Tiniest Camper I Ever Saw - London

Tiny Camper - with Bed - Table - Pop Top

We saw this tiny little camper sitting on the street in Chelsea - close to the Chelsea Hospital and the National Army Museum. They park it on the street because it had a parking permit good until July of 2018. I could live right there. 

In the back it had a bed that looked like a single - maybe 40 inches wide. It also had a table that folds down from the wall. I did not see a toilet or shower  :-)

It was made by Daihatsu. 

I would take this sample on a Circle the USA Tour. See the USA in your Daihatsu-lay.

Plenty of room to spare in the parking space

Plenty of room to the curb too

The pop top goes up so you can stand inside

I am guessing  it was 9 feet long

That looks like a stove that tilts out the side

It is a 5 door van. 2 cylinder engine

I did not check but it might have been a 4 WD. 

The Apartment Heating System In London

This bathroom towel heater gets very hot.

In the old days - London Apartments had a coal fireplace in every room. They were drafty because the thick stone walls were not insulated. In the 1950s - there was so much smoke from the coal fireplaces that people were dying from respiratory problems. The smoke mixed with the London fog to become smog. People in China today have the same problem from all the coal they burn.

In 1956 - they passed the Clean Air Act. All the old fireplaces and chimneys were sealed - you could no longer burn coal.

The heating system in this apartment today is elegant. In the kitchen - in a cabinet - is a simple gas furnace. When you turn it on - it heats the water to 150 degrees. Then there are tubes to flat radiators in each room. The thermostat controls the flow of water. In the bathrooms - they have these wonderful towel heaters - that act as radiators. They also let you dry towels or clothes on them. There is nothing like a hot dry towel for your shower in the morning.

In the summer - this apartment does not have air conditioning. We sleep with the windows open - no screens necessary. The breeze goes right through the home. We are on the 4th floor - no worry about crooks.

In the old days - coal was king. There were big areas of Coal Regions in the north. They burned smokey brown coal - a grade much lower than Anthracite - closer to Lignite. Now they harness the oil and gas coming from the North Sea fields.


A flat water radiator



Thermostats turn water flow on and off



Control for the gas furnace boiler - right in the kitchen cabinet



This tiny furnace does the whole apartment

Walking The Street of London On Tuesday - Heading Home Thursday

Our time is running out in London. We fly home tomorrow. I get melancholy the last day. We have had so many good times over here - with family and friends. The kids spent the Olympics here with us. Lulu teaches the summers at the FSU campus here. In 1996 - it was the first place we traveled overseas together as a family. Watching our buddy Joan flourish over here makes me feel like a proud parent again. My two favorite places to visit are Hawaii and London. Both are 10 hours by plane from our home in Florida. When you get old - you often think - is this the last time I will be here. You have to make sure that if this is the last time - make it the best time. 

We wake up to a bowl of "New Balance" - tea - milk - orange juice

Our subway - the Bakerloo or Brown line - goes right downtown

Trafalgar Square - named after a battle with Spain

 
The lion is the national animal of the United Kingdom

The Uganda Embassy

In the subway - they are afraid of you falling under the train 

Guildhall - several city museums on a courtyard

Guildhall Museum of Art - about the city

Guildhall

Churchill in Guildhall

Wellington - they love him - he beat Napoleon

Trials held in Guildhall

Standard measures - foot - yard

Queen Elizabeth Regina Coat of Arms

 
Guildhall Museum of Art

More Guildhall Art

The first London School board

Guildhall Library

The Mayor's Carriage

A Jewish Church

Jewish Church - was not called a synagogue. 

The London Exchange 

Leadenhall Market

I tell Lulu I will die from intestine problems  :-)

Oxford Street at 3 PM - it was getting dark already

Buses and Cabs and rich cars. It cost $16 a day just to drive you cars in downtown London. THEY ARE TURNING OXFORD STREET TO PEDESTRIANS ONLY NEXT YEAR.

 
Christmas lights (LED)  over whole building

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire - boy did they stink.

My favorite car - the Hybrid Double Decker Bus

This pub is right by Joan's - The Warwick Castle. Note the marble fireplace. The fuel looks like chunks of coal - but it is natural gas. Last night the girls went to Apologia with Stockard Channing. She is 74 now. 

