Vanlife

Three quiet weeks, an unwanted visit from Covid, and the discovery that Nomad has changed rather more than I realised.

Heating the van, planting the allotment and building both somewhere to go and somewhere to return to.

Brakes, glow plugs, steering, electrics—and the steadily shrinking list of jobs between the van and the next road.

Ageing, Shakespeare, scripture and the uneasy question of how long our welcome lasts when a stranger stops nearby.

A van decal, a stack of postcards, one entirely unnecessary desk mat and a Scout group turning sixty.

Websites, water pumps, a questionable sink and the beginnings of a plan for Cheddar Gorge.

Four hundred temporary homes, a very large racetrack, and the problem with calling somewhere a “live-in vehicle”.

The first month in the van: learning that freedom has a voltage and a fridge that only works on flat ground.