New Blog

Ha Ha! I've got a new blog - it was much easier than I thought. The website address is:
www.dontpanic-loneboating.blogspot.com
So I expect to see you all become my followers again very soon!
Mandy

The End of the Narrow Way

I have just received an email about this website, The Narrow Way, saying that as I have not renewed my domain name the site will be closed in 7 days! I went to the link they gave me – somewhere in Australia - in order to re-register it but they then asked for my account details. That is a problem because my friend Maggie, who died last month, set up the site for me and she was the only one who knew the passwords etc for the domain name. Unfortunately she has taken them to the grave with her.

I could try to phone them and jump through various hoops to try and recover it, but I’m not going to. The reason is not that I’m fed up of blogging, although I do go through phases. No, it is more to do with the name. Maggie set it up for me shortly after I left the Church as I had the bright  view to using it to advertise my boat as a venue for retreats and quiet days. The name was a play on both narrow boats and the Biblical verse stating that it is the narrow way that leads to salvation.

It seemed a good idea at the time but various things happened which stopped the business from taking off. Looking back, I am very pleased it didn’t work out. I could not have led retreats while my own spiritual life was going through such upheavals. I would have been using it to keep half a foot in my old life, but one of the quotes I keep on my wall is from Andre Gide and says “One does not discover new lands unless one consents to lose sight of the shore” I had to leave my old life entirely in order to discover new shores. Lastly, the boat would never had felt like a proper home while strangers had access to it.

The name, for me, still has strong Christian connections and since I no longer have those links, it seems now is a good time to let the last of my old life go. In fact if you search the web under the Narrow Way you have to plough through an awful lot of (mostly American) evangelical sites before you reach anything to do with boats!

I don’t want to entirely give up blogging though, so I am going to see if it is possible to start a new blog with my boat name in the title. Ideally I would like it to be called Don’t Panic with a subtitle ‘To live is to risk’ or ‘to risk is to live’ – not sure which yet.

If you are interested in continuing  to follow my meanderings and know my email address then drop me a line and I’ll let you know when I set up the new blog. If you don’t know my email, I can’t really post it here without being avalanched with offers to extend the size of my parts etc. so all I can suggest is that you do a search in a few weeks for ‘don’t panic’ and see what happens! If I manage to set it up before this one closes, then I’ll post the new website address.

Thank you to my readers for your interest and occasional comments – it’s been fun recording this journey into my new life. Perhaps the next blog will be more about learning to live in contentment with this life I have made rather than a journey towards something else? Bye!

Ups and Downs

I guess I should expect life to be full of ups and downs considering I live on water, but this month the contrasts have been particularly marked.

My best friend Maggie died of cancer, having only been diagnosed a few months ago. She was the best person I knew. She was a Christian as Christians were always meant to be. I mean that she was kind, hopeful, forgiving, sensible and sensitive to others, as well as being generous and modest with a lovely subtle sense of humour. She helped people but kept quiet about her good deeds. She had a straightforward and deep faith but did not pressure anyone into believing what she believed and was extremely understanding of me when I quit my ministry and turned my back on the Church. She was honestly unafraid of her impending death as she believed she was going to be with her God and that faith gave her immense comfort. I shall miss her more than I can say.

The upside of my month came when my stepmother decided to give some of her money away. Thanks to her generosity I now have a certain level of financial security that I haven’t had since I left land living. I also have a car that works! She is a bright yellow Peugeot 107 and is now adorned with eyelashes (she has a face) and some hippy style flowers and butterflies – I am revisiting the 60’s as I was too young to enjoy them first time round!

On Monday I cruised in the boiling heat from Fradley to Shobnall boatyard in Burton Upon Trent. It was worth a truly sweaty day as, on Tuesday, they fitted a brand new, shiny 135w solar panel! It is so exciting – I am currently at work and I know that back on the boat, as the fridge slowly runs the batteries down, the sun will be filling them up again – and it’s free power! Well, it will be when I recoup £600 odd pounds in diesal costs. It is also totally clean energy which is a bonus. It will take some experimenting but I think I will be able to run my engine for half as long as I do at present. If true, then I will have recouped the initial expense in just over a year!

I want to post photos of both the car and the panel but I haven’t figured out how to load my camera software on my laptop yet!

