Lately as I have wandered around the Gypsy Travellers Fair, watched videos of independent travellers and talked to bus drivers about their coaches, I have had the peculiar sensation of droplets of water welling up in the resevoire of my eyes.

There is obviously something so deep within my being that is resonating with the idea of breaking free from this common life and venturing forward onto a road less travelled.

The only other time that I feel this phenomena is when I help people who actually need it.

Talking to those that are location independent is way better than trying to share your lifestyle idea with those in the life that you want to escape from - your friends, family, co-workers.  You catch their enthusiasm, they give you advice and tips that you don't read anywhere else, and wouldn't know to ask about!  [Thanks 'dragon lady']  You see the rigs they are living in, many with creature comforts such as cats and dogs I might add!

Even seeing Atlas off at the bus stop this morning, we looked at the coach in a totally different light.  We were all talking about how to modify it, how high the ceiling would be, what goes in the storage etc.  We walked down the side and marked out where the different 'rooms' would go. We know where to find out the model number of the vehicle, the RUC weight rating. The driver did look at us with a perplexing glare when he saw us taking down details, but relaxed when we said that we wanted to modify a bus and were trying to find out as much about it as possible.  Today's investigation was into a Scania K114, 18 tonne GCW coach, 2 doors, 13m, for which the driver had a class 4 license.  At that length, we wouldn't be able to haul a toad, even if we wanted to later.