Our new life

We've been living aboard for a week now and we are really taking to it. Lisa woke up this morning and clapped her hands together like a seal, giggling like a little schoolgirl saying, "I love it". The generator is humming away outside, the sun is out and I am writing the first blog in a week on our first expedition up the Ashby just about to go through the Snarestone tunnel with our Mickey Mouse tunnel light rigged up.

The facilities haven't improved much since we started but I have filled the water tank and it has improved the handling considerably but the water is still not available at the taps (the fact that we don't actually have taps yet doesn't really help). As yet it hasn't filled the bilges and slopped around our ankles so it looks like my attempts at plumbing are holding out so far. I'll continue testing the system one part at a time.

Rechargeable batteries, wet wipes and paraffin figure highly in our lives at the moment. The paraffin I have mentioned before and the wet wipes are self explanatory and Lisa is recharging the batteries at school during the day and we use them at night. Lisa is also using her friends for washing clothes and has even hoodwinked the school caretaker into tasks for her comfort. Lisa also has a guilty secret in her cupboard in her classroom. Behind the door is her ironing board and in several boxes on the upper shelves are her clean school clothes. She goes in early and irons them in her room. She is also getting comments from the kids about being a water gypsy etc. "Yes I have indeed" she replies to the inevitable question, "Have you really moved onto a boat Miss".

We have finally handed over the house to the agents. They said that the grass should have been cut but that was about all. We are hoping to get the majority of our deposit back so I can spend it in the local chandlery.

Next week I will hopefully be starting the lining at the front of the boat and as I complete a rooms worth of wiring I will line it out. I'm also hoping to pick up the battery charger and inverter and get it in next week.

I cannot post photos at the moment as I am using the wrong computer with the wrong software on it for my camera. But we'll get there.