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”
Tag Archives: narrowboat
Drama, trepidation and terror
There’s nothing like the fear of waiting for something that others tell you is downright dangerous and terrifying. That stomach-churning trepidation, night-waking terror, and escalating imagination of all the what-might-go-wrongs. We’ve had it this week. After a peaceful, sun baked 10 days in Skipton we prepared for yet another new experience on the waterways –Continue reading “Drama, trepidation and terror”
A new take on life
What we think of our world depends on how we look at and interact with it. We’ve chosen to move more slowly by living and working afloat and we know that has allowed us, in fact given us the priviledge, of seeing things differently. It’s possible to see more of the world unfolding in frontContinue reading “A new take on life”
Planning our great escape from lockdown
Lockdown has been a long haul this time – not a long haul that takes us to new locations but a long haul to nowhere which has reinforced why segregation is used as a punishment in prisons. It seems ironic that taking off on a boat to enjoy a panoply of changing sights, sounds andContinue reading “Planning our great escape from lockdown”
Escaping the rat race to increase creativity, productivity and happiness
Downshifting, slow living, living in the moment – all descriptions of conscious and mindful ways of living which appear, for many, to have taken on a particular significance during the pandemic according to media reports and social media posts. So what are they? And do they describe what we have done with our lives? DownshiftingContinue reading “Escaping the rat race to increase creativity, productivity and happiness”
Taking control of our space and feeling better for it
Lurching from wishing each other a better New Year in 2021 to immediately plunging into Lockdown 3 has been depressing. Liveaboard boaters have been advised to travel minimally, moving only to services like water, waste disposal or shopping. We’ve decided to act in a way we feel is supporting the wider community, but it doesn’tContinue reading “Taking control of our space and feeling better for it”
Disastrous leak cancels our plans and ends in tiers
Sunday was a lockdown day with a difference for anyone boating on the Ashby Canal and for towpath walkers near Snarestone close to the current end of navigation on this restored canal. Thousands of gallons of water drained from the canal into surrounding fields as part of the towpath fell away resulting in a breachContinue reading “Disastrous leak cancels our plans and ends in tiers”
Sinking feelings are bad news when you live on a boat
Water is generally regarded as a necessity for life afloat, but as we now know, in the wrong place it is both worrying and threatening. You only have to look at the news or cruise England’s canals to see that narrowboats do sink sometimes. New bulletins also bring us the heartbreaking destruction created by floodingContinue reading “Sinking feelings are bad news when you live on a boat”
Getting back on an even keel and learning to live positively in lockdown
We are having a very different living experience for this lockdown, and one I hope will make us much more appreciative of our floating lifestyle. It was a head over heart compromise and one which led to a lot of discussion. One of us was head…and one heart – I am sure you can workContinue reading “Getting back on an even keel and learning to live positively in lockdown”
Covid has sent us to the…ducks…
It seemed a remarkably easy decision to make after 6 months of working flat out through lockdown – give up the job, house and car. Move onto a 50ft 31-year old narrowboat to live a simpler, ecological more friendly life and see if it is more satisfying, more fulfilling with just ducks for neighbours. IdealisticContinue reading “Covid has sent us to the…ducks…”
Pickingupducks 