Aw bless her

Bless my mum. She sent me a parcel. Inside was a make up brush (don't panic.. its for dusting Lego)..and this.. an aerial ball... to put on Bumblebee :-)  Most people put these on their cars to help them spot it in a car park. Think mine may be just slightly easier to find than Moby!

It has begun

Got a text from Rob today to say that Will had started on my van.. and put the first day's work up on his blog...

As Will says.. "this van is going to look amazing!"... and he should know!

Chubby to Bumblebee - The Transformation

My van started off as a Locksmith's work van, hence the name Chubby. Then Rob bought it and it got modded. At the point when I bought him he had the following mods:

- suspension lowered 50mm
- engine ECU remapped to 130bhp (optimum for power balanced against fuel economy)
- security deadlocks on all doors
- VW oem tinted side windows
- Leather seats in the front

And so Bumblebee, as he will become, currently looks like this:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!

6.45pm. I am now officially the proud owner of a VW Campervan!!!

Can't wait to pick up Bumblebee in a couple of weeks after he has transformed!!

:-) x a million

See...even got the keys to prove it

More cash than I've ever seen... Pt I

So... today I drove the T4 to Kimcote, spent 2 hours trying to make decisions, then came home. Oh and I put down the deposit for the Yellow T4 !!!!!! So.. no going back now. The interior is gonna look fab! I may have taken a while with the decisions, but we reckon its gonna look cool :-)   or maybe 'trick'.. the new word I learned today.

In the words of Uncle Chalkie... Autobots roll out!!!

Whittle

Failed to keep up to date with the blog. After my many hours at Tidy Transporters a couple of weeks ago I did two geocaches sort of on the way home. One was in a ditch opposite a layby just off the M1 at Junction 19..

Just up the road into Misterton on which I had left Moby was a nice old fashioned church... Wonder if that's God's post box?

The other was at the same junction, just into Lutterworth, where Frank Whittle worked and invented the jet engine. A much more interesting location...

Previous experience of caches involving magnets and signposts meant this was a nice easy find. Reckon my chosen parking spot was a sign of things to come?

Bumblebee

Had a test drive in Rob's yellow (actually not AA) van last night after school. It goes! Was really nice to drive, but will take some getting used to. Its a 2.5 TDi, remapped to 130bhp so it has plenty of power, whilst being good with the fuel economy. The cab is quite nice, the leather seats are cool, the rest is basic. The back of the van however is just a panel van.. potential! I'm going with the theory that the most important part is having a decent van that is good to drive so... Have agreed to buy it, subject to Pops checking it. Am obsessed with Bumblebee from Transformers now! Even bought a toy one in ToyzandGames today to go on the dashboard hehe.

Recommendations

Chatted to Swanny and Rach at church this morning. Turns out that their T4 came from Tidy Transporters.. and they agree that Will is a great guy and its a quality, genuine setup.

Still not heard back from the owner of the white insurance van, but did get told by Rob that its prob best avoided (maybe I didn't say in person it was Cat C).

Most likely at the moment is buying Rob's own AA van. Will see what Pops says.

Tidy Transporters

Spent today at a farm near Lutterworth getting flummoxed with tonnes of info on T4s and conversions. Pistonheads had a red van advertised, and I emailed the seller. Ended up having a good email chat with him all week, and an appointment to see him today.

Rob and Will at VCC/Tidy Ts seem like nice genuine guys. They gave me well over 2 hours of their time today, going for a test drive in the red 1.9 and looking over all the vans they had there. I have a page full of specs and prices and prices for the various elements of conversion. To be honest I'm not a big fan of the red one, and nothing else there really grabbed me (well, the ones they own did!) but I got lots and lots of good advice.

They are getting a blue 2.5 in during the week, 03 plate 90k, but its 6.5k and its still a basic panel van. Even to get it insulated/carpeted/floor and windows is around £1100. Eek. There is also an ex AA van that he drives his motocross bikes around in that he would sell for 5.8k. Can't remember what that was like though, aside from having a 2.5 engine and a bulkhead.

Just spoken to Pops again too, and I am pursuing the White T4 owner for more info. Rob from VCC today said that an insurance write off isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Will have to wait and see what God has planned.

Alas, I am not Jesus or Peter

and therefore cannot walk on water! Had a sucky day at school on Tues (8th March) so instead of doing reports in the office after school I got distracted by geocaching.com. As it was gorgeously sunny I thought smeg it, and went to go find a cache. One of the nearest was Belt Drive near Mountsorrel.

Am finding safe parking one of the trickiest parts of caching.. had to go back to the pub and abandon Moby there. The following, which I can only assume now is actually a bridleway under the A6, should have been my first clue for things to come..

Yep.. very shortly I wished that I owned Wellies...

Had a huge grin on my face by now. Should I be worried that I find this fun? Was at the same time also terrified that I would drop my phone. Waterproof case a must buy for next week. Quite an easy find once the GPS settled down.

