It's really ironic that someone who has never been camping in her entire life--and, more importantly has no desire to do so, ever--namely, me--is now camping at home. Actually, camping on a construction site! But I'm learning that everything is relative, and as our rather unconventional living situation enters its sixth month, at least I can say that it's vastly more comfortable now than it was in the beginning.
Some of that has to do with the fact that things are gradually becoming more "set up", as Andre likes to say. For example, he used some plywood to improvise a long table in the living room space, and we got a couple of chairs--so at least now, unlike in the first month, we have somewhere to sit other than on the air mattress!
But in truth, a lot of it has to do with the simple fact that it's summer now - the weather has made a huge difference. When we first moved in (in January), it was so cold inside that before we got our new fridge up and running, we would just leave milk outside of "the Box", and it would be fine! (Inside "the Box", we were fine, since our little fan heaters warmed up the enclosed space nicely.) Now that it's May, it's possible to spend time in the living room space even though we still don't have heat--nice not to be confined to the one "room" with the fan heaters anymore! And dealing with cold water is infinitely easier when it's 18 degrees (Celsius) rather than 8!
Anyway, the old aphorism is true: one gets used to anything. That said, things may be a lot less rough than they were in Jan/Feb, but they're definitely still not easy. I'm starting to miss having a kitchen, and living out of a suitcase--literally, because there are no closets/wardrobes/places to put anything--is getting a little tiresome. It definitely makes getting ready for work every morning more of a challenge!
But at least things are moving in the right direction... we may still be camping, five months into this project, but at least I feel like we have moved from camping to "glamping"...and for those of you who haven't come across the term and are confused by the title of this post: "Glamping" is another great British neologism, referring to "glamorous" camping!
Some of that has to do with the fact that things are gradually becoming more "set up", as Andre likes to say. For example, he used some plywood to improvise a long table in the living room space, and we got a couple of chairs--so at least now, unlike in the first month, we have somewhere to sit other than on the air mattress!
But in truth, a lot of it has to do with the simple fact that it's summer now - the weather has made a huge difference. When we first moved in (in January), it was so cold inside that before we got our new fridge up and running, we would just leave milk outside of "the Box", and it would be fine! (Inside "the Box", we were fine, since our little fan heaters warmed up the enclosed space nicely.) Now that it's May, it's possible to spend time in the living room space even though we still don't have heat--nice not to be confined to the one "room" with the fan heaters anymore! And dealing with cold water is infinitely easier when it's 18 degrees (Celsius) rather than 8!
Anyway, the old aphorism is true: one gets used to anything. That said, things may be a lot less rough than they were in Jan/Feb, but they're definitely still not easy. I'm starting to miss having a kitchen, and living out of a suitcase--literally, because there are no closets/wardrobes/places to put anything--is getting a little tiresome. It definitely makes getting ready for work every morning more of a challenge!
But at least things are moving in the right direction... we may still be camping, five months into this project, but at least I feel like we have moved from camping to "glamping"...and for those of you who haven't come across the term and are confused by the title of this post: "Glamping" is another great British neologism, referring to "glamorous" camping!
