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Bonjour, from Normandy!

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  • Bonjour, from Normandy!

    Hey Folks,
    Aaron here, introducing myself. I come from Kent in the UK originally, but I've been here in Normandy since 2004 and currently living in a little cabin in the woods with the love of my life, wifi and a T4. So life's just grand.

    Profession - Pin-up artist. Type Bushcraft Betty in Youtube. That's my work, but rather dated looking

    I'm also a 30 year veteran carpenter/joiner, though nowadays we make enough off my drawing hobby to pay the bills. I still do the odd carpentry job now and then. Sort of have to, since the girlfriend and I are working on the cabin renovation and garden upgrade.

    Interests - Bushcraft and camping mainly. So combining this hobby with a T4 has transformed my world, honestly, I've never had such fun dreaming up ways of making the once people carrier van into an adventure van any rough camping bushcrafter would envy. The grin factor is off the chart playing with this van. My girlfriend and I spent four weeks living out of it last year. Two weeks static in the woods at the Bushmoot at Bridgend in south Wales. Driving along mud trails deep into the woods was hill-airy-arse! This was followed by two more weeks on the road camping around north Cornwall, before driving back along the pretty coastal route to Kent. We slept better than royalty and ate like kings on meals cooked a single gas ring cooker or campfire. Warm dry with only a small snag list of changes we found we needed. Stocked up on some great memories too.

    Other hobbies inc Motorbikes. Reading, Sci-fi mostly. We're also into DVDs a lot, but have no incoming TV. Mainstream media does my head in, though I do like spending time online, including Facebook. I hadn't realised Just T4s was actually a dedicated forum rather than just another random VW Facebook group. D'oh! I've been a member there since getting my van back in 2015.

    Proud owner of a 310k (km) 1.9tdi swb van, aka Velma. And is my ever evolving project to make the van as multi-purpose as possible. Fully insulated with a ton of storage space. A chuck box and roof rack. A tool box storage unit, which turns into a sofa, which tuns into a single bed, which turns into a double bed. And I can still load her out as a builder's van if I have to. I use the trailer for the dirty stuff.

    Recent stuff on the van. Changed the front VW logo with a custom made peace sign. I before Christmas I got around to doing the EGR mod and also ditched that daft restrictive horn out of the airbox lid. Love the change in low down power. The UK trip saw us clock up 2000 miles and it was a joy to fly up some of the hills to Yorkshire and back to Kent. This is the second engine I've had in it (It is a T4 after all) and the replacement wasn't as pokey as the original one. Shame it had to eat a valve on the M25 three days before Christmas 2015. .. I digress. These small 5 minute mods put the grin back on my face. Now I don't know if I can be bothered doing the fuel pump and turbo mod. Honestly, I moved to France for a slower pace of life, and pootling along at 55 kmh or mph suits me just fine. I'm not in any rush. I'm a born again hippy/biker with a T4.

    Thanks for reading.

  • #2
    Great story mate, sounds as though you hit the jackpot. How about posting a few pics so we can all drool over your good fortune. Not forgetting of course welcome and I hope you have a long and fruitful stay with us.

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    • #3
      Bonjour Aaron ( or rather 'bonsoir' ) ........ I'm also in France ; )

      You and your mrs sound like very interesting folk, living in a cabin in the woods and all that.
      I know what you mean by living in France and taking things easy, that's happens to be the reason why I came here myself, I moved from Jersey a
      couple of years ago, moved to a sleepy little village in central France ........ love it here ; )

      I'd never heard of a 'pin-up artist' so had to check it out on google ......... very interesting !

      I also had a look at your youtube channel, very talented bloke.


      Hope to hear about some more of your adventures, got any photos ?






      TURK
      Yeah, baby ! ........ new Multivan 151bhp AHY 'BigBlue' ; ) >> http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1023689
      And ......... Lulu, T4 2.5 TDi short nose 126bhp > http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=276554
      The T4 Quad Headlight Project > http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=249064

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      • #4
        Welcome and what a life[emoji869]


        Sent from my iPhone using Just T4s

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        • #5
          Hi Aaron and welcome on board. I've a few Pin Up posters on my garage walls, probably not the same thing though!

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          • #6
            Hi Aaron

            We are having a week in Normandy during August. Maybe we'll bump in to each other (I probably won't be in the T4 though).

            Welcome aboard

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            • #7
              Welcome.
              dead jealous. Post pics
              Me cago en la madre que te pariĆ³!

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              • #8
                Welcome along matey,

                Loving your artwork, and sounds like you've made the perfect lifestyle choices..

                Pics please....

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                • #9
                  Thanks!

                  Hi folks, thanks for the greetings and the kind words. Kinda feel a little self conscious having bigged my lifestyle up, but maybe I just am content with living more basic than most. Anyway, thanks for the comments.

                  I would post photos, but I can't seem to get that function to work. All I get is some dark filter overlay the page and nothing happens or loads. Maybe I have too few posts yet to qualify for that privilege?

                  Cabin in the woods does sound romantic, but it's actually a single storey prefab concrete building that sits on about a tennis court sized patch of land. The previous owner was very eccentric and pretty much filled the land around the house with bizarre concrete, wood and scrap metal "sculptures". I am now on a first name basis with the operators at the local tip. I've lost count of the trailer loads I've taken there since moving in here 4 years ago. The work continues though, as does discovering yet more washing machines and stashes of empty wine bottles buried under 40+ years of leaf litter and debris.

                  Let's say it has LOTS of potential. But the end result (I hope) is to have a semi off-grid home with as few incoming utilities as possible. Which currently stands at three - electric, water and phone. We use bottled gas to cook with and have a septic tank for the toilet and grey water and our main heating is supplied by my old faithful circa 1930s woodburner.

                  If you're interested this is my blog. (I really need to add some new content soon) https://bikersplacetwo.wordpress.com/ You'll see what I mean about the garden when you see the photos.

                  I'll post some pix of the T4 and our road trip from last year when I can figure out what the deal is with posting photos here.

                  Catch yuz'all later folks.

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                  • #10
                    great write up Aaron, I"m now going to kick the cat!

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                    • #11
                      Grey filter overlay is same as I have .
                      You sound like you have the lifestyle sorted. I'm almost there with mine now, little bit to do..
                      can't wait to see your pictures...
                      Me cago en la madre que te pariĆ³!

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