Reasons to be cheerful, 1,2,3

Photo by Phil Bassett www.boatshed.com

10 Things That Are Different About The New Boat

 

1.       Space. This ship has crossed the final frontier. More storage space means that the place is tidier. More space in general means we don’t have to tidy the toys up until the end of the day, instead of engaging in an ongoing all-day battle for floor space.

2.       The Doctor and I now have our own bedroom. We take it in turns to have lie-ins at the weekend. We don’t have to put a futon bed away in the morning or get it out at night. We can even go to bed at different times from each other if we like.

3.       There is a washing machine and a spin drier. (Click on launderettes in the labels list if you’ve not yet heard about my heroic struggle living with two small kids and no washing machine.)

4.       Big Sister can do colouring or make things with Play Doh in her own room at her fold-down table. (Her last room was the size of a double bed and contained just that, a double bed, nothing else.) Now she can have friends around to play in her bedroom. She says she would rather live in a house though ,

“Because then I could have bunk beds like my friend from nursery.”

5.       The toilet flushes, with electric and water. It’s so fancy! On our last boat the toilet just featured a kind of trap door that dropped you-know-what into the pit down below. (There is no glamour in the boating life.)

6.       There are side hatches that let in sunlight and air and a piece of sky. Through these we can chat to the swans and ducks who glide over the glittering water to greet us, and ask for bread. You can taste the freedom on the air.

7.       The kitchen sink empties with gravity, not an electric pump, just like you would expect a sink to do. A silly design on our last boat meant that you had to hold in a button to pump out the water after finishing the dishes. The plughole was below the water level, so an electric pump buzzes and gurgles, sucking water down plastic bendy tubes and out into the Cut.

8.       A different kind of water heater means that we have instant running hot water! Although the water tank is tiny; a thimble! We have to fill up every three days instead of every three weeks. (Or is that because of the fancy flushing toilet and the frequent use of the washing machine?)

9.       We have 240 volt three-pin electric plugs – just like in houses! But it is not a house. We can live where we like and change that place every two weeks.

10.   The New Boat is in The Countryside.  We sleep sound in the knowledge that bored London teenagers will not untie our mooring ropes and cast us adrift while we sleep. We glide through a world of blossomy trees and sunshiney green fields.  We picnic in meadows and wander beside reservoirs. We moor up near crumbling country pubs, and pass through quiet locks nodding at other boaters. Did I mention vast fields of glorious bright yellow rape seed? The New Boat is in The Countryside.


This is my first time joining in with Michelle's Friday Blog Hop. Click below to visit her blog and read other blogger's reasons to be cheerful - or join in with your own blog post! Her blog is called Mummy From the Heart. Michelle says, "Do you know what I believe are two of the fundamental keys to happiness? One, is to choose to be happy and the other is to want what you already have!"