Tag: Narrowboat

Is three years enough to be properly retired?

My last day at work was Christmas Eve 2020. In the months before I left, I spoke to a number of people who were already retired and a common theme was that it takes years to learn how to be properly retired. When I was at work I was very used to change. It was one of the things I was particularly good at and so I doubted their words. For me, it would take maybe three months. Certainly no longer…

It will not surprise you to hear that they were right and I was wrong. That is not to say that it was not immediately enjoyable. The first few months in retrospect I treated like being at work. I had lists of jobs to do and an urgency that was just like work. I got a lot done and it was fun. I was a total irritant to my wife because I wanted to organise everything.

After that, the first year was more like a very long holiday. We had the narrowboat and were off on our first long trip, across the north of England. I wanted to make the most of every day and despite best intentions I still had a tendency to rush at everything. I did not like “days off”. If we did stop in a location I would find five or six things that absolutely needed doing and would take up my time.

The second year was better. I still had a pretty detailed plan of how we would spend the year – where we should get to by when. But I was a bit more chilled about plans changing and relaxing into each day. It was the first year after the pandemic and we made the most of it to see old friends as we boated around the south of England.

This third year has been the best yet. We have still travelled a long way, from Chester to Bristol and back. We have had real adventures and Mandy, the dogs and I have made a great team. But I have also enjoyed the days when we did not travel. I still find it hard just to read a book or do a jigsaw, and I have tended to go off and find a stately home or a new town to see. But I am getting there.

For next year’s narrowboat trip we have so far just planned the first canal – Liverpool to Leeds. It makes me uncomfortable not to have more of a plan, but I am trying to learn to be a better retiree.

When I first left work I was determined to have something to aim towards, not just to stop. I had seen too many people stop work, do nothing and get ill. And I think in that I have succeeded. We are so lucky to be able to do what we do, whether on the boat, or on our trips away. It is a wonderful life.

And after three years I feel like I am still only beginning to make the most of that life. After three years I am probably still not properly retired. But I am getting better at it!

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How is the narrowboat?

I’m back at the narrowboat tonight. Over the past few weeks it has been taken out of the water and blacked (bitumen painted on the hull to protect it), It has new sacrificial anodes (zinc plates under the water to prevent electrolysis pitting the steel). It has had the roof stripped back to metal and repainted with 7 or 8 layers of primer, undercoat and top coat (the sun and my poor repairs had made the roof flaky). The engine has been fully serviced and the coolant system pressure checked after we overheated last summer. They have investigated a leak in the central heating system and dampness by the water pump.

Last time the boat was out of the water

So my job this weekend is to check the work, and to make sure that everything else still works, especially the heating now that cold weather is coming. I am looking forward to being back, even if it is just for a couple of days.

We are currently looking at moving house from Scotland to Lancashire, and as part of that we may have to live on the boat before Spring, which we have not done before, so it is fairly critical that it is warm. We can heat the boat in one of three ways. We can use the webasto boiler, we can use our “bubble stove” diesel fire, or we can run the engine. The last of these is not really an option while we are in a marina overwinter, but the other two techniques should be OK. Often people assume that narrowboats are cold in winter because they just have a single skin of metal, but in fact they have such a small airspace that they warm up very quickly. The only challenge is first thing in the morning, when I need to run from my warm bed to press the button on the webasto controller, before returning to bed for 30 minutes while it warms up.

Hopefully everything will be fine. And then there is just the bill to pay to the boatyard for their work. The saying is that “boat” stands for “bung on another thousand” and it is not far wrong! It is worth it though.

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How to tidy up a boat for winter

I went back to the narrowboat last weekend to get it ready for winter. We have been travelling for over seven months so it was fairly full of bits and pieces. I had a long list of jobs to do. But it was also a wonderful few days to relax and enjoy the boat and the marina for one last time this autumn. We even had a hot air balloon take off a few yards from where we are moored.

So here is my list of jobs:

  • Clean windows inside and out
  • Dust and clean all surfaces and ledges.
  • Wipe down radiators
  • Vacuum throughout
  • Clean mirrors and pictures
  • Clean floor
  • Clean shower grout
  • Demould shower sealant
  • Defrost and clean fridge. Turn off and leave open.
  • Properly clean oven and grill
  • Take home and revarnish wooden boat hook and seat
  • Antitrust and repaint windlass and mooring “nappy” pins
  • Clean out cratch (area at the front of the boat)
  • Put covers on front window, side hatch and back deck
  • Pump out toilet tank
  • Drain water tank
  • Take home crockery and glasses for dishwashing
  • Take home all food except cans
  • Bring home fire stick for use when we go away
  • Take home towels, t towels, bedding, hats, gloves
  • Leave a few windows open for ventilation

And now all that is done I feel the boat is ready. Next step is for the boat to be taken out of the water at end of October to have its bottom blacked, roof stripped and repainted, new batteries, engine serviced, and a couple of faults fixed. Then maybe we will come back for a winter stay in December or January before our next big adventure in 2024.

