50 Weeks in

That's it. Two weeks to go for the cycle to complete. We moved in to our little caravan 50 weeks ago for the summer. A lifestyle change to compliment our obsession for camping. We never intended to stay the winter, but not long after moving in, our lives started to change, like the environment around us. We became part of nature's cycle and before too long we chose to extend our stay for at least 1 whole year.

I think when you live so close to nature, it's hard not to become part of it. All around you everything is changing in nature's cycle of death and rebirth. Last years leaves fell and are now part of the soil that new green shoots of life appear in. We as humans are part of that. We are nature too. Modern life pulls us away from our true source of life, and our role in the natural world is reduced. Here though as I type. I look out of my window to the reminders of the natural world. Squirrels are in the woods, foraging for fresh food after a long winter, a few snowdrops are scattered around the site, pushing out of the frozen ground, looking to the sun for light and life.

Today the sun shines, for the first time in a while. Its still cold, the sun reflects off the frozen puddles around our van, life is always better when the sun shines.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a struggle. We got through the coldest and snowiest winter in many years, coping with frozen water and gas. We still managed to cook in our awning despite figures well below zero. We stayed alive, and warm and positive. We are though, in reality, living in a metal box 15x8ft. There's not much room to swing a cat, never mind two of them!

As winter draws to a close we become desperate for spring. To get back in the awning and outdoors, to get active. All of nature around us is peeping its head over the precipice of winter, dying to come out. Waiting for the winter to end.

So our plan was to do the whole year. We're nearly there.

We have chosen to stay on, not sure for how long. We feel we couldn't move back into a house yet, unless it was very special and in a rural location, close to nature. Those places are rare though, and don't often come cheap.

So for now, we stay, and wait, for the shoots of spring, for the birds, ducks, frogs, and squirrels to all wake up, for the sun to shine, from grey to green. There's an air of anticipation in the natural world. A few more rainy days and snow showers to come, but we're nearly there. The cycle completes its revolution and we start again. Spring is coming!

In two weeks time I'll write again to summarise what I can only describe as a life changing experience.

Check the video below for a nice little song

Forgotten but not gone

Its been over four months since I updated the blog. It's a shame really that there have been no updates in that time as we've now jumped from the end of Summer to the depths of Winter, bypassing a beautiful Autumn.

We are still here. There is six inches of snow outside and the temperature has been in the minuses for a good few days now.

We are two full months away from being here a year now, the full cycle. We worried about the cold and winter earlier in the year and saw it as a real challenge. We weren't sure we would be able to cope with the cold, but we are doing. In fact, its not a challenge at all, just a fantastic experience I'm glad to be part of.

We wake to frozen water, we ran out of electric the other night, forcing us to wrap up, get under the duvet and huddle together to keep warm.

We are confined to our caravan, its a 15ft x 7ft metal box, that we live, eat, cook and sleep in. We also share the space with a cat and a kitten. The awning is off limits, its way to cold, and it sits dormant until spring arrives.

So.......

Quite a lot has happened in the four months since I last updated. At the time our cat Luke was being terrorised by the Top Cat of the site - Mutthead. Mutthead became ill, his ears were falling off, literally, He got taken to the vet, and was diagnosed with the big C. He was put down, and went to the great Cattery in the sky.

It seemed to move people on the site, although nobody wanted to take responsibility for him, he had become a fixture on the site, and now he was gone.

It was shortly after that one of the residents offered us a kitten, Princess Leia, who as we speak is hanging off a curtain.

She doesn't know yet, but she has 3 brothers and sisters who are also living with other people on site, they are all set to meet up in the spring, once they have had there jabs.

Autumn came and went, the new buds of spring that greeted our arrival last March, blossomed and grew, only to fall to the ground to complete the cycle. The temperatures dropped, and we retreated further inside. We still have no tv, microwave, electric kettle, running water and other mod cons. We try to keep our life as simple as possible, its liberating.

The main aim of starting this blog was so anybody else in the world who was thinking about living in a caravan, could use it and gain an insight into what life would be like.

As I write, snow falls around me, the bbc website claims it to the coldest and snowiest winter for decades, the roads in and out of the site are closed due to snow. The boiler has broke in the shower block and washing area, so no hot water for showers, washing up and laundry. Life is about as simple as it can be.

I can honestly say with my hand on heart that moving into a caravan for the last 10 months has been the best thing I have done with my life, and I expect will prove a huge inspiration for the rest of my life. I have no desire to move into a house or similar style of living, and if I don't live in a caravan, I know I will live somewhere as close to nature as possibly can be.

The snow on site is absolutely mesmerising. Living in snow covered woodland is an amazing experience. The trees are all snow lined and look stunning, as if painted by an angel. Natural perfection.

It's time to go now, I hope it won't be too long until the next update. Our full cycle comes round on March 6th, a whole year. It has flown by and has been one of the most enjoyable years of my life. Simple and natural.

To summarise. The whole experience for me is based around nature, we are one and one is all. The human race is being separated from its truest source, and is suffering the consequences.

I ask anyone who is reading this to close your computer, turn of your tv, get wrapped up and go and walk in the nearest bit of countryside to you. Look around, breathe it in, and reconnect to to the source of all things.

Outside In

It's been a while since the last blog. Why? Well, time moves on, days roll buy, the buds of spring have sprung and are now winding their way towards Autumn.

We are now, as the blog says Living in a Caravan. What started out as an adventure, a holiday, has now become life, this is our home now, and looks like it will be for the forseeable future.

