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Rachel

~ following the white rabbit…

Rachel

Tag Archives: Living on a boat

Life Update

31 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by Rachel in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

editing, India, Living in the moment, Living on a boat, Narrowboat, travelmemoir, writing

I followed Zadie Smith’s advice on editing, which is if possible leave your finished book for a year, if you can’t do that then leave it for three months, then when you go back you will be able to see what needs doing and be able to be ‘its reader instead of its writer.’

A writer who has stopped writing can be a a funny creature. Writing gives me a sense of purpose, occupies my thoughts and is my support system. I found it weird at first, although I did enjoy the typing break. The last couple of weeks I nearly cracked and started early, but I resisted and by the time the day came, I had totally got into not doing it and it was actually hard to get started again.

It’s similar to how I feel under the current circumstances. At first I was restless all the time, talking about when we would be able to get back to Cambodia or India. Now I have accepted that we won’t be going there until next winter. We have both booked the first two weeks of May off work to go on a two week boat trip though. We live on a narrowboat, and so have a holiday right there, but haven’t as yet done a long trip or more than one night away at a time.

This three months of not writing coincided with November lockdown and the post Christmas restrictions which are still in place here in the UK. It’s really been a lesson in living day to day and accepting things as they are, whilst being totally present as my head hasn’t been in my book. I’ve really appreciated and enjoyed things such as a takeaway coffee from the supermarket when we’re out shopping and getting essential supplies once a week, and the excitement of the fuel boat coming to deliver logs, Calor gas (propane) and kindling.

My husband John

This being the UK, weather has been very changeable, we’ve had thick ice on the canal, we’ve had lots of rain, and a few days ago we had lovely thick snow for the first time in a while!

I’ve been getting really into cooking; I’ve never been confident that I really know what I’m doing with spices but recently I’ve been following lots of cooking accounts and copying some recipes from Instagram which have turned out really nice, then I’ve used them as a springboard to make my own versions.

It’s really been nice to add some more variety, courtesy of Livity Plant Based Cuisine and Vegan Food and Places, both on Instagram.

Talking of which, for writing, cats, food and every day life, follow me on Instagram thisisrachelhill

For beautiful photographs of our travels follow my husband travelswithanthony

I’ll leave you with this quote from the film Down to Earth, which was recommended to me by my friend Karen:

‘How we live every day is a ceremony.’

Self portrait, Pushkar, India 2020

Thank you very much for reading

About the author

In 2018 in our forties and fifties my husband and I sold up, gave away most of our possessions, and went travelling for a year, mainly in India, and also to Thailand, Tokyo, Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam. My personal/spiritual/travel memoir of the year is currently being edited a bit more before I resend it to agents. I wrote everything down and made it a bit too long! I live on a narrowboat in rural Northamptonshire, UK with my husband and two cats.

Project 333, kind of

21 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by Rachel in December 2018, India, Travel, Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Alternative living, India, Kerala, Living on a boat, Minimalism, Narrowboat living, Project 333, Travel, Traveling, Travelling, Travelling light, Voluntary simplicity

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The photograph above shows all the clothes I’m travelling with, except underwear and footwear.  Project 333 is a framework to help people apply minimalism to their clothing.  The original Project 333 link here

This is from a post of mine from March, just before we left:

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‘This is my empty clothes drawer and the pile in the photo above is all of my clothes that I am leaving.  I realised today that I haven’t worn hardly any of them since being on the boat, but also that I have lots that I love, plenty of warm things as well as summer and going out clothes; a very small amount- that drawer wasn’t even half full- but that I really love.  I have so few clothes compared to a year or two ago, yet I am infinitely more satisfied with my wardrobe (drawer).

I am excited, I am happy and I absolutely can’t wait to get to beautiful, beautiful India!’

I arrived in India at the end of March 2018 with 9kg and have been reducing that ever since.  My own current Project 333 is driven by travelling with a 7kg hand luggage allowance only.  At home it’s driven by living on a narrowboat with limited storage space.

Warm clothes came with us and were abandoned in Delhi, replaced in Tokyo and Nepal; and from now to be kept for North Vietnam and arrival in and return to UK (in March 2019).

Having only a few clothes means clothes get worn out easily through lots of washing and wringing.  Plus things sometimes seem unsuitable as we move to a different area.  And sometimes I just want a change! Clothes we no longer want are left behind for staff or given away.

The items I am most happy with are the three dresses made from Malaysian lungis- two metres of material worn by men- here is a picture of man wearing a lungi- bought in Varkala, Kerala.

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This is the tailor’s shop who made the most recent two and who fixed the first one which had been made several times before by other tailors when we were here last time and wasn’t quite right- an earlier post described my difficulties finding clothes to fit me in India

This is my current, full list:  Two bras, six pairs of knickers, three pairs of socks, one black summer dress, three lungi dresses, one purple vest top, one black summer top, one black vest, one thin black sarong/scarf, one pair of thin black trousers, one blue warm shawl, one pair of warm black leggings, one pair of warm black trousers, one blue long sleeved top, one orange-brown jumper, two modest tops, one pair of shoes and one pair of flip flops.

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Pretty much everything.  Last weight 7.5kg including handbag and tablet.

I don’t usually cart bottles of shampoo or other general products around; it’s part of the settling in process to find or pick a local shop, introduce ourselves and buy shampoo and conditioner- can buy sachets for a short stay- plus toothpaste, loo rolls, tissues, and moisturiser.

Right now I am happy with my clothes- this is unusual on this trip.  I can wear a nice dress to go outside, and lounge indoors in a sun top and sarong.  Thin trousers and scarf mean I can add cover ups as required.  We are in a tourist area so the dress code is more relaxed; I’ve only really covered up fully when going into town, the hospital or to avoid the sun.  I’ve enjoyed being able to wear my new dresses here, even though they are still fairly modest by Western standards.  I hope my clothes will be suitable and I’ll still feel happy with them in Hampi, then Cambodia then Vietnam.  At least I have plenty of warm things for arriving at Heathrow in March…

PS I have decided to be brave and use my real name online from now on.  Sorry for any confusion!

Thank you very much for reading

For photographs of our trip see Instagram travelswithanthony

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Narrowboat shopping and to do list

10 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by Rachel in escape the matrix, Narrowboat, The matrix, Uncategorized

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Tags

escape the matrix, Living on a boat, Minimalist living, Narrowboat, The matrix

20171108_094012

Warning: another list post

Clothing from proper outdoors shop: one super warm, waterproof and windproof coat.  Two very warm funnel neck fleece type tops, two pairs of lined trousers, two long sleeved tops, two sets of base layers, all quick drying.  Extra warm socks, hat and scarf.  Bootie style thick lined slippers with proper soles.  Guest slippers.  A very warm dressing gown.

Buy/have made proper seating that converts to a guest bed.  Buy large Moroccan style floor cushions.  Buy electric heater(s) from chandlery (for when there’s not time to light the stove).  Buy an electric blanket.  Buy a MyFi internet box from BT.  In order to save space, instead of having dinner plates, side plates (which are pretty pointless anyway) and bowls, buy dinner plate sized bowls, shallow enough for dinner and sandwiches, deep enough for cereal.  (I am hoping such things exist outside of my imagination, if you have seen them do let me know!)  Buy proper working gloves.

Get bilge pump fitted.  Buy a new centre rope.  Buy and fit a horn.  Buy and fit cratch cover to keep wind off the doors (thank you to writer,  blogger and narrowboat dweller Ian Hutson for this).  Paint walking board with paint and sand to make a non slip surface.  Add a rope for safety when walking around the outside of the boat, if possible.  (Did I mention I am Little Ms Health and Safety?)  In the/a summer, get boat taken out of the water and blacked, and also paint outside if needed, if not just give it a good wash.  Attach tyres around the outside as extra bumper protection.  Upgrade the solar panels.

To summarise, I have two lists on the go:  a going travelling list and a living on a narrowboat list.  The narrowboat is for when we come back, although we may spend a few weeks on it before we go, just to make it real.  I also have notes for a new about page and plans to upgrade to a paid plan (is this a good thing to do fellow bloggers?  If so, personal or freelancer business package?) once I leave my job and can be both more dedicated and more open; there won’t be thirty intense hours of my week that I can’t write about, and I won’t have to worry about protecting my professional reputation.

Feel the fear and do it anyway*

22 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by Rachel in escape the matrix, reality, The matrix, Uncategorized

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Tags

Decisions, Dropping out, escape the matrix, Living on a boat, Narrowboat, reality, The matrix, Travel, Travelling

Choices are very scary.

I’ve spent the last week trying to recover my energies** whilst at the same time using them up on sorting the house out.  I’ve been concentrating on raising my frequency, eating well, eating vegetables from above ground, sleeping in separate beds, no sex at all, no alcohol etc.

Getting ready for new carpets coming and estate agents photographs a week from now.  It’s easy (for me) to get totally obsessive and exhausted, seeing more and more cleaning and painting that could be done whilst knowing that I can’t/won’t do it all.  At least this time I have stopped and rested at certain points, after I was tired and achey but before I was totally exhausted or in actual pain.  Some of it I’ve enjoyed, and certainly have enjoyed the results of, such as cleaning the windows (especially satisfying if not done very often!) and sometimes I have looked forward to doing things off the list with tomorrow’s new energy.

But then I got tired and had a meltdown over the skirting boards.  I realised I should have painted the skirting board before the carpet came.  When I did the painting mostly I just painted the walls and ignored the skirting boards.  Now, I see that they could do with being done.  Anyway, I did that room quickly with one coat and it is fine now, I know it only needs to look okay for the photos and then the buyers will paint over it all anyway.  But for a few hours I beat myself up: why didn’t I just do all the skirting boards at the same time as the walls.  Why didn’t I notice they needed doing before the carpet came?  Why do I prioritise the wrong tasks.  What’s wrong with me, I’m such an idiot.

