Staying Afloat

[blackrose]

On BBC 1 now. Someone's probably posted this elsewhere.

[blackrose]

Blimey, I can't believe how disorganised some people are.

[ditchcrawler]

What program is it?

 

[Rob-M]

Must have been regional variations as we had a program about van dwellers living in Bristol.

[blackrose]

19 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

What program is it?

 

 

It was called Staying Afloat - We are England. Just a 30 minute programme.

Edited March 7, 2022 by blackrose

[Tim Lewis]

On Iplayer:

 

BBC iPlayer - We Are England - A Place Called Home: Staying Afloat

[blackrose]

How do you post links from iplayer? I tried but couldn't do it. Maybe because I'm on my phone.

[starman]

10 hours ago, blackrose said:

How do you post links from iplayer? I tried but couldn't do it. Maybe because I'm on my phone.

Personally I wouldn’t worry - We thought it so awful we only managed a couple of minutes before switching channels. 

[Ray T]

Taking the spout cap off the cassette whilst the spout is pointing down into the elsan bowl!!!!

I suppose it depends how full the cassette is?

Euck

[Bacchus]

33 minutes ago, starman said:

Personally I wouldn’t worry - We thought it so awful we only managed a couple of minutes before switching channels. 

 

I just watched a couple of minutes; a couple of excruciating minutes.

 

I am sure that it is tough now, but it was tough then. My first home - a one bed flat - cost over four times my income and interest rates were around 12% so that was a lot less affordable than four times income now. The national average income is about 28,000, a quick look on Rightmove suggest flats in Milton Keynes are available starting at less than a 100k

 

Of course I didn't have wardrobes full of clothes (with selfies printed on) and I didn't have a designer Bengal cat.

 

I did make soup out of gravy granules and frozen peas once, because that was what I had.

 

(luxury! when I were a lad...)

[koukouvagia]

This should be required viewing for anyone with no experience thinking about buying an unsurveyed boat.

 

[ditchcrawler]

I don't think I would want any of it televised which ever one I was.

The mobile mechanic driving with a dog on his lap.

The chap in the boat with a gas burner connected to the cylinder beside  him in the middle of the boat.

Living on a boat with no licence, insurance of BSS.

 

Did they somehow guess the girl was going to buy such a boat, or was it a put up job? the others I can understand

[Dog]

19 hours ago, blackrose said:

On BBC 1 now. Someone's probably posted this elsewhere.

Thanks, I enjoyed that. Good little programme.

[Grassman]

I enjoyed it because unlike most of these programmes and vlogs that portray the idyllic lifestyle, this one showed just what living on a boat could really be like, especially for the many naïve people like the dippy woman in the programme who don't bother investigating the pros and cons or having a pre-purchase survey.

[Tracy D'arth]

Presented with a windlass, how could she not know what it was? Total dippy. I wonder how some people ever survive to reach adulthood, perhaps they never get that far.

 

There are some real shed boats about, frightening.

[ditchcrawler]

45 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Presented with a windlass, how could she not know what it was? Total dippy. I wonder how some people ever survive to reach adulthood, perhaps they never get that far.

 

There are some real shed boats about, frightening.

Totally Dippy? How come the TV company knew she had just bought a boat and not picked it up yet. I do wonder how genuine it was. The guy can't move for months because his outboard bracket was broken, but he had no money so called a mobile engineer out to look at it to tell him it needed welding.

[Tracy D'arth]

14 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Totally Dippy? How come the TV company knew she had just bought a boat and not picked it up yet. I do wonder how genuine it was. The guy can't move for months because his outboard bracket was broken, but he had no money so called a mobile engineer out to look at it to tell him it needed welding.

Surely you can't mean it was all staged to make good TV?  How terrible! Who would do such a thing!?

[CanalRetentive]

I was in Fenny Stratford when they were filming it a few months ago, about 4 or 5 people all leaning off the boat with cameras trying to get different angles. Wondered what is was all about at the time. Does seem staged though.

[LadyG]

On 08/03/2022 at 09:01, Ray T said:

Taking the spout cap off the cassette whilst the spout is pointing down into the elsan bowl!!!!

I suppose it depends how full the cassette is?

Euck

Well, I won't be watching a program like that! 

[syd]

I watched it, I do feel for the young woman and her life struggles, it must be hard.

However as for her with the boat, well she'll learn like we all had to at some point and I hope she settles and gets to really be happpy on her boat.

However I don't see her as a long term liveaboard.

[Tracy D'arth]

On 08/03/2022 at 09:01, Ray T said:

Taking the spout cap off the cassette whilst the spout is pointing down into the elsan bowl!!!!

I suppose it depends how full the cassette is?

Euck

So that is why Elsan points are splattered with excrement and the drains blocked with the caps. Stupidity reigns. 

[ditchcrawler]

36 minutes ago, syd said:

I watched it, I do feel for the young woman and her life struggles, it must be hard.

However as for her with the boat, well she'll learn like we all had to at some point and I hope she settles and gets to really be happpy on her boat.

However I don't see her as a long term liveaboard.

It was the lad I felt sorry for on the face of things, a leaky boat is probably better than a bridge arch

[syd]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

It was the lad I felt sorry for on the face of things, a leaky boat is probably better than a bridge arch

It was that she mentioned her husband dying when she was 25yrs old that made me feel really bad for her. Plus the ongoing effects that is having on her mental health and life moving forward.

But I also feel sorry for the lad, just not as much.

[Thomas C King]

2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

So that is why Elsan points are splattered with excrement and the drains blocked with the caps. Stupidity reigns. 

 

The first bit also requires the person to be selfish enough to not cleanup their mess. Something I'm getting pretty sick of.

3 hours ago, syd said:

However I don't see her as a long term liveaboard.

 

I've encountered quite a few who don't seem happy with their lifestyle, but they remain liveaboards (presumably for years, by the looks of things) because they have nowhere else to go.

[syd]

I've known of quite a few that give up after a year or two. Usually a stopgap I guess, not surprising the cost of housing etc. But young people eventually, if starting families etc, move back onto land. Just what I have come across over the many years.

 

@Thomas: Yes, I would agree that many stick it out, we did 15yrs but when we got back on land life was much easier. However we still wanted to have a boat so we got a small one for the odd weekends and holidays.