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Month: April 2022

Sutton in the Fields - Kings Sutton
Kings Sutton in the Fields

Kings Sutton in the Fields

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The next stop down is ‘Pig Place’. At least it has been in the past….

I don’t really want to move down to Pig Place right away, for one reason or another.

Instead, I’ve stopped here in between Kings Sutton and Twyford Wharf, effectively in the middle of no-where.

The way I like it.

It’s about a 10 minute walk to the car, but it’s outside of the parish of Twyford Wharf which is apparently what the CRT uses to measure whether you’re moving your boat or not.

Moving out of a parish and/or into a new one counts as a move apparently.

It’s probably 10/15 mins on the boat.

Not far.

I don’t think anyone’s counting.

Sutton in the Fields

Muntjack deer
Muntjack deer
Muntjack deer
Muntjack deer
Dandylions on the canal bank
Dandylions on the canal bank
Good Friday
A photo by the canal
Sutton in the Fields - Kings Sutton
Sutton in the Fields – Kings Sutton
Sutton in the Fields - Kings Sutton
Sutton in the Fields – Kings Sutton

offgrid living
Living off-grid narrowboat

Living off-grid narrowboat

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Here’s a cost breakdown of living as a single person on a narrowboat from what I gathered over the last 12 months.

Derv: £324.69 (included a trip down to London and back 300m)

Coal/Wood: £348/£72

Gas: £127

Electric: Free

Boat licence: £960

Maintenance and fees: 2 pumps – £247

Insurance: £150

Total cost for one year All in – (Fuel/Heating/Light/Gas and Electricity/Licence/Insurance) £1,982.19

Cost of living Crisis

I’m hearing this increasingly when I turn the radio. Stories of people heating cans of beans on their gas room heaters, food banks not being able to cope and people having to choose between electricity and food.

Can’t be sure whether it’s truly indicative of the state of play out there because this is the BBC (radio 4) we’re talking about, and they like to lay it on thick with the old bullsh1t.

What I do know, fact-wise, is that the cost of fuels have gone up by roughly 50% in the last 12 months.

This is not an insignificant amount. It’s affected all fuels across the sector and electricity prices have gone up also.

My battery overfloweth

Since fitting the solar panels last winter, I’ve had basically too much electricity.

This has meant as summer approaches the level at which I use the electricity is FAR less than the amount the panels pump out.

In contrast, when I go to get gas from my local supplier in Banbury, they tell me the Calor wholesaller hasn’t been returning their calls for 9 weeks.

No-one on the industrial side of things has ANY Calor in Bunbury (13kg).

This does not bode well, and I fully expect in the full-ness of time, the supply shortage could leave me unable to do my cooking, currently on Gas, which would be a bit of a problem…..

Simple math

If you’re given lemons. Make lemonade.

Fitting an 2000w inverter to my narrowboat

I’ve had the inverter for years….. Bought it before I left the marina. In the first 6 months in fact. It looks a bit like this –

Bestek 2000w Inverter
Bestek 2000W inverter

I’ve used it to: Power the TV. Power the circular saw. Charge up computers and devices.

Basically, the heavier duty stuff that you can’t do on 12v.

…

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