summer time

adventure is seriously overated

There's just no way to sugar coat this. Our weekend sucked.

Thursday night wasn't so bad and we got off to a relatively good start, arriving at Victoria Park after nightfall, finding a beautiful place to moor along side the park. Woz went to work the next day and I spent the day in the park with Nate.

On Friday night Woz and Adam met Nate and I at the boat by late afternoon and not long after we were off. It was another warm night and so things were looking up until we broke down at a lock in Tottenham. Woz tried his best to determine the problem and after several hours of having tried a number of things we all went to bed. Ever the problem solver Woz was understandably frustrated and instructed Adam and I that if we saw any boats pass, no matter what condition, to swap.

The following morning we finally got going again and things were looking up, that is until it started raining ......... and raining, and raining and raining. We had to make a decision - either stop and sit the rain out in the warmth of a pub which would mean that we wouldn't reach the beautiful scenery and villages we'd been told about, or persevere in order to arrive in Hertford the following day. We persevered.

By nightfall, tired, cold and with dampening spirits we arrived at Stansted Abbots and trundled off to the local pub for dinner which was a welcome relief from the unrelenting locks and served to cheer us up a little.

The following day the weather only became more miserable, and to make matters worse, our gearbox failed giving us the option of going flat out or not going at all. This meant that in order to avoid smashing into the locks or other boats we would have to cut the engine a good distance before reaching them in order for the boat to have slowed down enough not to wreak havoc everything we came in contact with. This also meant that we weren't able to steer the boat and so had to rely on brute force to keep it from hitting the sides of the locks as we approached them.

By mid afternoon we finally reached Hertford and found a place to moor for the night. We walked a short distance along the canal to a canal side pub for lunch and the three of us reminisced on the 'good times' we had enjoyed on the trip. Nope, couldn't think of any. Well no, that's not true, it was great to catch up with Tinks, and he was an absolute Godsend as far as Woz was concerned. helping him with every lock and always with a smile on his face. He and Woz had beaten the river and all the weather could throw at them - no small feat.

Understandably, Tinks decided to head back to London that night and so after a leisurely lunch we walked him to the station. We watched him with envy as he bought a ticket back to Central London. How we wished we could do the same. If only our home wasn’t trapped in the middle of nowhere with only one way home.

After leaving Tinks, we decided we’d explore the village we’d worked so hard to reach. We headed off in the drizzle and traipsed our soggy boots across the village in search of something, anything that would make this trip worthwhile. We found a tourist map which showed a castle in the midst of the town. This was the first bit of excitement we’d had and so we headed towards it with our camera at the ready. This was the icing on the cake (or at least we thought so, little did we know what the rest of the weekend had in store for us) as the “castle” had been entirely rebuilt and was a redbrick building with castle like bricks running along the top. It looked like it had been constructed in the last decade not the last century and was oozing about as much culture as the tub of cream in our unrefrigerated refrigerator after two days of no power.

Deciding to go home at that point wasn’t really a discussion, more like an unspoken agreement to ‘get the hell out of here and back to civilisation’ caught in a single glance. Besides, words really couldn’t describe our disappointment.

That night in the pouring rain, while I fed, bathed and put Nate to bed by candlelight, Woz made a head start on our unimaginably long journey home. After about three hours we called it a night and set our alarm for 6am the following morning. Tomorrow was Monday and we had one day to make it home in time for Woz to return to work on Tuesday. A good night's sleep was essential if we were going to make it through the huge day that lay ahead of us.

I got a 3 am wake up call and ran to the bathroom to throw up the contents of my dinner, which began 24 hours of curling up in the foetal position whenever possible, wincing with pain and running to the bathroom in between.

Soaked to the bone, hands red raw from gripping wet ropes without relent and growing weariness, Woz single-handedly navigated us through every single lock and with dogged determination we were home by 5.30 pm. It hadn’t been uneventful by any means, in just 36 hours we had received a months rainfall causing the water level on the river to rise 150 mm which meant that we tore our chimney off under a bridge we had navigated with ease on the way there.

