Holidays and Bills

This week I have at last been able to just relax and do very little and it has been fantastic.

We are just about the only boat on the narrow boat jetty here at the basin because so few boats venture down as the locks are hard work. We helped T and Jack back to their mooring at the beginnning of the week. Because the locks are so heavy there is no way one person can operate them, but I absolutely love doing it, it is such a good work out and great fun, even though it did start to rain when we were halfway along and we all got soaked.

We have a superb view of the basin and as I now have time to sit and gaze, I have seen some fantastic wild life. A comorant decided to pay a visit yesterday;

I saw him dive and come up with something ...

On closer inspection it was this large eel!

He had quite a fight with it

But finally managed to swallow it....

Last night I sat out on the back of the boat. The water was like a mill pond and there always seem to be lots of ducks about in the evening:

The starlings were starting to roost:

I watched the sun setting:

And the moon come up ....

..... and it was all so quiet and peaceful, just what I have needed.

Today there was more drama played out on the water as the moorhen who had been nesting on a neighbour's boat had hatched two chicks. She decided to take them straight out for a swim, but one soon became separated and it looked so small and lost out there on its own:

Mum just didn't seem to care and went back to the empty nest and left baby squeaking and swimming around. I was assured that if we left them to their own devices they would find each other, but it was sad to watch.

Having completed the transaction on our little boat, we have some money in the bank ( for a change!), so decided to do a complete financial review this morning. We worked out all of our fuel costs for the year and here is a breakdown which you may find useful:

Diesel -     £310 (for the central heating as well as propulsion)

Coal -        £273

Gas  -        £  52

Electricity £115

This makes a total of £750 for the year, which I don't think is bad in the scheme of things. Add to that our mooring fee which is £2850 and the British Watersways license which is £770 and that grand total of £4370 is pretty much the cost of living on a boat for the year if you own your boat outright. Of course this could change depending on many factors (age and length of boat etc,), but that is what it has cost us for a new, 57ft boat. There are other incidental costs such as toilet fluid for the chemical toilet or pump out fees if you have a waste tank, but these are really just part of normal household costs and I wouldn't put it in with the main utility costs.

One of the other spin offs of living on the boat over the last couple of years has been our fitness levels which have risen considerably. We have always been quite active, but I am really strong now, with all the carrying and lifting and chopping wood etc. and I also feel much better for spending so much more time outdoors in the fresh air.

Now I am going to 'slob out' in front of the telly and watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London - should be a good show :)

Al