In 1931, a Czechoslovakian businessman and entrepreneur called Thomas Bata Sr bought 600 acres of undeveloped farm land, just outside the quiet town of East Tilsbury on the northern banks of the Thames Estuary. Far from Zlin, in the now Czech Republic, where his family-owned shoe company headquarters was the first automated factory in… Continue reading Bataville (or, The Shoe Must Go On)
It's been 2 months since Dixie and her 3 giddy passengers first boarded the 2am ferry from Dublin Port to Holyhead, Wales. What was originally supposed to be a quick round trip to York and back, to A) drop the offspring to university, B) test out the engine, and C) test the adquecy of… Continue reading Thoughts after Two Months
There were originally grand plans of updating this blog with every place we stayed, that would be very difficult as we often stay out of telephone and internet signals way, but we do update almost daily on Facebook, if you'd like to "like" and "follow". https://www.facebook.com/TheBackwardsVan/ Thank you to everyone reading our blog and for… Continue reading Follow us on Facebook!
Rolling into a new town / field / site/ situation every day takes a certain amount of planning. We (William & Elizabeth) need to identify an area to park which meets our needs; Dixie prefers a flat surface (no falling out of bed thanks), on public land, a safe, quiet spot preferably not near a… Continue reading Home is where we park it
Part of our decision to move full-time into Dixie (the Backwards Van) was, like a lot of life's decisions, financially based. W.E. (William & Elizabeth) were sick and tired of watching our money disappear from our account; rent, utilities, food and all the day-to-day "necessities" that most people take for granted were really making us… Continue reading On The Road (to financial freedom) : pt 1
"How's your plumbing?" A rather impolite question maybe, but one W.E. hear all the time. 7 weeks living in Dixie now and water has not been hard to find. Dixie is fitted with a stainless steel water cargo tank which carries 350 gallons for showering, drinking and cleaning. We get about 4 days from a… Continue reading Water, water everywhere…
Living in such a small space means that every item is useful, and every item is used. It also means every item must be put back in its carefully thought-out place AFTER use. Imagine you had ALL of your belongings in your cubicle with you every day, every single book, every jacket and t-shirt, every… Continue reading A Vans Best Friend (or, If The Shoe Doesn’t Fit)
3 weeks on the road, from County Cork to Connemara, Roscommon to Cong and Dublin to Durham across the Irish Sea. Dixie has taken us about 3,000 miles. So far our overnight fees are €0. Stealth Camping in public places is not illegal, and as long as we are parked up properly (preferably on a… Continue reading Stealth = Wealth
This is Dixie. Acquired from a gas man in Fethard-On-Sea (and named for him too), she is a 1997 Fiat Ducato and she is our new home! We've been living in Dixie about two weeks now, staying on beachfronts and on promenades, in friends driveways and gardens. The kitchen is well kitted out with a… Continue reading Introducing Dixie!
"So many faces in and out of my life Some will last Some will just be now and then" I read once the average human being meets around 80,000 other humans in the span of their lives, and though it's scary big, the number seems about right to me. How many of those… Continue reading Say goodbye to Bermuda
the backwards van 