Work and leisure

Work is a four letter word said a friend called John back in the 1980s when we were all students in West Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education which subsequently renamed itself "Swansea Institute of Higher Education" before becoming Swansea Metropolitan University. Confused yet? If not then clearly West Gla - Swansea Inst - Swansea Metropolitan University hasn't tried hard enough yet. It's almost as bad as British Airways which kept inventing new logos and new names for itself for enough years to be frustrating. Finally they realised nobody cared what the airline was called - people just want cheap tickets.

For me, work is something that has to be done. John's opinion differed there. John had left the Royal Air Force with big credit card debts due to a gambling addiction. The credit card companies had apparently been convinced that by completing the course we were both on, he would go into a lucrative field and make loads of money in order to pay off the debts. This of course was just a fantasy to buy more time for more drinking and gambling before being brought to account by the credit card companies. Needless to say, the drinking, smoking and gambling lifestyle continued and by the final year of the course John's attendance was negligible, submitted coursework was non-existent and a fail was assured. Meanwhile, after passing, the bottom fell out of the computer industry and hence neither of us would have been able to find computer work anyway.

Oddly enough, the work that comes to me is multi-location with long sessions in each location. For example, part of the week on one location and part in another location. All of these locations are far enough from the house that is rented to make continuing to live in a static location somewhat infuriating due to travel time, gas and mileage. There's also the little matter that I'm hardly ever home these days so I'm paying for a house that I'm not living in.

Thus, the idea of a mobile residence has appeared. Thereby hang several issues. First that a simple travel trailer (caravan to the UK folk) is simply too heavy for my daily transport to pull (even if it had a tow hook).  A mid-sized motorhome is not powerful enough to pull a trailer carrying my normal daily transport nor is it really big enough for sustained living.

This was an interesting looking motorhome that would be excellent for weekend getaways. Sadly, it's too small for anything more prolonged. There have been others advertised but so far they have all been either too small, too expensive or too fishy.

Craigslist has been an endless source of entertainment. One suitable-looking motorhome was advertised that had a tarp draped over the front of the roof and clearly bent panelling. It was probably on a salvage title and the price wanted for $4,000. Well, good luck on that! With that kind of damage, it was probably worth $50 from the scrap merchant (wrecker's yard). The motorhome above is probably worth $500 on a good day but the price desired was way in excess of that.

There's no great rush so it's possible to sit back and relax, looking for suitable vehicles. Indeed, it has been suggested that the best route to take would be to buy a bus or a truck and to convert it. Given that it's not hard and a composting toilet could be substituted for the expensive flush toilet, there is nothing there beyond some minor electrics, plumbing and woodwork.

The advantages of a motor home for the independent man have long been proclaimed. Perhaps it's time to indulge before becoming too old and farty.