It's on the boat!

 

Let me start by belatedly wishing you all a Happy New Year, wherever you are in the world. The happiest possible in the circumstances, that is!

We left Kantara back at the end of October, not knowing what restrictions were likely to be imposed next; we really wanted to be back with the family for Christmas. Steve and Karolina dropped in to see us on their way back from an EBay collection trip - a really lovely old oak dining table - and we packed a load of our stuff into Steve's larger-than-ours car, thus saving us one of the two trips back and forth to the house that we usually have to do at the end of the year. We were forced to pack quickly. It had been a spur of the moment decision not to stay on Kantara any longer - it's usually late November or early December, so our packing wasn't carefully considered.

In a guest blog post I wrote for the CRT website some years ago, I talked about the need for boaters to have on board all of those things which would be part of their life wherever they were. But the biggest problem with that is that most of those same things have to return with you to your house if you choose, as we have chosen for the past nine years, not to stay on the boat over winter. Guitar, sewing machine, exercise bike, stepper and kettle bells, artist's painting materials, the winter clothes and footwear, Grace's best pots and pans and cooking utensils (because the ones back in the house are not the best ones!), cameras, boxed games, plants. Stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff! We even had to take the TV with us once, because it had gone wrong and needed to be returned whence it came. Then we have to get the stuff from the car into the house. And find room for it! We must be mad!

"Get yourself another set of plates, you f*****g idiot!"

Thus commented a reader when I mentioned the matter in this blog. I didn’t publish him. He suggested "the problem might be somewhat relieved if we got ourselves clothing, crockery, cutlery, pots and pans, videos and DVDs for both the house and the boat. Skanky pair that you are!" Except he didn't use quite those words. The odd thing is that I hadn't said anything at all about cutlery or crockery, and we do, indeed, have full sets of tableware in both places. And glasses, cups and mugs. He forgot those. Pots and pans and other large kitchen utensils are a different matter, though, because, having bought new ones for the boat, we didn't feel we wanted to go to the considerable expense of buying duplicates for the house. But the old ones are really not up to the job any more, however, so we take the lot back and forth 'twixt boat and house. It's a heavy boxful. Maybe when we’re rich… When I’ve made my millions from my books, perhaps.

It's been a source of some amusement and not a little frustration recently that we've found ourselves needing things that we can't find in the house. String, a very particular small spanner, pin punches, a card game, hair bands (not for use on hair), a specific charger, a set of tiny screwdrivers, a belt, rubber wedges, a CD, a DVD. And each time we've had these needs, the response has been the same.

"We've got it/one/some on the boat!"

Of course, we make do without them, but it's irksome nonetheless.

Then we watch the news, and we're reminded just how blessed we are, the way things are now around the world. We're very grateful for all that we have, wherever it may be.

Be safe and well.