Pictures at last

I have finally managed to transfer my pictures to my new laptop so I thought I’d give you a bit of a flavour of the area of my mooring…

 

This is Alrewas – the next village from Fradley Junction and our nearest winding hole (for turning the boat round). The river Trent runs through it and the canal actually crosses the river – see the weir in the next picture…

We have some great walks on our doorstep…

We are surrounded by farmland and there are footpaths everywhere. Bonny loves racing down this path as rabbits live just the other side of the ruined barn!

And of course a lunchtime walk wouldn’t be complete without popping into our local – The Swan – locally known as The Mucky Duck

Now, I haven’t figured out how to shrink my pics on my new laptop so they don’t take ages to upload, so I better stop there and see what happens.

flash new blog tool

I have finally bought myself a laptop computer and within its programme I have discovered a tool that lets me write a blog entry and include photos etc while I am offline. Then I only have to go online long enough to post it up. This is great for me as I only have 500mb a month on my dongle and it will save me using any of it while I am writing. Hopefully it will also encourage me to write more often, as well as post some photos! We will see….

to Adverc or not to Adverc, that is the question

Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a nerdy techy blog entry but I am confused. I have an Adverc battery management system which up to now has worked beautifully - optimising the charge my batteries receive from the alternator. Recently my alternator died a natural death and so, being a member of River and Canal Rescue (the waterways version of AA or RAC), I called them out. A very nice young man came and fitted a new alternator. However he neglected to tell me that he had disconnected my Adverc.

Over the next couple of weeks I noticed that the performance of the alternator was disappointing, especially considering they replaced a 55amp with a 70amp alternator. I contacted RCR and another, not so young man came out and replaced the first alternator but also mentioned that the Adverc had been disconnected by the first chap. When I asked him to reconnect it he refused, saying it would void my alternator's warranty. He then went into great detail as to why Advercs are a bad idea and would shorten the life of my alternator by a third. He said if I really wanted it reconnected I would have to take my boat to a boatyard and pay.

I accepted his explanation, but was disappointed as I am not getting as good a charge into my batteries without it.  A couple more weeks went past and then I received the RCR newsletter. Blow me down with a feather; there on the front page was a whole article praising Adverc to the skies and saying that their engineers were now trained to diagnose many common Adverc faults!

I got on the phone to RCR and was first told that 'our engineers don't deal with Advercs'. When I drew their attention to the article in their newsletter, I was swiftly passed on to someone else. He told me that they do like Advercs and that their engineers are being trained to diagnose problems, but that they still couldn't reconnect my Adverc as it was 'too complicated to do on the bankside and needed boatyard services'. That confused me further as their engineer had told me that it was a simple matter of reconnecting one wire, but that it needed soldering.

I have a horrible feeling that I am being given the run around to avoid them having to come out to me again - even though I have just renewed my membership at the cost of around £150. So my next step will be to contact Adverc and see what they have to say about all this.

Boats... who would have them?!

Ashby and Coventry Cruise

Sorry I'm yet again going to write an entry without accompanying photos. I will get my computer out at some point and update the pictures.

Friends Roger and Shirley Ann Andrews came for a visit and we took the boat out for a blissful 8 days cruise. We left Fradley on the Monday and made the entrance to the extremely rural Ashby Canal within two days. Mind you my usual pattern of cruising for 4 hours or so and then stopping to explore was replaced by the Andrews' preferred habit of cruising all day and so we made more progress than I would have made alone. I had forgotten how lovely the Coventry Canal is from Fradley down to its junction with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. In fact the Coventry becomes the Birmingham and Fazeley for a while and then changes back into the Coventry - all to do with competing canal companies when they were first being built. You can tell the B & F section as bridge numbers are replaced by the much more fascinating bridge names.

The Ashby Canal is so extremely rural that even I started to crave the sight of a building or person to interrupt the isolation. However it is very beautiful, lock free and of great interest to anybody interested in the English civil war. We moored for the night at the Bosworth Battlefield Moorings and had a BBQ whilst Bonny ran madly around in the woods and refused to come back until the burgers were cooked! We cruised to the current end of the Ashby Canal, where we met a lovely lady who was fundraising for its continued restoration and viewed the first pound to be refilled with water - all very exciting.

