It's Official - see you on 7 April!

..or, rather, 8 April - as my flight gets in after midnight!

I've taken the plunge, given my notice at work, and bought the ticket.  I'm coming.

I can't pretend that I'm not a bit scared - it's going to be a bit of an adjustment to move from a city of 2 million to a rural community of a few hundred!  I don't have a job lined up, and I've pretty much forgotten how Canada works.  The longest I've been in Canada since 1999 is 17 days.  

I do know there are some things I'll struggle to get used to - things that, if I'm honest, I think work better in the UK.  Little things.  Things like having the price you see being the price you pay (not having to add tax at the checkout) - and being able to use your debit card for free.  I counted yesterday - I used my debit card 7 times.  That'll get expensive in Canada...!

Things that I will very easily get used to?  Seeing my parents every day.  Seeing my brothers regularly.  Walks on the beach whenever I want them.  Snow.  Summer.  Community.

Now... how soon should I start packing?

  She started her journey with us in Slough and it has ended in a place we passed numerous times on our journeys up and down the waterways - Whilton Marina near Daventry.  NB Friendship is up for sale.  It's still a bit raw when I think about the last time I was at the tiller - taking her down the Grand Union through Warwick and Leamington after helping my ex through the Hatton Locks.  We had a lot of happy times on her - and I hope she will make more happy memories for someone else. 

The truth is, of course, she hasn't been "home" for me for over a year - but she was my home for longer than any other I'd known in my adult life.  I suppose this is what 'normal' people feel like when they sell their 'bricks and mortar'!  

Do you want to buy a boat?  Buy mine!  I'm only partly kidding - I'd love it if you bought her - but if you want to buy a narrowboat - buy one.  If not mine, someone elses - or have someone build you one.  I learned so much about the UK - and about mechanics and problem solving (!) living on a boat.  The sort of self sufficiency that being a liveaboard requires is something I think everyone should experience.  It really is a 'lifestyle choice' - and one I hope to be able to return to some day.  It won't be soon - life's got other plans for me - but one day I hope to be at the tiller of boat, with the only sound I hear being a diesel engine and a few birds.  I hope to be able to look over a hedgerow and see green rolling hills and wonder, "where am I" - and not to care where I am - because wherever I am, I'm home.  Finding a good, secluded spot, tying up and making a new place my new home - if only for a day or two. 

I'm getting ready to make a new home somewhere else - but I'll never forget the home Friendship was to me for 4 pretty incredible years.   

If you actually do want to make Friendship your next home - her details are here - http://www.whiltonmarina.co.uk/used-narrowboats/details/3523.aspx