Poor Bertie!
Poor Bertie got SORNed (Statutory Off-Road Notification) today :-(. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon, so I figured we may as well recoup his road tax for however many months he is sitting idle. Moments after I’d done the deed I received an email (unsolicited) from his insurance company confirming that SORNed vehicles are still insured; it seems they’ve had a large spike in calls clarifying that point, so we’re far from alone in taking this action.
Ponderings on Returning Home
One of the repetitive themes of our discussions about whether to come back from Spain a couple of weeks ago was my assertion that I didn’t want to ‘jump too soon’. I didn’t want to get home only to conclude days later that we could have stayed. The tipping point for us came on Saturday 14th March, and we arrived home not only happy that returning was, for us, the right decision at that time, but with the conviction that if we hadn’t left when we did, subsequent developments would have had us on the road by early afternoon on the same day.
Even if we had decided at that point to stay, we would not have found ourselves trapped, even now. Coming home now would have been marginally more difficult, purely in terms of being stopped at the French border, possibly at police check points in both Spain and France, and needing some extra paperwork, but it would still have been straightforward. We were, however, in the lucky position of being within relatively easy reach of home (just 2000km and one short channel of sea to overcome) and in the even luckier/privileged position of having a house to which we could return.
There are lots of people we meet on our travels, as well as those whose blogs/vlogs I follow, whose sole home is their van/motorhome, a proportion of whom are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Those who have returned to the UK now have the problem of finding somewhere to stay, in an environment where many campsites (if they can afford such luxury) have closed, motorhome service points are almost non-existent and the UK press and social media has vilified those parking up in vans, without consideration as to their circumstances.
Then there are those who have found themselves stranded not within easy reach of home. Of the YouTube vloggers I follow, two this week have had to abandon their vans (Eamon & Bec at an airport in Morocco to fly home to Canada; Trent & Allie in a storage facility in Argentina to fly home to the USA). Neither know when or whether (risk of theft) they will see their homes again.
Doing
I didn’t mention yesterday the other main activity in which Mick is currently engaged, along with digitalising his flight log books. He’s also taken it upon himself to send a daily educational(ish) paper, with quiz to the youngest three grandchildren. Today’s topic was Geography(ish) based on our Land’s End to John o’Groats walk. Tomorrow it’s History, concentrating on major events in years ending in ‘66’. It’s not only giving the grandchildren something to do, but putting them together is keeping Mick out of mischief.
Meanwhile, I’ve achieved eight ticks on the task list sheet today, including filling in a bit of my woeful lack of knowledge about Charles I and the English Civil War – a curiosity piqued by the audiobook that is currently keeping me company whilst I go about my gardening and cleaning tasks (and sometimes when I’m knitting too).
In a continuing effort to use up leftover yarn from blankets I’ve made, I’ve just finished making another brioche hat. I love brioche knitting! Mick kindly consented to join me in the ensuing modelling session, wearing the same-hat-different-colour that I made in January.
Exercise
Something happened on this morning’s jogette that has never happened before: someone hailed me by name. The oddest thing about it was that I was at that moment listening to an episode of a podcast featuring an interview with that very person. Spooky!
The only photo I took during this morning’s jogette was of a big cow pat in the middle of a pavement.
Nettles as a Substitute for Spinach
If I hadn’t known that it was nettles I’d put into tonight’s curry, then I don’t think I would have noticed that it wasn’t spinach. The texture wasn’t quite the same, but they worked out just fine. I’ll have to see if there are any more tender leaves worthy of harvesting.
Fish, veg and nettle curry
Poor Bertie got SORNed (Statutory Off-Road Notification) today :-(. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon, so I figured we may as well recoup his road tax for however many months he is sitting idle. Moments after I’d done the deed I received an email (unsolicited) from his insurance company confirming that SORNed vehicles are still insured; it seems they’ve had a large spike in calls clarifying that point, so we’re far from alone in taking this action.
Ponderings on Returning Home
One of the repetitive themes of our discussions about whether to come back from Spain a couple of weeks ago was my assertion that I didn’t want to ‘jump too soon’. I didn’t want to get home only to conclude days later that we could have stayed. The tipping point for us came on Saturday 14th March, and we arrived home not only happy that returning was, for us, the right decision at that time, but with the conviction that if we hadn’t left when we did, subsequent developments would have had us on the road by early afternoon on the same day.
Even if we had decided at that point to stay, we would not have found ourselves trapped, even now. Coming home now would have been marginally more difficult, purely in terms of being stopped at the French border, possibly at police check points in both Spain and France, and needing some extra paperwork, but it would still have been straightforward. We were, however, in the lucky position of being within relatively easy reach of home (just 2000km and one short channel of sea to overcome) and in the even luckier/privileged position of having a house to which we could return.
There are lots of people we meet on our travels, as well as those whose blogs/vlogs I follow, whose sole home is their van/motorhome, a proportion of whom are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Those who have returned to the UK now have the problem of finding somewhere to stay, in an environment where many campsites (if they can afford such luxury) have closed, motorhome service points are almost non-existent and the UK press and social media has vilified those parking up in vans, without consideration as to their circumstances.
Then there are those who have found themselves stranded not within easy reach of home. Of the YouTube vloggers I follow, two this week have had to abandon their vans (Eamon & Bec at an airport in Morocco to fly home to Canada; Trent & Allie in a storage facility in Argentina to fly home to the USA). Neither know when or whether (risk of theft) they will see their homes again.
Doing
I didn’t mention yesterday the other main activity in which Mick is currently engaged, along with digitalising his flight log books. He’s also taken it upon himself to send a daily educational(ish) paper, with quiz to the youngest three grandchildren. Today’s topic was Geography(ish) based on our Land’s End to John o’Groats walk. Tomorrow it’s History, concentrating on major events in years ending in ‘66’. It’s not only giving the grandchildren something to do, but putting them together is keeping Mick out of mischief.
Meanwhile, I’ve achieved eight ticks on the task list sheet today, including filling in a bit of my woeful lack of knowledge about Charles I and the English Civil War – a curiosity piqued by the audiobook that is currently keeping me company whilst I go about my gardening and cleaning tasks (and sometimes when I’m knitting too).
In a continuing effort to use up leftover yarn from blankets I’ve made, I’ve just finished making another brioche hat. I love brioche knitting! Mick kindly consented to join me in the ensuing modelling session, wearing the same-hat-different-colour that I made in January.
Exercise
Something happened on this morning’s jogette that has never happened before: someone hailed me by name. The oddest thing about it was that I was at that moment listening to an episode of a podcast featuring an interview with that very person. Spooky!
Nettles as a Substitute for Spinach
If I hadn’t known that it was nettles I’d put into tonight’s curry, then I don’t think I would have noticed that it wasn’t spinach. The texture wasn’t quite the same, but they worked out just fine. I’ll have to see if there are any more tender leaves worthy of harvesting.
I could easily go veggy - nettles and all.
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