Well it is now 2009 and the year of our launch. We have still not decided on a date but are keeping our fingers crossed for late March mid April. It will be nice to get on the canals for Spring.

We have picked up the settee from Elite Furnishings and are very pleased with it, the trip from Bournemouth to Tamworth was uneventful but unfortunately after that it went down hill for a while. Part of the reason for going to Tamworth to pick the settee up was because Paul wanted to go to a Chandlers over in Wolverhampton unfortunately on this leg of the journey we broke down on the Motorway, it was quite a dingy day, windy, dark and raining. Not a pleasant situation to be in, when you are in the traffic it always seems busy, but standing by the roadside or trying to repair a broken down vehicle (in the wind & rain) under these circumstances is really not very nice. Whilst Paul was checking the vehicle over my brother who lives in Winchester rang me and asked me where I was, to which I answered I don’t know we are on a motorway somewhere, why? He promptly said are you on the M? (Can’t remember which one now) broken down because I have just driven past you. He very kindly came back to try and help. In the meantime Paul had come to the conclusion that although he knew what was wrong with the car it was a bit dodgy trying to sort it out by the side of the Motorway as the weather was deteriorating and we did not have a a lot of daylight left. At this stage I rang the AA and became a member in order to get us off the Motorway and somewhere safe at a cost of £120, not cheap but worth every penny to get of the motorway. After what seemed an age and shaking from the cold we were transported to a B&Q car park. The AA driver who transported us arranged for a mechanic to come out as although Paul knew what the problem was it would be handy for any tools that might be needed that we did not have with us. The car was unloaded and Paul started work on the car so I went and got coffee and bacon and egg sandwiches from the Van in the B&Q car park. By the time I got back the AA mechanic had arrived and was assisting Paul by holding an umbrella over him whilst he worked on the car, being a Range Rover the young mechanic advised that he knew nothing about these vehicles, even so he was very helpful. Within 15 Minutes Paul had the car fixed and we were mobile again. By this time we would not get to the Chandlers before it closed but decided to go over to Wolverhampton anyway. We had come such a long way it seemed pointless going all the way home just to have to come back another time. So being young (ish), well we like to think so (after all its all in the mind) we decided that we would find a safe spot and sleep in the car over night as neither of us felt very happy about leaving our brand new furniture in the car all by itself. Luckily I had decided to take a blanket, sleeping bag and 3 car blankets (protection for the settee if needed) so we had plenty to keep us warm. Unfortunately the settee had the prime position so we were stuck with the front seats, not the most comfortable place to sleep, but quite a few drinks before hand definitely helped. We did actually manage to get some sleep and in the morning we went for breakfast and to the Chandlers. We stopped of at Banbury (Oxford Canal) on the way home and had a lovely walk down the canal.

I have brought a small sowing machine in order to make the curtains, I just need to find the material and decide on the style. Paul is progressing nicely with the boat, the bedroom bulkhead in now in, including the sliding door. The cupboards and worktops in the area at the rear (this has multiple names so far, Dirt Room, Workshop, Utility area) is a work in progress and loads of other stuff has also been done, too numerous to mention, apart from the fact I’m not really sure as some of the things that get done are behind the scenes so to speak. All I know is that it is getting closer and closer to being done. The Stove is now working and Paul has the fire going most of the time now and it gets really cosy, shame the boats in the back garden and not on the canal but hopefully this will be soon.

There is still an awful lot to do on the boat before we can sail off into the sunset and we also need to sort the house out and get it ready for renting, but hopefully when I next update this blog it will be news that we are ready to go, or at least nearly ready, fingers crossed.