We don’t know what we’ve got ’til it’s gone

We take so many things for granted – lights that come on at the flick of a switch (thanks to our batteries and solar), water that runs at the turn of a tap (thanks to our tank and Canal and River Trust water points) and these days the apparently vital ability to summon maps, search engines and all the realms of the internet  when we want.

This week we’ve been internet chasing. Started fine – good signal on everything. And then we had to move the boat – not far but far enough to create a problem. It doesn’t mean a move of miles – moving just a few feet can change everything.

We have a 4G router linked to an aerial (which we need to remember to lower when travelling and sometimes remove when lowered because bridges are too low for it to pass). This system operates on a mobile wireless network which we have on 3. Then we have one phone linked to an O2 network and another linked to EE.

That way we spread the load and stand a chance if one network has poor connectivity in a place, rhat one of the others is likely to be good. This week has challenged that theory… we’ve also been grateful for our small mobile wireless connector when all power vanished to the main aerial connected router.

That unexpected and first ever time power failed to the router happened not on a day when we didn’t really need it, well it wouldn’t would it? Nope, disaster happened with 8 minutes to go before I was due on a work Teams call. Pow – power vanished – only to the router – everything else seemed fine, so the batteries were working… a total mystery. No time to spare for much investigation but out with the sim and a quick change to an old mobile router that dangles in a window.

That was fine until another boat passed by – another metal box cutting across a signal. We had 3 boats pass and all waited kindly until it was my turn to be talking on the Teams call so colleagues had a very truncated and intermittent view of my thoughts! (Probably ideal really, but it was a circumstance of which I was totally unaware until signal returned and they got me back again to tell me to repeat myself…from where? from part way apparently! It took a bit of deciphering to work out what to say, all the while willing no other boaters to pass by!

After work, we moved again… thinking a more open aspect should be better. It was for solar, but connectivity and phone signal was even worse. By then, though, my working week was over, so it didn’t matter as much.
It had, however, made me realise how inclined these days we are to turn to the television via the Internet in the evenings.

Instead this week we have indulged and it has felt like an indulgence, a real treat. We have been crafting (creating children’s crowns for the coronation), completing jigsaws and reading in the evenings in addition to our ubiquitous hotly competitive Scrabble games. We’ve also enjoyed the sight of the moon with Venus and  Jupiter in a glorious celestial sight.

We shall move again when we really feel we need the internet (and a decent phone signal), but until then, we are floating happily in a creative, productive, and peaceful disconnect.  Try it sometime and see what you think!