I have said that there is no community of van dwellers but that is not exactly true. I am sure that if we were to hang around for long enough, we would meet a lot of people but those that we have met all seem to fit the stereotype of people who live in vans much more than we imagined they would. Or are we now discriminating in the same way that we reproached our family and friends for doing?
It is hard to say but people who live in vans seem to wash less frequently than most and spend their nights drinking heavily. I don’t mean to be judgemental. I have spent as much time off my face as any other Brit but it’s not something I’m interested in any more. And I don’t really care how often people wash, as long as I don’t live with them.
In Laos we briefly lived with a man who had not used soap in five years. He was proud of this fact and thought that people who bought soap were suckers. What were his reasons? Not that he was a peace-loving, soap-dodging hippy, but that he was miser and hated spending money on what he saw as useless items. He liked to think he smelled sweet and natural, but get too close to him on a tropical afternoon and you’d see that his greasy skin would exude a nasty wet dog smell reminiscent of a sweaty, windowless gymnasium.
But I digress. Honestly, I pride myself on being open minded and I will give anyone a chance, even if they do smell like a wet dog in the tropics. So, anyone who lives in a van in Brighton whose primary interest isn’t getting trashed please get in contact...I’d love to meet you.
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