This Storm Goretti, aka Storm Spaghetti as a certain 8-year old dubbed it this week has kept us guessing. We had a warning of “significant snowfall” so someone was expecting a snow day of making snowmen and sledging (as were his teachers). They weren’t the only ones severely disappointed when the snow failed to materialiseContinue reading “Displacement activity including another named storm”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Live your dream
Many of us start a new year with a reflective look back at the old, but for us circumstances have resulted in a rather further look back than usual. With a new grandchild very imminent we are back in the area where we started our narrowboat living journey over 5 years ago, and that hasContinue reading “Live your dream”
What to do when the only certainty is uncertainty
2025 has been been a dramatic year living afloat on the inland waterways. It started on New Year’s Day with a large breach of the Bridgewater canal at Little Bollington in Cheshire, a breach which is still being repaired. It ends with a dramatic breach on the Llangollen Canal near Whitchurch. Luckily neither of theseContinue reading “What to do when the only certainty is uncertainty”
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from all of us aboard nb Preaux
Coming, going and an invitation for you
It’s been looking a lot like Christmas this week. The on/off flood situation continues and water remains an issue both around and in the boat. And Christmas is edging nearer. Last weekend saw our annual four generational family meal, which the boating community made easier. The river was rising as Boatdog (in a coat toContinue reading “Coming, going and an invitation for you”
Panto not pants living and working afloat in winter (Oh yes it is!)
Oh yes it has, oh no it hasn’t, been one of those weeks! Seems appropriate as Christmas and panto season is arriving with alarming alacrity. Having cancelled our floating trading licence after the weather conspired against me continuously in 2023-4, this year I have focused on land-based markets, and this week was the first. LikeContinue reading “Panto not pants living and working afloat in winter (Oh yes it is!)”
Soar-ing deep, high and demanding
In one of his 43 poems – yes, 43 – about the life of a river, Ted Hughes observes: The winter floods have ruined her. She squats between draggled banks, fingering her rags and rubbish.” And so it is as the flood waters drop on a river leaving debris hanging from overhanging branches andContinue reading “Soar-ing deep, high and demanding”
Unexpected celebrity status plus unscheduled drama
For the first time the passage of our 50ft floating home (plus office,studio, and workshop) along inland waterways in sub zero temperatures made a man dash out onto his balcony in just his dressing gown to see us. Despite his fetching black and white striped gown with bare legs and just slippers he must haveContinue reading “Unexpected celebrity status plus unscheduled drama”
H2 Oh!
Water – essential, but not the same for everyone or everywhere. For everyone water is vital to keep us alive, to keep our bodies going, to make us and the plants and animals we depend on, growing. For us as boat dwellers, water is vital to keep us moving. Without it, as now in theContinue reading “H2 Oh!”
Past present and perfect
History isn’t something in the past if you live on the waterways. It is part of the present, entwined in daily life, in constant reminders, as we walk on and in the very footsteps of the past worn into stones and steps, past bridge rubbing bands worn into deep grooves by the ropes attached toContinue reading “Past present and perfect”
Pickingupducks 