Ali050905

Thanks Roland and everyone else who replied. I never was going to make a quick decision and part of the reason for my post was to listen to the negative points about the plan aswell as the positive ones. (btw Roland I don't have a fixed rent - I wish!!! - my rent has gone up by over 40% in the last 10 years, yes - same house, same housing association...) I will go off now and continue my research and planning but before I go I would like to echo Roland and answer a couple of other posters who have questioned whether I am creating difficulties for myself in the absence of evidence. It is true that I approach every situation with an eye on potential threats, I have a personal history I have not disclosed here that makes that fear inevitable. What I have learned in many years in therapy is not to dismiss those fears but to listen to the questions raised and seek to answer them. Only then can I decide whether it is safe for me to continue. That fearful part of me is sometimes right and this careful process has prevented me from making some poor and ill-informed decisions. Lack of this processing in the past often put me in danger and denial has been my biggest personal enemy. Sometimes the danger is real but I am temporarily powerless to protect myself, never the less it's still important for me to see the truth of the situation however painful. This pain has been very real in my suffering at the hands of a changing ethos in our welfare state. These recent years have not been the first time I've needed to ask for additional support and it was a very different experience in the past - even the word 'support' is being phased out of the descriptions for all benefits including those for the most disabled and sick. I was not suggesting that Boris Johnson himself would personally take an interest in the CRT or the running of the waterways. What I think is clear now is that the only trickle down effect that can be proven is that of extremist politics eventually underpinning attitudes and policy making in all manner of institutions covering all areas of life. People who may have held similar views in private feel emboldened to seek power or use power they already wield to make changes. Those with differing views become gradually black balled, then institutions and the people who run them begin to see themselves as above the law and act accordingly. In addition you have the hidden actions of vested interests and vocal spectators on the sidelines to cheer them on while spreading hatred and fear in wider society. It does none of us any good to deny that this is now happening and that it could continue, gradually affecting more of us and eventually all of us in time. In that light and given my own personal experience, my fantasies regarding the recent and potential future changes within CRT and changes in attitudes of others with power over boaters' rights and lives are not unreasonable. I could go on and give many examples of UK institutions where this is already happening but that thread is not this thread. Maybe another time... I may be back to ask more questions, but probably not for a while as now I've a lot of information to be going on with, thanks everyone. Wherever I decide to live, I will still be enjoying our beautiful waterways and maybe I'll see some of you when I'm on the Towpath Taskforce! Thanks again and best wishes to you all, Ali

Hi Jennifer, Thanks for the compliment! I hadn't considered that idea... I am a crafter (sewing/crochet/knitting) at mo, but I don't make enough to survive on that alone as yet. I've a million other ideas zipping around. I am about to start learning a new craft but of course that'll take some time to do well enough to sell... I'm also a photographer which I could develop more (more arty stuff than postcard/holiday picture stuff but hey I'll try anything) and I'm also an amateur astronomer with my own scopes so there might be some mileage in that with tourists in dark skies... I dunno, have much research to do. I also make great fudge - but I guess that's already covered then!

Just had a look on CRT volunteers and there's a 'Towpath Taskforce' that meets once a month just down the road from me. I will pop along next month then! Thanks for the tip!

Thanks for all your replies. I would love to chat to some boaters - I walk the canal with my dogs nearly every day where I live - but I don't like to pester people in their homes! I also try not to be too nosey about the boat, however much I might really want to be! I've read a lot of comments on how some people get annoyed about strangers just thinking they can just overstep boundaries as if boaters don't have the right to privacy like people in houses do. If I ever come across someone out of the boat or on the lock I do sometimes stop and chat a bit etc, but if they're on their boat I leave them alone except to smile and say good morning as I pass and if the curtains are drawn but people are in, I'll walk past quickly without even a look. I would love to be able to be more confident and gregarious and maybe even go to a show but I'm not good in crowds and get too nervous. I am much better one to one. I have been single for over 10 years and I never get lonely as I am very self sufficient and I have two dogs - you're never alone when you've got a dog!! I have absolutely no worries at all on that front - I am very happy in my own company. And you're never going to see my boat moored up in a city!! Whether I can make enough money to survive is something I am still costing out. That's one of my main deal breakers obviously, especially as I'd be giving up my house. I will always (bar some really extreme welfare changes) be eligible for some help but I really want to get off in-work benefits. I just can't hack the way you get treated now and the costs of running a house wipe out any money you get anyway... I suppose what worries me about the money side of things is the same as the problem with private rents - will a CC licence fee increase to unaffordable? and of course rented moorings are insecure and can increase in cost too. It is true that as someone on a low income, I'd be in an insecure place in many circumstances, but some places have their compensations. For example, I've just got back to my house after an evening walk along a beautiful countryside stretch of the canal. Two song thrushes singing their hearts out, loads of other birds, the babbling of the river on the other side of the wall, the late sun through the trees, the throng of insects swarming across the water etc etc. Now I''m sitting sweating at a desk in a house with closed windows because I can't have my window open as my neighbour and his friends are all smoking in the garden, all I can hear is the whirr of the laptop and the occasional car going up the street... Yep, money is an issue wherever you are, but I'd rather worry about it on a boat!

