Sounds from beyond the Shed 192 “New Van”

Ever since this column began, I have, on occasion, bored you, dear reader, with my tales from the road as I’ve driven round the UK and Europe in our brilliant van, Pierre, so named because he is a Peugeot and therefore French. Well, this week we have decided to trade this lovely thing in for something a bit bigger. The details are tedious, but suffice it to say that making the bed every night and having to climb an obstacle course to take a midnight pee contributed heavily to the decision. Age is a bastard. Or laziness, one of the two.

So off we go to look at bigger, if not better, vans, and we find one. A jewel amongst the tawdry dross, but I’m afraid I suspect I’m still not quite an adult despite my age. This van is fitted with three beds, a toilet, a shower, a cooker, and many more bells and whistles, but all I’m bothered about is the sound of the built-in stereo. I make no excuses if it had sounded awful, it would have broken the deal.

On our first day at the showroom, they couldn’t find the keys to start it. I went back alone the next day ( a 120 mile round trip) with a playlist. The first two tracks are below, but by track four, I was sold, so was the van. Track number one is the song I have played first in every vehicle I have ever acquired since 1985, and track two has every sound you need to hear on a car stereo.

That’s your listening this week, some Steppenwolf and some Wilco, and the radio show is virtually all new stuff, such as Chrissy Johnson, Corey Hanson, Whitney K,  Minor Gold, Joe Nolan, Luke Tyler Shelton, and more. As ever…