To go back to the very beginning..... Chapter 1

22/8/03 We decided to buy a boat! We, being myself, Debbie and my partner, John . This idea came from a workmate of mine who, in conversation one day told me about Narrowboats. Colin, the afore mentioned, has for many years holidayed on boats and, had always wanted to live on one. That small comment got the cog wheels of my mind into a frenzy! John and I had lived together for two years, in a flat. We decided to stop renting and buy a property, that is untill we got interested in boats. To cut a long storey short, we tried unsuccessfully to obtain a loan for a boat. Somebody we knew was selling a 50ft cruiser stern boat for £18,000. We really wanted this boat, which was sheer madness as it was the first one we looked at and, we knew absolute zilch about them. Once our hopes and dreams were dashed, we put it all behind us and went on to buy a house. Two and a half years later we wanted a boat again. We had lworked hard on our little house, to make a right mess into a cozy little home. Unfotunately we had been blessed with neighbours from hell. They were not nice at all and advertised this on a regular basis. Rather than put up with these unsavoury beings we wanted out, and fast!! Ironicly these morons gave us the motivation to pursue our dream. For weeks we looked at. Small boats, big boats, and quite a few boats worthy of a place in a museum! We travelled miles, spent hours on the internet, read books and magazines and practically Gongoozled ourselves to death! We looked at so many second hand boats and got more and more dazed and confused, until we hit on the idea of having our own boat built. We visited a few reputable boatbuilders, non of which had any building slots for at least two years, me being "Miss Can't wait", wouldn't wait and plodded on untill we found a builder who could start our boat within a matter of months. We found the builder very friendly and helpfull, mindyou who wouldn't be, with a potential customer wanting to spend money on a brand new boat!

Totally Hooked.

I am really loveing reading all the differrent blogs of Boaters who are passionate about boats and canal life as we are.I have kept a journal for five years. I started it the day we decided to buy a boat. Little did I know how the hand of fate would deal with us. I would like to take extracts from that journal and share them with you. I only wish I had been on the net five years ago so I could have logged everything on here. Nevermind, better late than never. For those of you who read my blog about useing the wooden spoon to make the bed I must just. Let you know I'm not completely mad, just mad enough!

Time for bed.

After our jaunt on the Link tiredness is taking over. We had a few late nights and ealy starts. My face is still tingleing after all the wind that howled around the Albert and Salthouse Dock. I feel like a layer of skin has been stripped from my face.exfoliation while you cruise! I am looking forward to my cozy bed. I put clean sheets on today so a nice clean bed to cozy into. Making up a bed on a narrow boat is a challenge. We have a permenant twin bed, I couldn't be doing with building a fold away every night. We more often than not use the stern door to come in and out the boat and as that's where our bedroom is I like the bed to look nice as you come in. I am proper fussy about our bed it has to be just so, cushions placed perfectly. I even use a wooden spoon to tuck down the quilt across the back wall where I can't reach. Heaven forbid I kneel on the bed to tuck in and leave a big knee dent! Now that just wouldn't do now would it! God I can't believe I just told you that!! Goodnight.

make a start

I will start this blog with recent events but will hopefully over the next couple of months go back to the beginning. Our beloved boat Tickety Boo is just on five years old. We have been through so much to get here, we being my soul mate John, me. Debbie and our gorgeous little Scotty dog Bobby. Bobby hasn't been with us all the way but became a valued member of the crew three years ago and loves his life afloat. Photos of all the above will follow, but give me time as I am new to this game. Its taken ages to get this far! I am totally green when it comes to computers. Anyway back to recent events. We were lucky enough to be one of the boats at the opening of the new Liverpool Canal Link on Wednesday. It was an absolute honour and privilege to be part of the flotilla of boats to navigate the new stretch of canal. I won't go into all the History of the new canal because there are plenty of good websites for that but what I will do is tell you how the hairs stood up on the back of my neck when the Three Graces came into view. To be stood on the back deck of our boat right under the Liver Buildings was mind blowing to say the least! We where so close we had to tip our heads as far back as we could to see the liver birds. It actually brought a tear to my eye. God what a softy! If you have seen photos of the event Tickety Boo is the 50ft dark green boat with the cream roof. There are some great pics of her with the Three Gaces in the back ground on various news web sites. As soon as I have sorted out all the ins and outs of this blog business I will show off with photos!