JOLINA

The next candidate on the list. Very hopeful as it has been designed for live aboard. Has a good beam (width) 14' x 39' long, so perhaps one won't feel like one is living in a rabbit hutch. That would never do!

Him Indoors is off to Cheshire to see it tomorrow.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the one.

Kats::0)

NEARLY SOLD

I received a good offer on the house yesterday, which I accepted.

My feelings are very mixed. Relief and sadness all at the same time. Relief that we got a good price and have made a hefty profit which will solve all our financial problems, have money for the boat and quite a bit left over.
Sadness because this has been my home for the last 10 years and I've enjoyed living here in this Glen. But if you gotta go, you gotta go.

So, away with the self pity, and onwards and upwards. The buyers don't want to complete until March, which is great and gives me time to sort through the junk and hopefully make a bit of money out of it. I won't have to freeze my ass off on the sea for too long.

Him Indoors is off to see another boat next week which is lying on the River Weaver in Cheshire.

Now then, where's the tranquiliser gun and which cupboard will I start on first.

Kats

JUNK

No, I don't mean a Chinese Junk, I mean junk, as in rubbish, and possessions that are, in the main, of no bloody use whatsoever. Stuff you keep, just in case you might need it. We have lots of it. In fact I feel as if I'm drowning in it. I can't ignore it, it's got to go, it won't fit in a boat.

Every time we have someone to view our house (picture) I have to open built in cupboards which are full to bursting of stuff that I haven't seen for quite a while. It feels as if it's maliciously re- introducing itself to me, like a kind of regular torture.

I'm married to a serial hoarder who has to have two of things in case the other one breaks down. He saves the most amazing items and I've never been quite able to fathom out why. Why would someone want a large cardboard box full of empty, plastic, pill/capsule containers from a pharmacy?

Does anyone know where I can acquire a tranquiliser gun and dart suitable for a large man, so I can sneak round a corner, fire it into one of his buttocks and when he lapses into unconsiousness have a clear out of his junk. I have to do it this way because otherwise I wouldn't be able stand the pleading and begging , and hang-dog look in his eyes over every article, which no sane human being could find a valid use for.

Then there is the junk, which isn't junk if you see what I mean. A vast collection of LPs, books, antiques in various shapes and forms, pictures, some of which Him Indoors painted. The majority of it won't fit in a boat.

So, this is more than just a transition from land to sea. "Things" will have to be reluctantly parted with, some of it I will wave goodbye to with a sigh of relief, some not.

Interesting times.

Kats

BLOODY BOATS

I am living, breathing, dreaming, nothing but boats at the moment.

What we are about to contemplate, living aboard on an ocean going cruiser, is mind boggling, but we are determined to do it. The pros far, far, outweigh the cons, so that's alright then!

The boat mentioned in the first post (68 feet ex trawler) is now not an option. Why? Read on.

It all sounded very exciting but I couldn't ignore, the more Him Indoors negotiated with the owner, the sick, tight feeling building in my guts. I'm a great believer in guts and what they tell you. However the worried pinched look on Him Indoor's face and strange mutterings of "F***K 68 feet is big, and Oh my God that would be some momentum when you get moving", did give me a hint or two that he was having his doubts about this particular vessel which was taking on the proportions in our minds of the QE2.

Too big, too daunting, too expensive - price is ok (£55,000) but charges for berthing are by the metre, (£83) plus we need to buy the extras like safety equipment, marine electronics - helps to stop you getting lost, grounding the thing and generally dying at far too young an age, which is not the object of the exercise. So like the adults we are (occasionally) we both admitted to our feelings of doubt, thrashed out the reasons and agreed to agree. Oh, I do like it when a plan is coming together.

So, the search is on. We need a 38 - 40 foot boat, 50 would work too, which is ready fitted out for live aboard, and I mean live aboard in Scotland around the Inner Hebrides, and it's got to be a traditional build of wood. I'm sure you can do the math on that one. Hot Air heating systems are what I dream about these days.

Well we have found four so far and one of them is pictured above. She lies in Dublin and is a good bet, one snag, no heating system on board and someone has removed the shower.

So on to the other three.

Kats

WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT THEN?

The first post on this blog is a copy and paste job from my other blog "LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE" just to start this one off.

I don't even know if the title will stay the same, but no matter as I have a great deal to get down about the run up to this life changing decision. Which I am looking forward to immensely, but at the same time with a great deal of trepidation.

It is making waves, some good, some not so good, amongst family and friends, but has nevertheless been an interesting exercise so far, from the point of view of being on the receiving end of their reactions. Some has been fairly predictable, some have been surprising. That's people for you though eh?

I am on a learning curve like I have never experienced, and we haven't even started yet. It is exhilarating and exciting, and I cannot wait to get started, to take control of my own destiny and live "outside the box".

Stand by for further developments.

Kats

EVERY CLOUD.....................

..................... has a silver lining, and I have just found mine.

After months of being out of work, watching hard earned savings dwindling to nothing, just to keep our heads above water, we have come to the point where being property rich and cash poor, the house has gone on the market this week. The wolves are at the door, howling for money we just don't have. I have cried many tears of frustration, desperation and complete and utter sadness at finding myself in this awful position, but at the same time, because of, at times, a debilitating clinical depression, unable to make a positive move. Like a rabbit frozen by fear in the headlights of life. - not the me I used to be.

Problems with aged parents, whom I love to distraction, divided loyalties, guilt by the truckload, and trying to balance the whole lot and trying to appear "normal" outside of my immediate environment.

Well, that's the self-indulgent bit over with. Did I hear a sigh of relief out there? I'd better get to this silver lining before you all die of boredom.

Have you ever had something in the back of your mind, that niggles and wriggles for years on end. It is a thought of "I'd love to do that" and really you think you never will, because it's a huge life change and "other" people do things like that, and you carry on with the drudge of every day life, going to work, paying the mortgage etc. etc. and view "those who dare" with a sigh of envy

.The silver lining has appeared in the form of a 68 feet larch on oak fishing vessel converted to live aboard, complete with a rayburn cooker in the galley and full size bath in one of the bathrooms.Him Indoors and I have been feverishly reseaching all things maritime, from moorings to courses on navigation.

Instead of paying rent on a house and putting money in the pocket of someone else, this boat will be bought for cash and will be our home. A total life change that has it's pitfalls (I'm not going into this with rose tinted glasses), but it will never be the life again of a hamster in a wheel with the government waiting in the wings to take as much of away from you as it can.

I am going to enjoy my life, earn money from the experience and have a freedom that is known to few people. All it takes is the guts and the determination to make a leap, and I have not felt so brave and determined for a long long time.I feel another blogsite coming on.

Kats :0)