Ebay is about as addictive as it can get. I've been trawling the pages for a wood burner for Puck.. hours and hours I have poured into the search and the research. Initially I was obsessed with getting one that I could bake in (I'm still mad about sourdough) but then ran into the difficulty of the stove being enormous and also having to light it on hot days so I could bake. Not ideal. After much angst and more internet searching I found an ingenious Coleman pop up oven that you sit on top of a gas ring (which I already have in the truck). Genius! Well, so it looks in the packaging. It's currently winging it's way to me so I will report back on it's success or failure in a week or two :/
As for the wood burner, I am in the final throes of a tense bidding war for a gorgeous french enamel one that looks like all it needs a good scrub and a bit of TLC. Both of which I am prepared to provide, for the right price. Previous forays into ebay have taught me that I have to leave a maximum bid then close the webpage and not go back until the auction has closed.. otherwise my eagerness pushes my sense of caution out the way and I end up triumphant but broke. I do have a backup plan of a very cute traditional little pot bellied stove so either way I will be happy.
Lots and lots of other bits and bobs have been going on over the last couple of weeks - I passed my HGV driving test!! Hooray! I am now the master of own destiny. Or at least of my wheels. The picture I have below is the van I sat the test in - it's almost unbelievable that I can test in that vehicle and then go on to drive mine which is such a monster in comparison..
Let me show you what I mean...
Regardless, I promised my instructor I would give her a shout out in my blog because she is amazing! If anyone is looking to do their ridiculously-small-van-cum-horsebox-test or any other large goods vehicle tests then Kim is your girl. Details on the side of the van in the pic. I promise you won't regret it. Especially if you like Marvel. Or being really warm. Or yummy sandwiches. Or passing your test first time. Kim, you are a legend.
Back to me passing.. I arrived home fresh from my test eager to go out cruising, so Skyla and I hopped into the truck and took her out and about. I'm not sure the folk behind me on the Wallingford bypass were best pleased at my gentle 45mph but we were rocking it in the cab. Because of her great size, and also because at the moment she is empty, Puck wallows rather alarmingly around corners so I must say we did have a rather sedate thirty minute outing. Proud as punch I returned home and, needing to turn the truck around, I drove forward onto the grass.. not realising that my parents had recently filled in a flower bed just where I was heading. Needless to say, we are now quite literally stuck in thick wet mud, at the mercy of a local farmer whom we are hoping will pop round one day soon with his Fergy to pull us out.
Not deterred by out temporary immobility I have been working hard on both Puck's exterior and interior. I had a bit of a problem in the luton (the bit that sits over the cab that holds my bed) - there was a small but significant amount of water seepage onto the plywood interior. It was hard to figure out exactly what the problem was until I got up onto the roof where ten years of sun had shrunk and cracked the sealant. Up I went with some tread boards, the radio, a stanley knife, caulking gun and some snazzy new (read: pricey) sealant. Half way through stripping and replacing the sealant my sister and her two girls arrived for the weekend. Ro (4 years old) is deeply into Pocahontas and tumbled out of the car in her red indian outfit exclaiming that I must (as I am obviously on top of a ship) play the part of John Smith her white man love interest/pirate/conqueror of the New World. Thus started the weekend...
Happily exhausted by my nieces, this week I have mostly been painting, sanding and thinking. A brave choice of terracotta for the back doors has flung me in the direction of bold, bright and light themes. I'm thinking sun drenched mediterranean. Be not alarmed by the pics of the doors you will see later - it is posh paint and only one coat so it will all darken into rich deeper tones. Not resembling a Sainsbury's delivery lorry thank you mother! The bed area will be painted in a glorious bluey green very similar to that of a hummingbird's chest. In that cave like space it will be rich and dark, and transform with lighting. Again the pics of that are first coat so no panicking!
Changing the subject, these past weeks I have been reflecting with sadness at the state of mental health of my fellow junior doctors. In reaction to the contract issues, a wonderful site has been created on Facebook to allow junior doctors to come and get support: a place to share their stories, receive and give words of love, wisdom, humour or words of recognition and support. It is a truly awe inspiring place. Within hours of setting up there were upwards of a thousand members. The honesty and the pure loving support that is felt there is astonishing. What is tragic is the mental state of so many of our wonderful courageous doctors. Story after story reads like mine or worse. Desperate sadness, deep stress, depression, mental illness, bereavement, impostor syndrome (where you feel like you are completely ill equipped for the job), indecision, despondence.. deep deep scars that are being camouflaged daily so that they can get on with their job of caring for others. I got out, I count myself as fortunate. Not because I think it's a bad profession, but because I am not suited to that lifestyle and the inherent extreme stresses. I'm sharing this because I don't think even the junior medical profession realised until this group literally exploded into life, how fragile and burdened these professionals are. So I guess I think two things: one, take a moment to reflect next time you visit a medical facility - your doctors are stretched to breaking point. And two, if this is happening in medicine, it is happening elsewhere so I'm going to try and be that bit more compassionate everywhere I go, just in case the people I bump into are having a day like I used to have, or worse.
So, to round this post off, here are a few pics :) I don't seem to have any of the outside of the doors - I'll get one.. the orange you can see around the glass here is tape not paint!
The start of the sanding, so satisfying! But soooooo dusty:
And a pile of sanded and primed drawers, ready for their undercoat. One stubborn drawer handle wouldn't come out! You can get a glimpse of the fully sanded worktop on the left too, under the orange panel and piece of ply:
Oooh bright colours! There are the doors :) and those two blues are actually the same paint, both just one coat, as dry as each other - goes to show how much lighting makes a difference :)
I told you it was cold.. and dusty...
And the wood burners! The one of the left needs some cleaning and buffing.. but aren't they pretty??!
See you again soon!! x
