A history of Waffle - poptops ramblings take yer pick !.

Does karma matter ?　

A year ago i bought my dream van a 1972 tax exempt vw t2b genuine p33 westfalia camper , i can't tell you how i felt , years and years i have wanted one , i have had Devons , danburys and even a t25 with a kampa conversion , but the dream was always a 72 westy.

Anyway it duly arrived on the back of a breakdown truck ( a portent if ever there was one ) and the smiling driver it turned out was smirking .

On first inspection or second , the first one was obscured by a lady with large breasts and a smile i won't delve too deep into that moment it still hurts and they were nice breasts , the second inspection revealed more tin worm than i first thought , not as much as was revealed later but still enough to put me into convulsions , ohh my giddy aunt what a goolie i had dropped , it was one step from vw camper heaven , there was even a little white cloud drifting serenely above the scene , actually thats a lie , it was a little black cloud right above my head that seemed to follow me for the next few days until - i joined the worlds greatest vw forum , earlybay - oops sorry that one made my cloud darken , no it was thelatebay.com which i found whilst researching rusty vw campers on google , " ummmm , seems like a few like minded nutters on there " i thought and duly joined the throng .

During the next week or so i made friends on here and posted resto pics ( well pics of my rust ) and was offered a free inspection from Paradox as he was'nt far from me , para or Hammer n screwdriver man as i inadvertantly refer to him in my mind since that day , gave me a damning verdict -- it was indeed extremely more rusty than i could imagine , basically it was a bag of the proverbial sh---

After para had gone i moped a lot , for days , not that anyone should notice but i never spoke or acknowledged anyone for over a week - or four .

Meanwhile the good nutters on tlb made me smile and awarded me Karma out of kindness and affilliation .

i felt lifted , what a great bunch .In return as my confidence on the forum grew i felt obliged to offer up some of my own off beat tales of past camping trips etc , they were warmly recieved so on occasion i posted up a few more , to be honest the more response i got , the more enthusiastic i became , i even started threads such as embarassing moments and show us yer ---

The karma returned was a good fil'ip and i appreciated it , after all i was having to undergo a very difficult resto and to be frank any boosts were welcomed ..

Fast forward to last month , almost a year later , Rhubarb thats the name we gave OUR van , cos thats the law - campers have to be named , i was on the last throws of my resto , my time on here had been a pleasure and the help recieved had been top notch - we even had a meet at camperjam where i disgraced the good name of malt drinkers and spent the night in a portaloo ( i still blame the wilma's ) you really are a top bunch !!.

But then -- tlb crashed , a dark moment indeed , we shifted home's to temporary lodgings on earlybay ( a nice familiar place albeit a bit musty ) and continued our communications there until Horts the tlb techno guru sorted tlb .
Well he did a superb fix , man he must have eyes like Tom the cartoon cat in the one where he's soooo tired , well done Mat and all who helped him get our home sorted in a massive effort for the cause .

Horts has said he will do his best to get back our important postings , resto's n the like and i have no doubt he will do his darndest , i miss referring to some other peoples work on their vans it has been a superb help , hopefully my pics n postings have been a help to others ,i know lots of people pm'ed me about my slider door and torsion tube fix and i recieved lots of karma for it .

By now i guess you have sussed out this is'nt about my resto for once or a idle ramble , no its about karma , and the loss of -- i enjoyed giving karma to people who made me smile , showed me a tip or just posted a good write up , in return i enjoyed recieving karma , it showed people liked what i posted or did , they like my humour , my resto or just simply a response .Not only have we now lost a years input and invaluable resource which took thousands of man hours to post , but now we have lost our good vibe's , it may not matter to some but others get comfort from it like what i do -- but like the old latebay site ,its now history .In the end its geat just to be back , meet old friends and make new ones , rekindle old joke's and restock the old information store , karma does'nt really matter in the grand scheme of things and has some have said we can re earn it --

i for one am really glad to be back and am trying hard to gee myself up to repost some of my more interesting witterings -- it took me a year last time , i will condense it this time and try to moderate myself --Great works Horts -- now gimme back my karma ! .

 

A malt drinkers tale

Portaloo sunset --There is i imagine somewhere in england a small portaloo that will forever remain sacred , this portaloo , my portaloo , a veritable friend in a time of need .

When all around you are suffering from alcoholic poisoning and when you yourself are suffering from aforementioned illness , then its at these times a portaloo becomes your friend , your comforter , provider of warmth and partial detox , a place to lay your head for a few hours until the sun once again dawns over the horizon .
The simple facts are , after copious amounts of liquid refreshment on friday evening , sitting around the fire with our vw friends , the time came for me to amble in a casual manner through the sudden darkness amongst the guide ropes and sun loungers until , after countless trips , falls and stumbles one reached the relative safety of the portaloo block --

In my defence i don't normally drink Jura , the half bottle of speymore and the 10 bottles of carling were fine but that small glass of jura proffered by Julie n Moira was lethal .

So safely ensconced on said portaloo i chose to take a nap , i woke up one hour later with my head spinning and proceeded to vomit , a lot , all over the portaloo floor , cleansed of the jura and being unable to rise to my feet another nap was decided upon , unfortunately due to a uncanny dizzy feeling i fell off said portaloo seat head first onto the damp and smelly floor , where i slept wedged between loo and door until sunrise , at which point i rose from the floor and with all my might unlocked the door and staggered through the maze of dubs , guide ropes and camping stoves to the relative comfort of my own tent .

i have decided to come clean as this could be the most singuarly embarassing moment of my life if others are allowed to distort the facts , chinese whispers are a terrible thing and can wreck a fellows reputation and good name you know .

 

Oh dear what hope is there for me , i'm a twonk !.

About two days before camperjam i decided to change the cv joint on my volvo -- easy job done loadsa cv joints no probs .

Job done , halfway to cj smell of oil , pull over , the inner cv joint was leaking gearbox oil like a good un , i tighten inner cv clamp refill with oil n carry on at a steady speed ,cj was a good weekend .
For the journey home Rickyrooo1 gave me some more gearbox oil and we got home at a steady speed no problems , since then there has been a slow drip of oil from the inner cv joint and i have been constantly topping it up .

Today i decided to service Lou's micra top up oils etc , afterwards i decided to have a proper look at the volvo's leak , twas a slight faux pau on the mechanics behalf ---

I had put the retainer ring on the wrong way around , it was'nt retaining anything , no matter how hard i tightened the nuts there would be no connection -- William was watching when the penny dropped and has christened me the twonk

Oh jesus i'm doing the brakes on the bus at the mo

 

Bay days

Lou and i have had many adventures in our bays , breakdowns ( us n the vans ) great hols and met lots of good people along the way .


