How was your September? Wonderful, I hope.
Of course, a sad month for the nation with the loss of our dear Queen. I felt her loss more than I thought I might; like most people, I’ve never known life without her. She gave so much and navigated so much change.
Now as a military family, we serve King and Country. It doesn’t change anything day-to-day, but the idea is taking some adapting to. Something else that has shifted in an ever shifting world.
The only thing to do is to carry on, hey? Stay positive, make the better of things. In pursuit of that, my September looked like this.
The Exciting Announcement
We’ve bought a camper van.
Actually, we’ve bought a Ford Transit that will become a camper over the coming months. Right now, it’s a shell of pure excitement and potential.
This is an idea Mr THL and I have been nursing for a couple of years. We are a committed debt free family, so we had to do a bit of saving first. We’ll be doing all the work ourselves, so I’ve fallen into a world of leisure batteries, insulation, vapour barrier.
The whole build is being crafted around getting a safe and homely cage in there for The Wolf. That dog is ruined. This is also the first step towards us getting out on the ground and sowing the seeds of a new life overseas. Having a home on wheels will allow us to get out for weeks at a time over the Spring and Summer.
I hope you’ll come along for the conversion, I suspect watching us build a van around our dog with a tight budget and no experience might be quite interesting.
Walking From Summer into Autumn
With a return to routine came a return to regular walking. I’ve enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing the countryside start to change as we edge into the next season.
The change of season has made the fields around our home busy, and we’ve spent many mornings visiting some newfound friends. I talk to animals more than humans these days, I’m sure.
It did very much feel like this month started out in Summer and ended squarely in Autumn. The mornings are getting misty and much cooler. Evening walks require a jacket or a fleece, especially on a clear night.
I also enjoyed a little change of scene this month with a day hike along the cliff top pathway between Clevedon and Portishead. I recently discovered Clevedon after a visit to see the pretty Victorian pier and the whole area is lovely.
The coastal walk with views to Wales is very different from my usual walks on Salisbury Plain, but I very much enjoyed it.
Watching
Kleo on Netflix. I mentioned this Cold War, Berlin based TV series in a recent post about German T.V Shows, but it was the standout viewing for me this month. Mr THL and I binge watched it in about three days.
Kleo is a secret Stasi agent who specialises in nipping under the Berlin Wall to bump off enemies of East Germany. When her last job involves stakes higher than she can imagine, she ends up imprisoned. The fall of the Wall see’s her liberated and out for revenge. What comes next is fast paced and funny, if a little brutal at times.
Played by Jella Haase, Kleo is a strong and witty female lead surrounded by characters you miss when the show ends. Hopefully some of those characters will return, as Kleo has just been renewed for a second season.
Absolute winner, give it a watch.
Reading
Physical books, after a long spell of feeling more drawn to T.V and audiobooks. I credit visits to the library for the switch. The shelves of books, old favourites, new friends and pretty covers to catch the eye.
My favourite read this month was Wild Places. From the pen of Sarah Baxter with the most beautiful accompanying illustrations by Amy Grimes, Wild Places is captivating.
Some of the places featured- like the Wadden Sea or the Green Belt in Germany- I’ve already visited. Others, like South Georgia, have captured my imagination but I’m yet to get to. One day. Meanwhile, this book is page turning escapism and beautiful with it.
Wild Places is available on Amazon
That was my September. Tell me about yours?
Helen x
Sounds like a good month, especially your new purchase! It’s going to be interesting following your progress in converting it. Have you ever watched George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces?
Thanks Sarah, September has been pretty good to me. I love Amazing Spaces, and anything along those lines. Funny you say, because I do recall a camper van on AS with some sort of illuminated floor…now there’s a thought!
Very exciting! A camper van is something my husband and I have considered before but might have to wait until we’ve got more time and money to spare, but I look forward to reading about your conversion and travels. 😁 I’m not much of royalist but did feel sad when the Queen passed away, she’s just been a constant figure in the background of life, born the same year as my late nanna too, strange to think there’s unlikely to be another British female head of state in my lifetime. X
I’m very excited to be getting stuck into a self build, it’s making a great family project. All learning as we go. I’d love to have you along for the conversion process, although it might be a don’t-do-what-we-did sort of affair.
What an interesting project! I’m very much looking forward to your reports on the progress with that van. 👍 Good luck with your project.
For quite some time we were thinking of an RV and we even rented one [https://pitsfritztownnews.wpcomstaging.com/?s=rv] to find out how vacationing in one would be but we finally nixed the idea of buying one. We can’t take our 4 cats with us in an RV and we don’t like to leave them for too long. So we wouldn’t be able to do really long tours.
Thank you, I suspect a bit of luck might be needed! The purchase of a van to convert ourselves has come from the trial and error of trying out ready made vans and RV’s and finding them not quite what we wanted. So we are getting creative!
Sounds like you had a great month. I can easily relate to getting your campervan, just imagine all the places you’ll be able to go! If, like us, you are completely new to the world of converting campervans or even using tools, then doing this conversion will take up your whole life. You will spend many evenings and nights trying to work out how to solve a problem, and panicking that you’ve done something wrong. This is normal, don’t worry – it is also one of the most rewarding experiences! Thanks for sharing and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx
Thank you so much for those words of encouragement! I already feel like this van is taking over a bit, we spend hours drawing up plans and then planning again, watching Youtube etc. Currently sorting out a leisure battery. I think the important thing is to get properly started and we’ll figure it out a step at a time from there!
How exciting to be the proud owners of transit/camper van. I’ll look forward to watching the stages you go through towards its completion.
Thanks Marion, currently in a bit of ‘ what did we get ourselves into this time’ stage, but I think we’ll figure it out.
I wish I had your enthusiasm. I’m feeling tired from September and ongoing visitors, love them though I do. Too much wine could be an issue. Willl follow along. Here’s to happy endings!
Thanks Jo, I’ll be glad to have you along. Hosting visitors can be exhausting- time for a well-earned rest?
Just a few more days 🤣💗
After Friday 🤗💗
Congratulations about your campervan looking forward to read about all your adventures. It is definitely cooler and autumn is here.
Thank you- I think the biggest adventure will be getting it converted! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
I look forward to Tales From the Campervan – both converting it and its subsequent adventures. What an adventure! Our month has been The Month of The Wedding (daughter): maybe bits and pieces on that as the month goes on.
A wedding month is very exciting. I’m sure there will be Tales from the Camper- possibly of the cautionary kind, depending on how it goes 😆
😉
The camper-in-waiting looks and sounds like it will be a valued member of the family. Tight budget and no experience = there is nowhere to go with this project but up. Talking to animals more than humans does result in less conflict and a higher attention span. These are benefits worth celebrating. September was a blur indeed. Even though I’ve tried very much to live in the moment, September’s moments seemed to be at warp speed. Maybe I was just in a hurry to get to October, which “kicks off” my six favorite months of the year. Happy October!
I love your optimism! Happy October to you too.
Congratulation on the camper van! It’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Doing it all yourself is very brave.
Haha! Always up for giving something a go. Lots of Youtube watching and list making going on at the moment.
That’s brill news about the camper van, I think the Wolf will love it. 🙂
Kleo sounds good and I like the look of that book too….x
Thank you, the Wolf likes all his people in his line of sight so having us confined in a camper is right up his street! If you like offbeat heroines, Kleo is one for you.
Oooo so excited to watch the progress with the van 🙂
Thanks- had a few,’ Helen, what did you get yourself into now?’ moments but I think we’ll figure it out.
I hope you have a lot of adventures with your new camper van!
I think we will- but the first adventure will be making it into a home! Thanks for your interest in our new project, Tanja.