Sent from my email.

Finally some time to myself-on the bus- on the way to work. I'm not
driving today because, this pm i'll be catching a train to London
then onwards to the french alps. Yay! Fingers crossed that all our
connections run to time.
In preparation for our snowboarding, i've downloded a trial version
of Run.gps onto our toy. We should now be able to record all our
snowboarding activities using gps. that's the plan, If I finish
reading the manual. This is all part of the grandplan of including on
this blog a live view of where in the world are daniel and marea when
we start our European tour.

In other news... I picked up a new parking sensor from the post office
on wednesday -£15 from ebay. The stereo is now fully installed and
it's been great listening to some tunes whilst we work in the van, but
Daniel wanted a new toy to play with. There is already sensor
'installed' but nothing beeps at us, so we'll start again.

We have also been making use of the one hour of daylight now
available between 1700-1800, even though it has been soo cold i have
had to wear gloves. The 3rd bed - for visitors - is now almost fully
constructed. We may be able to report completion when we get back from
skiing on 1st March.

To beard or not to beard

Arrived in the post yesterday - One Laptop Battery - thanks again ebay.
This one will last 2hours and 23mins compared to the old one which dies with 10mins to spare. On our travels will now be able to watch an occasional movie, write a book, manage our finances - or access the internet wherever we find a free hotspot.

We still need to buy either a Auto laptop charger (DC/DC adapter) or an DC/AC Power inverter. Apparently recent tests have shown that using a DC/DC adapter uses 30% less power than an inverter. Converting from DC (cigarette lighter) to AC (inverter) to DC (computer power cord) does sound a bit stupid.
But, an inverter can be used for powering superfluous household appliances like kettles, toasters, hairdryers, curling tongs and electric shavers.
Yes we could get both, but then I'd have nothing to write about, and wouldn't Daniel look great with a beard? Perhaps we need a new poll.

We're watching you.

I've been curious how many people are reading our blog.
We do get some feedback via published comments and of course those of you who voted in our poll.
I finally signed up to Google Analytics.
So I'll know who you are and where you live....kind of.
E.g. the one person in Australia who reads our blog must be my sister - Hi Ange:-)

A beautiful busy day

Wow what a busy day. The sun got us out of bed earlyish and we woke the flatties up using the jigsaw, kindly lent to us by Neil. Thanks Neil:-)

Today's tasks: Make a seat, convertable to a single bed at the back of the van. Make speaker holes.

Typically we were not without drama. We lost a screw for holding the blade on the jigsaw - Sorry Neil. It became obvious this is not easily replaceable - Black and Decker will hear from me this week. But, a typical 'No.8 wire' solution was found and we were soon 'cooking with gas'

I now understand why home renovation always seem to overrun, whilst we have speaker holes and our wood cut to make the bed/seat/table, we are still along way from to completing our tasks.

Lucky Dice

Our previous lucky dice have been put in to retirement because lady luck seems to have stopped smiling for them. Two, nay three car accidents being evidence of this.
So we are very lucky that our good friend Becs sent for Christmas some new lucky dice in Wellington colours. Thanks Becs:-)_

Daniel and Shopping

Shopping List:
speakers,
speaker wire,
bicycle tube
wood
screws
hinges
etc...
Halfords, Homebase, B & Q, but still the I feel Daniel's muted fustration. I thought it was just shoe shops; no, it's retail commerce in general. ebay we love you.
Admitedly, Halfords could not find the speakers we wanted, despite 2 supposedly in stock. The second Halfords did not have any speaker wire. However, Homebase had an instore wood cutting service and 3 hours later, after a sucessful mission we went home but the fading daylight means that we can't get started until tomorrow.

Oh ebay we love you

Arrived in the post on Tuesday: one table surface floor base connical connection for a motorhome. £7.99 +£1.89 postage. Pat has table base fixed to the floor and a table leg - but no tabletop, perhaps it's hiding. Job for the weekend: make a tabletop for Pat.

Dan the Man

I previously wrote that we were going to pay Halfords to install our new stereo. This was mostly because if we cut any of the wiring on the stereo it renders any warrently null and void, and because installation was cheap at half price (£20).

£20! what kiwi man would let some-one else to install his stereo! How hard can it be?

Daniel found a required part for 99p off ebay (£14.99 at Halfords).

And by torchlight (it is still dark here when we get home from work) he has got it working.

He puts the rubbish out and mows lawns too.

Testing Take 2

Testing, Testing, 123

If this works, I've updated our blog by sending an email.

Much more convenient and cheaper if I can figure out how to update our blog via GPRS instead of 3G.

Now I just have to find a prepaid GPRS card with Europe wide roaming…