from the beginning (of boat life anyway)

So I think its best to start form the beginning of our little adventure; although a little late due to getting used to the cold and all things boaty, this is the start of our story of swapping life on land for life on the river.

So where did it all begin?

The plan:

Hatched in our little flat in Twickenham after getting frustrated with paying over inflated rent, facing ever increasing bills and absolutely no outside space at all. We had recently got married and needed something new to plan (well I did anyway) and as there was no way we could afford to buy in London we decided to take a risk and swap life as we knew it for a pied-a-tere on the Thames.

We had been looking on and off for a year or so although probably not too seriously, but it wasn't until we saw our little wooden boat that we took the plunge and jumped.

So dah dah we bought a boat. Cheers

Our new pied-a-tere: The little wooden boat

 

After taking the plunge we gave ourselves a month to move and organise our things which meant weekends were spent on the boat while in the week we were back in the flat packing up and making the most of the central heating and a spacious shower. 


The flat: what we left behind.

We loved our flat in Twickenham and having lived together for 5 years in a variety of places it was filled with an odd collection of furniture and things, old and new that we had acquired along the way. But some things are never meant to last and having said our good byes we packed up all our things, bar the bare essentials (and all we could fit on the boat) and stored it all away.

Moving in:

After a final long hard day of moving we suddenly realised; this place is small and might take a bit more getting used to and a lot of careful planning than first thought!

but tired (and feeling defeated) we decided to head to bed and worry about it in the morning!

The next day however we were woken by the sound of ducks, the swaying of the boat as the rowers went past and a beautiful sunny day. We had a treat of bacon, bubble and squeak with poached eggs and thought it aint half bad, small yes but its going to be fun.