There's a hole in my shoe (letting in water)

So I'm lying in bed, not a care in the world when I notice staining on the roof lining at the back of the van. Get up, touch it, it's damp. We have a leak.

One of the few design flaws of this R20 van is the area around the rear roof vent. The pop-up vent needs to be there to help expel cooking steam but it is on an area of the roof which isn't quite flat and so, after heavy rain, water puddles in the roof lying up against the vent. 

We had a minor problem in the past with the seal being breached but this is a bit worse. Really needs resealing properly all around. Fortunately I have some bathroom silicone in the emergency kit so at least ought be able to bodge a repair. Trouble is it's on the roof and using the step I can't reach. Nick a chair from the camp kitchen and now I can almost reach, but not quite enough to do a decent job.

Now the Polish attendants at this campsite have excellent English but 'ladder' is not part of their normal vocabulary. As I'm doing my Marcel Marceau impression I spot what looks like the corner of a ladder round the back of the office. It is, the're happy for me to borrow it and 30 minutes of sticky fingers later the fanlight has a bead of sealant all around it. Dunno whether it will be 100% effective but it's the best we can do on the road. Job covered with the emergency tarpaulin to keep rain off whilst the silicone is curing and hopefully the roof lining won't watermark to badly.

It's a fun life, this being on the road!