Dear Milli
So far, so good. Uli got ferry times wrong, so arrived 10mins late. Luckily for us, the good 'ol ferry was running seriously late.
Finding diesel in the vicinity of Dunkirk, with a loaned Tom-Tom, proved to be a little tiresome - could be something to do with the fact we had no idea how to work it. Eventually we pulled up to a teeny place on the pavement. A lady filled Ambi up - €87.00
Stopped for dinner next to the palace in Versailles. Proved a bit of a nuisance winding our way through the narrow streets without such a beast of a van - but we managed... and found FREE PARKING! The food wasn't anything special. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
A gargantuan storm broke out. We decided to chase it down past Orleans, and parked up in an Aire with stunning views across the Auverge volcanoes. Used a lorry to protect us from the wind and rain.
Dear Milli
Packed up & rearing to go.
Caught up with a few friends (for a haircut in Covent Garden - it's going to be hot in the South of France) to say farewell. Brian's been given two sets of keys. Yay for Brian! The Panther's going to be seriously chuffed with her new flatmate.
Dear Milli
Leisure battery replaced. Time to get prepared for our adventures in France. Uli's got most of the route planned. He's having to work late most nights to make sure everything's handed over efficiently.
WHO'S GOING TO LOOK AFTER PANTHER?
Been looking into getting a cat sitter for an hour a day - apparently they'll even water the plants. 17 days @ min £10 = £170. Ouch. This holibob's getting more & more expensive by the day. Oh well - it's a one-off! Uli's going to ask Brian before I book these cat sitters in. It may be nice for him to be closer to work & have a place to himself with a crazy little cat.
Dear Milli
The gist of the feedback:
Really cool parking up with everyone eying up Ambi... until a converted postal van pulled up next door. Bed comfy. Leisure battery doesn't seem to hold charge very well.
Dear Milli
Ambi (and her makeover) have ventured off to Glastonbury. Yay for Ambi! What a mission!
Uli sorted out the mechanical side of things - new breaks etc. He plumber her in as well - with a little guidance from my dad. Even mum had imput, with providing black-out material & adhesive velcro to cover the skylights at night.
I feel a little broken after laying the floor - we decided on black & white floor tiles (like lino). A sharper blade would have been greatly appreciated - never mind! All those corners & weird angles were such a nightmare - nothing seemed uniform. The dirt on the floor was pretty daunting as well - I thought it would be impossible to get it all off - it looked properly ingrained after years of abuse. FILTHY!
It must have been pretty amusing watching us amateurs part-filling the 120 litre water tank, using a garden hose attached to out bathroom cold tap. It ran all the way through the flat, down the steps, across the pavement and into the side of Ambi. We'd agreed not to fill it up completely as the extra weight would increase the diesel consumption.
To be honest, I think we'll both be glad of a little break from her.
Oh yeah - it only dawned on me, the day before she was off, that I hadn't bought any chemicals for the cassette toilet. Oops. Luckily they had access to 'crew toilets'.
Dear Milli
INCREDIBLE! 4 emails and 3 phone calls of inquiries - the first within 2 hours of te advert being posted!
AMBI'S OFF TO GLASTO!
The peeps taking her seem really respectable, and handily live around the corner from us! How convenient! This means the race is on! Ambi's got to look tip-top, and we've only got a couple of weeks - EEK! Best get on with it.
Dear Milli
Everything's scrubbed & painted now - white! white! white!
Uli's working on the shower lino - stripping it out & replacing it. Gosh it's tough finding lino - it's all so ugly! We would have loved tiles, but the weight (& budget) convinced us against.
We've bought clear sealant, so that'll be such an improvement on the previous tar stained stuff.
*NEWS* We've decided to rent Ambi out - we could do with a few extra pennies, and thought she'd be perfect for festival season. Writing the ad tonight.
