Quiet Progress

Well, it’s been a lovely week off, just came back from Tod having not been there all week, did a bit of tidying away of stuff (the marquee stank of mildew, though Elmo couldn’t smell it. Maybe I’m sensitive, coming from a comparatively dry climate.)

I brought home or put in the caravan all the textiles or vaguely porous items, and left the small doors in either end open for through-draft, which helps with condensation drippage as well as just general damp. We’ll go up there every few days just to check nothing’s flapping free, but I’m not actually feeling energetic about making progress. That and we’re FLAT broke.

However, we’ve just had a whole caravan(!) donated, yes a proper, functioning touring caravan, similar to the one we bought on ebay earlier in the year. Alec will be delighted with the upgrade from a tent, I’m sure! And a bit more mildew-free storage will be great.

Also, we managed to get our planning application in. We’d been sent notice that they’d had “complaints” from someone about the fact that we were building contrary to the existing permission, which we were. If I’d thought about it, in amongst the billion things I’ve been in charge of, I’d have known we needed permission even for the temporary accomodation, and there are of course rules and regulations to be followed, so fair enough. Anyway, we’ve applied now and I really really hope it sails through. I’d totally settle for having to make a few changes. But of course, I’m scared s#!*less there’ll be some terrible problem and we’ll have to go back to the drawing board. It’s good to have it submitted though, and although we didn’t really feel we’d done enough research to know we made all the right decisions, this (if it passes) will buy us a great deal of time to look at other ideas and make sure we’re building the right thing.

Anyway, while we were up there, we also went for a lovely walk in the mist (it was supposed to be sunny, hmph) and a delicious lunch at the hippy-dippy-lentil cafe that I love. I need to spend more of these relatively relaxed days up there, but I am resigned to the fact that I may not feel entirely enthusiastic about it all til maybe… spring?