This small escape put into words comes from an article on the BBC about the Hermit of Treig An inspiring or frightening insight into a life that is so alien to this marketing and consumer led society we all inhabit to different depths. Google Ken who is the Hermit and discover his story and a life so innocent and simple it makes me reflect deeply on where I am what I have for what I want what I need and what I should do about it.
Now to add some boating context to my scribbling and to also add some sanity to my thought processes and what impact that may have on what future years I have left … let’s talk reality
We can’t all be Ken’s but we can embrace his approach to living in a spectrum of life actions. Let’s bring it down to Vloggers and Bloggers….as to be honest if I was to do a Ken it would most probably be to Percy I’d escape … other options are available, see later.
Now I’ll start in a negative way as there are many Vloggers who have extolled the virtues of simple living on the canals but their stories are in my humble opinion, a compromise and in some cases an affront to all those following and planning their own life changes. Jonno… nice fella didn’t last long before he took the king's shilling and got in bed ( in a house I guess) with Victron. Very popular, and rightly so Cruising the cut (not anymore) David who stays put now in marinas seemingly, and you dear diary know how I feel about marinas. David is honest enough to tell us he is a marina dweller and to be honest does not pretend to be the good canal life guru. The Foxes, I’ve stopped watching them as they now even call themselves 'canal celebrities' and merchandise and patroon themselves far too much making it a real business, no not for me. Country house gent, nice fella but marina based despite the ability to travel for the last year. can’t fault his attachment to travels - by motorbike but again the boat is a home in a marina. Even Robbie Cummings - top fella had brought a car/ pickup so he can opt in and out of house life no doubt. I’m not for one minute disrespecting any named above but rather picking up on the lack of real passion for the waterways in a pure change of approach to living sense.
Now the inspiration, the Ken and Kenetta of the canal living off grid is Floating our Boat’s Rich and Fran. They have and continue to embrace the alternative limited impact living off grid lifestyle. In my book if you are going to be low impact totally immersed in the canal corridors of England and Wales you have to continuously cruise. Moreover they make their humble living with weaving and painting plus foraging for bits of food and also boat decorations. Their comforts are music and books and the enjoyment of nature around them. I was surprised when they went for the lovely new boat - and it is very well done and nicely specified. They have been honest and say they do not know when their boat adventure will end ( got to get the value of the depreciation of the VAT on that new build) but I’m very sure it’ll morph into a Ken like Scottish croft existence, I just hope they take us along when they do change.
Now my community - bloggers. Not many left at all now some have earned their marina or off side farm mooring for many years of blogging well before Dan Brown put the deposit down on Tilly and set a trend of Youtube Vloggers - must be upto 150 of them now and most will have had a Jackery to ‘test’!
No 1 has to be NB Seyella who’ve been CC’ing as long as I've been blogging - 14 years ? There are a few who reside on the bank side where there is no hook up no elsan or pump out maybe water and the luxury of car parking. I’ll not name them as I’m sure most are not on residential moorings but are residential therefore breaking local council rules - that strangely in times of councils wanting every penny not collecting the ‘Poll tax’.
So two real heroes of mine Floating our boat and NB Seyella…. click on their names if you are not a boater person but want to know what I’m typing about !
So what does this mean for me. 2022 is a New Year and we get a bit reflective and plan focused…to be honest I don’t know…. we have many plans for 2022 health allowing and we are incredibly well placed due to a lot of hard work and planning as well as a dose of luck. We have options around Percy that I may detail in another post…. I guess ultimately our plan has mainly come to fruition and we are family focussed and could not just up sticks and live a distance away from family…. well I maybe could but Rachel could not.
I would have liked to live in a remote part of Wales or Scotland and maybe one of the options around Percy could facilitate that. Then again travel to these places is not quite as good but very achievable where we are based. Choices choices decisions decisions, but if we do nothing we will still have a wealth of riches.
One final thought - non of the options or considerations above have merit for me or anyone of you do not have good physical health. We are working hard to eat sensibly, reduce processed foods, eat organically, cook from scratch and remove the ‘narcotics’ food and drinks can and does provide. Not easy and definitely not cheap but maybe a poor financially and rich in health life is as good as you can aspire to.
Anyhow for now sometimes planning and thinking are good way to exorcise the wanderlust demons.
Need to add some photos to remind me about Percy, waiting patiently for some attention and the possibilities the 60 foot escape capsule offers ….
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