What a relief this feels like.

It’s been three weeks since I left my “normal” job. Since then, I’ve put myself down for every shift at the museum that’s available and have been working until 2am most nights on the boat to throw myself back into the business.

It doesn’t feel like a hardship to work so late- not when your work is your passion.

Since I last spoke to you, I moved the boat to a new location. It’s a spot that Leela enjoys because there are huge fields behind the towpath she can whizz over, tail twirling around and around like a helicopter.

It’s been wonderful spending more time with her. When I was working in education over winter, I felt as though I was losing her in some way. I refuse to leave Leela alone for more than a couple of hours- if I’m really desperate, so she would stay with my folks mid week until I finished on a Friday to pick her up. And now, we’ve gone back to a lovely routine where I’m with her 24/7.

I don’t know what Leela thinks of this new arrangement- she’s probably mourning the loss of having a bed in each room, constant biscuits, cups of tea and steak at the weekends with her grandparents. Still, she’ll have her way this weekend, as she’s going with my parents on holiday to the seaside, so she can be spoilt to her heart’s content. Leela has had more holidays than me over the past 7 years. Meanwhile, I’m planning on spending my weekend with a rake in hand at my allotment.

It’s been quite exciting planning this allotment. I do admit however, that I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

“So, you can’t just buy a load of seeds and stick them in the ground?” I asked my mother.

She just smiled. “No, love.”

“Oh.”

“And then you’ve got to be careful which veggies you plant next to each other.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, some plants do better next to other plants and others don’t get on.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded, imagining some animated version of the Wars of the Roses with a tomato plant wrestling with a courgette.

“Just get your seeds, Elizabeth.”

Not to mention- there’s the hurdle of getting a greenhouse and a shed into action, which is slightly difficult considering my car is a tiny Peugeot (you know the ones- the one that you get your Nana so she can do her weekly shop at Tescos).

“I was thinking about getting some pallets and building it,” I told my dad as we sat with a pint before Sunday dinner. My brother in law, Ryan, sitting next to him looked dubious.

“That’s not going to be easy,” he told me. Which was a kind way of probably saying, “you are absolutely joking.”

“Why? Can’t I just get a load of pallets and whack them together? I’ve seen some really nice ones on Pinterest that people have done themselves.”

Ryan was silent- either musing other the brilliance of my idea, or coming to the conclusion that it was better to keep his mouth shut.

“Why don’t you just buy one?” my dad suggested. “You can get one online for £120.”

£120 is a lot of money right now for myself. Fresh out of my “grown up” job, I can’t take any income from a painting or a book sale for granted. £120 is a monthly food shop.

I’ve never been good at jigsaw puzzles. And I have never in my life put together any piece of Ikea furniture. I doubted my chances at succeeding with a delivered flat shed. Somehow a load of pallets, nails and a hammer felt like the cheapest and easiest solution.

But my indecision has wrapped me up in knots.

As you may as well know by now, my DIY skills are somewhat… lacking. I can pull things apart, load up bricks, dig ditches and get in hay bales. I am the human version of a pack mule- I’m a strong gal. But building something?

Sometimes I get a perfect idea in my head, and because of seeking out perfection, I get terrified of making a mistake. And then time goes by, where I plan, and read and then fear begins to grow. And before I know it, a month has passed and all I have is a pitchfork to my name.

However, thanks to the forward thinking of my mother, I already have a bunch of tomatoes slowly being grown into existence in her greenhouse, and I have been told that I will be growing beetroot.

“But I don’t like beetroot,” I said in confusion, as she held up a packet of seeds.

“We’ll get these down- they’re easy enough to grow.”

“But, mum, I don’t like beetroot. You know I don’t like beetroot.”

“No, but me and your sister do, so…”

And that was that. In fact, I felt a stab of pride at the thought that my allotment could be useful for my family. Living on the boat, single and without children, sometimes I can feel as though I don’t offer enough. My home isn’t used for entertaining them, there are no dinners held here and most of my family end up leaving the boat dirtier than when they had first stepped in an hour previous.

I suppose getting an allotment was to prove something to myself. That I could learn these things, that I could provide for my family in a way that would be useful and meaningful. Fine, there’s no space to have Sunday dinners on board, and I don’t have an oven, but growing food? Yeah, that’s something I can do.

I had planned to plant things I could easily cook without an oven (installing one is one the to-do list, they’re just expensive) such as spring onions, tomatoes, French beans, more onions, salads, courgettes and anything else I could slice and dice and slice in a frying pan. But growing potatoes, carrots, parsnips and (yes, mum) beetroot to contribute towards my family makes me feel good.

I feel as though there is a beautiful honesty in growing your own veggies, and I’m looking forward to diving into this Dig for Victory experiment and seeing if I can replicate the methods of the 40’s- and most importantly- get into the mindset of being self-sufficient.

It’s an exciting prospect.

So, life on the boat is quite nice and very wholesome at the moment. I’m reading gardening books, painting commissions so I can pay for boat repairs, walking Leela and answering every one of her whims. I’m basically the Temu version of Beatrix Potter.

Over the past eight years of boating, there has been many highs and terrible lows.

I’m enjoying a peaceful high right now, so I’m enjoying every moment.

Sending you all of our love, and we’re excited to share with you the next part in our journey.

Elizabeth and Leela

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