Goodbye Caravan

The day has come at last. Two and a half years after delivery, the static caravan has just left the croft on the back of a transporter to be delivered to a family in the next village just starting their self-build journey.

We’d seen the new house build start in the next village, and noted that progress had stopped completely about nine months ago. The house tarps and temporary roof coverings were starting to fray in the wind and the site was looking sad and empty. We wondered what had gone wrong.

Builder problems. We know that feeling.

In desperation the couple had been staying in a tent on-site to try and get things moving again, but with two young children that wasn’t going to be sustainable for any length of time. There was no accommodation to be had for love nor money on the island in peak season.

We had always planned to pass the caravan on. We’d been gifted it for free from a kind local on the island when we first moved here, and we wanted to do the same for someone that needed it when the time came.

The time came.

In the end it all happened very quickly. We heard about the problems that they were facing and offered them the static. They came and took a look. A bit shabby, but watertight. They accepted.

We took a couple of days to empty it of our remaining stuff and give it a clean. Husband disconnected the water, sewerage and electricity and removed the cables and pipes connecting it to the house services.

He then lost several hours of his life emptying the tonne bags of type 1 that had been tethering it down so that it could be more easily manoeuvred out of position. Of course, two years in and the contents of the bags had compacted and seized together like cement, necessitating a drill to help break it up.

But we made it in time with weary backs and relief, and when the transporter rolled up our windy hill at 8.30 am this morning, we were ready.

The end of an era, as a friend said. And of course also the start of a new one. I shan’t miss living in it, but it kept us dry and safe for two and a half years, making progress on our house build possible. Those years also gave us some great memories and were a big part of this adventure.

I confess to being a little emotional as it trundled down the hill leaving nothing but a patch of weeds, a few empty gas bottles and a strong feeling of time marching on.