latte and a packet of crisps

Living on a boat and maintaing a house money is tight. Where in the "good old days" I was able to go out to lunch and buy a packet of crisps, or nip into Pret for a skinny (of course) Latte.. now I think about every penny (71p) that I have in my purse. For lunch I am living off home made sandwiches and re-filling up the same bottle of water that I have had for over a week .. (I wonder if this is hygienic?).. How I long for the days of wondering around boots buying a months supply of rescue remedy.. now I have to make the bottle last and only use it in emergencies.. perhaps this is why I am so stressed???

First Photos

Thought that I would upload some photos..

The bottom one is when she was going back in the water after the survey....

I am sure there will be more photos to come..

How it all began

Ok, so some background story..

One sunny day summers day, we took a walk along the canal near to where we live. An idea popped into our head.. Why don't we live on a canal boat.

We were also in the middle of planning for our wedding in Switzerland, so really did not give the whole living on a boat thing much thought
however in the back of both our minds was the excitment of 'could we actually do it?'

Once returned from our wedding boat hunting was in full swing, the next weekend in fact. We went 'up north' and looked round many boats. We had time to formulate a plan - live on a boat, rent out house, and enjoy a new way of life.

However, fear began to set in.. how do you heat the boat?, where do you get the water from?, hairdrying?, ironing?, toilets?.. ahh the questions were endless.

We finally settled on the first boat we saw (as this was recommended) and we arranged to have another look. "not very homely I said".. does not matter.. its the quality of the shell which counts AND it has central heating..

After many days of going back and forth, Scott one day, phoned up and said we will take the boat Just like that, no discussion, he just made the decision and went for it!..

So now, we are the proudly living on Busy Bees.. A 52 ft, 1989 blue Narrow Boat. Moorings cost a fortune at the local marina, grade 2 moorings and can only stay four nights per week - god knows what we do for the other 3!

We have been out in her and even had a Canal Boat lesson (very good) , but I have had my fair share of problems driving her with Scott barking "right, left, you are going to hit the bank!" has not helped at all. We have also stayed the night - last night in fact - didn't sleep well at all, came home 6.30am had a nap until 7.30am.

Still unsure about ironing, hair dryer, how the toilet works and still totally unable to steer her.
But the packing has started so we can move into her to eventually 'live the dream' .. exciting isnt it?