A new blog post, I hear you cry. We had assumed that you’d sunk. Or moved onto land. Or not done anything daft enough to merit an internet publication.
Well, dear readers, I can assure you that you are wrong on all fronts. The boat is very much afloat. (Actually right now it isn’t. But in the good, out-of-water-having-the-hull-painted kind of way.) I have no plans, imminent or long-term, to move onto land. And the last few months have had many low level catastrophes including no functioning radiators for the coldest winter in boat history (and a severe shortage of engineers to fix the problem), an inexplicable failure to change the engine oil (despite this being the only job I was actually confident I could carry out in the engine service), and the constant leaking of the kitchen mushroom vent. Not to mention the snowing vent in the bedroom.
But generally boat life remains excellent, and I hope will become just a little bit better with the installation of a juke box. What was an impulse buy on an online auction site several months ago is set to move from the safe keeping of a friend, let’s call her Bekky, in a couple of weeks after a cupboard at the front of the boat is modified to fit it in. I am not 100% sure it will actually fit, despite having made lots of different measurements. And I am even less sure of my capability to transplant it from it’s current cupboard into the new one. And then there is the issue of weight, and whether it will cause an unfortunate list to the left. Watch this space.
And speaking of reckless eBay purchases, not content with being semi-competent at maintaining a boat, I have bought a campervan, which at the time of bidding came with a failed MOT. This was mainly due to rust, but there might also be a dodgy breakpad or two. And the electrics are unreliable. It’s going to be a whole new learning curve (and whole new money pit).
This blog post was brought to you by ‘Traveller’ by Chris Stapleton.
adventures on narrowboats 