We have had a busy summer, we got married (on a campsite), we honeymooned (on campsites) and come back home here to live. We are camped out!

We have had the luxury of flat sitting a luxury flat with hot running water, comfy double bed, en suite shower and toilet, microwave, television and all the mod cons we have left behind.

Its been nice to have those luxuries now and again and I admit to feeling a little worried about going for showers here in the winter, washing up outside in the freezing cold and dark, filling our time on those short winter days, without the distraction of tele etc.

This weekend we are preparing to kit the carvan and awning out to try and help us stay warm, and dry in winter. This involves fitting a floor made out of pallets, to get us off the damp and wet ground below. We were on the verge of stealing 14 pallets the other night, but we were disturbed by a fellow skip looter so we bottled it.

We'll be out tonight no doubt, cruising the streets, looking for a suitable stack of pallets to procrure. We are after fourteen, so its no easy mission.

The ducklings have grown. The tadpoles turned to tiny frogs and in turn into bigger frogs. They will be back in spring to start the cycle again. Our neighbours now are less friendly. We are currently sharing our awning with slugs, earwigs, moths, daddy long legs, spiders big and small. We are part of their enviroment and they now part of ours.

The nights are already drawing in, in a few days it will be September and Autumn will arrive, dropping its leaves, green will turn to brown, and eventually all around us will change for the winter.

We are planning to install a wood burning stove into our awning, not only to provide warmth but also comfort and cosyness. Despite trawling through the internet trying to find others who have done it, we can't, so we are going blindly into this, hoping that not only will we get warmth and cosyness but that we also remain safe and don't burn down!

There has been no fishing, my conscience hasn't allowed me to go back pondside. I feel like I have missed something, my interaction with nature has changed, and although I am no longer leaving hooks in fishes mouths, I have also missed out on the treats of nature you get when you are on the banks of the pond.

But until the next blog, a special mention goes out to our little cat Luke.

He has settled in. He loves it here, he's always off exploring and hunting and alas fighting. He has a daily run in with the other cats, but I think slowly he has defined his territories and is defending them well. He's still cuddly and cute, but now he has a wild look in his eye.

We have definatley tasted living in an alternative way, and our now looking at yurts, tipees, barges, earthouses, buses, mobile librarys. There is some fantastic nstuff on the net.

Check out this link and video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2lQBu84DZ4

http://www.simondale.net/house/

Its a beautiful day again, sun has finally replaced the rain, and the last few chilly days are a memory whilst I type here in the sun.

I've found some maggots in my fishing box, they are not left over from a previous trip, they have created themselves. I left a large piece of pork luncheon meat in there and when I just checked it was actually moving, with loads of maggots feeding on it.

Ironic now that I am having some 'time out' from fishing whilst I examine my environmental conscience, that I have started producing my own bait!

I miss fishing actually, not so much the physical act, but just being there, tuning in. Me and the pond are like strangers now, like old lovers forbidden by circumstance, casting longing glances. I've just passed by. The carp are sunbathing on the surface, seducing me, but my rod will be packed down today and brought inside to protect it from the elements.

To compensate for the extra time on my hands I have been playing a lot of guitar, I haven't really practised for years, but I'm putting a few hours in and finding it very rewarding. However, I prefer to play in the van rather than outdoors, and combined with the rainy last few days I've felt a bit isolated. That's the great thing about fishing, just stick the brolly up and carry on.

I could I suppose go and sit on the fishing peg under a brolly and strum the fisherman's blues .

Its Friday, a day for new arrivals. Most of the time I like it when the site has a few new people on it, it changes the atmosphere, and where now for us its taken for granted a little more, its great seeing people camping and really enjoying themselves. The sun is out, and the air will fill up with barbecue and wood smoke by the early evening.

This is our life now. We have pretty much 100% decided we are going live here through the winter, and at least complete a full cycle. We are looking at keeping the van warm, and us entertained. The caravan is a small place on a cold wet day.

Its warm today however. I'm off for a brew and a sit in the sun, some more reflection and contemplation.

Here's a nice tune, rain or shine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws2QzS1GCCE

Paragraphing Issues

Got a problem with paragraphing today for some reason. The inbuilt word processor is acting the goat. Apologies for any readers having to plough through unparagraphed text!

Luke-Ciano Pavarotti

Its been a while since we had any cat updates.

Not much has changed really, our little cat Luke seems to be getting bullied and beat by the other three cats, especially Mutthead, who seemingly delights in tormenting Luke.

Pretty much on a daily basis Luke will square off with one of the cats, and as mentioned in a previous blog, he has taken up some curious form of singing to communicate with the other cats.

It can go on for minutes at a time, and during the day it can quite entertaining. Quite frequently at five o clock in the morning I (and the rest of the site) will be awoken by the strangest of sounds coming from the cats.

I've had a brief google search to see if I could find something similar, this video is pretty close.

Open in a new window

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd4acTWUnQ8&feature=related

Luke is a bit more singy than those guys hence is new nick name Luke-Ciano Pavarotti.

Its all about territories it seems and Luke is still after 3 half months still trying to claim his, it often takes place under our caravan which is being used by the other cats as their toilet.

Apart from that we think Luke is really happy, he even went into the on site shop yesterday. He has only had a couple of successful hunting trips, a mouse and a shrew, oh, in fact, he had a small bird one morning as well. We were greeted by an awning full of feathers and bird intestines.

Cats bring their kills home, apparently to say thanks for being looked after.

It probably goes back to the days when we used to eat small birds and door mice. Its unlikely Luke will return with some garlic infused Olive Oil, so his victims get put into the dustbin and not the pot.