Because of our rapid progress, the decision was made to return down the Ashby and then continue on to Coventry city centre. I wasn't that keen as I hate cities but I was persuaded as the Andrews said that if I wasn't happy in the canal basin, we could come back out to Hawksbury Junction to moor overnight. I'm afraid my city prejudice was confirmed as we approached the city and the rubbish content of the canal grew to ridiculous levels. We had to avoid - among other things - two three seater sofas, three doors and countless lesser objects floating in the water. I took off nearly a bin bag full of carrier bags and plastic that were wound around my propeller. Interestingly, the water itself was very clear compared with other canals but I think that was because so few boats had ventured down its length that the silt had settled on the bottom.

The canal basin itself was quite smart but surrounded by high rise tower blocks and it was all I could do to leave my boat and Bonny for a couple of hours to explore the city. The only highlight for me was the visit to the old and new Coventry Cathedrals. The bombed one had a lovely altar with a cross made from burned timbers and the legend 'Father Forgive' written behind. The new one looked to me like a multi storey car park from the outside, but had the most beautiful etched glass doors and stained glass windows.

I was relieved to leave the city and moor at the beautiful Hawksbury Junction where Bonny and I explored the heathland which used to be a series of coal mines. We eventually wended our way back home via the stunningly lovely area of Hopwas where we ate in the Tame Otter - highly recommended as a great pub to eat in with helpful and friendly staff. Only one criticism - the area is hugely popular with dog walkers and yet no dogs are allowed in the pub.But Bonny was quite content to be left behind on the boat to catch up on her sleep. As usual she was brilliant while we were cruising and spent long hours happily patrolling the roof.

I got back on Tuesday evening and am back into work today - tannned, happy but very tired!

boatyard

On Monday I took Don't Panic up to Fradley Services which is a tiny boatyard at the junction of the Trent and Mersey and Coventry canals. You know how you can have a pain for ages and then you visit the doctor and as soon as he asks where it hurts, you can't tell him because it has mysteriously disappeared? Well it was much the same when I ran the engine so the mechanic could hear the strange noise that has worried me for quite a while. No noise! All was normal! How embarrassing! Still, he still had my water leak and stuck filters to play with. He thought he had mended the water leak but when I ran the engine that evening it promptly overheated and filled the boat with smoke! The header tank was bone dry so the leak wasn't fixed after all! Mind you if you ever have to stay in a boatyard overnight, I highly recommend this one. It is set on a little island at the junction surrounded by grass and with a great view of the lock and the pub so lots to watch and listen to. The pub is The Swan (or to locals, the Mucky Duck) and is not only the best pub ever but also apparently one of the most photographed pubs in England!

Bonny loved being at the yard and was very well behaved; sitting at the edge of the water watching the world go by for hours whilst I took advantage of my position in the dock and painted my gunwales. The cost of the repairs wasn't as frightening as I had anticipated but has still left me on rations for the rest of the month! Unfortunately, although I am working on Easter Saturday and Sunday, I don't get paid any more and also do not get any advantage from the bank holidays as Friday and Monday are my normal days off. I feel a bit hard done by, but at least I have a job. As far as the strange noise is concerned, the best guess is that I might have bashed my prop at some point and knocked it out of alignment, which would cause the sort of noise I heard. Apparently it is possible for the prop to vibrate its way back into alignment and so recover. Still, whatever the truth of the matter, there isn't a noise currently and I am very grateful for that as it would have taken 2 hours labour just to check the alignment and that's before any repairing of the problem.

I hope my readers have a lovely and meaning filled Easter and enjoy all this beautiful sunshine.

Spring Itch

I know it has been a month since I lasted posted anything. This is partly because I haven't had anything to say and partly because life has speeded up with the blossoming of Spring. The days are longer, the sun is brighter and the nettles are energetic! So when I get home from work I spend time pottering around cutting back weeds and planting vegetables rather than diving straight into the boat to light the fire and close the curtains - bliss! Bonny is really enjoying it too, despite being on a tight training regime at present! I've decided it is time to put an end to her disappearing off for hours, so we are working hard on sitting and staying and on recall. Meanwhile she is on the lead for the majority of her time outside.

