Taking stock with a floating business

It takes determination, hard work, and ingenuity to run a successful business. Mobile catering businesses, as we know, come in all shapes, sizes, formats, cuisines, and types. In floating terms we’ve encountered cafes, coffee, pizza, ice cream, and fudge boats, to name but a few. This week I’ve been learning firsthand the ins and outsContinue reading “Taking stock with a floating business”

Practicing happiness and koselige

Thanks to my family, I realise I regularly do all four of the things researchers say make us happy. Take a look to see how you’re doing. Inspired by my younger daughter Freya and her fitness commitments, including her inspirational London marathon this past week, I actively move for at least 30 minutes a day.Continue reading “Practicing happiness and koselige”

Give, give up & give time to feel good

This weekend in London,  50,000 of the 500,000 runners who applied will run the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon. It will be the culmination of hundreds of hours of training for each runner, many long, lonely cold, and wet hours through the winter, getting their minds and bodies ready for this moment. Since itContinue reading “Give, give up & give time to feel good”

What are you leaving behind?

What are you leaving in your wake? What do you want your legacy to be? What do you think it will be? As Paris gears up to host the Olympic Games this year, expectations of legacy are being bandied about as ever. Legacy and sustainability are the key aims for Paris 2024. They want localContinue reading “What are you leaving behind?”

When change is routine – it can help

Remember how quickly we all adapted to new routines during the national lockdowns? Some of us are creatures of habit, others not, but as humans, we all adopt some elements of routine which researchers identify as ways of coping more efficiently and effectively with our lives. When we cruise, for example, we now have anContinue reading “When change is routine – it can help”

We’re a mine of information this week

For the first time ever we’ve a new reality beginning this week. Soon we shall be moving just a little for some time. Gone will be the long journeys across the country, or countries for a while. They will be something to look forward to and plan for the future, but for now we canContinue reading “We’re a mine of information this week”

Logistics, history and waters meet for us

When you know something is going to be the last for a while it takes on a special quality, a poignancy, perhaps even an importance out of all proportion. That is what we’re aware of this week, and it’s  good thing, a valuable opportunity. Our last cruising time for a while has been a mixtureContinue reading “Logistics, history and waters meet for us”

Many happy returns

Returning to familiar places, familiar things and retracing your steps can sound faintly boring but it provides new perspectives, new opportunities to see things differently if you are prepared to do so, and can foster moments of familiar comfort, alongside a capacity to still surprise. This week that’s exactly what we’ve been doing on theContinue reading “Many happy returns”

Join me and book a get-away

It’s been quite a week. I’ve been to Paris, Austria, Yorkshire, and the English canals in wartime. Only one in person, but all were vivid, visceral experiences. I’ve been absorbed in the lives of a male serial killer and his victims; an actress mother as a commercial boatwoman; a female global  adventurer with a delicateContinue reading “Join me and book a get-away”

Into every life, some rain must fall.

The British and boaters are obsessed with the weather. It plays a major part in how we live, enjoy and in our case, move, our floating home and office. Walking this morning as rain and sleet, hail and wind whipped my skin and Boatdog shivered beside me, I was in full agreement with the manContinue reading “Into every life, some rain must fall.”