He has his own bed, on a nice fluffy blanket next to the window, overlooking the site, on the lookout for the bullys. He frequently comes home with a scratched face and a bloody nose, and you occasionally find bits of his fur outside from his rough and tumble with the other cats.

Its not all doom and gloom though, Mutthead the ringleaders ears are slowly being whittled away, you can see the change weekly as his ears are being worn down to little stumps from his fights with the other cats.

I'm sure one day another little cat will move on site and Luke's position will be elevated and he'll probably bully the new one as well, what has the cat society come to eh?

As we speak though he is snug in his bed, having a little cat dream, perhaps thinking up some new melodies for his latest piece.

A lovely ditty follows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4guRiNZLGQ&feature=related

Camping Cookbook

Since we moved things around a bit in the awning, I've got really back into cooking.

So, I'm going to start leaving a few recipes on here that i'm cooking up, give them a try in your own kitchen, but these are tasted best in an awning or caravan, good quick food.

GamGam PilPil

This is my version of a very common recipe, it often goes by the name Gamberoni, or Gambas Pil.

It goes like this.

About 3rd of a cup of olive oil, small knob of butter, 2 cloves of garlic, one medium sized red chilli, paprika and of course prawns, normal prawns or King prawns will suffice, I prefer the smaller prawns, less fleshy.

So, heat the oil up and add the butter, season it then add the garlic, chilli, and a healthy sprinkle of Paprika. Give it about five minutes for the flavours infuse then pop the old prawns in. Turn heat onto full and then keep the whole thing moving around the pan for around another five minutes.

It will seem quite oily, but with it being Olive Oil, that's OK.

Get yourself some nice crusty bread, or a French stick, serve contents in a bowl.

Use the oil as a nice dip and eat the prawns, beautiful!

There's quite a few variants on this recipe, try finely chopping some spring onions and giving a good slosh of Soy Sauce to give it more of a Thai flavour.

Simple Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

This is a legendary dish, again with many variations. With us having a limited kitchen, simplicity is best.

Mushrooms, 2 cloves of garlic (less or more to taste) mixed herbs (just oregano will do)Olive Oil and some cream.

Roughly chop your mushrooms and garlic and place in oven dish, pour over some Olive Oil, not too much but a good drizzle, sprinkle on the herbs, (about 3/4 of a teaspoon) and pop in the oven on a medium heat. Give it about 15 minutes, remove from oven, spoon two nice tablespoons of cream in, mix it about and Bob's your uncle, there you have it, Creamy Garlic Mushrooms.

OK, not everyone has an oven when they are camping, but slow cooking on a gas burner will achieve similar results.

Serve the above two dishes with a nice salad and you have the perfect camping supper.

Nb. You can also add a bit of white wine to the mushrooms, but my assistant chef prefers it in a glass with the meal.

Rain, rain, rain, rain

Open this video in a new window, a lovely tale of rain.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2011702824034424150&ei=c3MqStazKdaI-Aayy9G9CQ&q=Ladysmith+Black+Mambazo+Rain+Rain+Beautiful+Rain&hl=en-GB

Beautiful rain.

Well it is when your tucked up inside.

There's nothing quite like the sound of rain on the caravan and awning roof when your inside warm and dry, its very soothing and I especially love sleeping whilst the rain falls.

The site is very quiet today, the people who are here are in their vans, watching the world from inside. There aren't many tents either this weekend, and after last nights downpour I don't think there will be too many arrivals today.

Its Wellies on with lots of puddles around, the river behind the van is muddy and swollen and hurries down now its topped up with rain, there are little paw prints around the place from Luke the cat returning from his adventures. The awning is damp and uninviting, so its a day indoors for me.

More alarmingly there are repeated gunshots going off not too far in the distance, I'm assuming its some vermin infected farmer and not a local on the rampage, but still its quite unsettling as each shot pierces my tranquility. I wonder what it is and whether he's a good shot, or she even. It could even be a local gun club, who knows?

I quite like this quote, its not mine, but its good

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain"

I'm off to moonwalk to the shop.

Here's a nice tune for the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G860hkE0Tc

A tale of sorrow, a tale of joy

I haven't posted about my fishing exploits recently, mainly because there haven't been any. I have been many many times, but always returned, empty handed, and increasingly frustrated. As mentioned, fishing has the power to make you keep trying, it almost teaches you patience.

I've bought new tackle, new state of the art baits, I've watched DVD's, in fact considering I don't catch any fish, on paper, I'm nearly an expert.

As the spring turns into summer, and fish start to feed regularly again, the pond is a different place, the babies have grown rapidly, the sun has brought a lot of the bigger fish out, and the pond is now a hive of fish activity, I have sat on the bank, watching with green eyes as other pull out fish after fish, some small, but some big. I've watched kids fish for the first time and catch lots, and me, again, time after time, with a dry net and a headfull of questions.

At 10pm on Sunday night, I had my last cast, not of the evening,but I thought at the time on my short fishing career, I couldn't justify the amount of time, energy and near stress I was devoting to it, without having any end result. I left my rods in whilst I packed up my gear and got ready to call it a night.

Then, just like the last time (last year) I heard the unfamiliar sound of line slipping out of the reel, as a fish picked up my bait and swam away. As I struck into the fish I could tell immediately that it was bigger then most of the little fish in there. Within five minutes, after three months of waiting, I finally put a carp in my net, and brought it to the bank.

It was around 6lb, not the biggest, but a carp all the same. Finally!

