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!)”
Tag Archives: canal#
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”
New faces and new places
A lot can change in a week. People, scenery, nature, and weather can all be feelgood (or depressing) factors, but this week they’ve been positives. As the countryside unfurled from flat fields to rolling hills ahead of us, and white horses cut in chalk have appeared alongside the boat, we have continued to make ourContinue reading “New faces and new places”
Free-floating anxiety management
It doesn’t matter how many times you launch yourself into new ventures, there is always a frisson of fear, an nagging anxiety, concern over what might happen (even when you know you have prepared, even over-prepared for every eventuality). There are those nights of unsettled sleep, butterflies in the stomach, irritability, and edginess. It’s theContinue reading “Free-floating anxiety management”
Don’t miss opportunities for success
You have to see it, to believe you can be it, they say, and in education and careers that is so true. It was brought home to me this week at one of the best inaugural professorial lectures I have attended (and I’ve been to a fair few). Probably one of the worst photos I’veContinue reading “Don’t miss opportunities for success”
Swanning about at work, and life
Monday mornings when you live on a canal are rarely heart-sinking events as they can be in conventional life, but this Monday brought a real heart-stopping, breath-holding moment. From our dining table, desk, and workspace this week we’ve been able to see a swan nest, piled high with broken reeds by the pair of muteContinue reading “Swanning about at work, and life”
Sometimes you just have to move on…
We’re back on the move, with this week encapsulating the variety of life afloat on the inland waterways of Great Britain. In five days we’ve travelled 28 miles up 42 locks. We’ve moored in a city (surprisingly quiet considering we were alongside university student accommodation), outside a village (peaceful) and in the middle of fieldsContinue reading “Sometimes you just have to move on…”
Biophilia indoors is bringing evident benefits
One of the most popular and most watched episodes of Grand Designs was that of woodsman Ben Law, handbuilding his cruck-framed home in the Sussex woodland he manages. The thought he put into making the wood the centrepiece of his incredible home and the care with which he handcrafted every element appealed not just toContinue reading “Biophilia indoors is bringing evident benefits”
A Lover-ly time to be afloat
This week has seen a flurry of red roses, cards with hearts, and lots of soppy messages on social media. For many, it brightened the gloom of this often dreary time of the year. For others, I recognise it’s depressing or underlines loneliness, and for some it’s all hype and unnecessary. It made me thinkContinue reading “A Lover-ly time to be afloat”
Goodbye and farewell
Looking back it’s been a year of significant difference for us and also one of new opportunities. We started 2024 on the Ashby Canal, headed onto the Coventry, Trent and Mersey, Bridgewater and Leeds and Liverpool. Through the late Spring and early summer, we had 3 months stationary in one place (thanks CRT for yourContinue reading “Goodbye and farewell”
Pickingupducks 