Not Wanted On Voyage....

As I said in my last post, we spent the majority of the week in a Transit van. It started on Tuesday, loading up the van, then, with myself and Cassie squeezed into the cab passenger seat, we trundled off to my Mum's in Northampton, to drop Cassie off for the day. We then carried on to Wheeler End Common, near Marlow to take the chest freezer and various other bits and pieces to daughter Emma's. She's had her eye on my freezer ever since we first started talking about living on a boat! After a nice lunch and a bit of a relax and a play with the girls, we got back on the road, back to Mum's. We still had a load of stuff for her, but hadn't wanted to take the time to unload earlier in the day, and then leave her with furniture all over the place, so we had decided to do it later on, and stop the night. When we arrived we unloaded the van, and collapsed for the evening.
The next morning was spent re-arranging her furniture, putting up shelves for the shed, stowing stuff in the loft, and anywhere else we could find space! Poor Mum!! We arrived back home late afternoon, and then had the job of heaving two very heavy boxes containing the leather Captain's chairs from the spare bedroom, where they have been languishing for months, down the stairs and into the van. By that time I was absolutely pooped, so called it a day. Thursday morning saw us once again loading the van, this time with the stuff for the self-store unit we had rented to get the boat stuff out of the way. We had a very easy trip to Melton Mowbray - unloaded, and were back home in time for coffee. Next trip was to the dump, so we loaded up again and off we went. After that, it was time to take the van back to Enterprise, and re-claim the car, and all before lunch! What a productive morning.

We have spent most of the time since Friday getting the stuff ready to go into long-term storage. A few items of furniture, with sentimental value, and some boxes of 'stuff' that I felt would be daft to get rid off - after all, we probably won't be able to live on the boat for ever. At some point we will get too old and decrepit to manage any more, so we will have to move 'onto the bank' once again - at least we will be able to have a few familiar things around us in our dotage. Below is just one pile of stuff 'Not Wanted On Voyage'. There is another load of boxes upstairs, along with an antique bookcase that my Grandpa made, a wooden chest of drawers and the dresser from the kitchen. I hope it will all go into the container! The removal men are coming tommorrow.
Our goddaughter Karen is having the majority of the rest of our furniture, having just signed the lease on an unfurnished house to share with her friend while they both do their PhDs at Hull University. Anyone want a dishwasher or a Hostess Food trolley? They're the only items that aren't spoken for now.
Another visit to Beacon on Tuesday - another progress report then. With any luck they may have some idea of a launch date by then! We live in hope!!