To Freedom...

kirstypark

It's the middle of the month so not much happening in the bank, but have been offered more hours to fill in another role in our office. It's very exciting - at the moment i do 30 hours a week in a clinical position, but a manager is on long term sick and my empolyers have asked if I'd consider another 5-10 hours flexitime to do some management admin. Although i like the hours i work at the moment, extra cash would be handy and would be great to learn another role. Also i got cheeky and asked if they would fund half my final year of my masters degree and they are thinking about it. If they agree to both, next few months are going to be busy...

My freind graduates with her masters tomorrow - we started at the same time, but i deferred last year as too busy moving house, having tonsils removed and flying around to Spain when DD was diagnosed with her bone tumour - I'm so proud of my pal who works 2 jobs and has 2 little ones, so have organised a nice meal for her tonight in a fancy restuarant. Should be a good night.

Garden is going well - last night had pasta with homegrown veg through it and it was lovely and cheap! Tonight i'll make some soup for the others to eat whilst i'm out on the razzle.

kirstypark

not heard about the funding or the extra hours yet - think they are hashing out the details. OH has overtime for most of today so I'm going to spend it getting some reading started for dissertation. Had a cheap shop last night thanks to £12 coupons :j

kirstypark

Oh man, martin lewis is going to chuck me off these boards for good this time - We have bought a vintage campervan! 35 years old and needing such a lot of care and attention. When we drove her home last night the wipers stopped working and the door handle fell off in my hand! I cashed in every spare bit of savings and then had to borrow from my parents, our son and even a bit of the credit card to buy her

Don't think i will be hanging around here much longer :eek:

OK, let me justify it - this is an investment, we can pay back the borrowed money from son next week, and the credit card before any interest is due. Parents are not in a rush for their share and are thinking of shared ownership - although we are not rushing into a decision about that. I am going to sell my car and that should cover the majority of the buying cost. We could have waited till we had more of a savings pot built up, but the summer would have been over and this was a great price.

Yes, it needs a lot of work, but we can do a load of it ourselves, and these vans are in demand these days so if we need to sell it on we should make a profit easily.

But still, :eek::eek::eek:

gallygirl

Congratulations :T. Name and colour please :T.

I watched a George Clarke programme last week about a couple who restored a vintage camper van. Spent 60k on it. Just saying........

pink_poppy

Lol, we all knew it was only a matter of time!! :rotfl: Hope you have fun renovating & then getting it/her (?!) back on the road.

GG, £60k?! :eek:

Be afraid, kirsty, be very, very afraid!! :rotfl:

kirstypark

thank you both for still speaking to me - i didn't see the programme GG, but the VW forums have been discussing it for ages. At the moment she is orange - but that might change...Her name is Bella. Ages ago I decided we would change any van's name to Bella as it was my granny's name and that scene is Gregory's Girl with john gordon sinclair saying "bella, bella' still makes us laugh - one of our first dates was to see that film. Anyway - turns out that is already her name so we don't need to change.

Our neighbour was woken up at 2am and turns out a bunch of teenagers were taking selfies of themselves with Bella. Then the local plumber knocked on the door asking if he could have a look, the binmen came along and were all admiring her. Then an Irish lad chapped on the door to ask if he could stare through the window of her - i let him sit inside and he's gone off to scour the internet to find one of his own. Most people who pass look and smile, it's like she is spreading happiness round the town.

I am in love

gallygirl

kirstypark wrote: »

thank you both for still speaking to me - i didn't see the programme GG, but the VW forums have been discussing it for ages. At the moment she is orange - but that might change...Her name is Bella. Ages ago I decided we would change any van's name to Bella as it was my granny's name and that scene is Gregory's Girl with john gordon sinclair saying "bella, bella' still makes us laugh - one of our first dates was to see that film. Anyway - turns out that is already her name so we don't need to change.

Our neighbour was woken up at 2am and turns out a bunch of teenagers were taking selfies of themselves with Bella. Then the local plumber knocked on the door asking if he could have a look, the binmen came along and were all admiring her. Then an Irish lad chapped on the door to ask if he could stare through the window of her - i let him sit inside and he's gone off to scour the internet to find one of his own. Most people who pass look and smile, it's like she is spreading happiness round the town.

I am in love

Aw how lovely and she already had the right name :T. And you'll be able to share with us too when we all come to visit and play in her .

kirstypark

of course you can come play - anytime you see a bright orange camper in scotland give us a wave.

Spent the weekend cleaning and washing her. have been on internet sites looking for new interiors and exteriors panels and trying not to get too excited - at the end of the day it's a 35 year old delivery van with a bed - not worth spending £7k on nice new fittings and fancy beds. Found some old paint and have painted over the trim on the old units to update them slightly and recycled a bit of leftover carpet to line underneath the bed to stop draughts. Did buy a new bit of trim but that was only pennies. Planning our first trip away next week once she is insured.

I have put my car up for sale, but OH has priced it too high and no-one is interested. It's in great condition with low mileage, but it is ancient. I keep telling him it's too much, but he doesn't want to give it away.

Watty1

Love love love that you have bought a camper van. I watched that one George Clarke episode and Mr Watty and I were in shock at the amount spent on renovating that van. Hope Bella provides family fun for years to come

gallygirl

gallygirl wrote: »

I watched a George Clarke programme last week about a couple who restored a vintage camper van. Spent 60k on it. Just saying........

I was wrong, it was only 48k :rotfl: