A home of our own ( Part 11)

We bought our first house “off plan” so we had some months to wait for its completion. We happily filled in the time by excitedly planning how we would furnish and decorate it. The house was quite small plus we had the constraint of not much money. However we were both earning respectable salaries and we could expect to afford things if we waited and saved.

We determined to go for a modern , bright and airy approach which we felt suited the design with its floor to ceiling windows on the ground floor. We didn’t have too far to look for some furniture. Terrance Conran had set up Habitat which was the IKEA of its day with bright modern furniture. Although not expensive it wasn’t outstandingly cheap either. We settled on white framed chairs and sofa furnished in bright orange ( sofa and one chair) and shocking pink  (for the other chair ). To match we had four white dining chairs upholstered in matching pink. We coveted the Habitat circular white dining table but could not afford it and bought something cheaper elsewhere.

The sofa was very simple with a large rectangular base cushion on wooden slats  and two wedge shaped backs. In truth it wasn’t very comfortable.  Ellen uses the sofa without the back as her bed.

The tiny bedrooms were a problem. We wrote off to Good Housekeeping for advice on beds with under bed storage. They suggested the small company of Christian Sell in London which made a white bed with drawers under. We were so impressed with Sell that we also bought a chest from them. The bed wasn’t very robust and I had to strengthen it but it is still is use in Martin’s holiday cottage

We were looking for storage solutions in the living room and went for Habitat cube stores. Designed to be modular they are still in my study as I write. In black with natural beech they were more sombre than most of our furnishing. Rather than pay for delivery we resolved to go to the nearest store in Manchester and transport them ourselves. By dint of setting the front seats right forward we just got 6 into our Hillman Imp. This did mean I drove back along the famous East Lancs road hunched over the steering wheel.

Inevitably we moved before all the furniture arrived. We slept on a mattress for the first few weeks.

Easily the most contentious issue was carpets. Initially this was simply resolved because we couldn’t afford any, vinyl tiles and floor boards had to suffice. After some time we saved enough and somewhat reluctantly went for a sober light beige twist upstairs and a light brown twist downstairs.

So as to maintain our nice new carpets we had a housewarming before they were fitted. I had been under some ( jocular ) pressure from my colleagues to have a housewarming. On the afternoon before a colleague enquired what drinks I had got in for the occasion. He was appalled declaring my provision totally inadequate. However he rose to the occasion by suggesting a bowl of punch.  I don’t recall the exact ingredients but it started with a litre of Aristar alcohol from Unilever stores. This was totally forbidden and I shudder even now at our temerity. It concluded with rum essence. In making it up I misjudged how little essence was needed. The house stank of rum but nobody seemed to mind.

In fact it was later a rather embarrassing episode when a section manager who came complimented me on the punch and enquired as to the recipe. I managed to change the subject and my career was saved.

Knowing that we were going to  paper one wall Annette exercised her drawing with two lovebirds ( Aah!) on that wall – giant sized floor to ceiling. This was just for the housewarming and they were soon covered over although a talking point on the evening.

My colleagues had bought us a housewarming present. This was a particularly effeminate garden gnome in a rather indelicate posture. This was an in joke as I had firmly said our resolution for the new house was no garden gnomes.

UK economic facts

Since the referendum confidence has held up very well. The outcome has been some reasonable economic growth. The Red tops have boasted rather soon as Brexit hasn’t started yet. Also the growth is rather unhealthy as it is entirely down to consumers borrowing more. There is some evidence that consumer spending is now falling back a bit. While it is gratifying that manufacturing exports are rising a bit this is as they should after the collapse in the pound.

The Brexiteers could have their fantasies come true if a free trade deal with the US emerges. It is quite apparent this will only happen if May becomes Trump’s toady. Some Tories seem very willing.

A house of our own

It happened that both my parents and ourselves bought our first houses in the sixties. My parents had easily the most bizarre experience. To understand how bizarre you have to understand my father was a rather stolid “look before you leap” man. He had resisted mother’s pleas to buy a house for years. When they married in 1935 they took a rented house as a short term measure. This lasted until 1960.

