Intro

Ok, it seems I have lots of time on my hands so I have decided to keep a diary. It makes sense to make it an online diary so that anyone who is interested can follow my progress. My time is meant to be divided by;

1. Learning French


2. Looking for some land to buy


3. Working on a software project (have laptop will travel!)

1 and 2 are coming on quite good (although for 2 I think I want to be a bit further south than I am now). 3 hasn’t got started yet as I’m still in ‘holiday mode’. Holiday mode is somewhat tempered by the fact that I don’t want to be spending more than the income my house back home is generating; about £30 or 36 euro / day. Now this roughly spent daily like so;

10 euros on campsite (including electric hook-up)

6 euros on food / wine from supermarket – provided I don’t each too much sausage

10 euros on diesel (or vegetable oil fuel) – provided I don’t drive too far each day

10 euros on eating / drinking out (including coffee shops and the odd ‘plat du jour’)

So too much beer drinking and expensive clubs are a definate no no. As are French women (unfortunately). Sexy they may be but they have an expensive look about them. French wine and sausage on the other hand is good, nutritious and cheap! It also imbues you with bags of charm and makes you incredibly sexy (so a French man once told me... seems plausible!)

Camping for me is a kind of cross between motor home camping and tent camping. A bit like using a campervan but it’s a Landrover and the tent is on the roof. Hippys, surfers and landrover owners smile and wave at me whereas elderly sensible motor home and caravan owners are more prone to eye me suspiciously. Anyway suffice it to say as long as I can balance the following equation there is no reason why I couldn’t do this every day for the rest of my life and never work for another corporation as long as I live. Ah the sweet taste of freedom :-)

Equation 1 (and quite possibly the only equation in my diary)

Not that I’m lazy but this is a symbolic moment. I wouldn’t really dream of being a bum for the rest of my life.

My kit is quite elaborate. I designed it for the winter; insulated ply wood above and below me, mains electric with or without campsite hook-up, fridge, gas cooker. It actually has more in common with a log cabin (complete with log burner) than a tent on top of a land rover! So now that I have been delayed and am travelling in the height of summer down to the south of France... well yes I have my reservations. It also runs on old recycled chip fat... I filled a tank full before I left the UK.