Category: Uncategorized

Like everyone else, I am thinking about Christmas. Our first Christmas on The BBB! I am excited and slightly apprehensive. The tree we have had for many years won’t fit (in fact, there isn’t space for a tree at all). The lights might draw too much electricity. Are candles a better idea- and are they safe? But I am quite enjoying getting my teeth into the challenge!

But like everyone else, I have been pretending that it is too early to think about Christmas… whilst thinking about Christmas!

I have been complaining about shops that have Christmas music on in November and Christmas films at the cinema from Halloween.

But I still go shopping and watch the Christmas films!

I think I have revised Christmas! Christmas comes in layers.

We have to let Christmas time start early, or there isn’t enough time for Christmas events. It is up to us when Christmas starts (Christmas Time, Christmas Week, or even Christmas Day), just because shops started sooner doesn’t mean we have to!

I have seen a few Christmas films in the last couple of weeks and watched a lot of Christmas adverts. They have made me think about the effect they have on me. Films like Love Actually, which suggest that Christmas is a time for loving mankind, and being kind and generous. I think most people feel Christmassy, benevolent and full of human kindness for an hour or so after the film, but the films don’t really have much effect on our actions.  We leave the cinema and life carries on. Have we got a gift for Tommy, is the turkey ordered. Do I have enough money, can I make it to all of the kids Christmas events, will they forgive me if I miss one…

In fact, I think these films (and even more so the seasonal adverts) can have a negative effect on us. I think they make us compare our Christmas with the Christmases in the films. In the films, Christmas is generally doomed for most of the film, but they end with a lovely Christmas with lots of people all around and a great community feel, even if it’s not how they first intended. There is often a throwback to the big Victorian style of Christmas or a big community Christmas (everyone stuck in the supermarket or cinema, for example). When it gets to the pinnacle, everything is great. In adverts, Christmas is even more perfect – generally because the family has brought the product being advertised! No tantruming toddlers, the dog doesn’t eat the presents, the dinner doesn’t burn. Everyone works hard to make Christmas perfect, which it is.

Most people can’t manage that (and often wouldn’t want to) – with modern families being spread far and wide and so many commuter towns with little sense of community.

This leaves people feeling that their Christmas doesn’t measure up. The estate don’t all sing around the tree, there is no piano in the lounge. What has happened to the Magic of Christmas?

Looking at the diagram above, Christmas Day is the biggest star, but the smallest amount of time. This says a lot! It is only 1 day!

Life continues because Christmas is just another day. Toddlers will tantrum. Food will burn. People will argue. On a darker note, people will die. People without homes are still without homes.

Christmas is lovely and sparkly and lifts our mood, yes.

But it is not magical.

Expecting one day out of 365 to be perfect is setting ourselves up to fail.

If we want to properly enjoy Christmas we need to alter our perception.

What do we enjoy? What makes us feel good? The perfectly-cooked turkey isn’t a good idea if you don’t like turkey! Helping people makes us feel good. Being around people makes us feel good although too much and it may also make us feel bad! The same goes for drinks!

If we have enjoyed Christmas time, it doesn’t matter if we haven’t got the perfect stuffing or, well, perfect anything! Perfect anything is generally unobtainable! Aim for nice or good instead!

I know a family with little children who had Findus Crispy Pancakes for Christmas dinner. They all loved them. No one spent ages cooking them. The kids didn’t get stressed eating a meal that they didn’t want. There was more time to spend together playing games and they had a lovely Christmas.

Do what makes you feel good. Don’t consider what you haven’t done and don’t kill yourself striving for the unobtainable.

Merry Christmas Time, however and whenever you want it!

 

Imagine living on a boat.

Surrounded by calmness. The lapping water quietly washing past the boat.

The rhythmic whoosh of the wind gently blowing through the trees. A distant bird calling to its mate. Maybe a cow lowing in a field. Remeber – this is the UK though, so we need to add the calm repetitive tapping of the drizzle on the roof. Idyllic? The very essence of calm?

Well, it is not like that at all! It is fantastic, as far as I am concerned, but it is not quiet!

Last night was a great example. It was windy last night (by UK standards, anyway). Yesterday I was up early, late to bed, and quite active during the evening, so I was guaranteed a good night’s sleep. Or so I thought!

I climbed into bed, to listen to the quiet river noises. It wasn’t so much a gentle rustle of the wind- it was howling around the boat!

The Big Blue Boat is made of wood and steel, which both expand and contract at different times as the temperature varies.

Because they expand and contract at different times the boat makes strange snapping, creaking and popping sounds. It is worse when the boat was new and the wood and metal were still settling, but last night it was doing a lot of creaking and snapping. Far more than normal, I am sure!