The journey home which was supposed to take four days had taken us 15 hours and every minute an ordeal.

Needless to say, it was the first and last long distance trip we'll take on our boat. It would have been an entirely different trip if we'd had beautiful weather but either way, the 48 locks we had to pass through to get to Hertford and back were enough to turn us off for life.

If we never see the inside of another lock again it will be too soon.

cheesy, but had to be done!

have boat will travel

Back in the days when we were waiting for my passport to be returned, Woz and I were itching to travel and with no idea of how long my passport would be held, we decided that we'd do a trip away on the boat. This coming Monday is a bank holiday so we're going to to head out tomorrow afternoon and will return on Monday night. The beauty of it is that we can go as far as we like and then pull up anywhere and moor for the night. I love it! No packing, no preparation required.

The exciting part is that a friend of mine from Melbourne who I studied Auslan with, Adam (otherwise known as Tinks), is arriving in London on Friday and is going to come with us! Growing up, holidays were always so much fun when you had friends with you and for me the novelty hasn't worn off. We had already planned to take the boat out and happened to be chatting to Tinks online this week while he was in Scotland. When he mentioned that he was coming down to London on Friday we invited him to come with us and the rest is history!

Of course he thinks he's coming on a quaint little holiday in the English countryside on a canal boat but really we'll be putting him to work on the boat, helping us out with the millions of locks we'll come across as we head towards the River Lee.

Update: Slight change of plans. The weather on Sunday looks a bit iffy and as it is a beautifully warm night we've decided to get a headstart and leave tonight. Woz can take the tube into work from where we stop and I will be able to hang out with Nate in new surroundings. Adventure here we come!

come fly with me

It only took five months but finally my application for Indefinite Leave to Remain has been approved.

No more nightmares of being woken by a dawn raid and hurried out the door with all I could carry, leaving my family behind, to be put on the next plane out of the country, no more memorising favourite colours, allergies and face creams on the off chance that we're called to an impromptu green card interview, no more of Woz's incessant mumblings in his sleep ....

'Oil of Olan, oil of Ulan .... Olay!'

Most importantly however, all dramatics aside, they have returned my passport so we can think about travelling again. I feel like I've been given my wings back!

meanwhile on the working front

I got a chance to pull my heels out of the dark recesses of the cupboard this week as I was asked to come in to work for three days. I took them up on two of them and really enjoyed it.

My first lesson was a rude awakening to using a part of my brain I don't recall ever using. I had to accompany a student to a lesson in GCSE (Yr 11) Maths and then GCSE Physics on our mainstream campus. As the student was fairly oral I didn't have to sign for her during the lesson but instead found myself 'helping' her with the coursework. I failed Maths with flying colours in high school and have a feeling that I achieved a similar result in Science so I am a little disturbed thinking about what influence I may have had on her work.

Returning to work after having Nate has been a topic of much internal debate as I have had to realign my thinking on how I value myself. It is only in recent months that I have been able to totally enjoy my new 'job' looking after Nate and have decided not to chase work but to take it up when it is available and only when it means using BSL. I will definitely have more opportunities at my previous work to go back from time to time and am looking into some other casual work that will mean I can keep my hand in while still concentrating on Nate. This week was a good trial of things to come. Being the product of two fiercely independent parents, and being raised to be so himself, Nate is incredibly confident and independent so I had no trouble leaving him with a friend.

Woz, on the other hand is still loving his job and enjoying the benefits of next to no travel time and flexible working hours. Today he's slogging it out on a team building day, playing paint ball. Poor thing.

the finished product

Here are a few photos we took on the weekend before we took the boat out. These shots may not look much different to those we've posted along the way but there is a huge difference to the eye when you're in the boat.

Initially we set out to achieve a very streamlined look and opted for smooth painted walls in order to avoid tongue and groove woodwork or lengths of ply broken by cover strips. We discovered there is a very good reason why these two methods are followed as not long after cladding the interior our streamlined painted panels began to bow and crack at the edges. We didn't account for the incredible amount of condensation that is found in narrowboats and so all our hard work was compromised by unsightly cracks and bulges. We were so embarrassed and would cringe whenever we had visitors as we had to confess that we'd done this ourselves. So, a few weeks ago, in our drive to complete the boat we decided to go with the 'boat look' rather than fight it and cover up the cracks and joins with cover strips. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that they weren't so ugly at all and after being painted and seem to blend in with everything else.

