Finally, a home.

It’s hard to believe we completed on the sale of our house six weeks ago. Now all that is definitely behind us, as we took possession of our new home yesterday. Hubby then had to move it (with tuition) from our place of purchase to our new address. It was an interesting 3 hours, as I drove off with the dog, and he puttered off for the journey. Last night, all three of us had the best nights sleep for months. I think the lapping of the water and peace and tranquility of The Marina had a lot to do with it. This morning, we looked out of the window to see swallows dipping and diving, swans passing our windows, and the sun was shining on what has turned out to be yet another glorious day. There are a variety of resident rabbits and ducks, one of the latter believes it’s related to a rooster as it quacked in the early hours. Our new home is fully furnished and equipped with cooker, fridge, shower and flush loo, but storage is extremely limited. I looked with dismay at the number of bags being unloaded from the trolley and wondered how on earth we were going to fit everything in when we had practically nothing anyway! Needless to say, we got organised, but it was all very daunting (sorting out our stored items will come later) . That first cup of tea made all the difference and we celebrated with a chinese takeout. Some of you may have guessed already that we have not bought a house. Our new home is actually a narrow boat (canal boat). She is 41 feet long and has four berths, so we can keep our bed made up (unlike the caravan years ago when we had to make it every day) and there will be room for our friend to come and stay. By way of trying to keep ‘some intrigue’ in my writings, my post “Messing about on the River” omitted to say I was at the helm, and the post “Bloody Red Tape” referred to us getting our residential mooring organised, together with the relevant licences etc. There are plans ahead for various qualifications to be applied for, and there are some wonderful advantages of living on a boat in addition to being surrounded by nature at its best (ask me again when we’ve had some bad weather!) . For instance, when we want to go on holiday, there are MILES of canals and rivers to explore, and NO PACKING as we just unhook and putter off. No more lawns to cut, no maintenance of fence panels, drainage or roof repairs, no noisy neighbours, no aircraft, no heavy traffic. I had concerns about the dog getting on board for the first time, having visions of coaxing her with toys and treats, but she just stepped aboard all dainty like, and didn’t bat an eyelid. The steps down into the boat are quite steep, so she is a little wary, but with some encouragement from one of us already aboard, she’s fine. She has already worked out which corner of the bed she likes, plus has collared the cushions closest to the bow so that she can look out! The whole transaction took just a few days once we got the ball rolling, unlike buying a house which can take up to 130 days from offer acceptance to completion. Our own took 101 so this kind of time frame is ridiculous. Remember my final paragraph on the camping chronicles about living in a house but owning a camper van for holidays? We just cut out the middle man and our home is totally mobile instead! Feel free to let rip with all the nautical references about a life on the ocean wave, not rocking the boat, and aye aye cap’ain. Seriously though, if anyone is already living this kind of life, I’d love to hear from you. WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET 🙂

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