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”
Tag Archives: journeys
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”
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.”
We can see clearly now
Our window on the world, or indeed windows on the world have changed dramatically this week. We see the wealth of birds and animals, people and the British weather around our floating home and office very differently today than we did this time last week. After years of planning, research, saving, and preparation – weContinue reading “We can see clearly now”
Coming out makes us appreciate life
Leaving the marina, after a month of shuttling between there and bricks and mortar, to return to continuous cruising is liberating and also strangely different. We’re back living off grid, no longer connected via a 24volt shoreline to the mains. The gas hob automatic ignition no longer works, the shore light no longer operates andContinue reading “Coming out makes us appreciate life”
Heading out into the unknown
It’s been a harrowing start to the new year for so many. We know of boaters who have lost their homes, been washed off moorings by rising flood waters and either damaged or sunk by water or falling trees. We’ve been hugely fortunate having made the decision to base ourselves in a marina with controlledContinue reading “Heading out into the unknown”
Hopeful migration or staying put
Migration is in the news, it’s high on the political agenda. It fuels fierce and often aggressive debate, but it is taxing my mind this week in what I think of as original, basic ways. The swallows, swifts, and house martins who were still evident swooping low above the water in front of the boatContinue reading “Hopeful migration or staying put”
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”
Sink or swim?
Sink or swim is the refrain running through my head…along with waving or drowning. Our plan to beat the stoppages blocking our route to the Rochdale Canal has given us insights and challenges beyond our expectations. We’ve made our way across the country from west to east and are now moored in Nottinghamshire, on theContinue reading “Sink or swim?”
Pickingupducks 