Monday Red: Doing Up a Camper in Lockdown 2020

It's funny to look back on old photos and see what you were doing only two years ago. Two years ago, of course, was 2020 and the pandemic - we'd flown into London on the last flight from Delhi and within two days had bought a van, thinking everything was going to be just fine and we'd be able to go back to Morrocco and head to Greece and do all the travel we wanted to do on a year's break from work. Within two days, we were in lockdown. Luckily my sister in law had a huge private yard in the countryside where we spent a lot of time in the fresh air with no one to spy on us. And we had a project - fixing a cheap van with a lot of rust.

Luckily my brother in law had a lot of tools we could borrow, and we'd picked up some things from the hardware shop as we knew exacdtly what to do - we'd done up vans as campers many times before. The first rule is to rip up the carpet and find out what you're dealing with. You need to make a stable, rust free base before you even bother putting a bed in there.

WE certainly had our work cut out for us and we did a pretty good job in the end. But even when we left, and gave the van to my sister in law, she had to spend quite a bit paying someone to do welding etc to get it through an MOT. Damn salt roads in winter!

I'd love to show you more photos of the actual camper but that might have to wait til next Monday Red color challenge! I can't seem to find them. It certainly kept us busy at a time of high anxiety. We did a lot of walking, van repairs, building and drinking cider. In the end we didn't get our European trip, but my sister in law got a van. She hasn't got much money so to have this gift was the best thing ever. Honestly, apart from all the disappointment, it was good to do something creative, restore life to an old van, and make my sister in law super happy. I love to think of her driving around in old Flo, going to festivals and camping with friends. And of course, next time we're there, we are able to use it.