Inside was a very cool Geocoin, which has the mission of going to Devon, so I took that to help it on its way, I can get it as far as Somerset. I later found out that the owner of this coin used to work at Humphreys!!!

Also in the box was a LEGO treasure chest!!! How happy was I?! Being the Lego.Sheep I had to take it, but did feel very very guilty for having nothing to leave in its place. Hopefully I will be forgiven.

Yeah, this was the field/lake I took the long route across. Took a slightly drier route back, but was soaked to the knees by then anyway!

Lovely views from the Pub also worth the trip. Bits of 'Sorrel are actually lovely. Shame about some of its 'exports' !

Foiled again

Dad just phoned. Ran a check on the van. Came up as a ceteogry C insurance loss extensive damamge.
Drat and double drat.

V Nice

And possibly affordable.. the owner just phoned me, and says he could sell it for 7.5k.
:-)
Am currently trying to arrange viewings with Swanny and with Pops.
Must learn from previous experience and not get excited.
Will make pancakes to distract myself.

Nice

but expensive :-(

T4 on Pistonheads

Moving the Geocoin

Needed to move on the Moebius Geocoin I found at Hellesdon Library last week. Here's my log entry for Side-tracked. 

Found on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon after a short walk from home. Had no idea the train station would be so busy. Didn't get busted by staff though. Left a geocoin that I picked up in Norfolk last week. Its mission is to visit laboratories. The University campus caches are all too small for coins, so I thought I'd leave it at the gateway to Loughborough, home of the world's finest University, plus Astra Zenica, 3M etc. Hope someone else can get it closer to a lab than that. Nearly left my favourite woolly hat too when it fell out of my pocket ;-(

As you can see I have learned now to take gloves for rooting around in leaves and thorns and ivy and spiky branches and...

First Geocoin moved...

Stopped off on the way home to find the cache at the Grand Union homes sculpture that I pass many times a week..

Now saving for: a T4, a waterproof case for my iPhone, and Geocaching.com premium membership. But thankfully not a new hat.

Scream!!!

Stupid new sport. Why did I think Geocaching would be a good idea? Should know everything I try is always a complete failure. Plans for Friday afternoon fell through, so thought I would go find the cache at Hellesdon library. There were clues online as to where to find it, starting with a sign under the clock at the front. Guess what. There was no clock. Cheated and got the Dewey reference location from the hint online. Found it. Not there. After me and Mum wandering round the library until nearly closing time I eventually asked the assistant if there was more than one place this reference would be. The assistant then finally cottoned on to our strange behaviour and took us to the half a shelf reference section. The actual hide was very cool, but its so annoying when clues and descriptions are not accurate.

Geocaching in Norfolk

Thought I'd have plenty of time to kill before going shopping with Ma and Nan on Friday morning, so went to find the Geocache in Costessey I'd researched even though the travel bug that was there was, ever so predictably, got taken the day before. Wondered where Tom was trying to take me, when Gunton Lane turned out to be a dirt track... always fun in Mini Moby!

Parked easily then headed off down the path. Got to this river/stream and thought "this seems familiar... looks like you could ride a bike through that bit". Turns out I have. This is Redbridge, where Dad used to take us on reminiscing trips down Marriott's Way.

The cache wasn't too far away, so I started planning a nice little loop walk on Marriotts Way. This plan went aglay when I was flippin useless at finding the cache. The iPhone was useless at getting a fix, changing its mind as to whether the same spot was 1m or 11m away. The description said it was a small green cylinder. It wasn't. So, I wandered around in this mud getting progressively more annoyed for half an hour.

See. Was not happy by the time I finally unburied it. I think I need to re-evaluate how hidden these things will be. I may take a digging through leaves and vegetation device with me next time.

Thought I was going to be in trouble when I got home. However, Mum was still faffing with her hair, while Nan was sitting with her coat on clutching her shopping bag.

Vanimal

I may have missed out on the ebay Animal van, but that won't stop the van I hopefully get soon from being a 'Vanimal'. I went to Norwich for the end of half term, and rushed straight into the city after work on Thursday to meet mum. First we spent my goldfish points vouchers in Bonds, entirely on LEGO hehe, then we went to the Animal Store. Mum told me not to get in a grump, but I was depressed at the crazy prices in there. Sixteen quid is just ludicrously expensive for a frisbee... but then I thought.. its actually quite cheap... for hubcaps!!

As usual me and mum went bargain hunting in the sale section. Mum was first to spot the campervan key holder, then she bought me some window stickers and fridge magnets too. Thanks Mum.

The thing I spotted was not in the sale. No suprise there. However, if I didn't get it I knew I'd regret it forever... its gonna look so cool fixed up inside the van...

The rest of the stuff I got in Asda the next day while killing time waiting for Ma and Nan. Replacement flask (see previous posting for how I tested the old one) and storage tubs. Not as cool as the Lego storage, but the van will need to be a cafe on wheels, especially if Ems or someone else is riding shotgun hehe.