Tag: 2012 Twelve

2012 Twelve March Review

The 3rd monthly review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

1.  Floating in a floatation tank (I’m hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
 
2.  Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I’ll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) – I still haven’t read any
 

3.  Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of ‘year in my life’, and help me to learn to use my new camera) – not been very good at this either
 

4.  Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) – nor this
 
5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader’s qualification) – I’ve volunteered to lead some walks at school as an extra-curricular activity, but this wouldn’t start until at least September and may not actually happen at all
 

6.  Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) – I’ve made a very limited start on going through my paperwork
 

7.  Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – nothing done here, though I’m getting slightly better at using Apple Macs
 

8.  Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I’d complete it in the year or not) – still haven’t started this
 
9.  Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published)
 
10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer – no way will this be completed in a year, but I’ll feel good even if I get started on it) – done nothing about this
 
11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – I’ve bought a van and started researching conversions.

12. Getting into cycling (even if it’s just short cycles along decent paths) – almost a step backwards on this one as the cycle rack I bought last summer won’t fit on my new van (anyone want to buy an unused cycle rack for a hatchback car?)

Well, reading over my review I realise I sound rubbish! I don’t even have the excuse of March being a short month. But my major achievement this month was buying my van and the whole procedure of looking for one, checking it out, buying it and sorting out insurance did take an awful lot of time. So I’ll use this as my excuse instead. 

I’m writing this in Germany. I’ve only been here a couple of days and I’ve already done a few things I can write about in my April review. How much easier it is to achieve the things I want to do when I don’t have to go to work! 

Van Insurance

Insuring a van is really not easy (unless you’re self-employed that is).

It was such a lovely day today and I’ve wasted most of it sitting indoors at my desk in my study which doesn’t get any sun during the day. Why? Because I had to insure my van. I’ve got a week’s free insurance with it but that’ll only last till Wednesday. I thought it would be easy to switch my insurance from my car to the van, but no. Endsleigh doesn’t insure vans. So they’ve cancelled my policy and are sending me a refund for the remainder. This meant I had to find another insurance company. I’ve rang so many and done lots of searches online.

Specialist van insurance companies don’t want to insure me because I don’t have my own business. Campervan insurance companies don’t want to insure me because it’s not a proper campervan. Car insurance companies don’t want to insure me because it’s not a car. The few quotes I did manage to get were astronomical. Finally after hours of searching I found a broker who has insured me through Aviva. Whilst I was on the phone I ran my details through the quote section of Aviva’s website but the quote was several hundred pounds higher than the price the broker was getting for me. So I’ve gone with the broker.

I’m a bit miffed though that so many companies seem to think you should only own a van if you have your own business. Have these people no imagination?!

Just call me Mma Ramotswe …

I’m now the owner of a little white van.

… because I have got a little white van.

My mechanic checked it out yesterday and I took it for a test drive today. All went well and I’m due to collect it on Wednesday. I’m already getting excited thinking about what I’m going to do to convert it. It’ll get its first camping outing at half term in June. I’m planning to use my tent but I’ll try to sleep in the van at least one night to get a feel for it.

Not sure if I’ll keep it white though – I might respray it orange.

Oh, and if you don’t know who Mma Ramotswe is read this.

Photography blogs

A few blog discoveries that are inspiring me to improve my photography.

I was reading one of the blogs I follow (a blog about Iceland) and noticed a comment on the bottom. The comment seemed interesting so I followed it up and discovered two bloggers who have three photography blogs between them. One of them is basically a record of photographs taken every day for a year. As this is something I’ve been trying to do this year (and failing miserably) this interested me straight away. The other two blogs include one in which the two bloggers set themselves a photography project once a fortnight and one which seems to have lots of opportunistic photographs. I’m looking forward to having time to look through them properly and hopefully pick up some good tips. At the very least they might help motivate me!

White Van (Wo)Man

I’ve almost bought a van.

Today I went to look at vans/cars. I either want a car that has a bit of extra height and that has easily removable seats so it can be used for sleeping in, or a van that I can do a semi-conversion on and turn it into a campervan. My other criteria are that it should be orange and have cup holders, but I realise that might be expecting a bit much.

The first place I looked didn’t have anything to suit.  The second place didn’t have anything either, but one of their partner showrooms did. They actually found a couple of options for me and I’ve decided to go with the second which is a white Berlingo van. It’s only five years old and has really low mileage. At the moment it’s in Doncaster so I haven’t seen it myself yet, but they’re going to get it driven down here this week and then I can test drive it and get my mechanic to check it over. All being well, by next weekend I’ll have my van. So quite a productive Sunday really. And we were finished in time to go for a nice pub lunch.

2012 Twelve February Review

2nd monthly review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

Hm, a bit of a rubbish month really as far as achievements go. I’ll blame it on the fact that February is a short month (even with the extra day this year) and I was away for a week of it.

1. Floating in a floatation tank.  I did achieve the #1 challenge on my 2012 twelve list as I went floating over half term whilst I was in London.

3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year. Apart from taking lots of photos whilst I was in London, I haven’t been keeping to my photo a day challenge. I felt quite inspired by the Hungry Cyclist’s project of taking a photo of something he eats every day for a year, and this might be something I’ll do in future years. However, I first need to get in the habit of taking a daily photo of anything, before I can start thinking about making it specific!

7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes. The ‘Apple in an Hour’ course was postponed at the last minute. It will still happen, but I have no idea when. So I haven’t learnt how to use any new bits of technology yet.

8. Doing a writing course. I haven’t started my writing course yet, though I should have more time this month.

9. Getting at least one piece of writing published. I’ve achieved #9 as I got a book review published (unpaid) in Wanderlust. This is quite a prestigious travel magazine, so I felt quite proud of myself when I saw the review in print alongside a photo of me. As I actually wrote it and got it accepted last month, this is more an achievement from last month but I didn’t want to count it until I actually saw it in print.

So, although I’ve got two challenges ticked off and I’m only two months in and so technically I’m on schedule, I still feel like I haven’t made much headway. March should be better, as I’ll get on with the writing course and I need to make a serious effort to go over my finances to plan for the rest of the year. Once I’ve done this I can start making plans to change my car and for my next house. As the MOT is due on my car in mid April and I’ll be away for the first half of April, I really need to get my car changed by the end of March. So this is the major project for this month.

2012 Twelve January Review

How did I do on my 2012 Twelve challenges in January?

As we’re now into February I thought I should review how I’m doing on my 2012 Twelve. I’ve only mentioned the tasks I’ve actually done something about.

1. Floating in a floatation tank – I’ve got this booked and will be floating a week on Wednesday.

3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year – I’ve done this for about half the month. I’ve started carrying my snappy camera around with me all the time, but most days just forget about it.

4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) – I haven’t done anything about the fitness plan yet, but I did attend a talk on Kilimanjaro.  

7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – I’m booked to do an ‘Apple in an hour’ course at school just after half term. This will be the start of me learning to use an Apple Mac.  

8. Doing a writing course – I’ve enrolled for an online course with the London School of Journalism and received the first two lessons. I haven’t had time to start them yet though.

9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published) – I wrote a brief book review for Wanderlust and they’ve accepted it. I’m not getting paid, but will be published in a prestigious travel magazine.  

11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – I’ve started researching vans and how to convert them.