Happy Anniversary afloat to us.

 

Hi everyone.

Week Two of a brand new year and we are celebrating 17 year's afloat. On the 4th January 2005, we bought Misty Lady from ABNB, who were then at Crick, but have since moved to North Kilworth Marina. For me, this was my first boat, but for Keith who had been on and around the canals for over 40 years at this point, having a boat was nothing new. Keith's parents had boats and Keith used to run Pisces the Historic working boat for the London Borough of Hillingdon for a number of years. We moved onto Misty Lady whilst moored at ABNB with the help of our friends Keith and Val, who helped to transport some of our belongings to Crick and we slept on her there for our first night. I remember we woke on the first morning to the smell of burning electrics. The fridge, which was thought to be several years old at least, had decided to die on us, which meant we had to go in search of a new one, before we could leave Crick. Thankfully we still had our car and so we drove all over the place looking for a new fridge, eventually finding on in Rugby. We certainly covered some miles that day. My first day on the move was to work Misty Lady down the Watford Locks. I had never done locks before, but Keith gave me instruction and left me to it and we came out of the bottom of the flight in one piece and neither of us have looked back since. Misty Lady was our home, whilst Hadar was being built. We cruised on her to the places that Hadar cannot go, such as the Leeds and Liverpool and we had some truly wonderful times on her. In July 2007, she went to her new home and we moved onto a finished Hadar. Misty Lady now lives up on the Bridgewater Canal, which was where we last saw her, with another new owner. I hope they love her as much as we did and better than the person who bought her off of us. 

To this day, I have never regretted moving onto the cut. For me and for Keith, it was and still is the best thing we have ever done and not a day goes by when I smile and think how lucky we are. Life afloat is not for everyone, we have met many who have tried it and found out, it was not what they thought. But for us, it is everything and more. Life is all about living it to it's fullest and that is what we have and are doing. 

We, are in our own sort of isolation, because Keith's operation is pending barring cancellation due to Covid. We are still seeing people, but at a distance. I really do not want him catching any sort of bug, let alone Covid. I am getting myself into gear as far as getting fit ready for a season of cruising all being well. I have been doing more walking and tomorrow (Thursday), I am starting something new and exciting. I will post about it after I have done my first day. I will say, it is something I love and I am so happy to be given the opportunity to join in. Having over indulged over Christmas, I need to lose a few pounds. I am not into dieting, but I will cut back on certain things and up my exercise. After all, I want to be fit and healthy to keep up with our grandson's. 

I hope that your New Year has begun in a positive way, but if you are struggling please talk to someone. Do not bottle things up or bury things, because you will feel so much better if you let them out. Life is to be cherished and lived.

Pop back soon xxx