Although superficially it looked a modern house in fact it was shoddily built to the lowest standards. Situated down a country lane it was completely lacking in modern amenities until minimum amenities were installed in the late fifties. We had cold mains water but that was all. -no modern sewage, no electricity, only open fires for cooking and heating

In scarce expectation my mother found a house for sale in Polesworth- a building society repossession to be auctioned off. We went a bike ride to look at it. By co-incidence next door but one was a man father knew from his work as a miner. Ray was a bluff enthusiastic man who soon said “I know how to get in”. He climbed through a back window, let us in , and easily outperformed any estate agent in saying exactly how he would set about modernising the house.

 And it needed modernising. Old fashioned kitchen, outside toilet, bathroom off the lounge on the best side of the house were just a few of the major problems. Old style rubber insulated cables meant rewiring was needed. There were a host of minor things also but Ray soon explained how he had tackled them in his own house. Ray also pointed out that another near neighbour was a local builder with a good reputation. Father called him in and with Ray again doing his burglary act George Hope allowed he could make all the changes and gave an estimate.

The sale was held in a pub in the village. To my amazement father bid successfully. It became a family legend that my parents had agreed £1500 which when reached mother nudged father to stop bidding. He didn’t stop and secured it for £1550 ( this was 1960 so prices seem tiny now ). “ I thought you were nudging me to carry on bidding” father maintained. I never knew whether he was joking or not. Anyway it was an excellent buy, all the modernising was done courtesy of various contacts and they lived there happily until the late eighties. In the event I only lived in the house for about 8 months before leaving home.

In contrast Annette and I followed a much more ordinary route. We rented a flat when we were first married ( and a slightly odd one at that ) overlooking the Dee estuary on Merseyside. Earning real money for the first time in my life I foolishly gave buying a car priority to upgrade from my old banger. However afterwards with Annette just starting life as a teacher we determined to buy a house.

A new estate was being built on the opposite side of the Wirral peninsula. This was to be a large estate of similarly styled ( and rather stylish we thought ) houses in a rather nice area of Bebington. Not only did we like the house but it had the advantage I could walk to work in neighbouring Port Sunlight.

In our naiveté we didn’t consider that as first occupiers we would have all the multitude of minor hassles, making a garden, getting faults fixed etc. Even more of an issue we were almost the first occupiers so we lived on a building site for at least six months. This was a major problem of noise and dust. I got my own back by stealing floor boarding at night and I made  shelving with the timber. Even though I say so myself I made a rather good job.

Eventually things quietened down, we got fencing and Annette’s brother sowed our ( very small ) lawn. Annette also had fun making the garden although terracing the back I remember as hard work.

The link detached house had various features which I wasn’t at all certain about. It had half tiled exterior walls although these gave no trouble ( on our return many years later they still look as good as new).

The central heating was by gas fired hot air.. Although quick reacting it was quite expensive and quite noisy. It also wasn’t very controllable- essentially on or off. We did get vent valves installed but they were never satisfactory.

For my first 17 years we lived in this house ( the central semi )

This photo was taken many years later in early 2000's. The porch and drive was new.

Long range escort fighters in WW11

At first this may seem a slightly strange blog topic. I am a member of the local U3A Science and technology group. Each member gives a presentation usually  1 hour long but twice a year short centred around an object members present. For my next presentation I have chosen this topic. It combines my interest in modern history with aviation technology.

The allied forces in WW11 had diametrically opposed philosophies on bombing. The RAF found that daylight bombing produced huge losses. From early on they switched to night bombing. Because navigation was imprecise this had to be area bombing. Even area bombing demanded development. As the war progressed a number of navigation and operational aids were developed. These aids were very necessary. A detailed study in 1941 revealed that half of all bombs fell more than five miles from their target.

The American philosophy was quite different. They used heavily gunned aircraft and what they thought was a superior bombsight called the Norden sight. Using this approach they thought it would be possible for bombers ( called Flying Fortresses ) to fight their way to targets and then bomb with precision in daylight. Bitter experience showed this was not possible. Firstly German aircraft could inflict big losses on the Fortresses and secondly precision bombing was not possible in the murky north European weather.

What the Americans needed was a long range fighter to escort the bombers to the target. Such an aircraft evolved over several years as the North American P-51 Mustang. ( the US called fighter aircraft “pursuit” planes hence the P designation). The Mustang was originally designed to a British specification at the start of the war. It used a turbocharged Allison engine but only performed well at low altitudes.

