How long does it take to put down roots, to feel a sense of belonging, to feel part of a community? Being a nomad, I reckon a couple of days often does it for me, but I am aware it’s different for each individual. For the first time for a very long time, we haveContinue reading “Belonging as boat people and walking with royalty”
Tag Archives: community
Giving back gives more than expected
One advantage of spending the winter in one place has been the chance to formally become volunteers with the charity that has responsibility for the waterways we live on – Canal and River Trust. On 2 July 2012, CRT, as a charity, took over from the previous government authority, British Waterways, who ran the networkContinue reading “Giving back gives more than expected”
When personal tragedy strikes, can we count on our fellow humans?
Are people fundamentally good? Thomas Hobbes maintained that people were totally self-centred, while Jean-Jacques Rousseau was totally committed to the theory that people were fundamentally good. Hobbes was English and lived in the 17th century. Rousseau was French and lived a century later. Could that indicate both were right in their national experience, or perhapsContinue reading “When personal tragedy strikes, can we count on our fellow humans?”
Happy Christmas!
This Christmas, some former UK veterans will celebrate having homes thanks to the charity we’ve donated to in lieu of sending cards. They won’t only have a home, but one that floats with all the benefits we know that brings for physical and mental health. Bringing boats that need new owners, often boats that haveContinue reading “Happy Christmas!”
Calmer karma community
Is it that we have created a life with less to worry about that makes living and working afloat good for our wellbeing? Is it that we live more simply? That we travel more slowly? That we live amid and amongst nature? That water, with all its beauty and calming properties, forms a permanent backdropContinue reading “Calmer karma community”
Iced up and frozen solid
What a week – snow, ice, frozen ropes, rain, fieldfares, owls, kingfishers and fantastic community spirit. Living afloat on England’s inland waterways makes us much more aware of that archetypal English conversation staple – the weather. We live in it much more than we did amid bricks and mortar. Winds buffet the boat, sometimes gently,Continue reading “Iced up and frozen solid”
The epitome of life…and England
Having now travelled the length and narrow breadth of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, including a voyage into the interior, it seems to epitomise life, and England too – today, yesterday and tomorrow. It brings amazing highs, significant lows and challenges. It is built on a long history, heritage and currency of diversity and community, spectacularContinue reading “The epitome of life…and England”
Communities that care
This week has reinforced both the diversity and importance of community for us. There have been times we’ve needed help and there have been times we’ve been glad to help others, and to celebrate with them too. We’ve seen communities that have been created with vision and communities which have developed organically. We’ve recognised howContinue reading “Communities that care”
How to belong – anywhere
Food for thought time this week. Being on a boat, moving about all the time has given me a heightened sense of belonging which seems so strange, when it doesn’t seem as if now I belong anywhere! It’s made me curious about what it is that makes us feel we belong? Is there anything fromContinue reading “How to belong – anywhere”
Covid positive at last!
I’ve been struck this week by the ways in which this pandemic has created, strengthened and developed communities – it is a genuine Covid positive. It’s something I hope we don’t lose as we head out of this initial crisis, but from which I hope we learn. Environments of both home and work will needContinue reading “Covid positive at last!”
Pickingupducks 