The new paint job was done with a hard wearing and washable acrylic paint which we hope will be an effective tool in combating the hand and footprints that make it to our walls on a fairly regular occurrence thanks to Nate.

And last but not least, to finish off the renovation we have put some photography up on our walls, some by me, some by Woz and another by Andrew (which so far has attracted the most comments!).

This weekend Woz and I are going to do nothing but spend time together, catch up with friends and relax and bask in the joy that is a finished project.

we did it

Well we did it. We set ourselves a deadline of this weekend to finish the interior of the boat and somehow we made it. Woz worked incredibly hard all week sanding, filling, painting, sawing, and even a little bit of designing as we reached the finish line.

On Monday, which was a Bank Holiday, we invited some friends over and we planned to take the boat out for the afternoon and evening. After a beautifully sunny weekend, on Sunday night and the following morning we had the most rain we have seen in months. With no prospect of it letting up we had to call everyone and tell them that our plans had changed and that we wouldn't take the boat out. Most people came over anyway and by the time they got here at 5 in the afternoon we were all standing outside in the sun in t-shirts. We took the boat out along a different route than planned, towards Limehouse. We had a brilliant night with not a spot of rain and plenty of sunshine.

Nate was a champion, being entertained by everyone on the journey until we put him down at 8pm with a bottle and he fell asleep. It was really incredible he managed to fall asleep at all as we had music on, the engine running, people walking in and out of the boat and the odd bang into the side wall of the canal! A big relief for Woz and I as we really want to be able to take the boat out with friends as much as we can over Summer.

make a house a home

Filling, done. Sanding, done. Fiddly bits and pieces that have annoyed us for years, done.

Tonight when Woz gets home from work we're painting the boat with one final coat and by Saturday after a good clean up the interior of the boat should be transformed. We've finally had some photos printed and will have them hanging on our walls, bought new throw cushions and now have a small but very welcome bookcase to house our books. All the finishing touches the boat has needed for so long to make it feel like a home.

What on earth are we going to do with ourselves this time next week?

a warm saturday on the marina

This is so typical of a warm Saturday morning on our marina. Every person in this shot lives on a different boat. The pontoon becomes a hub of social activity as everyone discusses whether or not they'll take their boat out and enjoy it or take the opportunity to maintain their boat (as the two in the far background are doing), or whether they'll just lap up the sun and drink the day away. These are the three main pastimes of the residents!

One day, in the not too distant future, when the last piece of wood has been, sawn, sanded and painted and the hammer has fallen for the last time, we'll be joining them.

same old same old

Another Saturday spent working on the boat.

I got a little more involved this time as we managed to keep Nate entertained in his carry-cot for a good part of the day (thanks Ellie for the idea!), interspersed with trips to the park and naps inside. I painted everything within an inch of it's life and was able to do a lot of it on the pontoon next to Nate. Woz was back and forth also, cutting, sanding and sawing. We're so close now! All the finishing touches are really making our 'house' feel like a home.

Nate had the attention of all the residents who passed by and also a paddling (had to google that one) of ducklings although as usual he seems more preoccupied with the camera than anything else.

colour your world

Last weekend was a busy one. Our church organised a conference (Colour Your World) on Friday and Saturday which was held at the Royal Albert Hall. On Sunday we had church there too which was incredible. Woz took this photo from the box he sat in with Nate and some friends.

Normally we pack out any venue we hire so it was really strange to look around the auditorium and see so many vacant seats. Due to financial problems during the construction in the late 1800's a number of the seats were sold before the hall was opened and remain privately owned to this day. Now that is an inheritance I wouldn't mind receiving! Those lucky seat owners are able to walk in to any concert anytime and take a seat, so subsequently we weren't allowed to use them without individually writing to each owner for permission.

