I love my Van. She hasn’t missed a beat all week and has been very comfortable, even for two lads that are… well built… The bed in Bex is single mattress sized so to accommodate another occupant I have added a sliding section and a piece of foam. This doubles as the backrest of the sofa during the day and then a mini-mattress for the night. Because the piece of foam was bought from a different source, its not quite the same density. This wasnt really a problem but certainly meant that occasionally I was sharing a single bed as it encourages you to roll over. The last night of the trip Angus spent on Edds floor so I had the whole van to starfish, it was great!
Edd and Mel had some things to do for the day so after luxuriating on the sofa with crumbly shortbread and tea (may have dropped some…) and watched an episode of Sherlock, we stole the dogs. Some other mates from uni were in the area so we went over for some more tea and a natter. I feel so privileged to have so many awesome friends so I love to catch up with them as often as possible. We took the dogs for a walk in brilliant sunshine. Stoke does have some nice open green spaces, with some fields and a small stream, but there is an acquired skill in letting your eyes skip over the general trash and seeing what is meant to be, than what really is.
They finished their chores and came around and all together we so relaxedly sat and chatted. Plans, Vans, Travels, Canoes, Dogs, Cake…. more Tea anyone? I could have sat there all evening, like we used to in the Graduate pub when we were all at uni… ahh the warm balm of nostalgia. But we still had a couple hours back to Banbury and Angus still had further to go back to Stroud. That’s the awesome and problematic thing about uni clubs. You meet so many cool people from loads of different courses and interests and backgrounds that when you are finished, you all scatter to the four corners of the country, or further! Keeping up with who is doing what, what their next plans are and when you might next see them is tricky, even with the invention of social media. Gawd knows how you would have done it in “the good ol’ days”.
The drive was much like any motorway blast. It all looks the same after a while as it is only used as a tool to quickly get from one place to another. The trip that we had driven up to scotland for, was over, but the majority of the miles were done on motorway. The time passed very quickly because the excited chat we had had with our friends carried on all the way home. Before long we were unloading the van and Angus took off for his last leg of the trip. Right now, I’ve only brought in the perishables and my wash kit. The rest of it has been left waiting to be dealt with when I can be bothered.
I was so tired and buzzed from the drive that the invite from Button to have a few beers was a welcome chance to relax. He had spent the day making a little wooden cabinet for the bathroom that was so solidly constructed it could take the weight of an ogre standing on it. We spent the evening catching up on events and drinking a few beers… then he pulled out the special liquors. A few sups of these laying on his hammock and I had achieved a completely satisfied and relaxed state. Just the way a holiday should end.