Weekend in Macclesfield and Balancing The Books

We left the marina in the early hours of Saturday morning, about 10.30am!  After travelling all of five miles we stopped for a smoko, but not too much for Elaine to chose from as she is a veg head!

Sam enjoys being the co-pilot in the motorhome ...

It makes him laugh a lot!

Bombo travels in the back enjoying the countryside views ...

We park at the back of Elaine's dads house - this pic was taken from his kitchen window.  The land is at the end of a cul de sac and is deserted at weekends.  There are just two houses at the end of the cul de sac ...

On Saturday night we met up with some friends at a local pub, where a good night was had by all. Elaine's dad, Burt looked after the doggies, whilst we left the three cats in the van.  We take the cats with us as it saves us the cost and hassle of a cattery - plus they really love being in the van!
We could sleep in a lovely bed in Burt's house but Elaine insists we sleep in the van to keep the cats company!!

We went to bed in the early hours and thought it was strange that a car was parked right next to us!  A little while later we heard loud noises of people leaving a party at one of the houses at the end of the cul de sac.  No big deal, but they were leaving the party every few hours, one chap was chundering all the way up the road ... the sound was amazing, it must have been a dodgy prawn.

At 06.00 four very very loud people sat in the car next to us with the engine running, they must have been keeping warm waiting for a cab to take their pissed arses home.  Now I swear a little bit but these two girls and guys were going off!!!  We were keeping quiet in the van as they sounded very aggressive, the cab came for them at 07.00, so at least they don't drink and drive!  Amazingly the dogs slept through the whole thing and didn't bark at all....good boys!

When we took the dogs for a walk later in the morning I checked out the car, it was surrounded by discarded drink bottles and syringes!!!  Nice !

On Sunday afternoon we went for lunch at a lovely pub in Bollington with some other friends. 

Whilst we were out pubbing and lunching Elaine's brother Trevor had been sorting out my laptop plus having a look at the drop down TV monitor from the motorhome which has been showing a blank white screen. The laptop is much better but the TV looks like it is a terminal case :(

We drove back to the boat on Monday morning, having a smoko at the Little Chef on the way.  This afternoon I went to the Monday boaters tea/drink!  Elaine and Diane passed on their apologies to today's 'meeting'!!


The Cost of Living Aboard

 I have noticed that sometimes bloggers do a 'how much does it cost to live on a narrowboat' type post, so I thought I would also do one ...

Before we left Oz I was budgeting on about £250 a week, but by the time I had finished adding up all the costs of the last couple of years I realised that I was deluded!  Mind you we have bought a car and a motorhome plus been on a couple of trips to Europe ... it was just too hard to try and separate the narrowboat part.

In saying that we were going quite good financially, we had gone to a pub most nights but mostly whilst walking the dogs and 'popping in' for a swift pint.  We had been to over 100 different pubs in the first six months!  IMHO going to a pub and meeting the locals is one of the quintessential parts of traveling around the canal system and the UK in general.

 The finances went a bit pear shaped whilst spending a month in London in July last year.  We got a bit carried away and have never really recovered from that.  No regrets though, 'one life' and all that! 

We I have always been pretty crap at trying to run a life according to a budget.  I am one of the 'she'll be right mate attitude', and enjoying life for the moment.  If I spend too much I could always get a JOB!  This dream has been a chance in a lifetime so if it means spending too much so be it.

THE BUDGET STARTS TOMORROW :-)