Nate and Woz hung out in Hyde Park opposite afterwards for a picnic with friends while I helped out behind the scenes. Nice life for some! Although I should mention that he took over from me at about 5pm and helped pack down the venue, getting home around 12am.

portrait of a rockstar

the end is nigh

It's official! Our renovation 'to do' list is now short enough to fit on our blackboard. Finally, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Woz and I have decided to spend every waking moment over the next month finishing off the bits and pieces that need to be done in preparation for Summer so we can take the boat out as often as we like and enjoy it.

The biggest job left on our list, painting the walls, is the most effective in giving the boat a fresh and polished look and the small amount of work we've done so far has already made a huge difference but we're battling against a fast moving tide with a certain little boy's grimy fingers scaling the wall daily, undoing all our work. At least the ceiling will be clean for a while but at the rate he's growing it wont be long.

a very private affair

In London there are parks scattered throughout the city, hidden by new towering office blocks or preserved amongst traditional buildings. They range from tiny pockets of greenery to large open spaces where you could easily forget you were in a bustling city if it weren't for the constant trail of planes crossing the sky. The smaller pockets seem so random in their location which I've heard is due to the fact that they were never designed to be parks but were holes in the ground left by Nazi bombs during World War II.

Anyway, yesterday, in true 'Notting Hill' style, Woz, Nate and I met up with Rejeili and Isabella for a picnic in their private garden. An absolutely gorgeous park which is privy to the residents surrounding it. It meant that we were truly able to relax and talk while the kids played, knowing that the only way anyone could enter the park was using a key.

Nate crawled for a long time on the grass towards some boys who were playing football until when he was about half way there he turned and realised he was all out at sea on his own and summarily started to cry.

Woz kept Bella and Nate entertained by carting them around the park in a trolley which they both loved. Their own personal chauffeur in a suit and tie to boot.

painting and playing

easter monday

Today we had another incredibly productive day working on the boat. The warm sun and gentle breeze over the last four days has allowed us to paint coat after coat on various parts of the boat so we've now painted some panels that were yet to be painted and 'cut-in' the entire boat ready for it to be painted another weekend.

On top of that Woz has finished building a new bookcase (I foresee having to say 'No' to Nate repeatedly as he tries to pull the books from the shelves but then kids need to learn boundaries right? and we need somewhere for our books!), boxed in a very ugly steel supportive wall and installed two new powerpoints! I'm effectively the lunch-lady these days as I'm limited in my capacity to help out while Nate is awake and as he only slept for 45 minutes today my input was minimal to say the least.

saturday

true to form

Woz had a nice introduction to his new job with only four working days before Good Friday. I have to admit we did revert to type, spending Friday and today working on the boat. We're constantly working out storage solutions for our growing needs and so the last two days were mostly consumed by this neverending pursuit (see bookcase being built) with a brief interlude on Friday night to Tate Modern to meet some friends for a few hours. We also spent some time preparing the walls for a desperately needed re-paint which will hopefully happen in the not too distant future.

lunchtime fun

Day two of Woz's new job and he's really enjoying it. He's been twiddling his thumbs a little though as his boss is away all week so Woz has been proactive and set-up a lot in preparation for next Monday when his boss returns.

Woz already feels at home in the office as he knows everyone there so well from working with them through his old job. So all in all, it looks like it's going to be a great opportunity for him.

Nate and I have also been enjoying his new job too as he's been home for lunch both today and yesterday and home by 4.30pm. Today at lunch he and Nate had some fun rolling around together on our bed.

hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work he goes

After a week off Woz started his new job this morning. We had a great week together. I took the opportunity to organise all the stacks of books, articles, magazine cuttings and post-it notes that had been building up in the hope that it would make the process of writing Woz's thesis a little easier for him. I was in my element! With an organised workspace and a week of intensive focus under his belt hopefully it will be a little more manageable from this point on.

It's funny how quickly you get used to things though and after just a week it already seems strange this morning with just Nate and I home.

snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes ...

