On the Road Again... Again

Dell Latitude 5400 After the last 15 years of the old Dell I have finally decided to invest some of my pension in a new laptop. The old one was originally made for Windows 7 and when it started to wheeze we threw some RAM at it and the techs at work installed Windows 10.  But once again it's decided to slow down and become unreliable. Luckily, I was able to get it to work and backup everything to a 500gb Samsung portable hard drive.  It was a surprise that the iTunes folder was 60gb alone! The drive has been used a few times and I simply create a folder with the date and then copy what I need into sub folders. So, the new one. Another Dell. Another Latitude. This time with Windows 11 Pro.  I opted for 32gb RAM and a 1TB hard drive. Hopefully a little future proof.  Before making up my mind I asked both Gemini and ChatGPT on my phone to suggest the best option with Windows 11 Pro, large amount of RAM and hard drive. Perhaps a little oddly, or not, they both came up wi...

In the four years since we became "Vanners" we have been to some interesting places. I prefer the monicker to some of the others we get called. We have seen some of Europe's beauty and made some exciting purchases... We have met a lot of nice people that share a common interest.  Be they full time "vanlifers" or like us, "weekend warriors", as a vanlifer called us,  that live in a house or apartment, and travel when possible. But. Whether you are Vanlifer or Vanner. There's always that not "amazing" or "stunning"* stopover or purchase. This week mine has been.... It's an essential at some aires. Not all come with a threaded tap. We have been caught out a couple of times only, but for a few pounds this is a solution. It's not "stunning" but useful. * stunning - a very over used descriptor on vanlife and vanner vlogs. 

We have booked the van in to have its habitation check for the first week of February.  It's the start of the camping season for us and so we need the can checked over and ready for another year of trips away, home and abroad, as well as some rallies with the Motor Caravanners' Club. The company doing it also have a mobile service where they come to your house. It's easier that way and we can quickly empty it and refill once it's over.

I have signed up. It's only a fortnight after we get back from our Autumn holiday. I will look for somewhere to stay over the night before, Halloween, so we can make it that early in the morning to the meet. If we can't make it, then the tenner is a good donation to the Arboretum.

What could be better than a Cornish Cream Tea? A scone with strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream... Maybe two scones would be better! I have ordered a few cream teas over the last few years but usually for special occasions only. https://thecornishcompany.com/ The next special occasion will be Claire's birthday in February.....

Today at Greyhound Rescue I got to play with Bandit. It's a case of having to play as he makes sure that he gets a cuddle and loves to jump up for his idea of fun, licking my spectacles! I took the Sony Cybershot today and took a couple of videos and some stills.... He's a young dog, housetrained and more energetic than the average greyhound. Once he has had a few zoomies and something to eat he settles down with a toy to play with.

January 25th is Burns Night . This year we have the Simon Howie haggis.  Claire decided not have any as she is watching her calorie intake. A haggis is not ideal if you are watching your weight. 😜 So I decided I couldn't eat a whole one in one sitting, so I cut it in half. The traditional haggis should come in a sheep's stomach but nowadays it's the plastic bag. No more boiling for ages, the modern haggis can be microwaved. This one is cut into chunks and then done on full power for three minutes. Mash with a fork and then finish off for two minutes. It's usually served with potatoes and swede. I decided to forego spuds and had mashed swede. Then filled that space in, with baked beans. It was lovely. Until Wednesday when we eat the other half!!!!

With the weather looking grey and overcast we decided to take the van for a run out.  Whilst out we could fill up the LPG at the BP. In the end we gave up with £5 at £0.99 a litre. The pump rushed to just over £2 then slowed to a penny a second ... Once over the White Cliffs we found a park up in the alloted space with two other vans. They were more vanlife than us.  I had taken the Bluetti with us to use the Tassimo for a coffee rather than buy one.  We parked on the next to end space. Whoever marked the spaces must have not realised that anything bigger than a VW would overhang the bays lengthwise.  The end, leftmost, space has the corner cut off making it unsuitable for anything longer and wider than an Astra van! A quick walk up the hill was thwarted when Reggie needed his relieve himself and we needed find the bin. There are no bins along the path and along the cliffs.  We put Reggie in the van and walked over to the shop and café. A cheese and onion pasty ...

More ChatGPT and Gemini updates to the Devall Travels logo. This one adds the Red Rose of Lancashire for part of my heritage. I really like the last one with the Union Flag and the Invicta horse from where we live in Kent.