The Mustang was designed with a then new laminar flow wing. Essentially this wing was designed for lower turbulence by a flatter aerofoil which gave lower drag. Even so this couldn’t explain why the Mustang was so much more slippery than others. It was found to be a good 30mph faster than other aircraft with the same power. The reason, not realised for years, was that the Mustang had been designed with flat sides rather than the usual rounded ones. This meant it had reduced wave drag in accordance with the area rule. This rule states that minimum transonic  drag requires approximately constant cross sectional area. Where the wings increase the area the fuselage needs to have a smaller cross sectional area to compensate.

Another source of improvement was in the belly radiator of the water cooled engine. Work by NACA established that the lip of its cowling needed to be set away from the airplane structure. Close to the airplane the airflow is static at the surface rising rapidly with distance from the surface. This region is known as the boundary layer. If the radiator takes in boundary layer air it creates turbulence and drag  Also the radiator could be designed so that the waste engine heat expanded air within it giving a small jet thrust.

However the big change came with the use of the licence built Merlin engine with its two stage, two speed supercharger. This boosted the engine power particularly at altitude by about 30%. The revamped Mustang was designated the P-51B or P-51C according to the factory in which it was built. The revised model also had extra fuel tankage in the fuselage.

The final factor in improving the range was the use of drop tanks. These temporary underwing tanks were designed to be dropped when empty enabling the normal fighting capacity to be restored.

The use of the revised Mustang to escort US bombers was extremely successful. The Mustang could fly with the bomber stream as far as Berlin.

The impact of the bombing campaign is still debated but there is no doubt it contributed to ultimate victory.

                                                                                             

Battle of Britain

When I was a small boy ( about 1948-9 ) on the chair by my bed was the HMSO 32page booklet-“ the Battle of Britain”- Published anonymously in March 1941 we now know it was written by Hilary St George Saunders. Once I was past the Janet and John stage of reading I was fascinated by this booklet. I think it was my real start in proper reading as I pored over it. I know from my own children and grandchildren how tenacious early readers can be. I was able a few years ago to buy a facsimile of the booklet and it was so familiar.

Inevitably it was a highly biased and limited account of the Battle. Because it triggered such an interest as a boy I’ve since made something of a study of the Battle – I thought then and I still think it was probably the pivotal Battle of the Twentieth Century.

From my reading I can now see the Battle was in three phases. Firstly the Channel convoy attacks during July and early August 1940 then Secondly the main Battle over southern England where the most ferocious fights took place between mid August and mid September and Thirdly the switch to attacks on London from mid September on.  The Third phase segued into the blitz when London was bombed on over 90 consecutive nights.

It is one of the great unknowns of history what would have happened if the switch to bombing London hadn’t happened. The RAF was reeling and there had been severe damage to six out of seven key aerodromes ( sector stations ). The attack on London gave the RAF respite from aerodrome attacks and gave longer time to intercept attacking aircraft. There is some evidence Churchill deliberately goaded Hitler by having the RAF bomb Berlin.

To step back for a moment the Battle reversed the national stereotypes. Britain had set up a finely organised system of fighter control established by Dowding, head of Fighter Command before the war. The German attack was badly organised with weak intelligence allowing wasted time attacking non fighter airfields. The British control system detected attacks by radar, fed the information to the HQ where it was filtered to pick out feints etc. and information passed to the south eastern sector head, Keith Park. Park was able to mobilise a few aircraft to be in position to oppose most attacks.

In terms of aircraft the fighter types were fairly closely matched. The Germans had a bomber force which was limited both in  type( all were medium sized or smaller ) and the presence of dive bombers which were vulnerable and had to be withdrawn. Britain also had some problem aircraft with the Boulton Paul Defiant which was also withdrawn. The German Air Force had been built up to support their army and wasn’t prepared for the more strategic task.

Britain had “home advantage”. RAF pilots could bale out and be sure of a welcome while German pilots became prisoners. There is evidence Germans feared the channel. While Germany had a decent search and rescue service the prospect of ditching in the sea was frightening.

The main controversy about the Battle was over the “big wing” concept. Leigh Mallory who commanded in the Midlands and didn’t have the south east area to defend advocated assembling several squadrons of RAF fighters in the air before engaging the enemy. Park who was much closer to the channel and German airfields didn’t have the warning time to do this assembly in the air. Most air historians agree Park did exactly the right thing and that Leigh Mallory was wrong. Unfortunately Leigh Mallory was a good lobbyist and persuaded Churchill of his case. Where sufficient warning was available the big wing was possible and led to losses after the Germans switched focus to London.  In fact the Germans were forced to abandon daylight attacks on London and  change to night raids.