Woz is now a free agent ... for a week anyway. His last day at work was yesterday and now has a week off to focus on his Masters before starting his new job. It was a bittersweet afternoon for him - he's excited to be moving on to his new position but very sad to be leaving what has been the best job he's had to date. I'm really looking forward to having him home for the week but at the same time will try to take Nate out for walks and different activities to make sure Woz has plenty of opportunity to study. Nothing like an adorable little boy to distract you.

Not really any other news of interest here. After what seemed to be an easy glide into Summer we've had a cold snap with it snowing every day last week, although not cold enough for it to sit on the ground. Despite that it was magical watching it fall.

snow

So much for Spring and warm days. It snowed today! Off and on all day and never enough to cover the ground but it was snowing!

good times

What an incredible few days we've had. On Friday afternoon we received an e-mail from Andy, a friend we made on our trip to Austria last September. He wrote to tell us he was in Paris and wanted to come over and visit with a friend for two days to see the boat and also to introduce us to two of his friends living in London. He and his friend Bernadette arrived late on Sunday night and from that moment onwards it was go go go.

Woz was able to take two days off work as he is in wind-down mode now that he has resigned and so on Monday we took the boat out. The weather was sensational and absolutely perfect for cruising the canal. We stopped along the way for the traditional English open chips, fish and mushy peas in the park before returning home late afternoon. Andy was taken with Nate and christened him 'Capt'n Little' (which he already answers to!).

On Monday night we invited Andy's friends and a friend of ours over for dinner and the seven of us had an amazing night together. It was an inspiring gathering of people who mixed brilliantly and some real friendships were formed and others cemented. When we decided to move to London we expected Londoners and London culture to be very English but for the first time we got a revelation of real London culture that night with a cultural mix of Australian, British, French, Austrian and Slovenian. Some of us travelling, some calling London our home, some born and bred in London, but all of us with a common bond uniting us. Creativity flowed ...

On Tuesday Andy, Bernadette, Woz, Nate and I walked all over London, heading to the Barbican for an exhibition on Alvar Alto and then to the Tate Gallery. We found a new favourite cafe for lunch north-west of London. Sitting in the huge open cafe in the sun, opposite the Smithfield market had a very 'Carlton' feel to it, especially as Woz bumped into a colleague he worked with in Melbourne who on a two day trip to London, happened to be drinking a pint at the next table.

Woz and I have grand plans to renovate a dutch barge once 'Capt'n Little' outgrows this one and we shared our designs with Andy who was inspired and excited by the project. He is very keen to get involved both in the design and build of the boat and so we may work together in the future.

Andy and Bernadette left early this morning to return to their holiday in Paris but with an open invitation for us to stay with Andy or at Bernadette's apartment in Vienna it wont be long before we see them again.

while we were away ...

Woz resigned! For the last two years he has absolutely loved his job - the hours, the people and the project he has worked on but has decided it is time to move on to bigger and better things. So, after this week he has two more weeks before he takes two weeks off to work on his Masters and then he's back into it again with a new company who happens to be his current client. He'll be moving out of architecture and into a project management role but still working within the rail industry. He's really looking forward to starting there and throwing himself into the new role. The other bonus is that they're only a five minute walk from home so he'll be able to have lunch with Nate and I every day if we're around. He'll also be able to work flexi-time so if he starts early he'll be home as early as 4pm, or alternatively if he wants a lie in he can turn up to work at 9.30 am, which is particuarly handy with a 9 month old baby who isn't sleeping through the night.

life as we know it

We've been offline for several weeks now and tonight for the first time are back on. I'm like a kid at Christmas time, not knowing which site to look up first or which e-mail to read. My mood has lifted 100% and Woz and I can now breathe a sigh of relief that life has once again returned to normal.

Over the last few weeks we've had to resort to such archaic methods of banking as queueing up and talking to an actual person, had to surf channels randomly on the TV and as a result ended up watching loads of rubbish because our online TV guide wasn't accessible, had absolutely no idea what was going on with our friends overseas as we realised that the way we kept in touch with their daily lives was to read their respective blogs of an evening and had to call or text friends in London rather than talk to them via messenger. Can you imagine?!