One of our best memorys comes from the mid 80's , we had just lost our business had to move home and were basically skint , we had a tempory rental home and i was struggling to find a job in my profession .
Anyway necessity was the mother of invention again and one day while looking at my van i had the idea of selling fruit n Veg from her after all Lou n i met while working in a fruit n veg shop and knew the game .

The Devon interior was removed in a jiffy and i spent the day turning the cargo area into a display section with all the goods sloping forward on trays much like f+ v shops did in those days, as the interior was easily replaced i made the display removable so as we could swap her back into a camper in about an hour. .
　


The next morning early i was off to the fruit n veg market in Brum which i had done many times when i worked in the f + v shop , i spent the grand total of £27 on sacks of spuds , peas , cabbages apples , oranges etc a small fortune for us in those days , so i was taking a risk, i stacked sacks of spud over the engine bay, peas and carrots etc under the display on the cargo floor with a green plastic grass carpet draped over the front .
　

I went out in the sticks where i lived because the local mobile f+ v man had just passed away and i knew there was a market , i knocked doors all day , the old dears and ladi dahs would come out and inspect my wares comment on the van and generally they would buy something from me .


That first day i took £55 and after petrol expenses made £17 , i had made a profit .


So for the next few weeks i went out to market each morning and filled the van with fresh fruit n veg - i sought out new area's kept a book and soon made up a round of regulars , the mix of people was amazing , Lou helped and soon we had over 200 regulars coming to the van , some would bring friends with em to the van , some people just saw us and came over out of curiosity , either way they generally bought something .


One of our more interesting customers was one of the Cadbury family, on my first day i had seen a gate and drove up the drive , i was stopped by a tall well spoken chap who asked me what i was doing , i told him my business idea and how i had worked in f +v and how i had the converted the van etc and he was enthralled , he fetched his wife who was equally amazed and they bought some bits n bobs , they said they would have bought more but never had much money on them but could i call each week , they took me to the kitchen and introduced me to the cook telling her she should buy from me each week the household needs , they were mr and Mr and Mrs Cadbury !, The cook turned out to be a mean old clever cloggs and spent very little has she got most of her fruit n veg from her brother who was a farmer , but mr n mrs came out religiously each weeek to spend a few pence and chat to the vw chap .


Lou and me spent nearly a year doing that , we scraped a living made mistakes , got stuck down lanes ,bit by dogs had tea with the gentry helped people put their washing out , start their cars and even found their dogs , i trapsed up and down steps in blocks of flats to housebound oldies and even put up orders at home , when we were tired or had five we would usually pull up in a farmers gate , put kettle on and have a cuppa , because i had the fore thought to build the display around the cooker which i discreetly hid with a tray of oranges ..


Alas we needed a proper income as we had no home of our own , we decided to get proper jobs , telling our customers was very upsetting some relied on us and would miss us , some understood better than others , some got very upset especially the house bound ones , Mr n mrs Cadbury wished me luck and their cook was glad to see the back of us .


Lou went back to managing shops and i got a job lorry driving ( my old firm had paid for me to get a licence ) life has moved on a pace since but that was a lovely time in our lives , we had very little but were very happy

 

My night in the floods 2007 .

It was a friday 20th july 2007 5.30pm night and raining , my truck a 45ft 32 tonne wagon and drag demountable was loaded and i was sipping a cuppa before settling in for the 250 odd mile night trunk to Hemel Hemsptead and Basingstoke .

The other drivers coming in to work were bringing storys of heavy rains and flooded roads , i finished my tea, bade them farewell and set off for my first drop At Hemel , two and half hours later after a horrendous m42/M1 journey in monsoon like rains i arrived at the Hemel depot .

i dropped the one box i had on the trailer picked up the empty and a half hour late made off in the rain along the M1/M25/M3 to Basingstoke .

Two hours later i had swapped boxes at Basingstoke , i had a break and began the journey home to Kidderminster .

The first serious flood i came across was on the A419 at Swindon , but after a little queuing and waved on by the police i ploughed my wagon through , the depth of the water surprised me , it was over the wheels, about three feet deep ,but ah ho a hundred yards later and i was back to warp speed with a clear dual track ahead , 33 miles later and the dual carriageway finished just before the air baloon pub and the long dark descent down Birdlip a very steep hill that meanders down from the tip of the cotswolds and on into Gloucester or the M5 whichever your chosen route.

The rain had been relentless all night , a constant downpour the likes of which i have seldom seen , at the bottom of Birdlip i noticed a line of queuing traffic at the slip road to the M5 south a minute later i saw the same thing on the slip road to the north , i pulled over and asked a driver what the hold up was , " motorways closed , its flooded !" was his response .

So with my knowledge of the local area i decided to carry on along the A417 into Gloucester , from Gloucester i could follow the A38 through Tewkesbury and on into Worcester and home ,

Gloucester was barriered off from traffic , the severn had flooded most roads and the route up the A38 was most definitely closed .

Plan c , was shoot up the golden valley into Cheltenham , up over the Cleeves past Bishops cleeve golf course , on Down into Evesham and home .

After queuing for a hour by the GCHQ and going nowhere i swung the wagon around in a side street and headed around the back of cheltenham and off up the cleeve road , magic i was on the way up to Bishops cleeve at about 1pm , be home in a couple of hours tops , so i thought !.
　

The Cleeves are a large range of hills sat the other side of the M5 from the Malverns , if you look carefully as you pass cheltenham on the M5 north , you will see the racecourse nestled snuggly at the bottom of the cleeves , they go for miles , look even more carefully and halway up a road straddles them from north to south 2 0r 300 feet up , this was the road i was on , in pouring rain , poor visibilty and a blooming great drop on my left.

I know the road well , i often used to travel it on my way to one of my favourite golf courses ( rose cloud ) when the weather was nice and i had a day off , tonight it was different , no other traffic had braved the hilly pass and a dark foreboding road greeted my headlights ,.
It was just past the golf course where sometimes we stop at a roadside spring and cool our heads That i had the first taste of the impending nightmare ,.

The spring which was never ever more than a trickle that was culverted under the road was looming , my drivers window was half open , i had half a ear on the local news and in the distance i cold make out the long line of stationary traffic on the M5 300 feet below me and a mile or two to my left , my heart missed a beat and i broke out into a cold sweat as a thunderous roar to my right awoke me from my drivers trance , i looked at the area the rush of noise was coming from and just 15 feet from my window was a 20 foot high wall of cascading mud that was rushing down the Gulley that was usually a roadside spring ,it was more than the length of my truck wide and i was by now halfway past it , it was deafening and scary , as i drove past it my steering became light and the wagon seemed to struggle for grip , from pure instinct only ,i gunned it ,i got grip , i looked in the mirror as my trailer moved out to the left , i gunned it some more and the trailer straightened up behind me , The road over the culvert was collapsing , the weight of my truck and the continual pounding of thousand of gallons of muddy water had washed away the foundations below the road and i had just driven a empty lorry that weighed 18 tons over it , pheww close .

i plodded on along the A435 through the murky night cautiously , at a suitable layby i pulled over and lit a fag , my hands shook as i offered the lighter to the ciggy , in the next few days newspapers showed pictures of that culvert , it was a gaping 80 foot hole where a road once was .