Unfortunately both Park and Dowding were treated badly after the battle being swiftly moved on. Leigh Mallory’s machinations had an effect. This extended to the 1969 film “Battle of Britain”. Douglas Bader who was an adviser on the film promotes the big wing as a winner which is simply not true. Bader while heroic was a foolish pilot and even worse tactician.

Winston Churchill summed up the Battle  well with his statement “ never before in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”

Literary Life

Although I’m a voracious reader I tend not to be interested in classical works. If it is published before the start of the twentieth century I’m not very interested. Among the more recent authors I have enjoyed works by Kingsley Amis. I’m not so keen on those of his son Martin Amis. This interest first arose when I had just started at college and I was desperate for something to read. The library at a college of technology didn’t offer much choice. “Lucky Jim” the first Amis book was one. It is actually quite different from his later work tending towards the farcical. I prefer the later works.

Frances decided to study English at A level. This was despite my intentions. I had made myself notorious at her school because when she won praise from her English teacher who suggested English A level I airily replied that she would study sciences ( and implied English was little more than a recreational subject ) Well she did English and later read English at University which showed what influence I had. Her First was probably all the justification she could have wished.

 I was determined to be supportive even though I was dubious ( she also did Maths, Physics and French A levels) so when she got the Andrew Motion book on Philip Larkin I read it as well. I was entranced by this excellent book. Larkin who superficially appeared rather dour and uninteresting, being Librarian at Hull University for nearly 30 years, had a convoluted love life. He was also at university with Amis and they were life long friends. Although I’m not a huge fan of Larkin’s poetry it certainly convinced me that writers were interesting people.

My favourite poet is Wendy Cope. Still writing at the present day,she can be very funny while also quite poignant. Rather impertinently she made her name with her verse “making cocoa for Kingsley Amis “ which was also the title of her first book. She had never met Amis let alone made cocoa for him and it was a work of imagination and successful name dropping.

Circling back Andrew Motion was poet Laureate and was succeeded by Carol Ann Duffy. I enjoyed a recital by Duffy but I haven’t bought any of her works. In contrast I have both listened to Wendy Cope talk about her prose work and attended a workshop she held some years ago at the Lichfield Festival.

Wendy Cope good humouredly complains that poets don’t get the financial rewards of other authors. It is often easy to find the complete text of individual poems so their books are not big sellers. Cope herself has felt obliged to do many other things. The most surprising is that she was a radio and TV critic for a national paper. Hence the title of her book “Life, love and the Archers”. She feels so strongly about the unauthorised use of her work that her husband jokes her gravestone will be inscribed “all rights reserved “.

Amis felt strongly that specific genres of fiction were undeservedly felt to be inferior. He championed the cause of Science fiction with his review “New maps of hell” written in the 60’s. He directly supported  the detective story by writing one himself ”The Riverside Villas Murder “

The ultimate acknowledgement of literary snobbery comes from US novelist Evan Hunter who used a pseudonym of Ed McBain for his very successful crime series.

The Harry Potter author J K Rowling felt obliged to use a pseudonym for her none  Hogwarts stories in an ( unsuccessful ) attempt to prevent her early fame affecting her later work.

Fact

What the red tops won’t report

The Brexit collapse in the value of the pound has caused Rolls Royce to lose a stupefying 4.4 billion pounds. Arguably the most important engineering company in the UK has been left badly wounded.

The Inklings

I lived on the southern edge of Oxford while working for Castrol at Pangbourne. Although about 20 miles it was a very easy drive. From my house at Littlemore I could get straight onto the Reading Road without needing to use the by pass.

As Frances was at school in Oxford and Alison was at the university we made quite a habit of weekending in Oxford with Annette travelling down for the weekend. The alternative was Frances and I would travel up to spend the weekend with Annette.

Oxford is a fascinating place. Because of the big student population it has far more theatres, concert halls, museums and the like than its fairly modest size would suggest. I went more often to theatre than before or since. I also took some interest in local history, particularly local literary history. Although I’m not a huge fan of their work I was very interested in the Inklings. They were an informal group centred around C S ( Jack ) Lewis, his bother Warnie and J R R Tolkien.

