Our European sojourn for 2012 is almost at an end. We’ve said our goodbyes to all our friends in Hertford and Watton-At-Stone. Andy & Carole are probably pleased to see the back of us and all our ‘stuff’; thank you so much again, guys. We’ve spent a couple of days wandering around the east end of London and the parks around Dulwich, finding areas we had never been to before. It was all great fun.
We caught up with our friends, Dave, Jane and Robin at a Turkish restaurant at Canary Wharf; a brilliant evening and very good Turkish delight. And, after two cancellations, we finally had a lovely evening with Andy & Emma at their home in Dulwich.
We’ve spent a couple of nights with my brother and Debs and we’ve spent a couple of nights with Rodney’s brother and Rose; we strolled Eastbourne Marina (didn’t know it existed) and wandered the paths around Sheffield Park in East Sussex, enjoying the beautiful autumn colours.
I’ll admit I am now feeling very sad about shutting down Eileen. She has had her exterior washed today and I’ve cleaned out the fridge. We’re half way through the packing and tomorrow I will scrub and ‘Spray & Wipe’ the surfaces and floors. We’ve pulled out the bag containing the cab cover and discovered that the campervan salesman gave us duff information; it’s a cover for our bicycles!!! We bought a cheap bike cover when we first set off, but it ballooned up and blocked the rear vision mirror and despite various methods of strapping it down, we gave up and the poor bicycles have been left out in the elements all year, as it turns out, completely unnecessarily! Ah well, we’ve had a good laugh about that. So we won’t actually be wrapping Eileen up for the cold weather, but the lovely Jonathan, our friends’ son, is going to keep an eye on her and move her around etc., to hopefully keep her healthy through the chilly months in East Grinstead. Fingers crossed, when we get back she’ll start first time and then off we’ll go again. I shall miss her; I’ve enjoyed living in our little home on wheels.
One of the joys of travelling has been when you come across the perfect shower; no, I’m not talking about the rain again. When I head to the bathroom in the morning, I love to find plenty of warm water, somewhere to hang your towel, a shower head that unhooks, not one stuck up near the ceiling a million miles from me and I really like water that flows in my direction, not all over the walls. I love water that actually rinses and isn’t so soft that it takes ages to remove the soap and shampoo. Oh, and I’m not missing having to press a button, or pull a chain to keep the water flowing in the campsite showers….!
Another of the joys of travelling in a campervan has been having everything travelling right behind us, even the kitchen sink!!! I feel rather like I’m now out of the habit of travelling light with only a suitcase on wheels, but it has to be done because we really can’t take Eileen through Asia and back to Australia with us. What a shame.
So our last stop has been with Lynda and Mark in East Grinstead in West Sussex and on Monday we’ll head to Heathrow to fly off to Singapore. We have two nights there, then six nights in Brunei, followed by two nights in Singapore and then three weeks travelling through Vietnam, from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. After that we’re going to ‘apartment-sit’ for friends, Kenn & Pla in Singapore for nearly three weeks, so we’ll be there for Christmas and will fly out on New Year’s Eve, landing in Sydney on New Year’s Day. After that we’ll be apartment-sitting for our friends, Mark & Fiona in Pyrmont near the Harbour in Sydney. We can’t move back in to our house, because after the tenants renting our home walked out, we had to make a tricky decision. The rent tribunal found in our favour that we kept the bond, but the tenants still owe us a couple of months rent. Plus we have a very large cleaning bill that we want them to pay. Hopefully at the second tribunal, which was last Friday, we may have resolved these problems, but we haven’t heard anything from the agent just yet. The whole experience has made us a bit anxious, but when the agent informed us that he had another couple keen to move in and after a bit of deep thought, we agreed. So, hopefully, our house is now in happier hands until October 24th next year.
It will be lovely to be back in Sydney, but I know I’ll enjoy looking back through our pictures and planning where we will take Eileen to, next year.