I knew a short cut a good country lane i had used many a time in good weather and slipped off down it hoping this would claw back some of my journey time.
A mile or so later i came to a halt behind a Argos lorry , i jumped out and asked the driver , what was the hold up , he pointed to a quarter mile stretch fo flooded road and said " that " a full blown river had coursed its way across the fields and was now in full flow along the lane , cars were being swept away as though they were made of balsa wood , there was no way i could drive through that .

No choice but to reverse the mile or so back down the lane , i did it depspite the battering rain , lack of light and the odd bit of oncoming traffic, i eventually reversed into a farmers gate , turned around and carried on towards Evesham on the more usual route .

Eventually i reached the A46 Tewkesbury to Evesham main route , by now i had succesfully steered my truck through countless window high floods , passed hundreds of abandoned cars and stranded motorists , seen every pub along the way crammed with cars and wet disheveled drivers huddled in them seeking shelter from the relentless rain.
500 yards up the A46 i met the mother of all flooded roads , a mile of brown 4ft deep water barred my way on and up into Evesham , i stopped weighed up the situ and decided to go for it.

The water was at times above the bottom of my passenger window ,but the exhaust fed out above the cab so i pressed on , halfway through a lorry was coming the other way , he slowed and asked if the M5 was open , to my utter astonishement it was a schoolpal of mine who had also worked on the same haulage firm as me in my early days , we shook hands from window to window , wished each other luck and i have not seen him since - he's not lost or anything , i just have'nt seen him !.

i made it to Evesham by 04.30 , went into a 24 hour tesco for some snacks and had another break , i spoke to local policeman while on my break , he said the new raised section of road to Stratford was open .

I decided this route would be my way home , in the dawn light the raised section of road revealed the full extent of the nights disaster , on both sides of the road and as far as the eye could see was mile upon mile of flooded fields , it was like a disaster scene in a foreign land , dead animals were everywhere , houses were flooded up to their roof tops and the brown sea extended beyond the horizon , one nights rain had caused this , the Avon and the severn were unable to cope , the overflow extended out from them engulfing anything in its way , caravans , animals homes and cars - devastation.

i eventually arrived back in our yard at 9 am , there was a brown tidemark around my lorry just below the windscreen , vegetation hung from every possible hold on the truck and it took me four hours of hard scrubbing to get it clean .

No other driver had left the yard that night , just a half hour after i had gone the boss phoned in and called off all night runs , i had my phone off, that night friday the 20th of july 2007 2 months rain fell in 14 hours and i drove nearly 300 miles in it !!

The other guys still talk about my epic night and i often wonder why i did'nt just pull over turn on my night heater and go to sleep in the bunk -- sometimes you just have to go for it .

Do you have a horrible journey tale ?.

 

When i was young and just a boy
　

Ahh things were so simple , if i could'nt fix it i chucked it , i spent hours fishing and every day was a sunny day , i walked for miles over the range and scrumped golden apple's with grubs , we swam in the river and had sugar sandwiches for lunch , margerine was called stork and chips were made in lard .

Half a crown was pocket money , you could catch the no 3 bus into town buy a packet of spangles and go to the Minors on saturday morning with it .


We went bird nesting , kept snakes n lizards that we caught ourselve's from under a log , catapults were a good thing and community police were unheard of , the local Bobby had the god given right to clip yer ear and if your dad found out he would do the same .


We made trolleys from pram wheels and a plank of wood with a bolt n string for steering , a computer was something batman had and the bat car was state of the art .

We played football in boots that would keep yer down on the moon and every kid for miles around would come and line up waiting to be picked , it was cricket in the summer and the same kids would be there for that , kit was unheard of and there were hundreds on each side .

We rarely had money and ate on the hoof , people liked kids in those days and a hoody was something you had on yer duffle coat , we never laughed at the poor kids in shoddy clothes because we were all in the same boat .


Yer dad went to the pub yer mum cooked tea , sunday was sunday lunch , sunday tea was ham and salad wth tea cakes , sunday was also bath night for kids and monday we walked to school .

Somehow those days were better !.

 

Fred of the year
　

So thats it i am officially Horts sanctioned name on the avatar winner 2011 - fred of the year !.

i would of course liked to have been resto of the year but i think there were a few notable restorations going on that made mine pale into insignificance , namely the winners dangerous Dale or diddymens as he is known to us ,then theres outlaws superb slammed jobby and shelsys sledge with wheels - cool runnings all so much better than mine and deservedly better placed .

i tried for the unofficial numpty of the year by sleeping in a portaloo , but once again up to the plate stood sANDYBAY , he intentionaly knocked that roof off just to steal my thunder , so alas once again i was pipped to a prize by a worthier winner sANDYBAY numpty of the year.

i had a go at member of the year, paradox did me in that , twice in a row member of the year , remember that when counting the votes next year horts , twice is brilliance , three times is vote rigging , well done paradoodle , i voted for you too !.

So most helpful member was another category i was in but to be honest the winner was clear cut - Zed , not only is he helpful on here , he's helpful on other sites too , a obvious winner if ever there was one ,even if he does own a proptotype .

Best newcomers van ,i joined too early to be nominated in that one and my van never made te grade , Rickyroo01 deserved that he's made us smile and took a lot of flak from day one , i mean i ask yer , who on earth would buy a poo coloured bus and boast about it before seeing it , even if it was a champagne edition - Rick took the flak with dignity and deserved the award , the arse !!.

Birdy won funniest member , i wonder if he has the funniest member , probably best not to ask really , he is very funny and naturally too , so no complaints there .


i'm not bitter ,much , well i am but no good bleating on about vote rigging , its just not done !.

So in the end i got fred of the year for embarassing moments , a peach of a thread from the thread top drawer , not all mine but yours , tlb have the funniest members , no shame but funny, paradox made me cry by posting about his teenage relationship exploits , some pee'ed on cats and woke up in strange houses , others had dogs with a weird taste in chews , others farted in tescos and some referred to their box in totally inapropriate circumstances ,but all the same i got the plaudits !.

poptop2 tlb 2011 winner Fred of the year , thanks all .

 

No response required at the mo folks -- doing this for my benefit ,let you know why at the end , soz all . :-[ :-[ :-[

 

Riverside caravan and touring park Stratford upon Avon .
　


The rebuild of my van had become a bit tedious Lou n me were desperate for a break , William our seven year old had earned the right to his chosen treat with great school work and had decided upon Warwick castle has his yearly treat .

