What a huge day it was yesterday! We set off in the morning to check out some marinas intending to reach Aqueduct around lunchtime. Things didn't go quite according to plan. We had a breakdown issue which delayed us by more than 2 hours.... Just what we needed on such an exciting day. We were rescued by a friendly AA man. By the time we got going again we ended up skipping a couple of marinas and still didn't reach Aqueduct Marina til mid afternoon.
I think I was holding my breath as we drove down the marina driveway. There were many boats on hard standing and we were both busy looking for the right blue one. Finally I spied her, right at the end under the roof. We drove right along and stopped in front. There she was - our new home.
We walked around checking her out. It isn't so easy when the boat is out of the water. The deck level was so high! Finally we went over to the marina office and introduced ourselves. They took us back with the keys to drag over a set of steps. We had a good look through, checking every cupboard, nook and cranny. Mick went and got our suitcase of extra clothes that we would leave on the boat.
Mick is all set to get into painting and polishing as soon as he can. Everything needs a good clean having been left unused for some time so that will be my job. Overall the boat is as we expected. There is room for improvement which is fine with us. We are thinking of trying to sell the rocker chairs and buy a pair of leather ones. We will probably put in a solid fuel stove. Once we get our belongings put away I'm sure it will start to feel like home. It felt a bit strange just like it did the first day we brought the caravan home.
We gave Jack, the marina dog a good pat, had a chat with the marina folk, collected our first item of mail.... Who on earth would send us something to the marina?! It turned out to be a housewarming card from Yvonne and Roger from Crown Narrowboats. Thanks so much guys, we really appreciate it.
We continued on our way to Ormskirk to meet up with Lynne for dinner. We just made it to our accommodation by 6pm so it was a rush to get to dinner in time. What a day.
Meanwhile we've had a struggle on the communication front. With my phone being dead we have had very limited access to anything. We have a cheap little handset with a good prepaid sim that gives us cheap international calls. No contact list, no data access. Even Mick has been frustrated at the loss of the smart phone. Shows how much we rely on it. The mission for Sunday - get some sort of Internet access.
We are two Australians who lived the dream and spent 20 months as liveaboards on narrowboat Parisien Star. Life before.... during.... and after.
3 comments:
Re the new chairs you mention. As with all things relating to boats, you will find that if an item is marketed specifically it can be much more expensive than a similar item on the general market. As such, we bought two new leather recliners complete with matching foot stools from a company called Recliners Direct. They have a showroom on the high street in Leyland, Lancs, not a million miles from Ormskirk. Their prices from the 'special offers' range are less than half of those specifically for boating, and they will deliver next day to the address of your choice. We chose from the 'Avanti' range, and they have been great. Website is here: http://www.reclinersdirect.co.uk/recliner_sale.php#.UGAP97J8AUw Make sure you choose leather though, as some of the cheaper lines are not.
I've found that if you put a sign in the boat window advertising stuff for sale it goes pretty quickly. We've just sold a stool to a passing boater that way. Alternatively, stick an advert up in the marina office or cafe.
Yvonne
Peter, by sheer coincidence we are going to Leyland tomorrow. We'll go look at those chairs.
Thanks!
Yvonne, I will do that. I've taken a photo but with no printer I'll have to find a way of printing it.
Elly
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