London Hybrid Bus Would Make a Wonderful Camper

London Hybrid Double Decker Bus -
would make a great camper

On our trip to London - I have seen hundreds of really neat vehicles - cars - trucks - buses - scooter - electric carts - etc - etc. But probably the one that amazes me the most is this hybrid bus. They were new in 2012 for the Olympics. Basically it is a 14 feet tall by about 40 feet long with an electric motor. It also has a large battery back. Then it has a generator to recharge the batteries. The generator comes on when the voltage falls - and turns off when the batteries are charged.

All the lights on the bus are LED. Even the air conditioner runs on electricity.

The buses cost $450,000 each. They are expected to last 40 years. The interiors are beautiful. They include 2 sets of steps going up to a second floor. Can you imagine what a nice camper you could design inside? Bedrooms - bathrooms - kitchens - living rooms.

The bus generator is very quiet - in a camper - it could go on and off during the night - charging the batteries to run the air conditioners. At night you could plug it into an 110 volt or 220 volt outlet to top up the batteries. It would have the capacity to haul several Tesla Powerwall batteries.

In London - you buy a credit card called an Oyster card. When you ride a bus or subway - you just tap the reader with your card and it charges your account. You are able to add money 2 ways - in machines at the stations you can add money. You can go online with your cellphone and add money directly to you account. You can buy day - week - month - year passes - for unlimited use.

See this story I wrote 5 years ago.

http://everhart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/car-of-day-nb4l-new-bus-for-london.html#more

Last Night We Went To The Play - Everybody's Talking About Jamie

You all know how much Lulu and I love to go see the play - Billy Elliot. It is a story about a young boy that lives in the Coal Regions of England and wants to become a ballet dancer. That play explores the problems of being different in a small town. It reminds me of Lulu's life story of leaving a small town to be a college professor in Florida.

So - when all the ads over here trumpeted this play as the next Billy Elliot - we had to go.

Monday morning - we took the subway to the West End - London's Broadway. At the box office - I reminded the ticket seller that I wear hearing aids. He gave me three 67 pound tickets in the 5th row for 25 pounds each! We were all set for a great night.

You can judge a nation on how they treat their disadvantaged.

At 6:30 PM - we left the apartment and got to the Apollo Theatre on Shaftsbury Avenue in plenty of time. What we found at the theatre was a distinctly different crowd. First of all - their were more men than usual. Generally - the crowds for West End shows are about 75% women and 25% men. Not this time.

The singing and dancing were really good. There was an ensemble cast of about twelve.  Lulu liked the fact that there were two Muslim girl characters who were really smart and funny.  Sheffield is in the north of England so there was the thick Northern accent that was a bit hard to decipher at some points.  Joan said that the girl who played Cilla Black was so white that she almost looked albino.  But the man who played Jamie cold give her a run for her money.

We got to our seats and they were excellent - but in front of us - there was a full row of about 10 men. They play started abruptly at 7:30 - and the crowd was not even settled.

The premise was simple - it was a true story. In the steel mill town of Sheffield - lived 16 year old Jamie. He was openly gay. His father disowned him - his mother stood behind him. The kids in school readily accepted him - and supported him. His desire was to be a drag queen - the kid could really wear flamboyant clothes. This is where the play steered away from Billy Elliot and into Kinky Boots territory.

I will leave you without the ending. Jamie wanted to wear a dress to the prom - and the school administration did not agree.

At the curtain call - the mother got the biggest applause. And Jamie strutted off stage into the future.

Monday Morning Strolling Around London

In 1958 - The early Beatles as a skiffle band

The Lego Store on London

All this stuff is made of Legos

The London waterfront made of Legos

A Citroen 2CV of Legos

Hot Chocolate table service on Leicester Square

The streets were empty Monday morning

Big Ben is under renovation

The London Eye is always open for business at 20 pounds 

The Battle of Britain Memorial along the Thames

Tonight we are going to this play. It is called the Billy Elliot for today's generation. A young man in Sheffield England wants to go to the prom in a dress. It really happened. The student body supports him against the administration.

A Gutenburg Press - first printed books in 1440. This was at the British Library. We went there to see the Harry Potter exhibit. I have not read the Harry Potter books - so I was lost. One thing I learned was that JK Rowling was a very pretty and rich women. 

Some old rock and roll records at the British Library

Our good friends Dick and Jan Davis stayed at the St Pancras Hotel. We met there together and the rest was history. Note the cute old restaurant trailer out front. 

Rooms start at around $400 a night. No wonder they can afford to let this Lambo sit out front all the time. It has a V12 engine where the back seat should be. 

The St Pancras Station and Hotel. You can catch the Eurostar to Paris from here. We did that many times.