A Vintage Truck: An Amateur Team: An Immovable Deadline
The Comic Memoir of a Crazy Idea
Awarded a Readersâ Favorite 5* Seal
Featuring âThe Beastâ, an expedition truck, as seen on TV*
On a whim, Jackie and Mark purchased a 30-year-old 24.5-tonne 6-wheel Belgian army truck blind off the internet. Their plan: to create an off-grid tiny home on wheels fit for an overland expedition from the UK to Mongolia.
When a friend said, âI can convert that for you,â they thought their luck was in.
But with the sudden onset of a global pandemic, a thorny thicket of international red tape, looming homelessness â then finding out the hard way that expecting your mate to act reasonably is not a sound premise for a business relationship⌠it soon turned into a truckload of trouble.
Filled with quirky van life friends and unexpected twists, this is an inspiring tale of perseverance, friendship, and finding the courage to conquer the challenges that face those who dare to chase their dreams.
*The Beast appeared on Ben Fogleâs New Lives in the Wild.
A Vintage Truck: An Amateur Team: An Immovable Deadline
The Comic Memoir of a Crazy Idea
Awarded a Readersâ Favorite 5* Seal
Featuring âThe Beastâ, an expedition truck, as seen on TV*
On a whim, Jackie and Mark purchased a 30-year-old 24.5-tonne 6-wheel Belgian army truck blind off the internet. Their plan: to create an off-grid tiny home on wheels fit for an overland expedition from the UK to Mongolia.
When a friend said, âI can convert that for you,â they thought their luck was in.
But with the sudden onset of a global pandemic, a thorny thicket of international red tape, looming homelessness â then finding out the hard way that expecting your mate to act reasonably is not a sound premise for a business relationship⌠it soon turned into a truckload of trouble.
Filled with quirky van life friends and unexpected twists, this is an inspiring tale of perseverance, friendship, and finding the courage to conquer the challenges that face those who dare to chase their dreams.
*The Beast appeared on Ben Fogleâs New Lives in the Wild.
âIf youâd just bought a normal, boring campervan like every sane person in the world, you wouldnât have had any of these problems. Life would be extremely dull, though.â Gwyn Moses, DipHe, BSc, BSc (Hons), MBA, BA (Hons) & BMF (Best Male Friend â apart from my husband, Mark!)
I have an admission to make. Property renovation programmes are my guilty pleasure â and an inspiration.
First and foremost, Iâm a Hammer Head.
For years, Homes Under the Hammer was my weekday daytime paramour. âHammer,â as itâs known to aficionados, features unsuspecting buyers purchasing property at auction. They aspire to find rubies in the rough and profit from the plain, but frequently end up with dry rot, subsidence, and a blown budget.
This happens most often when they ignore Hammerâs golden rules.
ALWAYS view before bidding.
Read the legal pack.
Set a budget and stick to it.
I love the variety of projects they feature: from old sewage works to pieces of industrial wasteland, with every type of residential dwelling in between. But, a highlight for me is the literal soundtrack. The music is truly inspiring. They might pair the âBeforeâ montage of a ramshackle wreck with This Ole House by Shakinâ Stevens. Dodgy circuitry? Cue Eddy Grantâs Electric Avenue. My all-time favourite was the outstanding appropriation of Billy Idolâs Rebel Yell for a many-bedroomed residence whose only toilet was outside. Iâm certain that in the midnight hour, the young lady who cried for more, more, more was not lodging an impassioned request additional indoor privies.
From the beginning, George Clarkeâs Amazing Spaces has been grist to the mill of my tiny home aspirations. Here, subjects create bonkers but bijou living quarters from sheds, tree houses, or an odd assortment of base vehicles such as a derelict boat, a retired London bus, or a decommissioned Sea King helicopter fuselage strapped to a flatbed truck.
But if itâs wild ambition meeting unfettered eccentricity youâre after, thereâs always the granddaddy of them all, Grand Designs.
