Carol explained 'we tried very hard to look for somewhere to rent, but with a dog it's very
very difficult. It was going to work out as tremendously expensive to rent a property and keep
our possessions in store.' George and Carol had no other option but to live in their car.
As Carol says 'It has my life in it: cases, everything for dog, brushing equipment, bags of fruit,
wellington boots, shoes, coats.'
Carol describes a typical day as starting with a wash in a service station - hoping no-one will
see them, because the owners are none to keen on people doing this. Breakfast is usually cereal
with milk heated on their calor-gas stove. There follows a quick tidy up to make themselves look
as respectable as possible, and then out to walk the dog round the car park.
Experience has taught them the best places to sleep at night, although Carol says 'you're always
sleeping with one ear open all the time, and one eye open' Lay-byes are OK, says Carol ' but we
try to go where the lorry drivers are .. you feel quite safe then.'
George and Carol then make their way to the nearest town where they 'do' the estate agents. The
agents are pleased to see them at first, but this wanes a little as they hear about the price range
quoted. George and Carol then tour the area to see if there's a property which interests them, and
if there is, they then return to the agent to make an appointment.
Both George and Carol are retired. They've used their savings up travelling around and are now
beginning to break into their 'house money' and 'things are beginning to get desperate.' George
tells Carol that they will end up living in a tent. As house prices go up, their reserves go down.
Even though it's cold in the car, they don't sit with the engine ticking over. Carol says 'people
who do that thoroughly annoy me because I get into a car park and I'm sick of breathing traffic fumes!'
It's a bit of a squash in the car. George, quite a big man, sleeps in the driver's seat, but can't
push the seat back too far or the dog grumbles from the back seat. Carol curls up on the passenger
side. Half way through the night, they both get up to stretch their legs and swap seats - 'it's
very difficult to with the steering wheel to turn round at all' explains Carol. And you wake up
extremely stiff!
They find that people's reactions to them vary. Carol tries not to get too involved; she leaves
it to George to give a succinct explanation of their situation. Most people are sympathetic, but
as Carol says 'there's not much they can do. It's our problem and nobody else's.'
The lowest point, Carol recalls was In December 97, at the start of it all. Both she and George
were ill with 'flu. Carol says they 'were feeling a bit sad when we went past people's houses and
saw Christmas tree lights on and warm fires'.
Having no fixed address, it is difficult for people to get in touch with them. Carol's mother had
been taken into a home suffering from Alzheimer's disease, 'I was very worried about her and then
two or three weeks ago, I was reading the local newspaper - we were looking down the Deaths column
and I noticed my mother's death was announced.'