There was a gaggle of geese who were determined to fly, despite the wind. They weren’t honking- they were shouting. I imagine that if I could understand goose it would have sounded like this:

Dave: Let’s go to the park over there?

Steve: Yes, great idea. The grass is nice over there.

Dave and Steve take off, running along the water.

Dave (shouting): I can’t get any uplift- the wind is blowing me back down to the water!

Steve: I can’t help you, I’m struggling as well!

Dave: This is impossible.

Dave: Whoop! I’m up and airborne! Last one there is a smelly swan!

Steve: I’ll beat you…AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! I can’t get away from the tree….the wind is blowing me….

Dave: Oh no, I’m gonna crash, HELP!

Then, just as I was dropping off I could hear a scraping sound. It sounded a bit like a pirate with a peg leg walking over the roof. Clonk, scraaaaape. Clonk, scraaape. Then there was a loud tapping at the side of the boat. Clonk, scrape, tap, tap, tap. Aha, I thought. That is the hose blowing in the wind. (Honk, HONK, still going on from the geese.)

Don’t forget the creaks and snaps that I mentioned at the beginning. That is still happening. Not rhythmically, but randomly.

Then the ducks started their midnight meeting. Now I had very loud quacking and splashing! The noises on the roof changed to a range of resounding thumps.

I think that was probably the barge pole and broom blowing along the roof. Because I was very much awake, I could also hear the noises I normally sleep through. The train blowing its horn as it comes up to the level crossing. The boat heating. Mr BBB snoring (most unfair- I wasn’t asleep!).

When I woke up this morning I realised that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Everything is still where it should be. The hose, broom and pole are still on the roof. The canopy looks untouched. And the boat hardly moved in the wind. I might feel a bit weary, but as I woke up, I must have gone to sleep in the end!

When we decided to live on a boat one of my biggest concerns was the river flooding.

Before we had the Big Blue Boat, we lived in a house in St Neots within walking distance of the river- but too far away to flood. In the winter (and autumn, spring, even occasionally summer) the river would flood! When we first moved to St Neots the flood water would travel quite a distance, flooding shops, pubs and homes in the High Street. A few years ago the town received a revamp of its flood defences and I don’t think the High Street has flooded since, but the main park in the town still floods most years. So I was well aware that the river around this area floods!

When we travelled to St Neots recently, I was considering the flooding issues. I thought about how we would moor (on a floating pontoon that goes up and down with the river level or tying the ropes more loosely, so the boat can move) to be safe if the water level rises.

As we were travelling along the river Mr BBB and I were congratulating ourselves on a successful journey. We hadn’t lost any lock keys or windlasses. No one had fallen in. The boat hadn’t crashed into any trees (or anything else)! It was beautifully uneventful.

We spotted herons, cormorants, kestrels and plenty of ducks and geese. As we navigated a narrow bend in the river, the boat stopped. The engine was still going, but the boat wasn’t moving. I looked over the edge and the water was only a few inches deep. Narrow (and wide beam) boats have a very small water draught (not much keel- under the water) so we are usually okay in shallower water, but this was so shallow we could have paddled if it were warmer!

Mr BBB tried using the engine in reverse to free the boat, but it didn’t work. He tried using reverse along with the bow thruster. Nothing. Mr BBB used all of his physics knowledge to try and wiggle the boat free, but she was not budging. I tried pushing off the ground using the barge pole, Mr BBB tried the things he hadn’t tried earlier because he didn’t think they would work. And they didn’t.

We discussed waiting until it either rained or someone passed and could tow us out of the shallow area. But we hadn’t seen another boat all day. At least we were in our home- we had heating, food and water.

Mr BBB had another go at using the engine in reverse to free us, and I noticed the stern was moving, slowly and not much, but it was moving! With more complicated revving, we were free! We continued the journey and celebrated when we got to St Neots!

As Bob Marley sang ‘Don’t Worry About a Thing’. The things you worry about don’t happen, the problems that arise are always things you haven’t considered. Like running aground when you are worried about floods!

 

It is quite wintery, now. The clocks went back a couple of weeks ago, so it is getting dark at around 4.30pm. We have had a few bright crisp frosty mornings, where the grass crunches when you stand on it and people are busy scraping their windscreens.

This is our first winter onboard, and when we chose the Big Blue Boat we made sure that she had good heating, but we haven’t needed it all that much, until now.

Over the summer and autumn, we occasionally used the diesel heater which heats the water and radiators, to keep the boat toasty, if needed. It is quite cheap to run and works quickly. But it is a bit like living with a dragon! It starts up with a massive plume of smoke and a loud rumbling roar. The first time it started up I quite genuinely thought the boat was on fire! After the first couple of minutes, it quietens down to a dragon-sized purr. It only stays on for a few minutes, so the dragon sounds are okay.