Hi everyone, Long post here, hope that a few of you will read it and give me your two penneth. Informative replies are very welcome, thank you. Because of long term illness I've been looking into finding a more sustainable and minimal way to make my living so I can get away from the Kafkaesque nightmare that is our current benefit system. At the same time I want to finally and permanently let loose my wandering spirit and see as much of the beauty and wildlife of the waterways and surrounding countryside as possible before I pop my clogs - I would also love to meet some new friends. My first thought was getting another van - I had several vans with minimal (or none in one case) fit outs for years in my 20s, although never for full time living. Now I'm well into middle age though I want something with a bit more room and the capacity to let me work indoors to make my living with power and a some storage and all that! A couple of weeks ago I thought I'd found it - A canal boat! - Yay! I watch load of Youtubers banging on about how great it is and how friendly all the people are and the community spirit etc - I am a highly sensitive person and find socialising quite challenging so the prospect of a welcoming and helpful community to get to know and find a place in is very appealing. So off I go doing my research... First I find out that there are basically zero moorings - none with residential permits anyway. I am pathologically unable to break rules (seriously, it's part and parcel of my psychological structure) - so mooring illegally is totally out of the question. Then I read about CC licences - okay I think, that could work fine as the way make a living would work best if I cruise most of the time anyway so I'd just have to get used to CC until I can find a home mooring to cruise from (if I could ever afford one). THEN - I read that there is this HUGE fight going on where to the outsider it really looks like the CRT and many people within the boating community would actually like to scrap CC licences altogether - and with the way that I have seen the benefit system change over the last few years and the prospect of Boris/Nigel/Trump in charge of the show - I would not be at all surprised to see CRT get all the CCers thrown out with nowhere to go. The current zeitgeist appears to not give two hoots about the massive rise in desperate poverty and homelessness so what's a few more of 'them'. Now - I have a secure tenancy in social housing - have had for 10 years - in the rental market this is as good as it gets. But I can still get thrown out any time 'they' decide to change the rules or if I can't pay the rent (an imminent threat every time I get reassessed for benefits - claim/refused/appeal/win - repeat every 12-18 months. I'm at the end of my tether and it's wrecking my health. That said, it would take a lot for me to voluntarily leave this place, even though sometimes I feel trapped here and in constant danger of homelessness. I know that a good life is not found without talking some leaps and some risks, certainly I need to soon or my mental health is going to deteriorate to the point where I'm incapable of taking one at all. I thought I'd found a good alternative in boating with better security than here. I'd have my own new boat and the first couple of years costs (early inheritance) and as long as after that I can manage the licence/running costs/food etc, I can work as hard as I choose for life's extras and no-one can make me lose my home - WRONG! It really looks to me like it's heading back to no home mooring = no licence. And I'm not giving up my house for that, where would I go and who would buy my boat!!! I feel like I have a lot to offer the boating community, I really want to get out there and contribute - I want to help other boaters and help maintain the waterways and be generally 'excellent' to people as much as I can! I have my personal issues but I am not a difficult person, I'm a good neighbour with concrete boundaries and never involve others in my private business (to a fault actually, relying on others is a skill I have to work on). If I'm having a really bad day I'll just keep my curtains closed or go for a long walk with the doggos to clear my head and be no bother to anyone. Despite my quirkiness (think Sheldon but not so rude and demanding) I get on well with everyone I meet. I'm purposefully friendly, eminently reasonable, always want to talk out any potential disagreements in a full, fair and calm manner and I never bury my head and hope problems will go away. Talking a lot is both a strength and a weakness in me - but I know what it can achieve if you give it a chance... Now I've read so much about the current situation and the conflicts and now I don't feel like I'd be welcomed by some people at all. Some of the comments on the forums are frankly abusive and display some of the worst attitudes humans are capable of. Now I know the pitfalls of internet forums and I know they attract bullies more than most areas of life because they get to stay hidden so they don't have to take responsibility for their abuse of people. But, it does make me question whether the boating community is as welcoming and as friendly as some people say it is? I'm not looking to enter into a world of arguments and conflict and shouty angry people, I want peaceful, calm negotiations and healthy outlooks from the majority of people I come across. I also do not wish to be part of a community that is full of strict social rules - etiquette and good waterways manners I'm totally on board with, but policing other people's lives? I'm not into that. Is the boating world and the CRT in particular only welcoming and friendly to people who fit into a certain category of 'acceptable'? Or are 'outcasts' forced to live on the fringes stranded by powerlessness? Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your views. Best wishes to all, Ali.