It was unhappy about being out of the water, it had no idea I was going to pop it back, it only knew it was in danger. It tossed and wriggled, gasped, puffed and shook. I went to get the hook from its lip and it went ballistic, it really unnerved me and I just wanted to get it back in the water as soon as possible, there would be no photo, and although I was chuffed about its capture, its evident displeasure soon took over. I returned the fish to the water after it shook itself free.

Pleased with myself, I carried on packing up, looking forward to returning, finally with a story of triumph. I realised that in the struggle the carp had snapped its line, and taken with it my hook.

In our exchange, I got a story, the carp got a sharp metal hook, all in the name of entertainment.

I had come round to the way of thinking, that due to the relationship I'm sharing with nature on other levels and living so close to the outside world, that cosmically I wasn't meant to catch a fish, I wasn't meant to trick it into thinking it was lunchtime and disguising my hook into its food, I wasn't meant to use my powers as a human, to take advantage of a fellow member of our natural world.

All this changed as I put that fish back in the water. I went to sleep feeling a mixture of happiness and guilt.

The following evening, the guilt had conveniently subsided. Its amazing what we can justify to ourselves as being acceptable when we are in pursuit of pleasure. Instead of my experience leading me to renouncing anything to do with fishing and selling my tackle because its quite obviously cruel, I went and bought a new reel, and some sharper, newer hooks, and some bait produced in a laboratory to help me attract fish into my area.

As we returned from the fishing shop, there was a little posse of people, lakeside, they needed my help. A duckling no more than a month old had been found with a fishing hook in its mouth.

I took my discorger and forceps over to see if I could be of any help, the duckling had its mouth firmly closed, its mother was flapping all around us, she was extremely distressed that her offspring was in danger. I was unable to help, and as a concerned camper took the duck to the vets, little did its mother know, that she would never see her baby again.

The duckling that had survived threats from Herons, Cats, Foxes, Minks and other survival issues had met its maker in the shape of a fisherman's hook.

The duck age one month old was put down at the vets, due to having a hook lodged in its stomach.

Nature is cruel, but I think humans are crueler. Will I fish again? The way I feel now I hope I never do, its cruel, it has to be.

But like I said, we are good at justification, turning a blind eye to whats important, to the truth. We conveniently forget things whilst in pursuit of our pleasures.

It seems nature has evolved to protect itself against itself, but not against us, the humans.

Here's a video to accompany this sad tale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcqWyyHlCDA

Oh what a beautiful morning

An early start today.

The weather is beautiful today, the sun beating down since its early rise. The caravan gets hot really early and despite opening a few windows, this morning it was unbearable. So, I just had to get up, and I'm glad. I'm not the earliest of risers by any means, but maybe I will start because watching and hearing the world awake and unfold is beautiful.

So, I'm sat on the settee in the awning. You can roll up the front of the awning, quickly turning it into a gazebo type tent, letting the day breeze in whilst sipping coffee and catching up on the days news.

The site is in great form, the showers that were plentiful at the beginning of May have helped turn the site into a lush green, all the trees have their leaves on, everything is growing really fast around us, including some little ducklings that were born the other day. They've just passed by, their duck mummy leading the way, passing on little tricks and knowledge to her offspring.

Time is speeding on by, although summer is only just beginning, I'm already fearing its end. We are talking now about staying on through the Winter, which if we do, could be quite tough. Being so close to nature and almost becoming part of it, we feel we need to do a whole year, the whole cycle in order to have the full experience. Dark and cold nights in a small van with no tele present a different living challenge to the one we are enjoying now. Washing up and showering on cold wet January mornings don't hold much appeal whilst sat here in the sun. But, as they say, we only live once, and with the right clothes and attitude, I'm sure we would survive. Life is too short.

The campsite is busy, the sun brings everyone out, and even at this time of the day, there are sunburnt men meandering around with cans of lager, lapping it up. The evening is filled with the smell of barbecues and woodsmoke. Kids are everywhere, exploring, having fun and murdering undeveloped trout, but I'm not going to do a Victor Meldrew here today.

Instead I'm going to take my guitar into the sun and have a strum, the sun is shining, the weather is sweet

Its Nature's Way of telling you

Well,

It's been almost a month since the last blog update, why? you may ask, well I will tell you.

We are what it says, we're living in a caravan, not a holiday, this is now, life as we know it.

We've been here pretty much three months now, its an old cliche but time really has flown by, and if we stick to our plan of moving back into a proper house/flat, then it will be about three or four months until that happens, so you may say, we're halfway there.

It really is a fantastic experience, and I recommend anybody to do something similar, to take ourselves out of a 'normal' way of living into something simpler, and more in touch with nature and ourselves.

We have chosen to live without tv, we don't have a radio, or a 'hi-fi', ok, we do have a laptop, which can incorporate all of that, but even that is really only used by me and I spend most of my time on Football Manager and as we'll later hear, fishing websites.

You spend more time with 'yourself' in an environment like this, you can't escape as easily, its like living in a mirrored box at times, everything is more direct, combined with the peace here, and living so close to nature, its a very reflective, thought provoking place.

I'm still finding nature mind blowing, the ducks mated, produced ducklings, and now the little ducklings aren't so little anymore, and are legging it about the place full of confidence, we've even had a few in the awning having a look round.

There are literally thousands of tadpoles, all swimming around in the edges of the pond, I haven't seen a frog for ages, they have done what they needed to do, and, so it seems, normal life has resumed.