Since 1999, architect Kevin McCloud, MBE, clad in a blazer with his trademark woolly scarf rippling behind in a breeze of creativity, follows the visionaries of this world. The ones who drive humanity forward with their crazy thinking, experimental ideas, and unwavering optimism. People prepared to sacrifice their sanity â along with their relationships and their grandchildrenâs inheritance â on the altar of their bold, unconventional, and sometimes hopelessly insane, home-building dreams.
Who can forget the âheroicâ Eco Arch house, whose domed roof was a confection of ceramic tiles and plaster of Paris last seen in 14th century Spain? It partially collapsed when one of the crew leaned on it. Or the monumental challenge of Yorkshireâs Hellifield Peel Tower? A stately seven-bedroom family castle raised from an 800-year-old pile of Grade-1-listed rubble, despite the central wall disintegrating and the costs exploding. Or the builds based on the shape of an ammonite fossil or a hamster wheel?
At key milestones, McCloud pops in to survey the subjectâs progress, proffer wise counsel, and gently allude to flaws in design and logic. Then, he presents his signature soliloquy to camera like a wandering, windblown poet.
âThis collapsing beam is no mere structural support. It is the spine of Rufusâ aspirations. The backbone of Camillaâs dream.â
When he returns to find the unfortunate couple/kids/newborns spending another unexpected winter in a caravan surrounded by freezing mud and construction chaos, McCloud may discuss the pros and cons of their approach to Project Management.
Regardless of my decades long televisual apprenticeship, I never understood the purpose of Project Management.
Even as an absolute novice, who had disregarded Hammerâs principal golden rule and bought unseen.
If you have discussed your plans with a knowledgeable contractor who is working for you, whatâs the point of a Project Manager? Wonât the builder simply handle it for you?
And if youâre a reasonably intelligent individual, capable of navigating the treacherous waters of budget overruns and construction calamities, canât you just oversee a project yourself?
Even in absentia, because coronavirus travel restrictions mean you canât return to the UK to supervise your project in person?
After all, email and international mobile telecommunications have featured on the communication landscape for decades.
I could almost see McCloudâs quizzical eyebrows arch higher than the dome of the 14th century Spanish villa.
With our own Grand Design, my husband Mark and I were about to discover the merits of hands-on project management.
The hard way.
Jacqueline and Mark were living a nomadic life when the British government wanted to put Brexit into action. Mark and Jacqueline decided to buy âthe beastâ, an old army vehicle they could use as a travelling home. They decided to build the beast right before the COVID pandemic and asked their friend Miles to help them. While refreshingly honest with invoicing, Miles wasnât the fastest worker, and this brought endless stress and delays, which Jacqueline shares in a humorous and very humble way.
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I loved the book because of its tales of both practicality and adventure, the camping communities who gather around the fire, and the often invisible struggles with bureaucracy that come with living an unconventional life. The humour Jacqueline uses throughout the book (he laughed at me when I said the Lamborghini had class; I might have called him something that rhymes with Clarse), and the vivid imagery (I still canât get whelks or Tibetan breakfasts out of my head) make this a delightful read.Â
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For readers who love interesting characters interspersed with the practicalities of a nomadic lifestyle and the challenges of life on the road (or trying to get there), this book is a gem. Jacqueline is an insightful narrator who engages readers from the very beginning, bringing in interesting facts and social perspectives whilst simultaneously balancing very human topics (how do you negotiate with people according to personality, and what do you do with your poo?). She gives space for Mark to share some of his stories and raises some important perspectives. Why did Boris Johnson support Brexit when he has immigrant heritage? How can it be that a government that supports citizens from the very start has people who may just disappear from the bureaucratic system?Â
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If you are looking for a quirky and intelligent read about going on the road, climate change, and politics, this is an excellent choice. My only sadness was that Building the Beast seemed to end quite quickly. I see that there are other books by Jacqueline that I would love to read and am hoping for a sequel.Â