When I met Ali

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

So, I was first introduced to Ali Bongo ( he wasn’t called that back then!) back in August 2018. A long-held longing for a campervan, my approaching 54th birthday, and an annoying habit of browsing facebook Marketplace, had me seriously considering going to look at an old campervan, a Mazda Bongo, whatever that was, locally. The guy lived in Kilmarnock, just up the road 20 minutes from here. He was looking for £4k for this thing, which didn’t sound ridiculous, certainly compared to VWs, and I was intrigued by the fact that it was an import, from Japan. Mazda never marketed the Bongo here in the UK, for some reason. So, I asked Lorraine, my long suffering wife, if she might come with me, and have a look over this old van with me. Surprisingly, there were no raised eyebrows, or derisory comments….could this be a good omen? So, I contacted Wullie – the guy selling the van – and arranged to go along on Sunday afternoon to have a nosey round the van. I don’t know what I expected to happen, honestly. I had no preconceptions, having never seen one of these before. The attractions were the locality, the price, the photos didn’t look too bad, and the grey import thing was appealing.

I had no idea that I would be setting in motion an attachment that would be this strong!

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.