Another Weekend Away

Ryan got us free weekend tickets to see the Phoenix Derby Championships at Cadwell Park courtesy of Comma Oils' promotion, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip away!

We stopped at the same camp site as my parents near Skegness again on Friday night, I managed to forget to pack some towels (oops!) so we stopped at a Tesco on route and I bought us a pair of black bath towels. We needed some nicer towels anyway so it just prompted the purchase!

We spent a nice Saturday morning wandering the discount stores and markets in nearby Ingoldmells where we bought a lovely new stainless steel stove top whistling kettle (we'd so far still been using the small aluminium one from my camping set!) and also an excellent shagpile rug for the living area. No more cold feet in the mornings from stepping on the bare floor! :)



We also come across a stall selling some funny signs and my Mum bought this one for us, with the state that Waki is still unfortunately in it was too suitable to pass by! 



Cadwell park is fairly close to Skegness so we only had a little way to go to reach Cadwell Park, though we didn't quite expect the amount of really steep hills we'd have to struggle up to get there! Poor old Waki really got pushed on that journey, and there was only one hill where we got down to a rather embarrassing 25 mph! Sorry to the drivers behind us, luckily it wasn't too busy! :S

We had a minor issue on the journey in the form of a leak from our water tank where the pipe had come off, which was actually a relief as in the side mirror Ryan said it looked like smoke billowing out and our hearts sank for a moment! But we were soon back on our way though low on water, but we had plenty of bottled water on board and there were taps at Cadwell for the washing up water.

We were surprised to find on arrival that you are allowed to camp anywhere you like around the track, though I can imagine that it’s a lot more restricted during bigger events like British Superbikes.

We initially checked out the facilities in the main paddock area and took a wander down to Club Corner just in time to see the start of a race and some wheelie action over The Mountain. We then took a drive around the track and found a good level spot by the tree line with a good view of the track, it’s such a bizarre feeling looking out of your home window with such a view! We spent a little while on the roof as it gave us a better view of the track, though the wind was pretty cold so we retreated before too long.

Waki parked and level. The front of the over-cab section looks much neater
now without the leaky front window but she still needs a paint job!

The view from the cab window when we arrived

A very happy Ryan and the roof view. Motorbikes, cider & bacon
sandwiches - what more could a guy want?!

The new generator got a good run and worked a dream (a post will follow on this but it means persuading Ryan to write about something!), having that running outside was actually quieter than the gas heater is currently. It can handle running a surprising amount of electrical gadgets at once, although this time we just had the batteries charging and run the laptop and TV.

We watched the film ‘Closer to the Edge’ following Guy Martin and some of the other main riders for the Isle of Mann TT road race which seemed a fitting way to spend an evening next to a race track. I'd say I also had the most peaceful nights sleep I've had in a long while as we was so far away from the roads (or any other campers! :D), though I did wake up the the commentator 'testing-testing' the speaker system around the track but it meant we didn't miss anything!

The hardest part of the trip was making ourselves go home, (especially as we knew we had enough tinned food on board to last a week and plenty of fuel!) but I had to be back at work so we had to go.

The scenery around Louth is quite spectacular farmland, and for our journey the beautiful rolling hills were set off nicely by the setting sun. I managed to get some photos on my phone but the phone can never do a scene like that real justice so I allowed myself to purely enjoy the views instead. Sometimes you just need to look around and smile at what you see :)


By being out and about we've come up with more ideas and of course found more things that need attention – like the knackered battery that was in charge of running the thermostat for our gas heater which needed swapping with the lighting one halfway through the night when we woke up cold! And we now also have the supplies to begin installing our wiring system (an early birthday present for Ryan from my Stepdad!) which will allow us to actually use mains hook-up when on site in future.

Introducing Kaa

I’d like to introduce Kaa to all of you who have not met him yet, the charming and quite oblivious passenger to The Waki Way of life. He is a Californian Corn Snake approx. 12 years old, (named after the Jungle Book character) and almost 5ft in length though trust me that makes him sound bigger than he really is! Sorry Kaa! He’s been a bit of an ambassador for snakes throughout his life and converted many ‘haters’ to admirers with his charm and hypnotising ways and I'm sure he will continue to do so on our travels.

He’s such a cutie and very friendly, and yes of course reptiles can be cute – look at him! He started life at the Japanese Koi centre near Henlow and was the ‘resident’ snake that they would bring out to show prospective customers so when I got him he was already around 4 feet and about a year old. I think all of the handling he got there is what has made him so relaxed around people, and he’s even been to visit the cadets at our St John Ambulance headquarters who were equally charmed!