So with the cold weather we have had this year we ruled out sleeping in a tent , i trawled the net for a alternative but similar accomodation and stumbled on , more by chance than choice some lovely wooden snugs at Stratford , a handy 40 minute run from our home in worcestershire .

i telephoned the site and asked about the snugs ," £40 a night high season , £34 a night low they sleep four , two in bunks and two on a bed settee , bring your own cooker and blankets we provide the rest " a friendly lady said , there was also free fishing on the Avon and regular river taxi to stratford run from the site for a small fee , Ace i paid for two nights by card .

We got to the site at 2pm on monday , a bloke on a golf buggy showed us past the cafe ( 99p for breakfast ) and shop , around the neat touring field and on to the snug field , i noticed a shop and toilet blocks on the way around .

The snug was well laid out , it had a electric point a fridge and electric lighting , all we needed really , no cooker but we had taken our own gas one as we were advised , it was small but ample , the fishing was 80 yards away and free , free fishing on the Avon blimey ,we had a bit of that .

The site had two golf courses near by and both Lou n me noted how close they were .

On Monday night we snubbed the river taxi and walked the 20 minute to Stratford , a lovely walk and we checked out the club on next doors campsite which was free to us , just in the course of research you understand , the early hours band and club would have suited dubbers , they were stuck in the 70s age wise and music choice , too noisy for me we downed our beers and carried on to Stratford , glad we could'nt hear them from our site .


The RSC was the first thing we saw and headed for the lobby , a midsummer nights dream was sold out but we could stand and watch it for £3 , we gave it a miss and took in the touristy delights and prices of the bairds home town , blimey the price's have gone up a bit since old Will was a lad , fish n chips was the order of the night .

Warwick castle on Tuesday was Brill , William had a go at everything and we spent the whole day there as it was only 15 minutes from the campsite and the on site entertainers made me laugh , i even got chatted up by the Earl of Warwicks mrs , take your own lunch the food was poor and expensive !.
　


Tuesday evening we fished for skimmers , drank a bottle of two of wine with our temporary neighbours from the next snug and watched as the kids played and fished safely right before our eyes .


The campsite had clean well cared for loos and showers , water points and a touring field , the snugs had their own little shower and toilet block we were comfortable with both ,the field lighting was good and walking at night felt safe .


Wedsnesday morning i was up at 5.30 and over the river to dangle me maggot while Lou n Will slept soundly , by 10 oclock we were washed showered , packed and ready to go .

A good site , clean friendly and welcoming to vw campers , i did see a Braziliant bay but no old codgers like ours , perhaps they have yet to colonise Warwickshire , no doubt they will be made welcome here when they do .

We were sad to leave but relieved for the break which was sorely needed , a good relaxing site , we will return with the camper next year .

Our snug -


Our neighbours snugs


A dredger cleans the river just 80 yards from our snug


The site details can be found here , enjoy your stay
http://www.campingandtouring.co.uk/parks/view/1815-riverside-caravan-park.

 

Migs , bays n portaloos
　

Well i had a big gap in my air cooled devotion about 15 years to be precise , i'd had me fill , life had moved on , i'd grown up we'd bought a holiday home in Cornwall and the gentle tinny hum of my vw campers was a thing of the past - oh yes poptop2 was away from the open road , confined to long overnight jaunts from Worcestershire to Looe for weeks away by the sea .
　

As nice as it was and as secure as it felt , central heating comfy bed ,beach on tap and great neighbours, a little niggle at the back of my mind kept chiding me , you will have another camper , it will be a classic dub - i protected my pocket by quietly reciting a anti dub mantra - nahh they're bloomin crap , nah they're bloomin crap , i never quite convinced myself and when circumstances forced the sale of our beachside bungalow the kids n the mrs were straight in turning the vw camper screws !.
　

So here we are 17 or so years since i last owned a van in ernest and recently i've had a t25 that never floated the collective family boat , so i sold that and bought my dream van a late early / early late westy , it was a bag o nails chassis wise but its being sorted .
　

The thing thats really odd about the return to camper ownership is the familiarity , the majority of owners are younger and see them as a vintage item ,its taken me a while to get me head around that one , but they are so like my old mates , same attitude , same enthusiasm ,same desire for their vans and same bloomin music in some vans - nobody plays Bowie stuff though.
　

The other odd thing is the familiar behaviour at get togethers and roadside meets , some like myself get in outrageous fixes , such as sleeping in portaloos , others talk and demonstrate their skill at all thing vw , welding ,bodywork mechanics , steroes ( oops soz - sound systems ) and home built interiors , others apply their fantastic arty abilitys to their van and still make me gawp in wonder its been the same story for years vw campers attract the very best people and bring out the best in them .
　

There are the same home mechanics , the very capable ones , the tryers , the anoraks, the Nobby know it alls and the dope smokers , it has'nt really changed ( the scene ) its just become so much more marketable ,blimey you could retire and spend yer life going from show to show these days ( i quite like that idea ) would you still have to pay poll tax or breathing tax as i call it ?.
　

Oddly as distanced as i became from owning a camper i don't think i ever did or ever will get it out of my system , i tried but not really that hard a bit like my attitude to giving up smoking really - i know its bad for yer health n pocket but i enjoy it .
　

Its that gentle tinny hum that hooks you , the secure feeling of being propelled forward by a glorified lawmower engine built with German simplistic reliabilty , the secure knowledge that if and when the tin horse does pack in which seems to happen more frequently with age ( bit like me really ) then you can simply put the kettle on and wait for the totally unknowledgable AA kid ,and if and when he can't fix it you can set up the bed in your vans chosen layby and have a kip until the tow truck comes , you know the feeling well already i guess , so i guess your hooked already as well , welcome to the wonderful world of poptop2 .

like smoking it looks like i'm hooked on air cooled propelled camping , be careful and don't laugh cos if yer not already you will be too !.

 

Rhubarbs resto with updates -


About two years ago we sold our beachside holiday home in Cornwall - sad sale, but the place was becoming run down and there was a succesion of leaseholders doing their best to get developement plans etc, anyhow we sold and on the long haul home up the m5 our thoughts turned to future holidays.

The common consensus was a campervan after five years of going to the same place we had a urge to see more of the country - along the way we were passed by loads of vws , bays t25s and even the odd splitty - ahhhh i love them Lou my wife sighed pointing to a bright yellow bay and quietly smiling to herself remembering our previous bays and carefree hols ( before kids ), me too shouted my 14 year old ," what "asked my 5 year old "them old bangers ", i kept quiet , having owned two previous bays i did'nt think it was the right choice -nice vans but a lifestyle as apposed to a regular ride.

In a desperate attempt to keep some sanity and room on future Hols i started pointing out the passing t25s - this was met with quiet umms and reserved praise - i was going to have to do some persuading.
August 2008 while logging into ebay i was sent a 15% discount voucher , i immediately typed in vw t25 and bang there she was - in builth wells abandoned in a garden hedge a 1982 aircoolled t25 kampa buy it now £600 , what with 15% off that was £510 - i hit the buy it now - bingo a millie second later and i was the proud owner of god knows what and £510 lighter.

