injury when colliding with said table. It did not work.
I had to be extra careful when moving round the van while we were in
transit, and had to rely on Emma's commentary about bends, accelerating and
braking. This allowed me to brace myself, and only resulted in a few Elvis
slides on my knees from one end of the van to the other - and one occasion
when I nearly fell in Emma's lap.
Less dangerous, but more of a regular irritation, was the lack of length
to the bed. As mentioned it was only as long as the width of the van, Emma
could lie down straight with an inch or two to spare, while I could fit only if my
head and toes were pressed against the sides of the van. This resulted in a
kind of curled or kinked sleeping position, to avoid discomfort and feelings of
claustrophobia. We tried lying width ways with our feet dangling off the bed
but this meant fitting all four of our feet in the space between the two rows of
cupboards - barely wide enough for the cupboards to open, so we just curled
up and dealt with it.
A proper bathroom was about the only thing that we missed which we did not
have in the van. We thought we would miss TV, and at first evenings did
seem a bit too quiet and we nearly bought a small radio, but we soon adjusted
and have found that we have a reduced tolerance for TV since coming home.
But a private bathroom, yes, we were definitely ready to get back to that.
Most campsite restrooms were clean and well equipped but most were
also communal - and we missed brushing our teeth in the nude (which we
actually do more than I realized). At least we had the chemical toilet in the van
- though seeing as we had to empty it ourselves I would not say we were