Spring has also brought me a bout of itchy feet. I have been chatting to boaters passing through the lock flight who are off out cruising from now till October or November. I ask them where they are going and most of them don't have a plan - they will wander the system as the whim takes them. How fantastic to have such a length of time to be free! Free to stop where they want, explore the area, do a bit of essential shopping or laundry and then drift off, not knowing where they will be washing their knickers next!

I only have a week here or there because of my work and the temptation to chuck it all in and just go comes over me in waves. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, the desire to eat and pay my bills keeps me tethered to the garden centre. In February I had the sniff of a possibility of a job with a boat yard shop which would have suited me very well. It was only a seasonal job - running from March to the end of October and so I had initially rejected the idea. But then I did my sums and worked out that since I would have been working a 5 day week rather than my current 4 days, I would only have had to find around 6 weeks work in the winter to have the same annual income. Temporary work around Christmas time is easy to come by and that would leave me with nearly 3 months of freedom! Yes it would be winter and the chances are I would be frozen to the spot for at least some of that time, but still, the idea of being mistress of my own destiny for at least part of the year, was hugely attractive. Unfortunately the job didn't materialise, but it would definitely be something I would consider in future. After all, I only have to last for nine and three quarter years and then, with my various pensions, I will be considerably better off than I am now and free for ever!

For the time being I will have to live with my itchy feet and take the boat out whenever I can. That is if next week's visit to the boatyard to investigate a strange noise in the engine doesn't finish me off entirely! My boat seems to have phases of being absolutely fine and other times where things go wrong all at once. My alternator died a couple of weeks ago and needed replacing. (Frightened the pants off me when I started the engine as normal, to be met with flashing lights and an alarm!) I have an engine water leak and when I did my first solo service last week, I found both my  oil and fuel filters were stuck on. So another boatyard bill is scarily imminent.

But it is Spring time. The leaves on the trees are freshly green from their seed wombs, the baby rabbits are playing chicken with Bonny and this season of new beginnings holds fresh hope and excitement. All is well.

alarm clock society

This was a phrase I heard on the radio this morning. It came from William Hague and he was saying that he wants an encourage an 'alarm clock culture'. I think he meant by this that people are to be encouraged to spring out of bed in the morning and rush to work, there to busy themselves in the infernal machine in order to generate income for the country.

An alarm clock is so named because its strident ringing alarms us enough to wake us up. So its function is to disturb the natural rhythm of our sleep and to wake us suddenly in a way that shocks our body into action. So we wake alarmed, we then travel to work and in that commute to are probably subjected to further stress. The majority of us then strive for our 8, 9 or more hours and then face the same alarming trip home. And this is the sort of society that the Tories are aspiring to. At the same time, they are trying to discover how happy our society is. Other surveys have already identified our children as being the unhappiest in Europe and I would be surprised if adults are much cheerier - I wonder why!

The boating way of life seems to me to be much more in tune with our natural rhythms - especially if we are relying on battery power rather than mains electricity. I tend to wake when it gets light, so in the cold dark winters I sleep later and in the light summers, I am awake and ready for the day much earlier. I haven't used an alarm clock since I moved aboard and haven't yet been late for my 9-5 job. Because of my power constrictions, I watch less TV and go to bed earlier than I did when I lived in a house. This means I am getting  the amount of sleep I need and very rarely feel over tired. There is quite a lot of hard physical work involved in living aboard and that keeps me healthy, but also gives me a good excuse to regularly sit down and rest - something that is positively frowned on in this hurry up world these days. Even cruising seems to fit in with a more natural pace of life as we move so slowly and create little disturbance - so much so that I get to see wildlife that would have hidden itself from me had I been walking or cycling on the towpath.

Alarm clock society? You can keep it thanks - I will continue to belong to the floating society!

sorted!

I think I have finally sorted out the problem I had with people not being able to leave comments. There is now a pop up window that allows you to leave a comment without having to jump through impossible hoops first!
So now if nobody leaves comments I will know that either I am being impossibly boring or I have a bunch of mute followers!!
Despite the blog itself gagging people, I have had several interesting conversations with people regarding my philosophising (if there is such a word?) I had expected some argument - but no, I think people are increasingly waking up to the fact that the way we have organised our society does not bring happiness to the vast majority of people. The news yesterday reported that 6 million people in this country suffer from high blood pressure - 6 million!! I don't know of many boaters that suffer from that particular problem. I guess the combination of travelling very slowly and being surrounded by both beauty and people enjoying themselves helps keep our black bile to a minimum!
Oh and welcome to our second reader from South Africa - Tony.

