Just because you live on a narrowboat doesn’t mean you can’t buy Bitcoin!
Hell no……
Not wanting to be boring or obvious, but things are changing in the asset classes of finance.
Gold and the Dollar
An asset is something someone who has capital (money), to put their capital (money) into in the hope that the value of that asset will increase over time.
Traditional hedges have been the yellow stuff and the greenback.
Since the start of the pandemic, gold especially has seen it’s once unchallenged status as ‘safe haven’ removed.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet dropped his holding in Barrick Gold Corp just last week, stating, ‘It’s not what it used to be’.
I’ve witnessed this myself. Gold’s disconnected entirely with risk events, like pandemics or wars, or anything else you care to mention.
The main risk event on the horizon at the moment is this one
Inflation
As the vaccine roll-out increases and punters return to everyday life as pre-pandemic. They will have large stores of cash, to spend on, whatever.
This increased spending on – whatever – will lead to a spike in inflation as shoppers hit the streets looking to spend, spend, spend.
There is a market but it’s closed… in these COVID times…..
New Job
So I’m working in the local test centre, testing individuals for COVID. It’s long shifts, then a few days off.
I’m writing this on one of my days off.
Tomorrow, I start work again. 7.30am start. 8.30pm finish.
It’s called a LTS, or local test centre. It takes about 15 minutes to get there in the car.
Downdraft
As you can see from the picture, I’m moored opposite a faux Dutch style housing estate.
The houses are three story, which has had the unexpected effect of creating a downdraft for my fire.
A downdraft can be caused, according to Geoffrey at Homefire stoves, wherever there is a taller structure than your chimney stack standing between you and the oncoming wind.
When the wind blows over these houses, the fire doesn’t do so good.
Bosworth
Bosworth Marina
Apart from that, Bosworth is just Bonnie. Close to the waterpoint. 10 Minutes walk up to the village and village shop. Right behind the Bosworth Marina, where I dropped in yesterday to buy some calor.
There’s a slight chandlers and other everyday nik-naks on sale. Beer and whisky…. Lot’s of these marina boaters get drunk, slip off the pontoons and find themselves in 12ft of water. It’s a common cause of death the people at Barton Turns marina said. They’d had at least 2 ppl who’d died that way. But Barton Turns marina is a big marina.
Still. Deep water and alcohol don’t mix well.
At least if you fall in on the cut, you can stand up and walk to shore!
Movement is not encouraged on the canal networks at this moment.
Only ‘essential’ travel is permitted. This basically means when your toilet needs emptying, or your water-tank needs filling.
Traffic is down to 0.
Very few boats moving around. 0 this week so far.
Empty water-tank
This is how my water-tank looked at the end of last week.
That’s about a day’s worth of water in the bottom.
I couldn’t really move because the canal was iced over.
Moving whilst there’s ice isn’t really advisable. Some ppl get shirty when you move past their boats when there’s thick ice. Some ppl get angry even when it’s thin ice. ‘It might damage my boat’.
It’s better to let it thaw out. Plus, thick ice makes it difficult to navigate.
Luckily, when I moved down to get water, a boat had gone on before me and it was just a case of following his trail of broken ice!
I’ve been here a while now. In Ashby terms, I’ve just got here.
Boaters don’t tend to move a whole lot on the Ashby.
Remember this picture I took on moving from my first stop.
Stoke Golding Oct
Not one boat has moved since I left one month ago. It looks exactly the same.
Since I got here in early October, 80% of the boats I come across haven’t moved at all. Been in the same place. Completely.
Feel a bit alienated by moving around. Everybody else just stays in one place.
Still there we are. They are probably good people and have special privileges.
Lockdown
We are, however, on lockdown still. Which means that I’ve stuck to my position here in the wilds with nothing but rolling fields, birds and cow noises to keep me company.
Luckily, nowadays, I don’t have to put on any work gear, as there is no longer any work…. otherwise I would be moaning more vehemently about these long skidmarks of mud along my journey toward where the car is parked.
A couple of days I’ve had to don wellies to get through, but generally I can just skirt around the edges.
