The Mysterious Traveller

I BOUGHT A VAN. Yes, I bought a van. A  most regular looking van (from the outside) but when you venture within, my goodness, the beauty and potential. A stove, a sink, a fold out double(ish) bed, lights, additional battery for power and very decent storage space. It just needed a little TLC (hey, I don't want no scrubs) and this baby will become so comfortable that you can shake a gear stick at it.  I was scrolling through Gumtree, as I wanted to keep things relatively cheap, and Autotrader was a little out of my league. And by a stroke of good fortune I managed to whip up a conversation with a local seller - lovely Bernadette - who invited me over for a van viewing.  The van was parked on her drive, a Vauxhall Vivaro, covered in carbon scoring and dust. What a heap of junk , a voice was telling me, but she'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but I bet she's got it where it counts. Bernadette watched as my inner debate clearly showed on my exp...

Every ounce of my creative little mind wants to begin this journey with an inspirational moment; an epiphany, if you will, or a turning point in my life that led me to buying a van and leave the UK. But life is full of little inspirational moments, building up over time, and even though this decision was really quite radical I don't think anybody was surprised about it. My life was always leading to this. To #vanlife. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have laid down a hashtag within the first paragraph. In an effort to remain current and give easy to follow content #vanlife will be the pretence by which I shall describe the continuing adventures of Tom's Thumb. The problem being that #vanlife is not an original concept, so if you were to search for this hashtag I could imagine that you'd clock up several thousand results.  But the important thing is that I am one of them! No longer will you read about the Manchester based prop maker and art director who waffles on about puppets a...

It was understandable for Chester to be concerned about his masters optimistic views on transport, especially due to the absolute lack of any. They needed to get to London, and yet without the knowledge of their whereabouts it would prove to be an interesting point to raise. Chester rolled forward inquisitively, 'may I press you for a solution sir?'  The Elkboy turned handsomely around and smiled. 'My dear Chester. I have indeed resolved our little pickle, which was, admittedly, something I should have thought of much earlier. You may want to stand, or erm, roll back a tadge my friend.' Chester bleeped and followed the order. He was used to these elaborate schemes that the Elkboy concocted, becoming continuously intrigued and entertained. And with the Elkboy currently attempting a handstand, it looked like this would be a good one.  Sure enough, in a vertical manoeuvre, the Electric Elkboy had lifted his body up from the ground with his feet in the ...