He is still settling into his new vivarium in the house for the time being but will be transferred to the motorhome when the cupboard/sideboard area is built for him. I don’t want him to get stressed out by us building things next to him as well as being in a new vivarium with odd smells etc so we’re trying to get him gradually acclimatised to all of the changes.

Kaa’s new vivarium is a flat packed one by Vivexotic I bought it from a company called Seapets for a very reasonable price which arrived in good time and condition too, I actually wish I'd found them before I hand built his last viv as it probably cost me double the price in materials alone! They do seem to be the cheapest around for a great many pet supplies so I’ll definitely keep them bookmarked for our future requirements.

It went together well and actually comes with surprisingly strong good quality fixings, though it is only a chipboard unit so needs careful handling. I ran a seal of silicone over all of the internal joins to stop the damp getting through to the chipboard itself and also had to glue the back vents into place as Kaa would have been out of those it a heartbeat if left just pushed into place!

He actually managed to escape my homemade viv by pushing the glass and its runners apart and squeezing between the panes – luckily we were still sleeping in the house at that point and was just getting into bed when I heard him slithering across the bedroom floor! The runners on this viv are moulded from the same piece of plastic so can’t be forced apart, although the glass itself moves a little too freely along the runners for my liking so I’ll install a lock to stop him opening the doors. He is really inquisitive and surprisingly strong and likes digging, climbing and poking his nose into anything that's not his business so for now the doors just have a tab of tape of each end to stop him making another break for it!

Engagement!

We now have something else to plan for in our Waki Way of life since Ryan proposed to me on Monday on our 11 year anniversary (no 11 is not as typo – I’ve been waiting a while!). 

He lured me into the motorhome to ask since it’s such an important part of our life together now! As September is our anniversary month we’ve decided to keep the wedding to the same time next year so watch this space… 

and a massive thank you to those who have already filled our Facebook pages with warm wishes! xxx

Amazing - Eco-fi Fabric

We recently recovered the fabric ceiling of the cab as it was very grotty, and also decided to recover the curved edging covers on which the original fabric had begun to rot away! To keep it light and bright we went with cream felt for the ceiling, bought from Milton Keynes market, which took a massive amount of spray adhesive and awkward pushing and pulling to get into all of the dips and bumps. 

The light colour is a risk with Ryan around and his dirty mechanic hands but it really does lift the space so is a risk worth taking!

We wanted to keep to the brown colour for the edging but couldn't find the right shade at the market so went back to trusty e-bay. I came across some well priced felt material called Eco-fi, which also happens to be made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles made by a company in America! See below pdf about how it's made it really is amazing! I know, simple things...

http://www.kuningroup.com/dfiles/ecofi_SS.pdf

I've been showing it to everybody and no-one else can believe its plastic either so we have some good eco-karma in the project already without a compromise which is a rare thing!

I had to do some cutting and sewing to get it to fit the internal angles which I done by hand as I never have liked using a sewing machine, and it's a good way to practice my needlework. I intend on doing a lot more fabric craft work in the future and we don't have room for a machine anyway. The Waki Way is about doing things the simplest way possible, although we do joke that it's possibly about being the most awkward and inconvenient way possible which is how it's felt with the multitude of obstacles we've encountered so far but we persevere for a simpler way of life!

I can’t bring myself to throw away any fabric offcuts, especially with all of the crafty things that could be made with them so I needed a way to store them. I could just leave them in a plastic bag in a cupboard somewhere or I could have them to hand in a nice attractive bag so decided to make a cushion cover out of the ecofi fabric to hold it, and of course added a few embellishments that would complement our decor. 

I must own up to the fact that it wasn’t my original idea, I was actually inspired by someone on a YouTube video who uses her pillows for storing fabric! 

Click on the link below to view her video, she really is an amazing woman who in a similar situation to us decided to buy a trailer chassis and literally built herself a tiny house on top of it from recycled and salvaged materials!

Project Playlist

Music is an important factor in your mood, it can be relaxing, energising or inspiring. Throughout this project I have been adding songs to a playlist on YouTube that I named ‘You can do it! Do what you’ve always dreamed about!’ to help get us through the low days.

One of the tasks on my Day Zero 101 list was to get the playlist up to 101 inspirational songs , which I’ve finally done – with Ryan’s help of course. See Day Zero blog post for what the project is about and my full to-do list.

It is an eclectic mix of music for sure, from Rock, Pop, Garage, Dance, Happy Hardcore, New Age and even some Classical movie themes. I must say now though that for some reason I’ve never been a fan of the film Rocky, so there’s no Eye of the Tiger in this list I'm afraid if you were hoping for it!

