I used to have a very different life: then I got made redundant after 25 years of increasingly high pressure (albeit well rewarded) and responsible work. I did step back and re-examine what I was doing and where I was heading - conclusion was for a breakdown either mental or physical and that I didn't want the rewards that much any more.

It is a lifestyle that takes work to adjust to; you have to be fairly self-reliant and not prone to doom and gloom. When something goes wrong, in general you're going to have to fix it. Given that though, the canals are a village - populated by a good proportion of kind, generous, knowledgable and helpful people; some rather stranger or more eccentric.

I don't expect to be on the cut for the rest of my days; at some point I won't be robust enough to cope - but that's many years away at present [barring accidents and serious illness].

'Big house' - not very nice; I understand you're stuck with the same views and neighbours for months (years?) at a time.

'with baths' - wallowing in your own dirt? I have a shower on board; used occasionally when I can't get to a public sports centre or the like (they're also provided for boaters alongside the waterway on some parts of the system).

'and heating' - the problem with narrowboats is not heating (I'm in a Tshirt and jeans at the moment with the doors open), it's cooling a steel tube on a hot sunny day. My wood stove can put out over 5kw of heat - for a 6ft * 6ft * 50ft insulated box.

'Porsche' - I've never learnt to drive a car. Never felt the need to. Motorbikes though - that's one toy I do miss.

Income - Boat costs ~1500/yr to maintain and wil last indefinitely at this rate. Licences, insurance etc cost 900. Fuel costs 800. Food costs 1000, telecoms cost 250. Add in other stuff and call it 100/week all in.

If I work for minimum wage then for a full-time week I get ~200/week after IT/NI. I also get 50 tax free as working tax credit. So I need to work for about 5 months to cover my annual outgoings - but then I get the IT back, and if I then sign on (my profession is somewhat specialised, so jobs in the 'local area' will never exist) I can reduce the working period to maybe 3 months. If I undertake some consultancy at my normal rates then my work requirements reduce by an order of magnitude.

There's a marketing slogan for holidaying on the canals 'The fastest way to slow down': this is just taking that to life rather than merely a short 'break'.
(baldybeardy, Sat 6 Nov 2010, 18:50, 1 reply)

sorry i didn't see this comprehensive reply sooner
sounds like you've got it pretty covered, i still don't get it but i'm glad you do

enjoy puttering along then mate
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 9:25, closed)