You don't choose the boat, the boat chooses you. Everyone tells me this. Okay, I'm dreaming of the boat. It's calling to me. In my dreams. Choosing me. This is quite nice, it makes a pleasant change from, 'abandon ship, she's going down'. The dreams I wake up from in a cold sweat, oh good lord what were we thinking of? The dreams where the surveyor turns to me with a sad face, 'I'm very sorry to tell you, but.....'. The dreams where I'm screaming, 'jump, jump you fools'.
So yes, there's this lovely dream, all is calm, and the boat says, 'Pick me, Pick me'. And I say, okay, sure, what's your name? Hey, come back, you didn't tell me your name. Oh god, we're sinking again, grab the, uhh, what, grab the what? I'll need to make a plan for that. 'Pick me, Pick me'...ok, you're going to disappear but I'm paying attention now. I see you have maroon seating. And....noooo, come back dammit, they've all got maroon seats. I need a name!
We start actually visiting boats. 57 foot in Worcestershire. No. Andy, who has not set foot on a narrowboat before, but knows that 60 foot is too long (that's the length of our house!), says, 'this is way too small'. Yorkshire, 70 foot, no. How can a boat be so long and yet feel so cramped? Northampton marina 1. Woah, get me off this boat. I'm sure it can sleep 17 but I can't breathe. Northampton marina 2, ah, maybe......
But then, there's the first boat I saw. It has a 5 ring hob, and a dinette. And spotlights on the ceiling. And nice cushions. It's LOVELY. I love it, and clearly it chose me. Why is it so cheap, I ask a friend. Um, it hasn't got an engine? I read the ad again. Ah. Now I may not be very mechanically minded, but even I can see the downside to this. Not to worry, we can put an engine on it! Okay, we're in business. Can I see the survey that was very handily done last year? Sure. Point 4.7 The boat had taken on water and the reason for this was not ascertained. It would be advisable to look into this before re-launching the vessel. Advisable??
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