Jack Lewis was an English lecturer and a drinking man so the group would meet in pubs between the wars. For quite a long time they met in a little central pub “the Eagle and Child” known to them as the Bird and Baby. After some long time they fell out with the landlord and moved across the road to the Crown and Flag.

Part of the reason for the group ( apart from drinking ) was that most were writers and they both read and criticised each other. J R R Tolkien was more senior in the university  ( being a professor of English ) and his writing was very different. Tolkien set out to minutely detail his creations, particularly inventing languages for them.. Tolkien had a background in Old English and he felt able to construct other languages with some verisimilitude  He became rather contemptuous of Lewis mixed with jealousy because Lewis became famous during WW11 with broadcasts particularly on religion. Tolkien is said to have felt that Lewis was a more of a propagandist that strict story teller.

Lewis’s book “the Screwtape Letters” ( from a junior devil to a senior one) and the Chronicles of Narnia grew out of his strong religious belief. I see he is described as “ Apostle to the Skeptics “ because he came back to Christianity in his 30’s from unbelief. His conversion back is ascribed in part to Tolkien in their earlier close friendship.

I have not found either Tolkien or Lewis readable but their relationship and the Inklings is fascinating. The Eagle and Child is still very much open and is now very proud of its association.

While I was with Castrol we had a gathering of Surface Treatment representatives from the UK. They met at Pangbourne and stayed in Oxford. I knew most and Surface Treatment ( Castrol speak for production cleaning and temporary corrosion protection) was the area in which my group worked for Castrol International. Consequently I was invited to join the group at Oxford. During their stay they hired an open topped tour bus for a City tour. I arranged for a stop outside the Eagle and Child and gave a brief talk about the Inklings. For my short stint as a tour guide I was rewarded by attending their dinner.

Facts

What the leavers don’t say

The UK owes the EU quite a lot of money for our share of things like pensions. A low estimate is 28 billion pounds. What is more debateable are contingent liabilities where the UK has voted  to support activities still to happen. This could double our liability. I expect a mighty row when the implication is realised.

Reading

I am a voracious reader, no day is complete unless I read for a half hour or so before sleep. I also read in coffee and tea breaks. I trace this back to boyhood. After my next door friend moved when I was about 8 there were no children nearby. As an only child I was largely thrown on my own devices. We were a fairly bookish family as mother was also a great reader although father not so much. The daily paper and the occasional novel was about his limit.

The books at home were not just adult but mainly rather staid books from early 20^th century. We couldn’t afford to buy so most were inherited. They were slim pickings for me. I do recall Bulldog Drummond, a 20’s James Bond. I found one I recall completely baffling as it was on an airship( Zeppelin type ). As these had disappeared totally by the fifties I was completely bemused.

One of the first things I ever read was a Ministry of Information booklet on the Battle of Britain. My parents must have got this during the war. It was by my bed and I puzzled over it until I almost had the contents by heart. I can say I really learned to read from that pamphlet. I was delighted to have been able to buy a facsimile some years ago.

 I had access to very few children’s books. My cousins passed on to me the comics such as Rover, Hotspur and Wizard. These were actual written stories as mother frowned on strip cartoons. I thought these wonderful and I read them avidly. Unfortunately in the nature of things serials had chunks missing. Later and for a short time I was allowed buy Rover every week. The stories were often rather moral. I partly attribute being a non smoker to Braddock, the pilot hero of some stories. When offered a cigarette he curtly said  “ smoking- bad for the eyes”. I followed my hero’s advice.

This period of the late forties/early fifties was not long after WW11. Talk about the war in was all around but in snippets which both interested and puzzled me. I wanted to know what had happened. The only way I could see was to read Churchills  “History of the Second World War “. This was in about a half dozen heavyweight volumes but I borrowed them from the mobile library and plunged in. I suppose I actually read about half of each skimming over the boring bits. It did give me at least the broad outline of events plus some memorable features. It stimulated an interest in modern history which has lasted all my life.

Memorable curiosities included Roosevelt addressing his many messages to Churchill to Former Naval Person which referred to Churchill’s position as First Lord of the Admiralty in the first year of the war.