A heron visits daily to the pond, a tall graceful bird that comes and perches on rocks, blending in to the background, waiting to grab its lunch with its long pointed beak, regularly pulling out little fish snacks. It also likes duckings! Yes, herons, for all their apparent grace and nobility see little cute fluffy ducklings differently to we do, to a heron, its a tasty lunch and a break from fish, it also likes birds eggs and has been seen in numerous trees around the site pestering nests for a eggy breakfast. Whenever Heron is around, Crow closely follows, I've been studying the behaviour for a while. Crow obviously knows what Heron is up to, and follows Heron almost everywhere, you can guarantee when Heron arrives, Crow will follow. It seems Heron is scared of the crow and will often be chased away, especially when the ducklings are around.

It is almost as if Crow is the 'Security Guard', not just looking out for the safety of its own offspring, but seemingly for the offspring of others, the good of the whole, like some sacred feathered policeman, maybe pigs do fly?!

As witnessed many times here now, things judged as evil and wrong in our Human world play themselves out on a daily basis in the natural world. Murder, rape, theft and violence all occur in the animal world, life it seems continue to goes on. When the ducklings were first born, you could count the litter. Of the three or four sets that have been born, everyone has lost ducklings a long the way, whether eaten, lost or even knocked over by a car or caravan. Life goes on.

The caravan site looks absolutely beautiful, the bare frost bitten trees of our arrival in March have been replaced by an umbrella of leaves and blossom, the whole place is a blend of shades of green, with the regular showers we have been having, every day there is a growth spurt, every day looks different.

Of course the time will come where the sunlight decreases, the leaves will start turning brown, eventually falling to the ground, and the whole cycle will repeat itself, life, death and rebirth.

Where will we be when that happens?, well, that is the question Jodes and I are asking ourselves. The thought of leaving here isn't good, we have both settled, adjusted and are now in the groove of living here, I think we would love to do the whole cycle living here, but, humans, unlike the animals and birds around us,aren't especially good with the wet, and cold.

The caravan we live in, isn't especially big, we use the awning for all cooking, eating and a lot of hanging out, you would imagine in Winter it would be difficult to heat, and keep dry, leaving us living just in the van, with it going dark everyday at 4 o clock, I think we could potentially go stir crazy.

It means we have been looking at other ways of lives, or other caravans, yurts, tipi's etc that we could live in, I feel this experience will take us down an alternative lifestyle road as in opposition to going back to the ratrun battery farm of living in a crowded street in a back to back house. Its one part of nature i don't miss, nature living in disharmony with itself.

All in all, living like this serves as a reminder that there is an alternative way of living that is different to the social norm. We can't all be suited to living in houses, working hard every day to 'keep a roof over our head' 'putting tea on the table', it isn't natural, it is an idealism that has been sold to us as being the way to live life, in order to contribute to society.

I take one look out side of the window here and I know, living life like that, isn't natural to me, I need to connect to my environment, I am a part of nature, a nature that has been here for thousands of years, and will be here for thousands of years after I have gone, and whilst we share this planet for the time of my life, I feel I need to spend as much time as close as possible to all the other living things that make it so fascinating.

But..... we need money, and we need to survive, everything has a price these days, and nothing is for free (except nature) (oh and love). It'd led me to lots of different websites, documentaries, photos, blogs etc. Gypsies, Romanies and travellers from all all over the world have been consistently persecuted through history for their different lifestyles.

I'm going to post this link, if you have a few minutes please look through this site, if for nothing else than to see some beautiful pictures of old vehicles. However, most of these vehicles are/were peoples homes

http://www.travellerdave.co.uk/?s=21

The Criminal Justice Bill was passed in 1994, amongst it was Part 5, which had catastrophic effects on the lifestyle of 'New Age Travellers'

Have a listen to this track whilst perusing the lovely photos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsTK2LHZKPQ

R.S.P.C.A.

Following the previous post, I have received a few concerned e mails suggesting that I condone the drowning of children from a certain class.

I must clarify this by saying in no way whatsoever did I intend to conjour up any images of drowning children and any mention of Pike's or Pikey's purely had a fishing reference, and was not intended on as a slur to dwellers from housing estates.

I have made the relevant edits and again sincerely apologise to anyone who has been upset. I was merely suggesting how nature can be cruel and kind at the same time, and when one creature survives another can die.

Anyway, I'm off to watch the news, there's been a human foot and mouth outbreak in Oldham.

Tales from the bank

I'm off fishing for a few hours.
In one of the earlier blogs I mentioned how fishing has this power to make you keep trying, to keep returning to the water, just in the vain hope that today may be your day.

Since I caught that little fish way back in early March I have been fishing about another 6 times, and I'm ashamed to say, I'm yet to add to my tally.

The nearest I got was last week, when whilst on the bank staring at my float with raw eyes, a young lad came up to me with a fair size fish in his hand. He had picked it out of the water!

Here I am with some of the latest fishing methods on the circuit, tooled up with the fanciest baits, fleece lined and ready to catch, and some Tarzan wannabee from an estate in Oldham hand picks the biggest fish from the margins and brings it over to me.

There is something quite intimidating about wild 11 year olds.

'Do you want this fish mate?' he enquires whilst holding a rather miserable blood covered fish
.
'Er no thank you, don't you think that fish should be in the water?' I replied trying my hardest to be an adult.

'Dunt matter mate, its dead now' he told me whilst hurling the dead fish straight into the area where I was fishing.

He legged it.