My mum spent years thinking about it then a year seriously getting her house ready to sell.  In the last few weeks and months she worked on it from six am until midnight, DIY, painting, styling, as well as sorting out forty years of accumulated belongings.  She was almost seventy.  Then she moved into her new place and within a few months it’s all painted and perfectly styled.  I, meanwhile, find my shoulder aches from a couple of days of window and door cleaning, even with rests.  And as fast as one thing gets clean more stuff needs doing or the big stuff gets done but there’s still the ordinary stuff to do.  I get overwhelmed by DIY and big chores, always have.  Having a mother who excels at all that, who built her house herself, is a lot to live up to.  It’s impossible to live up to.  And then I remind myself that lots of people don’t do any of their own decorating.  They pay a professional, or they leave it undone because they work full time, because their free time is precious, or just because they don’t want to do it.

I’ve noticed that classic spaced out stressed feeling, which I haven’t felt for a while.  I dropped everything and went for a walk across the fields, because I remembered that being helpful.  I’ve also felt excited; wide awake and staying up late then lying in bed feeling wide awake and happy.  I haven’t felt this off balance for a while but I’ve been continuing on the path.  I told my boss and told my team at work today, to make it real.  Feeling a bit scared about everything, but totally sure about selling the house, totally sure about going travelling, and almost totally sure about buying a boat as a base/to live on when we come back.  Trying to raise frequency in order to make decisions from the best place- we are going to see the boat again on Saturday.

Maybe a boat will be better for me, less to clean? But you have to be really tidy or else in such a small space the mess looms much larger!  Neither of us are super tidy and will we really be any different anywhere else?

A few weeks ago, on a whim, I looked at boats, and found one that was ideal.  A boat is at least capsule, simple living and more unplugged than our current situation.

This whole thing started with the idea of going off to India, or travelling the world, but for me it’s not really about travelling per se, it’s about testing my long felt urge to trust-fall into the universe, to let go my fingertips from the cliff face and fall into the unknown.  Mainly, it is about freedom; about realising where I am, what I have, and therefore what I am able to do- with a bit of guts and imagination.  The thought of just going off for a while with no plan other than to go travelling and keep writing, is, well…  The thought triggers a thrilling, glittery feeling inside me.

It means that at least for a while, I could imagine/believe that this was my life, travelling and blogging.  And for a year or even two, I believe it can be.  But what next, what afterwards?  I could get a permanent job again, I could do temporary work.  We could somehow maybe build a life that splits between the two, periods in England earning money, periods in South East Asia.  I don’t want to have a life changing experience and then come back to the same life.

If we buy the boat we have something to come back to.  We can even live on it for a few weeks before we go, thereby bringing the future into the now and beginning our new life right now, rather than waiting until we get back.  It would also be taking action rather than just seeing what happens/leaving it up to our future selves to decide what it is we are going to do.  It’s lovely, in a great location and available now.  My reservations- people say don’t plan on top of plans; are we tying ourselves down, limiting our horizons, preventing as yet unknown opportunities from arising and being taken up, such buying a bar in Thailand or opening a cat sanctuary in Vietnam.  (I am not really going to do either if those two things).

I know I am fortunate to be able to be in this position but I am still finding it very scary.  Giving up a good job, giving up a nice house, for something smaller and as yet unknown, possibly a small boat; well I suppose it is because of the conditioning that this is difficult.  And I suppose that’s also why it would be good to do it..

 

Just when I think I have put the past behind me, I go round my mum’s yesterday and out of the blue she says, you remember x don’t you, he was convicted of the rape of two twelve year old girls and went to prison for two years.  I met him when I was fifteen, he was thirty, me and my best friend and my boyfriend, both older than me, used to go and see him, he used to invite us in to talk to him whilst he was in the bath.  We just thought it was funny/weird.  He also took arty photographs of us, clothed.  He was one of my mum’s lodgers when I was about sixteen.  When I was seventeen or eighteen and had left home and was living in a caravan, he came round.  I think he had tried to get me into bed before but I didn’t fancy him.  I thought he was too old.  Anyway, he came round during the day and got into bed with me and just touched me in one place, one square centimetre.  I did want him to stop but my body just let him do it, and I had an orgasm whilst not fancying him, not kissing, not cuddling, it felt very weird.

My mum said yesterday, he was in the house with you and your sister.  I said, I was older, and I am sure my sister would have said something.  She seemed happy with that.  One lodger used to pay for my sister’s horse riding lessons and take her out.  Another (the one from my flashbacks) did the same for me.  The 1970s were a very strange time.

*a book from the 1970s.  That decade wasn’t all bad.

**lots and lots of sex, and lots and lots of orgasms whilst on holiday

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