Friday 31 December 2010

It all begins with one little step

Today we took the first small step in the direction of our narrowboat dream. We made an offer on a house up the street from us and it was accepted!  Both the seller and us wanted a long settlement so we now have 6 months to pack up the enormous volume of stuff we've accumulated in our time at this house.  We'll put our house on the market in a few months time and hope we find a buyer at a price that leaves us enough to fulfill our dream.  How exciting!

Happy New Year to all !

Friday 10 December 2010

Don't wish your life away

We just can't wait for our narrowboat adventure to begin.  With it likely to be two years away we often find ourselves wishing the time to go faster.  I catch myself when I notice I'm doing this and give myself a lecture.  Life is too short as it is without wishing it away.

There is another very good reason why we shouldn't wish this time away.  In fact it's the very reason we have to wait.  Two years ago, and just 3 months before we made our vague narrowboat dream a definite goal to work towards, we adopted Coco.  She's a chocolate labrador and at the time was 10 years old.  She's now 12 but still in great health.  She is such a lovely girl, and although the reality is that we wouldn't have taken her if if we'd heard about her 3 months later, we adore her and don't want to wish her life shorter.  We have had a couple of people offer to take her so we can go now, but it is traumatic for a dog to change families at 10 years old and we wouldn't do that to her again.  She's the most gentle and affectionate dog I've ever met!



Tuesday 7 December 2010

A visit from Ray and Diane

We had a lovely visit from Ray and Diane, owners of  Gypsy Rover.  It was great to see Ray again and to finally meet Diane.  With Gypsy Rover safely tucked away at a marina for the English Winter, Ray is back in Australia until Diane is able to start their narrowboating life next year.

A bit of narrowboat chat was just what we needed.  The questions never seem to end.  There's always something new we're wondering about.  We look forward to following Ray and Diane's travels and learning with them as they go.

** This is where I would have had a photo of the 4 of us - if I'd thought to take one!!