A week later she was sat on my drive - she came with no interior a leaky roof and smelled like pidgeon loft , but as a bonus she did have a full service history and drove like a dream - for 12 month's i along with a friend who could weld toiled on her - new poptop , new bespoke interior, porsche seats , overhauled engine and a nice shiny spray job then it was off for the dreaded mot , a freed up brake calipre later and she was motted and as i sat in her rereading the certificate i was suddenly convinced the long nights and all the hard work was worth it -now time for home and decide where we are going for our first break .

As Lou and i talked and the kids listened quietly and the truth began to dawn , they were'nt bothered about her , the t25 that had been sat on our drive that we had named naff taff and quietly rejuvenated from a sad flat tyred shed into the thing of 80s elegance with gleaming everything did nothing for them ,suddenly i was a flat as a squashed hedgehogs wallet and not to put too fine a point on it i sulked - a lot !!

It was during this short very brief almost unnoticable six week sulk that a chap who owns a t25 westy from two streets away popped by - he asked why i had not used the van , i told him the family were not over excited by it and as nice as it was and no matter what i thought of it they preferrred bays " why don't you get a westy bay then - you should get quite a few grand for that now " he said .

And that was that .within a few hours the digi cam was out and it was on ebay - i sold her within two days for £3250 and the search was on for a bay.

I scoured ebay , autotrader, exchange n mart and small ads anywhere , i pressed the bin button on ebay twice and twice the van was sold before i could get to pick her up , i even settled for a devon in halifax and agreed to view even though it involved a 140 mile journey a night off work and drawing £3000 cash from my bank account - i was halfway there when the phone rang and the friendly yorkshire voice i had been speaking to earlier said " don't bother making the journey mate i have just sold it" to tell you what i thought of him and what i wanted to do to him or anyone with a yorkshire accent at that moment would probably get me certified so i won't.
We had all but given up hope of getting a bay with the miserly three grand we had to offer .


One monday morning i was perusing ebay in my usual nonchalant - you have nothing to offer me or that i want way , when all of a sudden within that minute a m reg westy loads of money spent which only needed a little tlc and was in hampshire near to where work was taking me that night was listed for £2800 buy it now , i trembled slightly glanced at Lou and bashed the bin button once again --

But this time i was right on the case i emailed the owner with my number stressing i was in ernest and the item was now mine could she please not sell it before i had chance to come and pay for it that evening , it was all day before she finally replied , by which time i had emailed her thirty two times and complained to ebay twice.


Of course its yours said a sweet angelic sounding lady on the other end of the phone ( she had been at work all day and phoned as soon as she got home -oops)," yes we are in all evening , yes i will direct you in when you are close , see you later" - that lady is so lovely i droolled to Lou , "she is actually keeping it for me" " is'nt that what normally happens ?" asked Lou - "No it blinking well is'nt" i shouted despair and relief showing in my terse reply, God she had no idea of the things i had been through .


That evening in the dark i made my way to hook , i was duly guided in by the sweet voice of earlier and arrived just as the street light was turned off for the night ( thats my excuse and i am sticking to it ) The sweet voice had breasts , very large breasts and a very low cut top and on the odd occasion i actually looked her in the face she smiled , in the dark i prodded and poked and groped ( the van that is ) and all appeared satisfactory , nice interior , new doors , engine sounded sweet , no oil leaks and no smoke , i remember mumbling something about a little welding does'nt matter as i have a mate , all in all with the dark , the breasts the complete and utter blind faith in ebay ,sweet voices and large breasts - i was a pratt.

The following day Rhubarb as we had named her duly arrived on the back of a breakdown truck and the driver made a throw away remark about needing a good welder and plenty of patience , i laughed paid him his £155 and waved him goodbye , oh how i wish i had paid attention and sent it straight back with him .
The next few days saw me become a member of thelatebay and numerous other westy /bay owners groups , in short i was addicted , not only was i addicted i was the proud owner of a westfalia vw t2b rhd p33 m plated genuine jobby , i was the bee's knee's - except in the next day or two i was to find the chassis rot and boy was there a lot of chassis rot , new floor pans new doors but a lot of chassis rot- god what had i done ?.
within a short time i became familiar with terms i had yet to understand - top hats , beams , deformation panels and lots of other hitherto unknown vehicle crevices , i also learned jk ,vwheritage and schofields numbers off by heart - was i repairing the van or replacing it and to make matters worse this time i had no welder mate as he had gone off lorry driving abroad - enter Bryan the new welder ----


Bryan had been recommended by a friend at work who spends the time he is'nt at work doing up cars , " you'll like Bryan" he said " cheap n all " he gave me Bryans number and he was duly summoned to Rhubarbs rescue .#


As i waited for Bryan a million thoughts were racing through my mind none more so than was she worth it and would he ask that - i need'nt have worried 58 year old Bryan was so laid back about it i thought about getting him a couple of cushions to lie on , he'd seen it all , had rebuilt worse many a time he just could'nt think of any at that moment but within an hour he had told me the deal , i supply the panels , do the cutting out and the grinding back of the welds and he welded - for £20 an hour payable every five hours - Deal , what was there to lose volksmagic had just quoted me 4-7 grand to get her roadworthy : in 10 hours i would be £200 out of pocket and have a good idea of his abilitys .

He turned up a week later looked at my cutting out - said " you will have to get better than that " then spent the next three hours putting my efforts right and showing me how its done free of charge -It was at this point i made the final decision to carrry on


Over the next two weeks he rebuilt the front offside chassis member , replaced the inner and outer sills , repaired the inner chasssis ,replaced all the outriggers and jacking points on that side , repaired the lower body and charged me £350 , i still have to grind the welds, prepare for paint and cut out the passenger side bits ready for him to weld , but its being done between us , at a price and pace i can afford - meanwhile i have learned how to remove a front beam and lots of other bits that i will never believe vw intended to ever be removed and if they did they did'nt make it easy-- TBC-----
So now , here we are, i have owned Rhubarb two month's in that time i have spent £2800 buying her , £155 getting her home, £500 on panels , £100 on peripherals ebay items and such and £350 to Bryan the laid back welder ( who i keep popping out to to see if he's still awake as his legs don't move much when he's welding ) so far i am pleased ish with the progress and along the way i have met some delightful tlb members and their vans .


Bryan it turns out is not the worlds neatest welder and i have a lot of grinding off to do , he has a habit of trying to save me money ( short term ) by plating instead of replacing and i find myself constantly reminding him we have the part so i would prefer it replaced which i think is alien to his way of repairing , that said he is a really nice bloke who hopefully will, become a friend and if he says he's gonna be here he will be here , he works, quick hard and leaves me clear precise instructions , he has even trusted me to have a go at welding - but i'll keep that to unseen places in future - he is a top man doing me a big favour .


