Sunday 17 May 2009

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!!

4 comments:

  1. I might be interested if you have a Goblin Teasmade.
    I've added your blog to my blogroll.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi NB Willawaw - no sorry, we gave up on those 20 years ago! I have another teas-made now - he's called Roger!!!

    Pip

    ReplyDelete
  3. Going through the change then. You have to be hard on yourselves and just concentrate on the near future. Take some useful tools on to the boat. You will need them. It is quite surprising what disappears inside a boat. Everything will have it's place eventually. Good luck and happy cruising. Chas n Ann

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Chas n Ann

    Yes we are being quite hard, it's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over the years that you never use!!

    Taking a fairly comprehensive toolkit, including old kitchen knives for cutting rope etc.

    Not long now.

    Cheers

    Roger & Pip

    ReplyDelete

We love to read your comments but if you MUST comment as Anonymous, then please sign your comment with your name and/or boat name otherwise we don't know who you are