At the time of my last post, we were a week or so into "lockdown", but by the large, this had mostly had no real impact on me, due to the fact that I was parked up on site of a property Ive been working on and had little need or reason to travel anywhere, for work or otherwise, with the exception of to a friends house once a week or so to see my dog and do my laundry. Since then however the government guidance has been escalated into an instruction, being enforced as mandatory rather than advisory.
Arriving at my friends on Sunday, as has been the general routine, a knock on the door followed shortly afterwards - two police officers on the doorstep. I answered, and to briefly summarise the conversation which followed, a neighbour had reported my arrival as breach of lockdown instructions, and I was given an "informal warning" for making unnecessary journeys and visits - the instruction I was given was that I must make a decision to either choose to live in my van in isolation alone, or temporarily reside at my friends house for the remainder of the lockdown period - which is currently undetermined - or face a formal warning next time. I'm currently torn between the two options.
On one hand, the vanlifer in me almost by reflex wants to take my dog and ride out this storm on the road, which for the most part would be fairly easy for me, especially as my van is equipped for off-grid, and I have options of parkup on private land, including my own. The difficulties would be doing laundry and showering - but both of which are doable in the van - and work, which would involve travelling, unless I boondock locally, publicly. Not ideal, especially as that would draw a certain level of attention, particularly as the local beauty spots are being policed for unnecessary travel.
On the other hand, my friend has offered for me to stay for a while, which from a practicality perspective, makes a degree of sense, as I currently have some work (which is regarded as essential and cannot be done from "home") to do in this town so it significantly reduces the amount of travel I would need to do each way, and therefore the risk of further constabulary reprimand. But, whilst I wouldn't want to look a gifthorse in the mouth and all, it's not exactly why I signed up to this nomadic lifestyle, and feels a bit cheaty - plus I've kinda gotten used to and fond of my little shack on wheels. At the same time, I really should be grateful - there are many vanlifers out there currently with nowhere to go, trying their best to keep out of sight and living in fear of hostility. So I'm certainly not ungrateful for both the offer and the options I have available to me which many dont.
So with that in mind, I think I'll take up the offer from my friend to stay here, temporarily at least, even if it does feeling like I'm "selling out" a little. It's not ideal - but, lets be honest, none of this situation is ideal - but this is week 3 of an initial three week lockdown, so we'll see what the next announcement brings, and I'll see how long I can hack bricks and mortar. It may be short-lived. We'll see.
Stay safe out there!