The drivers side of rhubarb is welded up and now awaits my delicate almost surgical touch with the angle grinder ( oh dear ) , the repaired areas are now sprayed in with red oxide to protect the weld and metal until i can get on to it , i thought it best to let Bryan the laid back welder get his part of the job done before i get in his way .


This weekend i have spent quite a bit of it exploring the nearside with my scalpel like angle grinder removing the front chassis members , front jacking point and door step , i have also removed the deformation panel and decided the front end below windscreen has to be replaced , the funny thing is she still looks good in the dark !! or is that just me trying to justify my obvious embarrassing error of judgement ?.


whilst eating a late lunch yesterday My dad who was over for the day asked how it was going ,i filled him in and Zeds words came back to haunt me , ," why did'nt you spend a little more and get a good one ?" he asked , it was at this point i filled him in with the whole story , the t25 , the ebay let downs the Yorkshireman and the breasts ," Bloody hell - they're only old vans " he said - " you would have thought people would be glad to get rid of them "-- Philastine !!!

So - i logged into ebay and armed with new found knowledge typed in vw bay t2 westfalia , we hyperthetically had a budget of five grand then sat there for over an hour trying to find a good one ,needs a little finishing , might need this or that , don't know have'nt checked, has not been started since we parked her up ( two years ago ) , will have to be towed away as no tax or mot , sad sale growing family forces sale ( i would have thought that was a reason to keep a van ) , then there are the ones with a massive blob of oil on the ground beneath the engine or the wideboys selling obvious tart ups or vans that had been bought done and never had a spanner on them in the 2 years the seller had owned them , i could see dads eyes glazing over ( it was a big lunch ) crikey you would be taking a chance on any of them son " he said in despair -so i changed the price £15000 - now your talking -some obvious boners but we were in the right ball park , the thing was dad suddenly realised if you want a good van you either buy a doer upper and do it up with all that involves or you crank up the initial spending and in Zeds or dads words get a good un , trouble is a good un is gonna cost some serious wedge , so i am beginning to feel a little better about rhubarb , when Bryan the laid back welder has done and i have pawned the house , kids ,wife and watch , i will have a basic westy to sort out - brakes , brake pipes , electrics ,carb , running gear , painting etec etc and on and on -- tbc--


Update 22 , 9 ,10 - inspiration needed enthusiasm waining --


Since my last post Brian the laid back welder failed to show for over a week - turns out he took on a small job and it went on and on and he lost my number - while he was away it gave me time to tidy up his work and workspace a little , it was then i realised he is a decent chap but has little idea of bays or their importance to their owners .


To me my bay is my hobby , investment and future holiday home , but to him its just another job to get ready for the mot and move on .

Now there is nowt wrong with getting it prepared for its mot after all without it me and she who must be listened to will be camping on our drive a lot , but there are standards to a resto that Brian the laid back welder seems to think are just being fussy - aaaaaaaaaaarrrgghh , the fact is i can't afford a major resto company and mobile welders are extortionate .

Anyway i am truly grateful and so far he has rebuilt the front chassis members completely, he has the ns sils outriggers and jacking points to do , centre rear and back crossmembers , front valance , panel and side door repair ( lower inner and outer ) - i am cutting out and he replaces so a lot gets done quickly as he only has the welding to do i even clean the job up .

The problem with me at the moment is - although i have most of the panels to finish ( still need centre and rear crossmembers , deformation panel, and side door repair sections ) my funds are getting low - i do have options , i could sell my bongo or other things to raise cash , i can't work any more hours as i already do more than enough overtime just to pay my way - i could sell other things such as my boat etc but i have worked hard for these and get some pleasure from them, so am i at the point where i buy a cover and leave her for the winter or do i get Brian the laid back welder to carry on as he's still keen and achieving loads , then when he's done the welding cover her up for the winter and concentrate on getting the interior rubbed down and ready for the refitting of the camping interior.

Decisions , decisions do i need a break from her , will Brian the laid back welder return if i pause the resto , will i fiind the enthusiasm to carry on if i pull a cover over her for a few month's , do i learn to weld myself and save costs, or do i get Brian the laid back welder to finish his bit then pull the cover over her - i have just made Rhubarb my beloved westy sound like a budgie in a cage or worse a corpse - by pulling the cover over her i mean one of those jk things not a shroud , but when its on i have the ability to walkpast her without checking out the progress , condition , oil leaks , wheels etc every time .
UPDATE 25, 10,10

Well i bought a cover last week ,another one as my original one was considerately stolen , but that aside the resto is coming along nicely .

Rhubarb we have come to realise is never gonna be a concours motor due largely to unsightly but effective welding , however she will be nice because i have a good friend who owns a spray shop and i am ok at prep and will take as long as the job needs .


My wife Lou the optimist or she who must be listened to reckons i will have her finished by christmas , but i don't think so ,the tin worm has made good use of the 38 year settling in period and each time i tackle a new section i find its spread way and beyond the bit i am about to tackle with my laser guided grinder .


Luckily most repair sections are available from my prefered supplier vwheritage and the advice given by Nick there is invaluable , its a strange thing but i am not the only person at this stage of a restoration project ( never i hear you say ) and the feedback he recieves about each panel he is only too willing to pass on , with a good supplier and help from people on this forum i am finding the jobs i tackle a little less daunting.

That said there was a time recently when i posted pics on tlb of some of the less tidy welding my welder was doing and stated my discontent , the replys were overwhelming - he was rubbish , 12 year olds could do better and some said they could weld better than that before they could weld - i was devastated , all that money , all those panels and all that time down the drain , god what was i to do - he had ruined my pride n joy and charged me for the time he spent doing it - man i could have cried --

I did'nt - i waited for Bryan the next day and showed him the resto thread - he was incandescent with rage at my betrayal , why had i not confronted him first before showing the world the worst of his work and asking their opinions after first stating my doubts , i felt he had a point after all thats what i would normally do - before becoming a member of tlb.

i think i was so eager to share my experiences , i quite forgot etiquette and peoples feellings .

Bryan said he had now got to finish the project just to prove his self worth and restore some pride , he also said he would become a tlb member just to keep abreast of any further slurs on his character - meanwhile i stated if i was unnhappy with his work i would say so and if i wanted to use other people i would - at times .

Good Friends have been around to inspect the work done on Rhubarb , one is Chris my local garage owner and a mot man and the other is steve my mate who owns a spray shop , both agree some of the work is rough but all is passable - just , and with hard prep will be ok --phheeeww !!.