I sat on my fishing box, watching the said fish on the surface of the water next to my float. It wasn't dead, there were still a few shallow breaths, a few gasps of life left to be had. I looked at the culprit who was now doing a live autopsy on a rather aroused male frog, and I wondered if nature had just tipped upside down, and that it had got it all wrong.

Well after feeding my fishing area with a delectable variety of offerings including sweetcorn, powdered bread, pork luncheon meat, Pepperami (fishing mag tip), boilies, two types of pellets (one heavily flavoured) and bird seed, all without producing a single fish, I could hardly imagine the fish would be heading for my area, just waiting to dine in luxury with one of their own suffocating on its last fins, floating around them in the clutches of death whilst they eat off my menu.

I packed up in disgust, a weird mixture of sadness and frustration for not catching a fish, the emotion of watching a fish dying in front of me, and also, whilst I'm enjoying all other personal connections with nature and wildlife I'm having here, the inner turmoil and guilt knowing that one day, I'm hopefully going to tow a fish across a pond with a lump of very sharp metal hooked in its lip, the perfect way to look nature in the eye!

Fishing is a hunting tool, yet we have turned in to leisure and pleasure, a sport!
I go again, to sit by the pond, and ponder.

If the vans a rocking, don't come knocking

Its that time of year. Everything around us, for want of a better phrase are' bang at it' Its spring, and the hormones of all nature are waking from their slumber and doing the most animalistic of all things, mating. Birds, rabbits, fish, ducks, and presently frogs are risking their lives in pursuit of a few moments of pleasure and the continuing evolution of their species.

Nature can be kind, but it can be cruel. Its time for the frogs. You know Frogspawn? You can go to the pond and see literally hundreds of frogs all looking for action, they are hell bent, and will go to extreme lengths to do their stuff. Unfortunately as the darkness falls on the day, and caravans and cars are coming and going, the frogs are putting their lives at stake in order to do what they need to do. Alas there are numerous squashed froggies around the place with a little glint frozen in their little eyes. You can barely walk ten yards in the dark without treading on them.

The ducks are also going crazy, competition for the female is fierce, and often there will be 3 or 4 male ducks chasing the females around, fighting each other for her attention. It serves an interesting reminder of where all natural life evolved from and where males, and not just humans, keep their brains.

Even I have been seduced. My beautiful girlfriend asked me to get her something from town to put her in the mood!

I came back with some WD40. The back legs on the van are terribly squeaky!

8/10 readers prefer it

From the feedback from family and friends it seems our little cat Luke Skywalker has got quite a fanclub, here's a little update.

Luke could have a blog of his own, every day is eventful for him.

There are four cats in total on site. Mutthead, it seems, is the boss, he is totally fearless, I've caught him our van on a few occasions just casually eating our Luke's food without a care for any humans. He has had numerous scraps with Luke, however he is too big and old to even get close to Luke in a chase and hides and springs out on Luke catching him unawares, a few whacks with the paw before Luke runs off.

Its all about territories it seems, every cat has their own 'space' and other cats can't go there or else there is trouble, then they have neutral spaces where they can hang out peacefully.

There is a tabby cat Tabby Vader, it appears that he is also from the dark side and has probably had Mutthead as a big influence on his life. He is equally violent, but seems to have struck some sort of deal with Luke following an incident outside our van last week.

Luke and Tabby V were head to head making the most unnatural squeel quite similar to a babies cry but more demonic and scary. It went on for about ten minutes, some form of bizzarre cat communication, it ended with a few whacks, but it seems, that in his own territory Luke has won the battle.

Then the last cat is pure Ginger a sort of a rusty Anakin Skywalker, he seems to be of a similar age and until Luke arrived was more than likely the regular victim of Mutthead and Tabby Vader. Now that Luke is the new kit on the block his status has been elevated and he takes great delight in annoying Luke. I think they'll end up friends.

He has brought home two mice, one dead and with its head removed, the other which Luke kindly kept alive for an hour so he could chase it around the awning before death. Luke is very proud of himself, I on the other hand am ashamed. I am scared of mice and cannot deal with them. Dead or alive!

We see him at all parts of the site, he really has stretched his legs and has settled in well. He holds his own with the other cats, he's found a tree to scratch and a wall to stretch himself out on a sunny day. He is currently asleep inside the van.

Sweet dreams Lukey

We're all Jippies now

Moving from tent, to converted camper van, and now to caravan, you get to experience the different forms of camping and the campers that go with it.

Despite the common denominator of enjoying life close to the outdoors and near nature, and the basic simplicities of camping /caravanning, there are also a lot of differences.

There seems to be a scale ranging from Gypsies, to new age travellers, to weekend campers, and to the more well off people in expensive motorhomes and caravans. A motorhome pulled onto the site the other day with a Smart Car being towed on the back! I mean whats going on now? The caravans are towing cars, yet the caravan is a car as well?!

I overheard a conversation with one of the full time residents, bemoaning the sudden influx of new campers due to arrive for the Easter break, they were genuinely appalled that all these people would want to come here, and pitch up for the weekend, wrecking their peace, rather than be excited that a whole load of like minded people were due to arrive.

Anyway............


So it got me thinking about Gypsies, travellers etc, the persecution, harassment they have faced over the years and us, and the people staying here, how we are one and the same, but also very different, how we would rather divide ourselves into our little groups of acceptability rather than unite and live under one big canvas roof.

So who am I? Who are we?

We are Jippies, a cross between a Gypsy and a Hippie, we're not travellers, old age or new, we don't go anywhere. We have electric, gas, Internet access, hot water etc, but hopefully have one love for all fellow campers and people who desire a way of life like this, to be at one with our environment and surroundings, to remove the complications of modern living, and get down to a more basic, simplistic connection with life.

