Oh I do like to be beside the seaside…

I got an annoying bug in an email today. Now you have it too.

So – here I am, sitting in the back of my truck, the sun is just starting to lose it’s grip on the day and all is fine. I have driven my truck for several hours (always a pleasure) parked it with the back door facing the ocean, been for a surf and eaten cake. What could be finer?

I’ve been living in vehicles on and off for a very long time – it started with caravans lodged next to building sites when I was a kid, I added an engine to the mix when I left school and made the dubious choice of buying a tiny ex-post office van. Not only did it look like Noddy’s car it had similar performance, but it got me half way around Europe and back again so not without merit. I then made a massive leap up the vehicular property ladder and bought a beautiful classic bus. At 36 feet long it was like moving into a mansion and with a few weeks of carpentry tomfoolery it soon had a boudoir, food preparation area and living quarters complete with threadbare sofa and rusty woodstove.

Since then I have had many vehicles of all shapes and sizes. I’ve had aging trailers held together with gaffer tape and string and a ridiculous bus that looked like a loaf of bread. I’ve driven an army lorry with a gun turret and I built my own gypsy wagon from scratch. Right now – I have a modern lorry. It looks like a chest freezer on wheels. Boring and white – but it starts when I turn the key and it doesn’t break down and leak oil into my eyes when it’s pissing with rain in the middle of the night. Inside I have a kitchen, a bed, a stereo and a surfboard rack.

Most importantly I can have a new back garden every morning and quite often it’s the beach…

Fans of my father’s writing need to brace themselves for tomorrows post. I fear after teetering on the rim of sane thought and reason he has finally plunged head first into the mire of madness. A line may have been crossed – I now wash my hands of him – he is not my father any more (if he ever was)…

I surfed today – and I might tomorrow too.