going to Spain very much at all.
The only other news at this stage is that we think that we should begin the process of de-stuffing right now, and not leave it until we are ready to sell up and go. This means that we have to make a start on the Wants and Needs lists soon. It would be crazy to de-stuff any Needs by accident, and foolish to hang on to things that are only minor Wants. The clear out will need proper planning.