I will get some pics up of the resto in the next few weeks - sorry for the long story but i thought i owed you that

As she came


What we found




How she's coming along





I think they pulled Rhubarb out next and the lady with the boobs stuck it on ebay--

 

So this is the position i am in ---

So almost a year later and Rhubarbs close to the finish line , my good gawd what a year .

As some of you will know i august last year i bought myself a vw tax exempt westfalia camper , it was not a good purchase , when i got her home i found some extra undetected rot , paradox came around and found a stack more and i cried ,i had just spent a year doing up my t25 and now i had another task , but this time it was a mammoth one -- grrrrr

Talk about embarased , i had posted on these forums , shown all my mates and generally boasted about making a bloomin shrewd purchase , oh the egg on my face almost hid the crimson glow , the best of it was i was not exactly a novice dubber -- my mates have had hours of humour out of my faux paux --

A year later and the egg is cleaned a little and you can no longer toast bread on my face , she's nearly there !!
The help recieved on tlb and eb has been brill , my new mate Bryan the welder has been a brick and i have worked me nuts off .

Some of the surprises my van has kicked up over the year have been immense set backs ,some of the work i have taken on has been overwhelming , i mean how on earth does a relative novice take on a rusted through torsion beam -- pure self belief and will power i suppose , it was eased by a couple of good replies on my resto thread and a eager welder .

God knows why i have chosen vanfest this year as my aim ( i do know why really - 5 years going without a roadworthy vw !! ) and hopefully we shall make it , just need a run of easy jobs and a blind mot man and Bobs yer uncle motted and campin .

As i may have said before , no way Jose is Rhubarb EVER going to be concours but i don't give a stuff , so long as she's roadworthy and safe -- i'm gonna be camping in her , if your ever see us at a show , say hi and we will make you welcome !!

Rhubarb is welded , there is a little bit by the battery box to do , but that is cut out n ready for the welder -- a hour or twos work .

The main structual work is done , torsion tubes , sills, outriggers, jacking points , front beam , chassis , door steps , arches , floor pans front panel , inner valance and front panel all done and painted to primer , the underside is painted black ,. and i am at present filling and priming the bodywork .
so in a way result - yay , but -- i still have to raise the near side torsion bar i spline , i have to refit the master cylinder , replace the brake pipes , adjust brakes , fix the horn , indicators which don't quite do what they are supposed to , connect speedo and prime the whole vehicle , all of which i am perfectly capable of doing " normanale ".

It does'n seem too much when i sit here and write it all down but in reality , i have been working , sleeping living breathing Rhubarbs resto for a year now and i am finding it hard to motivate myself .

Needless to say , i have spent out on her , holidays have gone by the wayside and time i should have spent doing other things have been confined to posting on the latebay and generally being a driven dope , and its now the school hols , my lads are missing my company and the surf boards are calling at us every time i go into the shed -- come on boys the surf is up -- i hear them call , and i want a break with the lads where i can reconnect , duck em under , give em wedges and say no when they ask for money for the arcade .

We never went away we spent a couple of nights in the tent in our garden and laughed a lot .since then i have refitted master cylinder , brake reg and most of the brakepipes .

 

One from embarassing moments -

It was the 17 dec 2002 and Lou was in the labour ward at worcester hospital but wanted some sweets and stuff .
it was 11oclock at night but being the kind soul i am i cleared the ice from the car and and went trawling through the worcester fog looking for a 24/7 .

Half hour later a bright neon light appeared through the murk - a tesco's garage - in i went like a flash and forgetting to grab a basket i filled my arms with goodies - chocolate , pringles , peanuts , cakes anything i thought might satisfy her craving , overloaded with treats i joined one one of the queues but with only two very uninterested cashiers the queues got longer.

As i waited patiently i suddenly had the urge to sneeze but not wanting to sneeze all over the person in front i twisted my hand up to my nose and pinched my nostrils together - This had the most embarrassing affect ever , i still sorta sneezed but restricted the release of pressure , which then changed direction and headed to the other end of my personage and i let out the biggest longest loudest fart i have ever farted - it went on for ages - i could have died, the people behind me joined the other queue and it was longer - by the time i got to the cashier ( who just happened to be drop dead gorgeous ) i was so red in the face you could have toasted bread on me , man if ever i wanted a hole to swallow me up it was then.

i could'nt drop everything and run as i had run out of ciggies , so i had to go though the whole checking out process while all these people giggled -Lou knew something had gone on and said i was still red when i got back to the hospital , i still get embarrassed just thinking of it and every year on Wills birthday the story gets told

Come on then , lets go again , anyone else got any embarassing moments ??

 

Leave nothing but foot prints




When 'm on me hols i often see this accompanied by a pre amble that i can't remember in my sin day night glen moray haze but i am sure you know the one and get the gist .


Well i always aliken it to commercial hippy clap trap , its just so prissy so lightweight , good sentiment and good intent but airy fairy .



In life i like to treat people and things with reverence , i don't expect anything of anyone and i always try to respect their opinions , no matter if i don't always agree with them , i try always not to be rude or too off hand , i won't lie , con or cheat and i don't like to be lied to or conned or cheated .


Everyone is different , some people are confident and some are'nt , some people are shy and others are'nt , some people are wealthy and others are'nt ,some people are genuinely nice and others are'nt , but beneath it all we are all the same .


We all have fears and worrys , things that make us sad ,we all hurt and we all get ill , its life .


The thing i try to ask myself is this - how would i feel in their position , if its possible i try to philosophically walk a mile in their shoes when and if i know the answer to how i would feel in their position , i offer a opinion , until then i stay schtumm .


surprisingly i have recieved more than my fair share of kindness , so it seems to work for me !.


Better than leaving just foot prints , don't leave ill feelings !.

 

Bob .

My mate Bob who was a councillor was sat in boring planning meeting and desperately trying to stay awake er um interested , they were talking about the local forest and a long winded hi te titi type stood up and gave a oration on why we have to preserve our forests etc and how she walked her dogs there - yawn yawn ,

any how she asked why some trees have numbers on them - you know the sprayed numbers you see on them on your walks sometimes ?

My mate who is usually very serious about such matters said -- " so the squirrels know where they live !!! ".

Half of the concillors there had to go out they could'nt stop laughing long enough to take the meetiing seriously any more , and the other half wanted him linched -

i voted for him for the first time after that

 

My mother in law


Is a very small 4 foot 8 in shoe's Italian lady, in 1978 she along with my wife Lou and her eldest daughter Savina decided to take driving lessons , Lou n Savina took the conventional route ie had lessons in the school car .

Now Lou's dad was a tight wad italian man who happened to be vw camper mad and had owned them for years , he had taken splittys and bays to southern italy with a family of nine , anyhow i digress , he was as i said as tight as a ducks bum in a storm ,He owned a prototype at the time so in his friendly italian way he asked the driving instructor if she would do him a discount if his wife took lessons in it rather than using her petrol and her car .

