Eastbourne

3rd October


It rained all the way to Eastbourne and yet the sign at the station says, ‘Welcome to the Sunshine Coast’. Raindrops are falling on my nose. With genuine concern my daughter notes,
“Mummy, your nose is crying!”

The girls and I are visiting my best friend, The Fairy Tale Princess who is now renting a lovely flat and living happily ever after with her Prince Charming Geezer. Looking on the internet I discovered that we could rent a quaint, rural two bedroom cottage in Devon for £450 a month. It was in a village near both sets of grandparents and was pictured with fields in the background. I would need to get a driving licence if I was to travel to any kind of job. I could set up my hypnotherapy practice in a complementary health centre in Plymouth city centre. I mulled things over while we took the girls to see the waves crashing on a pebbly beach. They squealed with excitement at the powerful noise of the ocean. We ate fish and chips in a cafe on the pier. Baby Sister did not think much of the mushy peas. I had an epiphany that blew into my head across the salty air. Why did I buy a boat in the first place? Because it gave me the ultimate freedom: freedom to travel with my home. But having children limits freedom. I am “tied down”. Rather than this feeling restrictive, now that it’s finally happened to me I am happy to be tied down to my beautiful children; but if I am now tied down, then perhaps the main benefit of a boat: travelling, can no longer be mine. I want to be tied to a community, neighbours, a nursery for Big Sister, and then a school. It is the fact that we now have a nursery place and a nursery start date for her that has really made me question our lifestyle. I accepted the first nursery place that my daughter was offered because I don’t know if she’ll be offered another one. It’s all about where you live, and as we don’t have a permanent address I thought we must be lucky to have been offered a place. I visited the inner city nursery and it was ok, and conveniently located across the road from the Multiversity, but is it really where I want my daughter to settle in, grow and learn for the next few years? I know that it isn’t. I always pictured my theoretical children having an idyllic rural childhood and running in slow motion through the fields.


Dear Customer,

This email is to confirm that the Winter Moorings 2010 system will launch on the www.bwmooringvacancies.com website today, Monday 4th October. The system is scheduled to launch at 4pm at which time all Winter Mooring vacancies will be available to view and ‘buy’.
If any problems are found during the update, the system will be rolled back and the update postponed to the following day to allow assessment of the problems encountered.
The Winter Mooring vacancies will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. The length of space at each mooring site will be advertised until all of the available space has been 'let'. Vacancies will be advertised at a per metre rate and boaters will be able to 'buy' the length of space they need through a 'Buy Now' system.
If you should encounter any problems using the system please contact the Mooring Sales Administrator.