I have discovered I can't comment on my own blog! It keeps asking me which profile I want to choose, but then gives me no choices and so I can't post a comment - Grrr! If anybody knows about these things, please tell me what to do. I've even altered the settings so even anonymous people can comment - but no joy for me!

What I wanted to comment on was Chris' comment and so this is what I wanted to say:

I've done the clock - finding out all sorts with the settings. It also occured to me that maybe wisdom + contentment = happiness and so does away with the need for success?

thought I was being ignored!!

For ages I have not received any comments on my various blog entries and I started to think nobody was reading it and so was wondering whether I should continue to write. Then yesterday I had a chat with a fellow boater from my mooring and he told me that he had tried to post a comment but that the site wouldn't let him.

So I have investigated my settings and I think I may have solved the problem. So if there is anybody out there panting to leave a comment - have a go!

Talking about comments, I had a read of my last posting and it struck me that a) it is a bit sermon like and b) it sounds as if I've got it all sorted and you poor slobs haven't a clue! Well, I can't help the sermon tone - it's a style I learnt when I actually was preaching sermons! As far as the second point, I certainly don't have it sorted. But I am experimenting with living another way and also living with a lot of cynicism about the great 'truths' this society holds. But, as I used to regularly tell my congregations - I could be wrong!!!

success?

I have been pondering on what it means to have a successful life. What markers do we look for when we judge a life? It seems to me that on all the markers our society recognise, my life is currently spectacularly unsuccessful!

• I am single and haven't had a partner since the mid 90's - a cardinal failure in our world.
• I am fairly impressively downwardly mobile in my career and I am, on most scales, judged as poor as far as income is concerned. I do not have a house and have few possessions.
• I don't care a jot for my appearance, as long as I am clean. I have saggy bits and the odd wrinkle and I haven't worn make up since I moved aboard the boat. I have even let the dye grow out of my hair and can now see a fair amount of grey!
• As a water gypsy I have no status and am regarded as just above the level of a land gypsy by a lot of people.
• Having been 'a leader of men' in both my previous careers, I now have no influence or power over anybody except my dog - and not that much over her!
• Spiritually, I have walked away from a privileged position in the Church and am now homeless as far as a faith position is concerned.
• I have no ambition to 'better myself' as far as any of the above is concerned!

So I should be deeply unhappy if not suicidal! But what if we as a society used different indicators of success. Would we be a happier people?

• Instead of narrow romantic / sexual relationships, what if we judged ourselves on the quality of our wider relationships - with family, friends, our neighbours. For example I know the first names of all my neighbours and there are at least 20 boats on my mooring. How many neighbours are you on first name terms with? And what about strangers; I make a point of smiling at or greeting everyone I pass (unless I'm in town where it is pretty difficult!) If I'm waiting in a queue, I try and chat to the person next to me. I refuse to buy into the myth that strangers are dangerous and not to be looked at, let alone spoken to. What would our society look like if civility returned? If we smiled and nodded, doffed our hats and said, 'No, after you' occasionally?
• What if, instead of judging people on the number of things they own, we rated ourselves on how interesting we are, how much wisdom we have accrued, how kind we are, how closely we are living to our ideals? On this scale I have to admit I have a way to travel, but at least I've started on the road.
• And in our career, what if we were appraised on how much we helped our fellow workers, rather than trying to beat them up the greasy pole. What if the quality of what we did was judged, not on how much money or power we have accrued for the company but on how much the world was a better place because of what we have done? What if we judged our work, not on how much we earn or how far we have risen but on how closely our work matches our skills, our personality, our dreams?
• Instead of the cult of beauty / slimness / celebrity, what if we judged ourselves on how happy and content we are in our own skins. What if we looked at different types of faces, bodies, abilities or colours as part of the amazing variety of life and to be celebrated rather than trying to force everybody to conform into some sort of media induced ideal?
• As far as faith in concerned, what if instead of defending our beliefs against all comers, insisting on whatever we believe is the only way, we developed the quality of curiosity about other beliefs. What if we could look at something very different from what we believe and ask 'what can we learn from this?'
• What if, instead of focusing on how successful we are, instead we looked at how happy and fulfilled we are? Then, on this scale, I would be successful indeed! What about you?

cruising plans

I have 20.5 days holiday this year. That doesn't sound much, but only working four days a week means that when I take 4 days holiday, I can have nine days off in a row. Just as well as there are several people who want to visit and go out on the boat. Funnily enough they all want to come in April - can't think why they don't want to come now!!!

