Spending time vs. Spending money...

Still waiting to hear back from the marina on one or two things, and our legs are getting tired of all this solid ground to walk around on!

Yesterday we visited some friends of Jem's from way back, Kate & Corwen, who are currently renovating their gorgeously unique narrowboat, The Duke of Bridgewater, which has quite a history behind it! Judging by what they told us and from the photos on the boat's webpage here, it's been a hell of a project! And how many narrowboats are fitted out with hemp insulation?! And that's nothing compared to some of the things they have planned for it! Can't wait to see how it turns out in the months and years to come...

Our less idle thoughts have been turned towards various aspects of Wils, and we've decided to go for a wood burning stove (nothing new there) but with a back boiler feeding into our fin radiators, and hopefully the calorifier too, thus negating our reliance on gas for all things but cooking. It's a case of preferring to have to take the time to chop the wood rather than the time to work to earn the money in order to buy the gas. And that ain't all, folks...

I've said from day one that I don't want a washing machine onboard, for me that falls into the catagory of trying to bring modern house life onto the boat, and a convenient modern lifestyle isn't something I'm hunting for in any sense. We shan't have a washing machine, so instead we're investigating the world of washboards, copper possers (thanks Kate & Corwen!) and mangles! Yes, it's more work but work is just what I'm after; it's electricity and convenience living and unecessary machinery that I'm trying to escape from! A little bit of hard work can't be a bad thing, right? And the thought of mangling away on the towpath in the early morning mist is very tempting... Make that the midday mist, and it's almost a realistic image!

Hand powered water pumps are looking attractive too, given what we've been hearing about burst pipes causing pumps to turn on and flood boats... Simply it's electricity and gas NO - natural power YES! I know we're reliant on a thumping great diesel engine for the time being - but one step at a time! The day I find a sufficiently large collection of swan-sized harnesses then we'll really be away! Swan-drawn boating, it's the future. Maybe!