It is very satisfying.

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Not immune from Covid after all

It is nearly four years since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and I had begun to think I had a magical natural immunity. Despite the variants becoming ever more transmissible and common, I had either not had the disease, or had had it and not noticed. So it came as a bit of a shock at the end of last week when I felt like I had a really bad cold and tested myself with an old kit, to find I was very clearly positive,

I think I must have caught the disease at a pub quiz in Staffordshire, the Sunday before last. When we are on the narrowboat we live much of our lives by ourselves in the boat, or in the open air, so the virus would struggle to attack us. But the pub quiz had quite a lot of people inside in close proximity, so seems quite likely.

I had all the Covid vaccines when they were offered, but this winter I am apparently too young, and will just get a flu vaccine. So having had the disease will instead hopefully offer me good immunity for the rest of the season, Certainly after feeling pretty rubbish earlier this week, I am now full of energy, no doubt with my immune system running at full pelt.

I was watching a pandemic docudrama this week, and it felt like a different world, with empty streets and very strict rule following by almost all of us. Nowadays no-one seems very any more excited about Covid than a normal cold. And it turns out I am no more an immune super hero than anyone else. Ah well.

By the way, Mandy and I did OK in the quiz, but was it worth it? Probably not.

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End of season narrowboat blues

After seven months cruising the cut this year we are nearing the end of our 2023 narrowboat adventure. The boat is berthed in its over-winter marina, near Stone in Staffordshire. We are back in our house in Scotland, And in a couple of weeks I will return to the boat to clean it. This last activity is important on a boat, because otherwise mould can grown on surfaces and fabrics during the cold damp months.

The Staffordshire & Worcester canal this week, as we finished our journey

We have had a really lovely time this year, travelling the western canals of England. Starting in the snow near Chester, we had a spring visit to the Llangollen and the Montgomery in Wales. Then across the Middlewich arm and up the Macclesfield and the very beautiful Peak Forest to one of the most historic moorings in Bugsworth basin. From there we travelled down the Trent and Mersey, Staffs & Worcester onto the river Severn at Stourport. Taking care on the tidal stretch we made it down to Gloucester and Sharpness, the southernmost point of the journey. Then back up the Severn and Avon to Stratford, and from there up through Birmingham, to visit Coventry and for a leisurely week up the quiet Ashby. We finished the trip with a reprise of the Four Counties Ring and the Chester canal up to Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.

So many happy memories made and enjoyed. Mandy says she doesn’t want to face the real world now, she just wants to go back and hide on the boat. It does feel sad. But there are things to do that are hard on the boat – doctors and dentists appointments, and hopefully to sell the house and move closer to the boat.

And the boat itself will have a little adventure in November – being lifted out of the water, having its bottom “blacked” with bitumen, and its roof stripped down and repainted. The engine will be fully serviced, and it will hopefully be sharp and read for whatever 2024 may bring us. Watch this space!

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When a secret bunker is not so secret

One thing you definitely do not expect to see when cruising the canals is to find a sign for a secret bunker. But that is exactly what I found this week at Hack Green.

I have previously visited a “secret” bunker near St Andrews in Scotland so it was not entirely new to me, but the chance to explore from the canal was too good to miss, and we moored up.

I was born in 1964 and grew up at the height of the Cold War. This would have been the centre for organising the UK midlands if there had been a nuclear war. It just looks like a small farm building, but below ground there are extensive rooms that would have coordinated civil defence activities.

I confess I found the visit fascinating but also very sobering. In the 1950s and 60s we came very close to disaster and it could happen again. In one of the rooms they were showing a film called “War Game” about what the aftermath of a nuclear war would have been like, It was horrific.

Back at the boat that afternoon, travelling through our beautiful countryside I was glad I had visited the secret bunker, but more glad that it had never been needed.

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I love beautiful churches

This week we moored the boat in the centre of Chester, a lovely city, dating back to Roman times. We had a spare day so I went on a bit of an exploration. I had never been in Chester Cathedral before so I joined a guided tour, going up the tower and around some of the high up spaces. At around 4pm the Cathedral was quiet and our small group of visitors finished the tour at the very back of the church, above the altar and looking down the chancel and nave as the sun streamed through the stained glass window at the west end.

I am not a particularly religious person but the moment was magical. My father was a Church of England vicar and so I feel very at home in churches. There is a very particular smell of old stone and wood that brings back very happy memories. I am also fascinated by the history. Chester Cathedral was originally an Abbey, built a thousand years ago for a group of Catholic monks. When Henry 8th destroyed most of the monasteries, he kept this one repurposed as a Cathedral for a new diocese in the North West of England.

When I am doing my family tree research, one new discovery often leads to another. Discovering about this Cathedral was the same because when Henry created this new Cathedral, he chose it over an existing one on the other side of Chester, that I simply had to visit.