So I have the pleasant job of working out when and where I'm cruising this year. I want to have at least one trip out alone, but the others can be with company. One cruise is already planned - to go up the Ashby Canal with Roger and Shirleyann Andrews. Shirleyann is the generous lady who made all my new curtains and seat covers, so the least I can do is to take them out cruising. My brother James will hopefully be visiting. If he is on his own we can go out cruising for as long as he has free. But if his lovely family come, then space is an issue as they can't all sleep on the boat overnight, so although we can still take the boat out, it can only be a day trip. Then there is my friend Mary who joined me for part of my Great Shroppie Cruise. She also wants to visit and go out somewhere. I love Great Haywood and Tixall Wide, so we will probably go there as it only takes one longish day or two shorter ones to get there.

I haven't yet decided where I will go for my lone cruise. I am toying with the idea of a challenge. Either by going out to the River Soar and so tackling my first broad locks and first river (with the exception of my boat handling course where I had a day on the Severn). Or by going up the Trent and Mersey towards Manchester and tackling the Harecastle Tunnel (very long) and large flights of locks, as well as cruising through urban areas like Stoke on Trent. Alternatively I am tempted to go down the Coventry and on to the Oxford Canal. So many choices and so little time!

I also want to visit my stepmother in Beaulieu for the last time before she moves house as that has been our family home since 1976! So if any of my other readers were planning a visit, you better let me know soon - or wait till 2012!

Belated Happy New Year

Sorry I haven't updated my blog for a while; my excuse is that merely surviving has been taking all my time and energy since November!

This winter has felt harder so far than either of the other winters I have spent on the boat. I think this is due in part to the freeze happening much earlier than usual and also that I am usually disgustingly healthy but have had 2 nasty colds in a row since my birthday. The current one is taking a long time to work through and I am not patient with my own illnesses or anyone else's for that matter either!

I finally managed to move the boat yesterday, for the first time since November 17th. It was such a relief to pump out and take on diesal and water. I was also delighted to turn around and so to be moored the 'proper way round' on my mooring. There is no right way of course, but for some reason I much prefer being moored facing Alrewas than Fradley - I don't know why, it just feels right!

Bonny has outdone herself by smashing her personal best for refusing to come back on a walk. Her previous record was six and a half hours, but Sunday before last she ran off at 7.45am at the beginning of our morning walk and returned at 6.30pm! I say returned, but she only got near home when I finally caught her; I don't know if she would have crossed the lock alone and come all the way back to the boat. What made it infinitely worse was this was a working day! So I had to take unpaid leave at a time when I really can't afford it. Usually when she run off she barks or pops out of the bushes every so often so I know she is OK. This time she utterly disappeared for all 10 and a half hours! So she is now permanently in bondage and I have made a vow to keep her on the lead until her second birthday in May. Meanwhile I will do loads of training with her. I don't know why I hate having to keep her on the lead so much. Apart from loving seeing her racing at full stretch after a rabbit / squirrel / anything that moves, I think it is because freedom is such a high value for me at the present. However her safety and my sanity are even more important to me so bondage it is!

On a brighter note, having filled up with diesel and done my sums I can now officially announce that my new fridge has just about cut my diesel bills in half! I now rarely have to run my engine in the morning and as long as I run it in the evening when I am drawing the most load - with cooking, washing and telly watching, then I am using around a litre and a half a day as opposed to just under 3! Just as well, as the EU has interfered again and we now have to use a different sort of diesel in our boats and surprise, surprise, it's more expensive. That coupled with the rise in fuel costs generally means my bills are rising uncomfortably, especially as pay rises are unknown in the company I am working for. What with VAT going up to 20%, my annual mooring fee due in February and my car heading towards senile dementia, life is challenging at present. But then, what would life be without challenge and risk?