Thanks for the warning, George.  The PO actually had a cover for her - now
if I can find it, I might use it.  But at the moment she's my bedroom, so I
can't exactly cover her!  Maybe I'll do some serious cleaning and make room
for her in the garage - I guess that would be sensible.  But not very nice
as a bedroom, the garage is kind of dark.

Meanwhile I'm having serious withdrawal!  Living in a house is certainly
convenient - love that shower, and being able to run water in the sink
without worrying where the gray water is going or whether my water tank is
empty is sure nice.  But I really don't want to get settled in, buy
furniture, and get anchored by all that stuff I worked so hard to get rid of
when Matilda and I set out together.

And my tenant (also an old friend of mine, though maybe not any more?) left
all kinds of crap in my house, which she keeps telling me I should keep,
because it's "useful."  Not to mention all the crap of hers that she forgot,
the stuff she didn't realize was there and doesn't want me to discard (who
knew she had a Barbie doll?), the stuff she just didn't get around to moving
out yet, and the things that are just plain weird.  Like the 50 one-gallon
jugs of tap water in the basement, the twenty or thirty five-gallon white
plastic buckets in the garage, the big plastic bags full of foam rubber,
etc. etc.  She seems to think she's going to have an ongoing role gardening
my backyard, too - but I want that huge compost container gone!  Not to
mention the tomato plants that are not providing tomatoes, etc. etc. etc.

Sorry for the rant!  Not much Vanagon content here.  But not much bass
content, either, though, so I guess it's okay.

Joy

p.s.  At least I did meet a fellow vanagonaut today, at an "antiques" fair
that sets up in Arlington every Saturday.  She and her husband are new to
Westies - they only adopted a week ago! - so we chatted, and I gave them
lots of useful references, especially this list, Larry's mechanics list on
roadhaus.com, and suggestions about Vanagon get-togethers.  So that slightly
eased my withdrawal pains.

****************************************************************
Joy Hecht
now living in a real house in northern Virginia
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
now living in the driveway and resting after two and a half years
lugging Joy and her stuff around...

For musings about life and the vanadventures:
http://www.joyhecht.net

****************************************************************

  _____

From: George Thorburn [mailto:thorgk@accesscomm.ca]
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 10:34 AM
To: jhecht@alum.mit.edu
Cc: Vanagon Mailing List
Subject: Parking Matilda

Joy wrote;

> and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
> now living in the driveway and resting after two and a half years
> lugging Joy and her stuff around...

Joy,

Try and fing some where under cover to keep Matlda.  From my experience
nothing ages these cars faster than sitting out in the sun and weather
without being used.  All the plastic, fiberglass and rubber parts seem to
deteriorate.  The canvas and the inside of the pop top get damp and
discolour.  Westies like to sleep somewhere dark and dry.

Also;

>>Oh, yeah, and a few weirdos - but hey, you can
>>tell that from cyberspace!
Care to name names?  Just kidding.

George

'85 Westfalia  (that spends the winter in a big cold garage)