The driving instructer agreed and the whole family watched the first time she drove off , it was so funny , she was nervous , the driving instructor was nervous and Lou's dad was nervous , but undaunted away she went kangerooing down the road , we all cheered .

The driving instructor was a good friend who's house we often visited , she told Lou she was by far the best driver and her mum would be lucky to get through her test in the van , she told her Savina was doing ok but in her mind Lou would be the one most likely to pass.

The tests amazingly all came through in the same week , Lou failed , Savina passed and so it was all gather around to support Ma , nervous as she was ,the little 4' 8" dynamo passed in a 71 devon earlybay camper , yay !!

Lou passed a few weeks later , Ma went off with father in law to italy in the van , each time she took the wheel he crucified her confidence , shouting at every mistake , the litttle dynamo lost confidence and when she returned to England a month later refused point blank to ever drive again.

However she did something i have never heard of since - passed her driving test in a bay !.

 

Its with great sadness and regret i have to announce


The death of Bosch pws 600 115mm , my angle grinder

Bosch pws 600 was born in Germany in 1998 , moved briefly to B AND Q Kidderminster until meeting poptop2 later in the same year .

Bosch pws 600 spent his early years serving a indentured apprenticeship in poptop2s building firm working on such notable projects as Harry jones's extension , franks Buttlers stable restoration and other Georgian refurbishment projects in the olde worlde town of Bewdley .

in latter years Bosch pws 600 enjoyed a semi retirement working part time on Rhubarb the vw bays restoration , alas this project proved a job too far and in mid morning hours on thursday 15 sept 2011 Bosch pws 600 succumbed to terminal attachment failure .

during a career that spanned 13 years bosch pws 600 achieved note in such tasks as cutting down harrys clothes line and Julie fields old wash stand and at other times ground out old mortar in pointing jobs , a sad loss .

Final arrangements for Bosch pws 600 have yet to be released but Bosch pws 600 will probably be chucked in the rubbish bin when a suitable replacement can be located .

Bosch pws 600 115mm 1998 - 2011 rip

 

My father in law


Zed please excuse the repost


My father in law introduced me to the reality of owning a bay , i finally met him in 1978 after dating his Daughter for two years in secret , why i hear you ask , because he was a blooming big Italian bloke with a quick temper and Lou said it would be wise to give him a wide berth .

i eventually got invited home in great ceremony , i put on my best suit , best manners and with trepidation went with a bunch of flowers for Lou's mum in hand .

Lou greeted me at the door and whispered something about taking no notice of his swearing ,he was busy , Busy , he was rebuilding a type 1 twin port on the coffee table , Ma was giving him grief and Lou was trying to introduce me , he nochelantly looked up , grunted a hello and went back to trying to get the tappet spring retainer back in ( he was using a old pair of pliers ) , i marvelled at his persistance as it had obviously beaten him and i smiled when he swore in broken English , when he was exasperated beyond reason i took hold of the pliers and held the spring down firm while he slipped on the retainer clip , Ta he grunted , picked up the tv remote switched on the tele and ignored me .

within month's i owned his early Devon caravanette , he taught me loads , he had driven vws to southern italy for years , he started with splittys and finished with bays , he could fix em blindfold , he knew every little thing about them , he always bodged the jobs cos he had no patience for mechanics but he knew them inside out .

He was also a master builder ,he renovated our first house for free and when i decided to switch from office bound building to running my own firm it was because of the encouragement and help i got from him , if there was a building job he could'nt do then he knew someone who could .

He sadly died a few years back aged 75 , we flew his body back to Naples and lay him to rest in the family chapel .

One of his many legacys was a celler filled with air cooled engines and gear boxes , his family cleared it all out for scrap unfortunately , i know he had two type fours complete down there , i bought em with him ages ago , its only now i remember what they were .

As my van nears completion Ma has taken a keen interest in the final date , and today i went around to see her with Lou and she presented me with this --







On the condition i display it on the van in memory of Antonio , the man who introduced me to vw ownership and taught me to build properly , i was lost for words !!

it can go alongside this -

 

i reckon --

Joker upset Daisy , he bought paradox a bag of sweets to take to camperjam , patted his botty after handing over said sweets which made para very happy , para in turn passed around the sweets at camperjam , woody took one and para squeezed his bottom as a gesture of goodwill like what joker had groomed him to do , woody was not impressed and lost his appetite for said sweets ,at this very moment dottydaisy our new found friend descended on the camp -- woody then told dottydaisy ( and i think this first bit was unheard )" Boys only here , nothing for you dear " , DUBious then offered to take para to hospital to have a packet of love hearts removed from his harris ,

2nd act ,

Dubious mysteriously disappeared on route to fetch van , Para was writhing around in agony the packet had burst the sugar rush suppository was sending him into dillusions " i am willy wonka he screamed " Rickyrooo1 said " stand aside , i am used to poo " and brought out his mole grips , The wilmas and vwolive held para fast to the floor whilst Rickyrooo1 went about the grim removal , at this point our new found friend Dottydaisy returned , she had decided to try again after all this famous tlb bon Ami could'nt be a myth -- gadzooks , they're debauched look what they are doing to that poor man , i think she had witnesssed enough !.

On the bright side , Rickyrooo1 had found the perfect colour match for his van !.

 

Thinking about tlb nice sunday-


Well we know lifes hard for some at the mo ,ecomomy , work , relationships etc and believe me it is , i feel sorry for a lot of people right now , those with kids n no job , poor outlook , there are people in bad relationships and have been in bad relationships ,people with illness and people who are just struggling finacially -- the pain is no easier for anyone of them , on tlb like any forum theres a mix of all the above .


Tlb attracted me because it was fun , people referred to some of that but only touched on it then moved on .


For me owning a bay and corresponding via tinternet with like minded people is a source of relief , a place where you can go and chat about our vans and their failings etc , tbh tlb appealed because unlike a lot of other vw forums there was/is other channels for conversation , general discussion , sales , wants , meets etc , the hard core spanner mentality is slightly muted , but if you need that , then its here and in abundance , some guys on here are absolutely s--t hot when it comes to mechanicals and i have been well glad of their input !

On the other hand i like the light hearted banter and every day chat , i have to say some people on here are so brilliantly funny it takes me a hour to stop laughing at times , i really truly hope that never stops after all they say laughter is the best medicine .,

Tlb members have never disappointed me in real life either , i have met quite a few and they seem exactly as they come across on tinternet , better in my experience , i have even met a few early bayers and they are just the same , and if i am honest its a relief i'd hate to be chatting to people who disappoint in real life , thankfully you have'nt.

Its only a forum , pretty bloody good one but its a information station with benefits , take from it what you will , give back what you want but don't diss anyone while your at it , no need !.

Thanks tlb , you've helped keep my resto going and i have made some good friends in the process -- its nice here !!.


i just love that smiley !.