The First Inkling of "Betsie"

Betsie was never originally "Betsie". She was a pipeline idea a fair few years back that kept popping up more and more often amid work commitments, travel and various life chores. Because of these other nuisances that always seemed to have to come first, that is all she remained for a long time.

However over time the idea grew and gained more and more momentum. I began imagining how the interior would look or would find myself in a daydream of being sat in a hammock on the Italian coast somewhere having just made a coffee in the van.

All of this seemed a long way off and a huge undertaking just by myself.

I then met Callum though and after a while the van idea cropped up in conversation. I was surprised but delighted when he didn't run for the door but actually really got on board and shared in my enthusiasm. It was still intangible for a few months more while between us we found new jobs, went on another ski season, got a puppy and tried to both money save! The worst! Especially in the current financial struggles most of us seem to be so frustrated with.

One day the three of us (Finn, the dog, is always included) were sat in a pub garden in the New Forest on a sunny afternoon when the whole notion just seemed suddenly so doable and it appeared to be the "right time". I used to scoff at this term but as the saying goes "when you know, you just know". So there and then we looked up some adverts and found one that looked legitimate, with low mileage and only a few miles from home. Neither of us wanted to get our hopes up but there was an underlying tension of excitement. The next day we found ourselves in Fareham pulling up to a house with a whopping great white van on the drive. There was a collie dog strolling about and the family were so genuine and honest with us. The test drive was brief and a little tense. I have been fortunate enough to have been brought up with classic cars and a whole assortment of other vehicles but this felt like a wagon and it took some time to get used to the sheer length!

The long and the short of it was we put down a deposit straight away and we had our van!! The name Betsie had been a fluke, not a long lost relative but just happened to suit her so well.

We counted down the days until the following week when we were picking her up. Callum dropped me off outside the house and we took her home. It was dark with unknown roads but despite this she was warm and comforting and after having found an arm rest it was plain sailing all the way home!