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?