As you can see my T-Cutting is going well - although I have to confess that I'm beginning to lose interest now. I've already got through a bottle of the stuff and I've only done about a third of the van. But what an incredible difference it makes to the overall appearance. In fact, ignore the noise of the wheel arches rusting and the fact that the back doors are hanging off, and it almost looks presentable - at least the nearside does anyway.
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My half-finished bonnet would make a great advertisement for T-Cut.
But what makes my van look even better is the fact that Colin has parked his heap of junk next to it. I have never seen such a terrible paint job in all my life. I am something of an expert on dilapidated vehicles - and I can honestly say that I've seen cars that have been abandoned in America's Mojave Desert with better paintwork than his Midi. Just check out this close-up picture of the roof. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the quality of the exterior will be taken into account when the judges decide who's won our Desperate Van Challenge.
Very Cool. Colin's Bedford has a permanent frost on its roof!
Last weekend I decided to take my lovely girlfriend Meredith out for Sunday lunch at her favourite restaurant - and being so proud of the new shiny paintwork I decided to collect her in the Leyland Daf - which was not such a great idea! Unfortunately she didn't share my enthusiasm for the van and was rather concerned by the looks we were getting from passers-by.
We got a look of disgust from the restaurant owner too. I'm not sure what concerned him most - the plumes of white smoke that had engulfed his restaurant or the fear that when it cleared he'd find that we'd dumped a couple of old washing machines, a fridge and a few mattresses in his car park.
My girlfriend finally agreed to pose by the van on condition that I never made her ride in it again!