Tops and Bottoms

Lucy removing some of Milly's bits

Having seen hard tops and pop tops and measured Jim on top of Milly we decided to go for a pop top, if we could find a cheap one. Isn't e bay such a help! I found a local advert for pop tops and we contacted the guy and lo and behold he had a second hand top for a T4 by the side of his house. We hurried round and found that not only was the top for a T4 but it was also red (all be it a slightly different red to Milly). We bought our top and Ian, the guy making and selling them, not only agreed to deliver it but gave us lots of help with how to fit it.

This is scary !

......and down came the golf balls !

It was with some trepidation that Jim began, one sunny morning, to cut the roof off with a jigsaw and an angle grinder. He had just made a sizeable hole when it began to hail with stones the size of golf balls. It didn't last long and we swept the ice out, then Jim continued. He had lined the fibre glass top, fitted some powerful roof pistons and attached the side skirt to it. We had lots of help lifting the roof into place and when it went on, it was amazing! She really looked like a camper van.

Many hands.......

Looking out from under Milly's skirt

In my Easter bonnet

So much for the top!

We had a minor/major mechanical blip one morning. Milly refused to go into neutral before starting her up! It felt as if the clutch had stopped working. On closer inspection by Steve G it proved to be the master clutch cylinder that had broken which meant we had three vehicles on the drive with Milly at the bottom blocking them all in! Had this broken while we were going along it would have caused serious damage to the clutch and flywheel. Phew!

We bought some strong plywood (remember we have a weight problem) and Jim fitted it to make our bed. I climbed up. Not an easy task given my little legs but it held and the view from the window was great. The real test came when Jim joined me. This is where the 'bottoms' comes in! There is not a lot of room to get up and he's not exactly small! We found that as long as I lie down flat, he can just get up and swing his legs over my head and get in.Very cozy but I think an active sex life will be a bit too much for the bed!

Lucy testing the strength of the bed

We went into Exeter to South West Laminates and looked at some laminates for our worktop. The price was eye-watering so I asked Steve if they had any off cuts. He didn't blink when I said we needed a piece 2 metres long and gave us a full board that had been returned for just £30. It's in a black sparkly granite effect and just what we had in mind. Our kitchen will be awesome!

I ordered a foam mattress immediately so that we could consider a weekend camp in Weymouth with Milly and Jezebel II getting acquainted (Jezebel II is spooky's windy vehicle). Sadly this was not to be. Jezebel II was still receiving her top coat; the weather was atrocious and Milly continued to boil on every hill. We got her home eventually after several refill stops and she went to be rewired with a temperature gauge and fuel gauge to be fitted. It's good to have a reading telling you when you are about to come to a stop for lack of fuel and to confirm your suspicions that the steam coming out of the engine does mean she is over heating.

The excitement continued as I went out and bought a duvet, a duvet cover, towels and a potato peeler (red of course) for her. Won't we be smart! Another trip to Weymouth and despite many efforts, she continued to boil on hills. Jezebel II had finished her paint job and looked very smart in her new livery. Steven was doing gymnastics trying to rearrange the parts of his rock and roll bed into something with a flat surface. Jezebel II was beginning to show her true colours under the paint job.

Our first real trip in Milly came a couple of weeks later. The weather was fine, could even be said to be hot. We packed excitedly and went all of 10 miles to Topsham near Exeter. It was almost wild camping! There were no showers and the toilets were a bike ride away but we were as happy as pigs at piddle - we were camping in Milly!!!

Just the usual gear - bikes, duvets etc etc

Milly and Lucy - Lucy is the one on the right

We dined well, played Yahtzee and drank some wine. This did not help too much when it came to getting into bed but did make us laugh over it! We need a porta potti was the decision when we had to cycle over the field to the toilets in the dark. The sun was still shining the next morning when we woke up. The view from our bedroom window of the fields was great. It was hot already. We also need a fan and an awning!

Fan, porta potti, sink, hob, fridge and fabric for an awning ordered left the bank balance rather depleted but nothing is too much for our Milly. I began to get a little concerned when Jim woke up in a panic one morning. He had been dreaming that I had said we had to sell Milly as we had spent enough money. I think he would have seen it as grounds for divorce. She is certainly like a third person in our marriage and I'm beginning to wonder which of us he prefers!

I made the awning, Jim finished off welding a 'new' back seat from an old transit van and we set off for 3 days to north devon to camp at Woolacombe over the last of the jubilee weekend. Seemed like a good idea when we booked it. It was sunny when we arrived. We settled in, put up our smart new awning set up the table and chairs and set out the doormat (I forgot to mention that). The others arrived and the weather deteriorated. The wind which until then had been merely strong, became gale force. The awning stood up well considering but we did decide that it was definitely for sun and not rain. We all sheltered in Milly (seven of us) that evening. It was certainly cosy. The next morning was even worse. You could hardly stand up in the wind. There was an exodus from the campsite. We debated joining them but Steven was, as always, optimistic. We walked into the town, had a pub lunch and ventured onto the beach. On a summer's day it would have been fantastic, golden sand, rock pools and surf. This, however, was only June so only the surf was on form. The next day, however, the sun shone and we cycled part of the Tarka trail. Devon cream tea for lunch helped complete a great day. The weather had returned to a norm for February the next morning and we packed up in pouring rain and gale force wind and headed for home. Milly did overheat again when going up Telegraph hill but at least the gauge goes down as well as up now!

Yesterday our hob and sink arrived. They are really smart. We have a dinky fold down tap and a sink. The fridge and fan are due soon. Jim is going to finish the wiring and insulation and lining. I'm looking into hanging baskets and a herb garden to go with the bud vases and flowers on the windows. I suppose curtains will give more privacy. She's going to be great!

The outside is taking shape......

......and everyone can see what we're doing.