Now that the weather has turned colder we thought we should use the multi-fuel stove (burner) for heat. It looks nicer and is quieter to run. We have no idea which is more economical, so we decided to try both and see how it works out.

The diesel heating is much easier, though! It seems to me that lighting a fire is a bit like looking after a newborn baby! Everyone else knows how to do it, and they are all successful at it. It can’t be left alone and needs near constant attention!

Before we tried to light the stove I sat down and read the instructions. It seemed quite easy. Put on paper/firelighters and kindling. Once that is burning well, put on bigger fuel. When I did that, the bigger fuel (logs) smothered the fire and it went out.

After another trip to buy more kindling we tried starting with more kindling. That made a lovely roaring fire. I added a log, and it charred the edges of the log, before going out.

A third trip saw us buying smokeless coal. Maybe that will be easier? With many attempts, we got to the point where the coals were glowing.

Thank goodness! Should there be flames as well? Glowing seemed to be good- at least it was warm! Then I added more coal, a few bits at a time and the frustrating thing went out again!

We have quite a few friends with burners, so we asked for advice. Make a tower with paper, firelighters and then kindling and don’t add the coal until it is all very hot; put coal on the bottom, then kindling, then firelighters; make a roaring fire with kindling then add coal (I am NOT putting my hand anywhere near there!). The range of advice was enormous! And nothing seemed to work well.

Between us, we seem (fingers crossed) to have mastered it in the last day or two. Fires are unique things. The reason the instructions and advice didn’t work is that it all varies so much! Get it lit, and do whatever it takes to keep it lit.

As I said earlier, it’s like a small child. Younger Mr BBB put it quite well when he said  ‘Fire is like a small child- you need to keep it enclosed, but give it as much freedom as you can’. Also, what works one day doesn’t the next. Just like a toddler!

As I write this I am sat in a lovely toasty warm boat looking outside at the fog rising from the river, shining in the lights from the boat; with a delicious cup of hot chocolate made from water that was heated on the of the stove.

Finally, we have mastered it. Don’t follow advice or instructions – just follow your instinct and hope!

Wow, what a day!

It started with an incident in the shower.

I hang my towel on a hook on the bow of the boat, so it doesn’t build up condensation in the boat (and because there isn’t that much room). The bedroom is next to the bow, so it is easy to pop out and get in the morning before I shower. Well, this morning I showered and wrapped myself up in my nice fluffy towel. And my tummy hurt, it sort of prickled. It felt like there was a thistle leaf in my towel. So I took the towel off to check. No thistle, all looked fine. It must be my imagination. I put the towel back on and my tummy prickled again. I decided it must just be my mind playing tricks on me. But the prickling got worse. I checked again, and again. Still nothing there. Really odd! In exasperation, I looked again before I gave up and went to got dressed, and found a tiny red ant sitting on my tummy, surrounded by red bumps! I think it kept getting squashed when I wrapped my towel around me, so kept biting me! Thankfully I had some antihistamine cream in the cupboard!

After my shower the water was low, and since we were moored next to a water tap I decided to fill up the water tanks. I have already blogged about the many issues I have with filling up with water, but this was a completely different problem!

We have 2 hose pipes, one cheap plastic hose pipe that lives along the roof and I generally use at marinas. And a magic hose that extends as you use it, so it can’t get kinks in. The plastic hose goes very deeply into the water filler hole, so it can be left. The magic hose doesn’t, but it can usually be wedged into the hole as long as someone stays nearby in case it becomes unwedged.  Today, though, the magic hose wouldn’t wedge into the hole. It needed holding there. So I got my book and sat with my book in one hand and the hose in the other, thinking that I was being quite clever getting a sneaky read in the middle of the morning! The waterhole is on the floor. I was sitting on the bench, bending down to hold the hose in the hole. My back (and the ant bites) could only manage that angle for a few minutes. So I moved to crouch on the floor. But my feet and ankles could only manage that for a little while before I had to go back to sitting and bending forwards! It takes about 40 minutes to fill, that is a long time to be holding uncomfortable yoga poses! By the time it was full, I couldn’t stand up! Everything hurt!

When I could walk, I thought I’d pop the kettle on, after all, I deserved a cuppa! I went to get the milk out of the fridge and noticed a puddle underneath the fridge door. I opened the fridge to see what was leaking and saw something was trickling out of the cupboard next to the fridge. Further investigation revealed that it was a fairly large puddle of oil. The bottle of oil in the cupboard had fallen over, the lid had opened and it had poured itself all over the cupboard and floor. The cupboard is a magic cupboard, with a mechanism that allows you to get to the wasted space at the back of the cupboard and the oil was right underneath the mechanism. The gap under the mechanism is tiny and cleaning it involved contorting myself into a small uncomfortable space. Again! So I spent about 45 minutes hunched on the floor (again) cleaning up oil!

Roll on tomorrow!