Living Jenga = excitement & chaos

Older boats are like older houses. You start one job and another 6 make an appearance. They also demand because of their dimensions that  doing work anywhere affects another area because everything has to move to produce working space. This week is a major milestone aboard Preaux, a week when we are making another massiveContinue reading “Living Jenga = excitement & chaos”

We’re done – it’s over.

That’s it then – all over.  How did that happen so quickly? For the first time in our five years of working and living afloat on a narrowboat, we took a winter mooring. Somehow it’s been nearly four whole months that we have remained (most of the time) in one place. Some people go  intoContinue reading “We’re done – it’s over.”

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”

Unwinding

After a period of frenetic activity it’s important to unwind, but how? In our case it’s doing things we haven’t been able to do because we’ve been absorbed (happily I might add) in the mechanics and demands of travelling afloat. We are seeing family which is what we came to do, catching up with friends,Continue reading “Unwinding”

Make your own choices

This week, after months of trying, we completed our journey down the Rochdale Canal. It was the only one of the three trans-Pennine canals we had yet to navigate. It has been a passage that has taught us much about the benefits of physical effort, determination, and making up our ownminds, making our own decisions.Continue reading “Make your own choices”

Changing course

Einstein is alleged to have said many things, among them: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Our whole floating life is about change – about fluidity of movement, plans, scenery, locations, and work. This week that’s become more relevant than ever, as have the facts that we don’t always have a carContinue reading “Changing course”

Our Plan B to party on

Christmas demands planning, and despite Omicron, Delta and other Covid-associated variants, it looks like bubbles this year will be mainly alcoholic! Living afloat Christmas demands decision making not just on what presents to make/buy, what shopping to do or who is cooking what. We’ve both had both our jabs and our boosters and our fluContinue reading “Our Plan B to party on”

The end of a year afloat and hardest blog to write

Exactly one year ago we sold most of our possessions, let our house and the two of us (plus the dog of course) moved to live full time on a 50ft long, 7ft wide narrowboat continuously cruising the waterways. Our adventure began at Sileby Mill in Leicestershire on the canalised section of the River Soar,Continue reading “The end of a year afloat and hardest blog to write”