See below for the YouTube link and list of tracks, put it on while you work on your current project and see what happens for you – there is nearly 7 hours of inspiration in there! All of these songs have either taught us a lesson, helped us get back up and carry on when we were down, or just remind us of a happy time and deal an awesome mood so I hope they help you too. J 

Leave a comment here on the blog if you discover any that you like - it would be nice to know we've helped someone out somehow!

1. This Time - The Verve
2. Bornslippy - Underworld
3. What a Wonderful World - Eva Cassidy
4. You're Free - Yomanda
5. Chariots of Fire - Vangelis
6. Follow Me - Uncle Kracker
7. Beautiful Day - U2
8. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
9. True Colours - Eva Cassidy
10. Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins
11. Today - The Smashing Pumpkins
12. Perfect -  The Smashing Pumpkins 
13. The Mission theme - Ennio Moricone
14. Lucky You - The Lightning Seeds
15. The Last of the Mohicans music - Trevor Jones & Randy Edelman
16. Everything Will Be All Right - The Killers
17. Wherever You Will Go - The Calling
18. That's What Makes the World Go Round - Sword in the Stone song
19. Thank You - Alanis Morisette
20. Devotion - Sy & Demo
21. Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol
22. This Isn't Everything You Are - Snow Patrol
23. Raindrops & Sunshowers - The Smashing Pumpkins
24. If It Makes You Happy - Sheryl Crow
25. She's a Rebel - Greenday
26. I'm Raving - Scooter
27. Yeha Noha (Wishes of Happiness & Prosperity) - Sacred Spirit
28. I Want to Break Free - Queen
29. We Are The Champions - Queen
30. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
31. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
32. Twenty Years - Placebo 
33. Running Up That Hill - Placebo
34. Passive Aggressive - Placebo
35. Battle for the Sun - Placebo
36. Between Angels and Insects - Papa Roach
37. Fukin' Perfect - Pink
38. Heaven is a Halfpipe - OPM
39. I Don't Wanna Be - Gavin Degraw (One Tree Hill)
40. Good Life - One Republic
41. Wonderwall - Oasis
42. Always Love - Nada Surf
43. Uprising - Muse
44. Time Is Running Out - Muse
45. Invincible - Muse
46. Feeling Good - Muse
47. We Are All Made of Stars - Moby
48. Lift Me Up - Moby
49. I'll Bring You Flowers - Sweet Female Attitude
50. The Voyager - Mike Oldfield
51. Beat It - Michael Jackson 
52. Breaking The Habit - Linkin Park
53. The One - Limp Bizkit
54. Stronger - Kanye West
55. I can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
56. Imagine - John Lennon
57. The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
58. Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay Z
59. You Can Do It - Ice Cube
60. Singing In The Rain - Gene Kelly
61. Warning - Green Day 
62. Minority - Greenday
63. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Greenday
64. Now We Are Free - Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator)
65. Dreams - Gabrielle
66. Break Out - Foo Fighters
67. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
68. Tender - Feeder
69. Tell All Your Friends - Feeder
70. Seven Days In The Sun -  Feeder 
71. Just a Day -  Feeder 
72. Forget About Tomorrow -  Feeder 
73. Buck Rogers -  Feeder 
74. Comfort in Sound -  Feeder 
75. Reverance - Failthless
76. Mass Destruction - Faithless
77. Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy 
78. Long Long Journey - Enya
79. Wild Child - Enya
80. Return To Innocence - Enigma
81. Lose Yourself - Eminem
82. Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac
83. I'm No Angel - Dido
84. One Way or Another - Blondie (Coyote Ugly)
85. Colours of the Wind - Pocahontas song
86. We Made It - Busta Rhymes & Linkin Park
87. Another Green World - Brian Eno 
88. 'Freedom' The Execution Bannoburn - James Horner (Braveheart)
89. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
90. Born Free - Matt Monro
91. It's My Life - Bon Jovi
92. Song 2 - Blur
93. Coffee & TV - Blur
94. Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head - BJ Thomas
95. Bare Necessities - The Jungle Book
96. Pure Shores - All Saints
97. You Learn - Alanis Morisette
98. Hand in my Pocket -  Alanis Morisette
99. Everything -  Alanis Morisette
100. Try Again - Aaliyah 
101. Everyday Is a Winding Road - Sheryl Crow

Flooring, floods and filters

Wow, I can't actually believe that my last post was about the Jubilee weekend! Sorry everyone :-/

I've been so busy recently but, unfortunately for Waki, with almost everything but the refurb! The main reason is that I've had the last 3 weekends completely hijacked by major local events where I have been volunteering for St John Ambulance, and my last day off work was used for doing the Swan hotels chalk boards again, though I have thoroughly enjoyed it all.

