Oh she who had to be dragged kicking and screaming away from Fillongley.

A week since my last posting – I don’t want to bore you with the mundane stuff of simply enjoying myself – but as I’ve been on my own it’s been quite interesting.

The weather has been a bit hit and miss over the last couple of days but at the moment there’s not a cloud in the sky so I’m hoping for a bit of sitting outside this afternoon.

Iain’s coming back tonight so I’ve got to do some housework today – well that should take all of about half an hour, not like the day and a half in the house!!!!  I might even get the rugs out and give them a bit of a shake. I’ll also have to do some tidying up as being tidy doesn’t come naturally to me, but in a small space it’s of paramount importance.  I still fail to see how I can lose things in here.  I put them down and they are simply gone.  I’m looking forward to seeing him and it will be nice to have some company again.

I think word has got round that there’s a woman on her own – maybe it’s lock up your husbands – as I was in the supermarket yesterday (picking up some essential supplies like whiskey for Iain’s return) when a couple started talking to me about the dog trailer, I hadn’t a clue who they were but they even knew my name!!!!!

Then yesterday morning a got a telling off from the Dutchman next door, because they had been out and when they came back my van was gone and I hadn’t told them.  He was worried about me and told me not to do that again!!!! I’d only gone to dump and other things (of course women don’t drive big motorhomes like ours on their own), which brings me on to the practicalities:-

Well as you may have worked out by now, motorhomers are obsessed with the tanks being full and empty and in the right order. Well after nearly two weeks on site mine were getting definitely in the wrong order.  The gas however is holding up nicely, still registering full!!!!!! So at this rate the gas will last us months.  I’m restricting the heating to a quick blast in the morning to take off any morning chill and again in the evening if necessary.  I say if necessary because up until 9pm last night I was sitting with the door open and it was 16C which is as nice as most summer evenings in England  and this is mid January and it can only get better.  It was 13C this morning so it only needed a quick blast to make it very comfortable and cosy indeed. Cooking I do mainly using the electricity and the remoska, I don’t really bother with hot water as I wash and wash up at the communal sinks.

Anyway to do the necessary I needed to move the van, and I thought that as I was moving it I would clean it as well – it was filthy, all those winter weeks in the UK before coming here and also the journey, I could hardly see out of the back window so this was not to be a day too soon.  I manoeuvred the van quite well up to the service point and of course some man just has to get involved in see you over the man-hole – I feel like shouting – “ I Can do it on my own”  but instead I just smile sweetly and thank them for their help and advice. After all I only need to get within about 8 feet – I have a pipe, and an extension if I can’t get that close.

Then I decided to visit the car wash on site.  I had checked earlier that it was in working order and roughly how many euro coins I would need and so off I went.  Only to find that the site van had parked across it and of course this was siesta time –don’t we Brits know anything? You have to rest between 2 and 4 pm – even in the winter.  So realising that he wouldn’t be coming back for nearly two hours and I didn’t want to bring the van back up later.  An interjection here – Mr Right has said before he left that it would be really nice if the van was cleaned while he was away – not that he was specifically asking me to do it – but it would be nice.  So Mrs Independent just had to prove a point didn’t she.

Next to the jet wash was another washing area. But this time just a hose and no other stuff.  So, remembering that we did actually have some car wash, a big bucket and a soft inside broom I decided that it was time to improvise.  Velado – a nice clean Jan the Van.   Of course I was then faced with more men trying to help me to reverse around a corner (of course women can’t reverse around corners, certainly not an 8.5m truck) “I can do it myself”, “I have a reversing camera”, “I have fantastic mirrors to use”. “Thanks very much for helping me” I said.

About two hours later, back on the pitch with an empty/full and now clean van, no-one would have known I had moved – except of course the Dutchman next door. Now was the time for a well-earned beer – I was knackered – before taking the dog for a walk and a visit to our nearby hostelry.

Now yesterday was a time when I was grateful for a bit of male intervention.  One of the reasons I had to give us sewing was because I’ve either arthritis or CTS in my hand so it’s not that strong.  I was just off to the shops on my bike, trailer in tow, and the chain came off.  Not normally a problem but it had jammed between the spoke and the frame of the bike and  I couldn’t get it to move. So I unhitched the trailer, turned the bike upside down and Velado – a nice man appeared – this time I was grateful – for the brute force if not the dexterity.

So Iain’s been away for 10 days now and in that time I’ve gone dancing and met Barbara and Ken – they are 80 and 81 respectively and  I hope I’m  still around at that age let alone as fit as Barbara obviously is.

I’ve done a crafting session – but all the women were dutch so I couldn’t communicate at all.

I’ve done 2 spanish lessons – met Hannah from Sweden and Joy (and husband Nick).

I’ve been to the local bar a few times – and met  Gill and Mike, Liz and Catherine amongst others.

Met Dave in the laundry.

Spoken to people who already know my name and I haven’t a clue who they are.

We’ve got two lovely dutch couples either side of us, oh and I forgot to tell you that Iain decided to make friends with the “traveller” family on site the day he left.

So I’ve been building up quite a social life while he’s been away and probably met more people than we would have done if we’d been here as a couple. 

 I have drawn the line and bingo though – even though it’s a dutch version  and not the same as at home – whatever that means. 

Am I enjoying life here - you bet I am!