St John The Baptist’s Church dates back to medieval times, and may even have been built on the site of the Roman Temple to Mythra. There is good evidence that at one time there were three Archbishops in the UK – at York, Canterbury and here in Chester. It is a fascinating place to visit.

I came back to the boat replete with stories of ancient churches to share with Mandy. Lucky her!

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Is September the best time of year to be on a narrowboat?

In the UK we have had something of a heatwave this week, with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures. At the same time the days are getting shorter and I have often woken to mist rising off the canal in the dawn sunshine.

I feel as if such “Indian Summers” are increasingly common, before Autumn sets in, and they provide some of the best days on a narrowboat. The plants are still in full bloom with some just beginning to change colour. The water fowl still have plenty of food and swim happily around the boat. The canals are busy with experienced boaters on hire boats taking advantage of reduced prices after the school holidays. Everyone seems content.

And there are always surprises. On Wednesday evening we were moored outside Chester and went for a bite to eat and a pint in the Cheshire Cat pub, quite a famous boaters’ inn. The food and beer was good and instead of canned music we were treated to songs from a local ukulele band.

They “interpreted” many popular songs. This might sound terrible but after a long hot day on the boat it was genuinely just what I wanted.

We only have a few more weeks cruising this year but right now we are loving every moment. September is a great time to be on a narrowboat.

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Regrets – I’ve had a few

I am 60 next year. It’s a good age to start reflecting on what I have achieved in my life, and what I want to do with the years in front of me. My standard answer when asked about regrets is that I regret nothing because I have had a great life so far, and if things had been different, I would not have had this life. That is true. Overall I do not regret the choices I have made because I like how it has ended up. I am so lucky to have loved my family, loved my work and now loving my retirement. Travelling the canals of Britain in our narrowboat gives me so many prefect moments.

But to say I have no regrets is disingenuous. There are things in my life that I regret.

I regret not going to Cambridge University. My parents both went and I believe I was academically good enough. I always dreamed about living in an ancient college and taking the advantages that Oxbridge gives you. But if I had gone, I would have missed out on Imperial, experiencing London life, meeting my wife.

I regret not having a gap year. I think if I had done something different before University, I would have been less naive and would have had more world experience as an individual. But I do like the aspect of my character that can’t wait for the next adventure. I rushed into Uni, rushed into work, rushed into marriage, rushed into children. And now I can enjoy early retirement.

I regret leaving Ernst & Young to join Zefer. I was doing well as a Management Consultant, and was dazzled by the bright lights of the late 1990s dotcom boom. The new company failed and I became depressed. But I learnt from the experience, and without it I would not have got the Head of IT role with the Halifax, that I loved and took me to the next stage of my career.

I regret selling our house in Todmorden. Monkroyd is a large Victorian mill owner’s house, set on a Yorkshire hill side. It was the kind of house I dreamt of when I was a kid. Large cellars, hidden rooms in the loft. But if we had not moved, I would not have experienced how wonderful Scotland is, which has been such a great way to spend the last few years.

I regret not getting a CIO role in the Netherlands. We lived in Holland for four years when the kids were little, and after they left home I had the opportunity to return. I flew over for interviews and it just felt right to be back. When they gave the job to someone else I was so disappointed. But if I had been successful I would never have had the chance to spend the last years of my working life with RBS/NatWest, which were probably the most fulfilling roles I ever did.

No doubt there will be things in the next 30 years that I will regret. And rather than thinking that regrets are not useful and to always look forwards, maybe a better choice for me is to recognise those regrets, feel the pain, and then remind myself again how very lucky I am.

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Howzat?

When I was growing up there were just two forms of cricket. Test matches between international teams took five days. County matches took three days. Then the big innovation – one day cricket with sixty overs a side. It was treated as “not proper cricket” by the old timers but was more fun to watch and to play. That was that for many years, but in 2008 the India Premier League introduced a new format – 20:20 – in which new city based teams, dressed in colourful outfits, played a league of games over a few weeks, with each game being just 20 overs a side, so a game could be played in an evening. Once again there were many cricket pundits who dismissed the new format as childish, but it took off immediately and has become very successful across the world. The short matches encouraged big hitting from the batters and aggressive bowling.

Then three years ago in the UK, a yet shorter format was developed. “The Hundred” has 20 five ball overs a side – just 100 balls.

The Hundred has been successful for both the men’s and women’s games and is popular with families. On Monday I was lucky enough to be invited by my brother to watch the Oval Invincibles play the Trent Rockets in London., alongside my niece and her husband, and one of my sons.

We were lucky with the weather and both games were exciting with the likely winner changing every few balls, as wickets fell, or boundaries were struck. My brother had brought an excellent picnic and more than a few beers were supped over the afternoon and evening. We got the train home feeling very happy.

Is it as good as a five day test match? It is just different. The test match is more relaxed and more strategic, but oh what fun to watch six after six and amazing catches on the boundary.

And for those that care, the Oval Invincibles won, and will be playing in the men’s final on Sunday. I don’t have tickets but will be watching on TV.

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