Check-up

We had the re-scheduled check up visit yesterday. Everything looks really cosy with the stove and sofa in.

Comfort

We're loving boat life, feeling more and more homely (and rather luxurious at that). We're doing things quite slowly, now that we have stove and sofa it feels very different...

12th Feb: heat at last!

We have a stove! Last week eventually turned somewhat in my favour, and it sort of worked out. Two incredibly stressful days of logistical nightmares, mistimings and large un-repayable kindnesses have resulting in us having a beautiful woodburning stove, fully installed and functioning. I'm incredibly lucky to have a step-father-of-sorts who has been installing stoves for longer than I've been alive.

We're now feeling fairly settled, feeling inordinately proud of each small problem solved. With each tiny resolution, a fuller understanding of the complexities of our home appears more attainable, and the routines and knowledge which make the hard work of this lifestyle sustainable are building by the day. While I've lived on a boat before, being responsible for the running of one is of course quite different. It's exactly the sort of work I like - living aboard brings us back to the day to day tasks which our society is constantly trying to rid us of, and since nearly everything we consume and throw away must be brought on and off by hand, we become aware of the resources we're using. Nothing is 'on tap', except for perhaps the power coming in from the solar panels, but at this time of year that description is somewhat optimistic.

26th Jan: beginning to feel like home...

We're on! We've been on board for a few days and it's beginning to feel like home. Still looks a bit of a bomb site, but finally had time to organise some of the kitchen, create a makeshift seating area and clean the sawdust off every surface. It's pretty cold as we haven't had our stove installed yet - the finrads are doing their best but when it's below freezing outside it's not enough. For some reason the first question people ask when you mention living on a boat is, "is it cold in winter?" I'm not sure why everyone has this idea in their mind, but we're not helping to correct the misconception...

This week I'm attempting to assume the universe which is currently conspiring against us having a major heat source will change its inclinations. I'm unable to answer a fairly vast array of questions, such as... how am I going to get a 140kg stove onto the boat on my own? Why don't stove delivery specialists have any idea what the solution might be? How are we going to get the stove flue through a hole it doesn't fit through? How am I going to take delivery of huge slabs of slate while I'm supposed to be at my second week in a new job? I'm definitely getting better at dealing with uncertainty, that's one thing this whole project has really helped with. It's pretty difficult being essentially solely responsible for such a huge thing, since Dave works about 70 hours a week. But it's also a lifelong dream, being able to design and create my own small space, and I do like a challenge.

The launch: 22nd Jan

A sunny day but bitterly cold. Here is the boat leaving Croxley Green and heading south for London.

15th Jan: final visit

After a final visit to see the boat it's all become a little more real. After putting off our excitement for the year and a half that it's taken for our dream to become a reality, we've found it difficult to believe the launch date is actually upon and our lives are about to change in a big way. It's only just getting to the point where enough of the details and logistics are organised that I can actually take a step back to appreciate what's happening. My thoughts are oscillating between calm excitement and focus, and waves of huge anxiety. These are brief though, and I keep reminding myself that it's normal with such a huge responsibility for something which is so new and unknown, and that this will pass.