The fresh water tank in place under the sofa

So what have we done since the last post...?

We now have nice new vinyl flooring in the living area, which extends under the sofa and meant that the water tank could go back into place - though we still need to get ourselves a nice new filler pipe as the old one is definitely past it!

Wickes Beech wood-effect vinyl flooring

Ryan completed this task, glueing it all down with some particularly messy flooring adhesive which meant that we had to go over it with a scouring sponge and degreaser to clean it off - a job that still needs repeating a few more times!

We decided on the planks of vinyl from Wickes as they were well priced and should be slightly quieter and warmer to walk on than laminate (they're also easier to cut and there were several bolts in the floor to fit around). We chose to run them widthways to maximise the look of the floor space which I think works well, see below.

The water heater is under a cupboard under the kitchen area

The pump with the water filter attached

Ryan also managed to fix the existing water heater which wasn't working when we bought Waki. That saves us some expense for sure which is great news! Apparently the previous owner had tried to use it when it was frozen and it hadn't worked since so we didn't hold much hope for it, but Ryan took it apart and reconnected it with the gas bottle in the garden and it worked fine! It actually gets really hot, very quickly and now we can't wait to get the bathroom sorted out to use the shower too.


He then reconnected the pump and sink so we can actually use the tap too! We bought a water filter from Go Outdoors to freshen the flavour - though we also intend on using the Aquapure disinfectant tablets in the tank to stop any bacteria growth and a water filter jug as an extra taste improvement measure for drinking from. 


It was a nerve racking moment in using the sink for the first time since it was put back together as I could just imagine it not going into the waste tank for some reason and flooding the place (because that's generally our luck!) but it was fine so well done Ryan - you can now add plumbing experience to your list of talents! We did however have a bit of a flood moment earlier on when the residual water in the pump pipes went everywhere so not entirely smooth sailing, but then it did help clean the floor! :)

One last area of rot and mess!

When I had a few free hours I managed to cut out the kitchen cupboard openings so we can access the whole space easily. They just had one small door per cupboard which made it a nightmare to reach anything at the end, so we will have a set of double opening doors on either for full easy access.

We now just need to reline the one above the hob as it was a bit rotten inside like everything has been, and make some nice doors and then we'll be able to begin stowing things away. We want to line the cupboards in a plastic sheeting the same as for the kitchen walls so we need to go shopping again!

Jubilee Weekend Work

The week before the Jubilee weekend Ryan took some holiday and got a massive amount done, in the evenings my time was taken up with a last minute commission from a friend at Bedford's Swan Hotel, see Chalkboards post on my art blog, so unfortunately I couldn't help much. We've had a great weekend since though and got lots done already. Ryan's Dad done a good job decorating the house so we all felt quite patriotic, especially on hearing the National Anthem so many times on the Isle of Man TT broadcasting that Ryan has been listening to on his phone for the whole time!

The awning, cleaned and refitted, created an area of much welcomed shelter when the Bank Holiday weather came!

Ryan bought a large sheet of aluminium and more wood supplies and removed the large front window on the cab bedroom overhang and got the hole cleaned up, now I have a nice solid wall to sleep next to at last! It was one of the last things bringing down the feel of the place.

We've slept in Waki every night since Sunday night and have had the best sleep in a long time so I think it's safe to say that I'm used to it at last! :)

Ryan then sealed and riveted the sheet on the outside and filled the gap with insulation, before lining it with foil and upright pine cladding.

He also finished where I left off cladding the rest of the ceiling in the kitchen. The cladding works brilliantly as a ceiling covering, and by running it sideways on the ceiling and upright on the front bed wall it tricks the eye into seeing more space.

I continued painting the ceiling to get it sealed and finished, we wanted it a nice bright white to again maximise the feeling of space inside. We also have the roof vents back up, though we have ordered another new one as the kitchen one is broken.

Ryan also finished repairing the back corner where our wardrobe will be and around the side storage hatch. Whilst the sun was out the two back side windows were cleaned up and resealed and the lower one was painted black as it will be under the level of the kitchen cupboards. We considered replacing it with aluminium sheeting like on the front but decided that it would stand out less with the window just blanked out from inside and screwed closed. I just need to finish filling around the repairs and then we can get the last bit of wallpaper up!

We went shopping on e-bay and finally ordered a toilet, the vent, and 2 x blinds for the roof vents. They've just been delivered today so we'll now get to work fitting those...