For want of children’s books I read such as the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie. I also read many Westerns by, for example, Zane Grey. It was a red letter day if I found a W.E Johns “ Biggles” book. Actual name Bigglesworth he was the pilot hero of a long running series of books spanning the twenties to the sixties. Johns was a prolific writer who also wrote for girls ( heroine Worralls )

Things broadened slightly when I went to secondary school which at least had a library. Even better I was able to join the town library when I was 12 or 13. This Carnegie library was to be my main source until I left home at just 19. A regular Saturday afternoon trip was cycle to the town to exchange books. Very reluctantly I also did some errands for mother in addition. I well recall being rather embarrassed to be in the “Home and Colonial” queue with middle aged housewives.and feeling very out of place.

My source of books was supplemented by an informal exchange with my second cousin David who lived in the village near my home. We were of similar age and taste. We had quite a few books set during WW11. One which had a major influence was “The Dam Busters” by Paul Brickhill.

From secondary school we went en masse to see the film of the Dam Busters in 1954. The only other film which the whole school attended was the “ Ascent of Everest”. This was a documentary of Hillary and Tensing’s successful first climb of 1953. I suppose both were not only educational but character forming.

Facts

As a public service what you won’t read in the Daily Mail

The City has largely given up on Brexit. An industry  group is talking of making the best of it and sees some potential. Several major organisations are planning to relocate thousands of jobs and activities to places like Dublin and Paris to stay within the EU border.

Joke

Haven’t put in a joke for a while so how about this

Q What do you call a donkey with three legs?

 A wonkey

Steampunk Festival

It is rather hard to define Steampunk. As a literary genre it has attracted enough fans to warrant a one day festival at Whitby. I attended their market. Essentially it is a subgroup of science fantasy set often in the Victorian era which imagines that electricity had not been discovered and wonderful creations are steam powered.

The name only originates from the eighties and presumably was coined by reference to the cyberpunk genre which fantasises about computers. I first met it about a decade earlier when I happened across a book called the Starlit Corridor. This was a collection of SF type work with the opening novella set in an imaginary world where electricity and anything related is banned on religious grounds. No electricity, no ignition system, no internal combustion engine so transport is by steam hauled road trains. The world of the traction engine is  recreated based on the early 20^th century Burrell , Fowler etc. engines. This was all a technological cul de sac as the petrol engine took over completely.

I forget the plot now as all I recall is the lovingly created alternative steam powered future. I was sufficiently enamoured to go to a traction engine festival at Market Bosworth. As an aside many traction engines have a large winch mounted horizontally beneath the boiler. This was used for steam ploughing. Essentially two engines stood either side of the field connected by cable to a plough which was pulled backwards and forwards by the traction engines. This must have been a cumbersome time consuming task and one can only imagine the relief which greeted the advent of the petrol tractor pulling a plough behind. Incidentally well into the fifties this would be an old fashioned plough as pulled by horses. The towbar lifted plough ( pioneered I think by Ferguson ) began to be widely used from the sixties on..

One feature of the festival ( which during the day took the form of an indoor market ) was the costume worn by many of the folks attending. These were many and various. One common theme for men was top hat styles worn with goggles pushed up over the hat while for ladies it was skirts worn long and hitched up at the side. However there were many variations such as the military redcoat uniform  worn with solar topee ( pith helmet ). Strikingly the chevrons of rank on the uniform had slogans such as “1 sugar, no milk”. The wearer also had a mask and I had to look twice to see it was a lady.

We later commented that the attendees were predominantly middle aged to elderly. We can only conclude this was type of person who had the time and money to indulge.

The “no electricity” feature didn’t seem to apply to lights where many artefacts had coloured lights. The display featured both things which could work and things which were just fantasy. The items on display varied enormously from old telephones, old cameras through to electrostatic discharge equipment which I recognised from schooldays as a lightly disguised Wimshurst machine. This was most definitely working and wowed the crowds with impressive lightning discharges. By far the most complex was a humanoid robot made of gold coloured Meccano which was a writing machine. Unfortunately when we visited it was reduced to just stabbing its pen down onto the paper. Amusingly the robot had a ( supposedly steam powered ) robot dog..

In the car park but on display was an old split screen Volkswagen camper van. This had a complex interior which reminded me of an old gypsy caravan but with everything in brass looking metal. The van also had a wood burning stove complete with chimney although I can hardly believe it could ever be working.

An interesting sub culture. Alex has enjoyed the book “Cog heart” which is firmly in the Steampunk genre