Its all getting a bit deep eh?

I don't want to politicise in anyway, and I don't want to talk much about things I don't know a great deal about. Gypsies and travellers generally get a lot of bad press, and there is certainly a negative social view towards them, but in many ways, they just want a way of life that is suited to them.

A motorhome has just pulled on, its got a Satellite dish, and mountain bikes clipped to the back, a family has just poured out, eager for a nights camping.

Although not wholly relevant, but certainly thought provoking I insert a video.

This has happened in recent history in our own country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3YtmBD_thM

Holmfirth Scouser Caravan

If you tap those three words into Google you come up with this blog!

The whole purpose of starting the blog was to put some relevant info out for there for other people thinking of possibly moving into a caravan and having it as a way of life.

So anyone who does find this site, may or may not find it too relevant me venting my spleen about Scousers bothering me whilst I was fishing, but probably find it more useful if the blog resumed its intended purpose of living in a caravan. So, I am pleased to say, that I will hopefully be updating more often now.

I must use this space to apologise to the hundreds of offended Scousers who have e mailed their complaints.

Why dont you just calm down eh?

Is there anybody out there?

If you have stumbled across this blog in cyberspace, are a friend or family member, or you are thinking of living in a caravan, or you are a Scouser who enjoys teaching others how to fish, you can follow the blog by clicking on the box in the blog page.

If you don't have a Google, or Yahoo account I can recommend them, get yourself one and leave us a comment, a recipe, a fishing tip or a joke.

Spectator Sports!

I awoke with enthusiasm for my days fishing. Although last weeks attempt ended with a tiny fish, fishing seems to have the power to make you believe that today's the day' and that record breaking fish is gonna take the bait!

It was an absolutely spectacular day. The sun was burning bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect.

I tackled up, got my stuff together, and toddled off for a day by the lake. Following last weeks failures I decided to try a different spot on the other side of the lake. I set myself up and settled down to catch the fish of a lifetime.

Now, by no means to do I know what I'm doing. I've watched a few videos on the sport and read a few tutorials online, but in reality, I am most definitely a beginner. In fact, if you imagine Mr Bean fishing, think me, your not far off.

'Eee Aaa mate' I heard the unmistakable scouse accent behind me. Your doing it all wrong. 'No kidding mate' I thought as I wrestled with the small hook which was caught in my tracksuit dangerously close to my crown jewels'

I mentioned yesterday that all of nature around us is starting to wake up from its winter slumber and buzz around the place. This included three Scousers who should have been working on a site close by, but had the day off, they had obviously decided to spend it fishing with me! Great!

It was my day off, I wanted to fish, badly, on my own, and relax. My job takes me through enough inane conversations to last me a lifetime, I wasn't in the mood for one waterside. The sun was doing its best to defrost my shoulder that I was trying to give the Scousers. It was a sunny day. I relinquished, and I think, I have just made my first campsite buddies, watch this space!

There were two young lads, probably early 20's, and one older guy, prob early 50's. They are living on site whilst they do a job, they all love fishing, and they all intend to get their rods out at some point,

'How long are you staying'? I politely enquired

'Three years' came the reply

'Three years'? I was flabbergasted

'Yeah mate' its a big contract

I felt like I was sat in the canteen in a prison.

I cast my little bit of bread into the tree, I wasn't happy.

Now, there is nothing more peaceful than looking at your float in the water, checking it obsessively for any minuscule signs of movement, in the vain hope of that elusive bite. Sharing that with three other people, isn't quite the same.

Luckily, two more people arrived!

Here I am, sat in approx 1000 hectares of woodland and countryside sharing a fishing peg with five people. Three Scouse fisherman (no rods) and now joined by an oldish guy and a rather odd women. He cracked a can, she opened a bottle of wine, and they got their sandwiches out.

There I was looking for the reincarnation of Jeremy Beadle to arrive whilst texting Jodes to alert her to the fact that there was a small festival springing up on fishing peg number 3, urging here to get along that was fast becoming THE place to be, not only on this campsite, but seemingly in the entire of the Holme Valley.

Luckily for me, I cast into the tree again, despite the blushes, I was able to make a hasty exit and retreat to my tent to reflect on my fishing career

'That disaster over there is my Dad'

A tale I've been meaning to tell...............

Before we moved our settee into the awning, we had pretty much been using the van as our main space. Kier came over at weekend to sleep for the first time. We put his bunk up and made up all the beds, very cosy, very intimate and very cramped!

We power the caravan with a combination of 12v car battery and mains electric. The lighting system is run from the 12v battery. You get about three days of lights on your battery, your then supposed to switch to mains and recharge. We had been warned by the campsite owner, never to use the emergency electric token, because, the scenario is bound to happen, where you have an emergency and you need your electric. You should never leave yourself without.

Cue Dad!

Most of the above jobs I have taken responsibility for, being the man of the van of course.
I was sat on the bed, Jodes was making hot chocolate, and Kier was on his bunk. Happy families, poised for a happy night of caravanning together.

I accidentally knocked the lamp over and smashed the bulb, plunging the van into darkness. As I reached up to switch the lights on I knocked over a fresh pint of cider all over the van floor. As I flicked the switch of the light I remembered I'd forgot to charge the battery, no worries proclaimed Jodes, we've got enough electric to get a quick charge, it will be fine, but we'll have to use the emergency electric. Where is the emergency electric? Jodi asked.

