Everybody take a stand, join the caravan of love (Stand up) stand up Stand up
Back in 1986 - yes really! - these were words that everyone sang along to with the Housemartins. I just googled the year of release - 1986 seems a scarily long time ago now! When I first met Andy in November 1998, he was sharing a caravan with Trevor and Martin - the "caravan of love" as it was referred to for reasons which I won't go into here!
About a year after we met, we got together and got our own caravan - and we lived in an orchard in Wickham, just outside Portsmouth. We lived there for nearly three years and, on the whole, I loved it - the only times I didn't love it was when it was cold and muddy and I had to park my car at the top of the field and run down the length of the orchard to the caravan wearing wellies and headtorch. Or the memorable occasion I realised I had a major phobia - I'd found a slug in the caravan and Andy found me throwing up outside because of it. Or when it was so cold that our water froze and I had to run up to Martin's caravan (he'd also moved down with us but to his own caravan) in my dressing gown and wellies just to have a shower.
On the whole, though, I absolutely loved it - we were in a very rural location surrounded by lovely walks and good pubs. Good times. I remember that our landlord had forgotten to lock the electric meter, so that we could recycle our pound coins by taking them out and just putting them back in again! Or the badger that got drunk every night on the windfalls underneath the apple tree. Or the horse that escaped from the field behind us and Andy had to chase it through the field to catch it and put it back. Or the morning I woke up early to hear voices outside the window and when I got up, the boys had built me a staging system for all my plant pots. Friday nights when we went to the pub in the village and bought a couple of bottles of fruit wine before heading back to the caravan with a Chinese. Kim staying over and me making coffee one morning, only to come back to bed to find Kim and Andy in bed together, looking for all the world like Morecambe and Wise! The morning that I was trying to get ready for work when Andy decided to chase me around the field, stark naked, singing the theme tune of the Benny Hill Show! Such lovely funny memories.
In 2004, Andy moved to Iraq - by this time we had a very nice flat in West Drayton near Heathrow - but, with Andy gone, I felt very vulnerable and isolated and lonely. So I packed in my job and the flat and went off for six months in my own portable caravan - Dizzy, my fab Bedford Rascal Eldiss converted camper van, before coming back to real life and a rented cottage.
Fast forward to 2009 and Andy came back from Iraq, got work with Balfours and started on a new contract in Bedford in the middle of nowhere. And bought another caravan! This caravan had lasted us six years before Andy finally made the decision to upgrade. I know he was really sad about letting it go, but too many things had started to go wrong with it - he rang one evening to say all the electrics had gone and he was sitting in the caravan in the dark wearing a headtorch with no kettle, TV, anything. I must admit I hated the thought of him being so miserable, although he did point out he could always go to the pub and he was much more miserable and lonely in Iraq when they lost power!
So, in early January this year, Andy took possession of a new caravan and it's brilliant. I love that there is a fixed bed in a separate bedroom so that we don't have to put the bed down each night and take it up each morning. I love that there is a proper freezer so we don't have to run outside to the spare freezer standing outside. I love that there is enough room for Finn. That there's cupboard space to put everything away which means I don't have to leave my bag in the car every weekend that I'm down. And that there isn't dog hair over everything I can't put away. And there's a loo and shower! It just is brilliant. I'm looking forward to making lots more lovely memories in this caravan.
This photo of the fridge contents really makes me laugh - apart from condiments all we've got is wine, champagne, strawberries and Stilton. How very very civilised!
Even Finn is making himself at home!
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