Lady Sage Part 2

Having christened Lady Sage with our trip to the beach, work continued through August with a vengeance. We had the Cider Festival on August 30^th and I wanted Lady Sage to take centre stage at the event.

I ordered new number plates, personalising them with saying that I desired.

John put in beautiful Oak, Yew and Sycamore shelves above the windows,

I put a huge parcel shelf over the driver seats.

Peter fixed in the swivel base to the driver seat to allow easier access into the back.

Having seen the difficulty Boo had getting in and out of the Lady I designed a ramp that also doubled as a table – she used this twice before abandoning it! I used it once on the side door to encourage her in but hit my head so hard on the roof I felt sick for an hour! The ramp officially became the table and Peter found an old step in the garage for Boo (and me!!)

More wood was bought and the LED lights were taken out of their packets. Curved lines were routed out and with screwdrivers and spoon backs the LED strips were levered into place.

Switches were fitted and connected to the new leisure battery. We now had permanent light as well as battery powered fairy lights that I draped along the shelves.

When the rains arrived work continued as the huge tarpaulin bought, but not needed for Craigs 40^th birthday in Lou's field, was draped across the garden!

For the week that the showers came and went, the cutting and grinding continued in a bluey glow.

Swiss style fascia boards were shaped and fitted.

With my pyrography pen I wrote out some of my favourite sayings, personalising my bus even more.

A chandelier was found, polished and lovingly hung while Peter printed out a classic Hinano Lady for the back window.

A simple frame was built for a simple day bed – the cushions taken from the camping pile that I had kept since we lived in Tan Y Gerddi!! 

I drove Lady Sage to work each day, learning from experience the speeds I could take the magnificent Welsh corners before things flew across the room!

Small details were fine tuned, straps were fitted to keep the cushions on the bed, bungies were stretched and anchored to hold boxes onto shelves. Each day the Lady and I got to know each other a little more, each day the love grew.

I took a weekend off and popped down to see Lisa in Southampton calling into Porthcawl to catch up with the girls on the way back.

Fuel consumption was great, distance over time however was seriously lacking in comparison to my usual modes of transport. The Jaguar and Tigra average about 60ml/hr around the roads of Wales and can reach speeds far in excess of that.

Lady Sage potters about at about 30 to 40!! She can reach speeds of 70 on the motor way …. down hill, wind from behind and tucked behind a speeding lorry, but the engine doesn't like it. The shelving protested in creaks and cracks, and the cider bottles, stacked safely for the trip, clattered away until I dropped back down to a respectable 50.

But I was in no rush. The Lady was purchased for a different life style. At 30 miles an hour you have time to look into peoples gardens, to note the tucked away parking space that would do for a lay over, to actually see the road ahead and to listen to the music of life.

In Porthcawl the girls loved her!!

We put the world to right while seated in our new safe place.

We laughed, admired the curtains, caught up with our lives and had simply the best weekend ever!!

A week later I had fitted the sink and, after months of searching on the internet, the cooker had been found, bought and had arrived.

Lady Sage was beginning to feel like a home!

By the time the Cider Festival arrived we were nearly there.

The boards for the double bed had been made, all the electrics were wired up,

I had been adopted by a pet dragon and life was good.

For those of you familiar with my camping exploits, it will come as no surprise that this years camp was even bigger and better than the previous year.

Rich and Deb joined us with their ten year old super designed camper van,

Rohan was given a tent of his own,

which he bravely shared with Boo from time to time,

Cheryle and Henry moved in with their children,

Lou and Craig took over the cooking

and Keir, Fenn and Chris kept us all amused.

We had two days of damp weather followed by two days of glorious sun.

The tarpaulin, so useful in the garden was rolled out to protect us from the showers, and was then rolled back up to allow the sunshine to warm our bones and dry our socks.

In the shop for the past year my story telling has been getting more and more integrated into the daily running of the shop. I wrote Story Sticks, that I spread around the shop allowing others to read and smile.

At the Cider Festival I asked if it was possible to give a free performance. I was ready to reach out of the shop and deliver my First Public Performance!!

I will confess to having consumed a wee bit of cider for breakfast that morning, and even a bit more for lunch so by the time 2pm arrived I was well relaxed and ready for my audience.

My audience was amazing! They smiled, they listened, they played their given instruments on queue, complementing the story telling with their participation. 

If I had started my rendition a wee bit the worse for wear, I can truly say I was stone cold sober by the end of it! 

I had an incredible time, I learnt a lot about young children and their different concentration abilities during that hour. I was now a Story Teller (under Training!).

In the twenty minutes it took me to pack up and return the instruments and Story-sticks to Lady Sage word had spread to the bar, by the time I reached the bar word had reached the organisers and my presence was being requested for next year!! I had my First Booking!!!!

In September the final structural details were added to Lady Sage. An outside awning was bought from E-bay and with a few internal dismantling antics, this was fitted into place. 

The wood chalet style trims were put back into place and secured, the lights had their final check and Lady Sage was structurally done!!

I now had time to concentrate on the little details like quilts to trim the windows and preserve the heat.

The chandelier was polished once more (what is life without a chandelier!!)

The bungies were camouflaged with fluffy scarves and the boxes were double stacked.

Over the past week my CD collection has slowly but surely worked its way into the Lady,

as has everything else I may need for my travels.

There will be a million other things that will happen to the Lady as time goes on, just as there will be a million other things that will happen to me. I have an idea to invite the Lady on a UK tour once the shop closes in October. I have toured some of the biggest and smallest countries in the world yet I have never toured the UK.

From a simple comment a dream has come to life, from a simple experiment a new career has been discovered, who knows what will come next.  

Not all those who wander are lost xxx