The truth emerged shortly enough, and in a space of around three minutes, it was apparent that not only should I have been more careful in the first place, I should have remembered to charge the battery, and probably shouldn't have used the emergency electric token without telling anyone. It went quiet whilst we contemplated a dark cold night.

It was left to Kier to summarise.

'That disaster over there is my Dad'

The timing of his remark was absolutely perfect.

We all spent the next ten minutes howling with laughter, thumping the van floor in hysterics, an hilarious moment.

Well...........I guess you had to be there.

Nature's Way

It's beautiful day today, probably the best of the year so far. We've moved into the awning, put a settee and a stove in there and doubled our chilling space. One step closer to nature again. Just sat here, I keep getting visits from curious and probably hungry animals. A few ducks, Mutthead, another cat, a blackbird, a few other unidentifiable birds, and as I write, a little robin has hopped on the drying rail outside, and popped his head in the awning window.

A few daffodils have appeared at the back of the van, a sure sign that our world around us is waking up after winter. In the river behind us a few small trout are staring to jump out, looking for flies to catch.

The trees are humming with birdsong ,whilst their first green shoots of the year start to poke through. This place around us is growing everyday, our van is amongst around 100 trees, all bare at the moment, but as the spring progresses, they'll all soon have leaves.

I saw two male ducks fighting over a female earlier, a little squirrel looking for bits to eat, a frog hopped on by last night, spring is in the air1

We're starting to settle in, it all feels very natural to be here, amongst nature. I'm certain there is something in everyone that immediately connects to nature, some oneness.

We''ll see tomorrow, I'm off fishing.

What the Duck ?

A duck just came into our awning, ate a piece of poo from Luke's litter tray, had a poo of its own on our doorstep and left!

What a sight.

Gonna e-mail Attenborough

Feline Groovy

Well, here's the cat update as promised.

Literally within moments of me finishing the last blog concerning Luke's reluctance to leave the van, the most extreme turnaround took place. I closed the laptop, looked at Luke, who looked at me with some sort of telepathic embarrassment.

He pricked his ears, shook himself down and headed straight for the caravan door, out he went, through the awning and into the big wide world.

Within moments he was surrounded by three different cats, all in their own outposts near their van. I went into our camper van to listen to the footy and to take a ringside seat. It was Luke's time, his moment, I didn't want to miss it.

A cat sprinted and lunged at Luke, had a few digs, backed off and gave Luke the hard stare. Luke did not budge. Undeterred in his quest for personal freedom Luke stood his ground and waited for the next round of attacks. Strike 2 was a bit more intense, the cats coming together and exchanging swipes and bites, and the most eerie sounds. They have a whole different vocal range when they are fighting, quite a strange sound.

Jodi appeared out of the van and shooed the cat away. It seemed to do the trick, for little Luke has since had no real bother about going outside.

He's taking it slowly but he's started to explore a little more. When he gets going, he'll find he's in cat heaven with all the trees and wildlife around.

Anyway.

I'm going to sign out and look for a cat blog site, I'm a proud cat lover now!

Cat Psycho-ology

Its cat time again.

Luke has lost it basically. Since his adventure a few days back he has barely been out of the van, prefering instead to watch the world go by from the comfort of the bed. We have been trying to piece together his strange behaviour since those missing hours and have come to the following conclusions.

I must thank the numerous cat lovers who have spent hours of their life uploading their knowledge of all things feline, and a special mention to Luke our cat for changing me from a non cat person to someone who now spends 2 hours a day on cat psychology websites.

He has lost confidence. It appears when he went awol, he ran into the other cats who live on the caravan site.( So far, four have been sited) Apparently cats mark out their territoires, venture into theirs at your peril. Our Luke, fresh from wandering round a music venue after hours, trotted off into the night totally unaware of his surroundings. He was attacked, by one, if not more cats. He then went to ground until it was safe to return.

The chief suspect is posted above. He is currently named Mutthead, the apparent ringleader of Holme Valley Campsite Cat Crew (HVCCC) He is well hard. He won't even budge when you try to shoo him. He comes and sits outside our van and stares out the quivering Luke. We also think he's eating Lukes dinner in the awning.

So here we are caged in our van with Mutthead and crew camped outside. Luke is currently cowering under the bed, we keep trying to put him into the awning, he just won't have it. According to the cat shrinks, we need to walk around the campsite with some of his litter in a plastic bag to get his smell around the place. Great. What an impression we're making here!

All in all, its still peaceful, its still beautiful, Jodes and I are having a great time. I hope I can report some exciting Luke news shortly, like his first kill or something. Until then its life for him in a van

Catch you later

I spent a good eight hours by the pond today! A day that start brimming with promise and optimism, ended in a tree, by a river, next to an empty net.

Fishing is one of those curious pastimes that has the magnetism to make you stay so long in one place, without barely anything happening. There is absolutely no way I would spend eight hours just staring at water if I didn't have a rod.

It was uneventful to say the least. In fact, the most exciting thing of the day was watching a robin, playing tamely next to me, I could have practically fed it with my hand. It spent most of the day hanging around, picking up titbits of bait that didn't make it into the water, his friend popped by too. No doubt when I go out hunting birds tomorrow the fish will just jump out of the water straight into my net. I will confess to a passing thought of hooking the robin, and using it as bait. Well, they say you have to try anything to get a fish!

So in the end, I caught just one little fish, not much bigger than my hand. It wasn't quite the return I was hoping for, but still not a total wipeout. I shall study some fishing tuition websites and make my return to the pond within the next few days.................Watch this space.