every day unfolds in a unique way
bringing stories and lessons with it
we choose to record them and share the stories with the world through our films
today I want to go back to how this all started
in March Myles and i have been working in London going to our offices every day and
living a pretty ordinary life apart from our home being in narrowboat of course
then one day we were sent to work from home we didn't have a clue how long this all is going to
go for so we thought why not take this opportunity and leave central London and cruise further out
that's how we ended up in Cassiobury park a beautiful corner of Watford on the outskirts
of London after that two things happened the lockdown has arrived and I got furloughed
well I thought if this is not the sign i was waiting for then what is? I wanted to
document our adventures for a while now so I picked up the camera and started filming
I had no idea how to film and what to shoot, how to tell a story in a cohesive and interesting way
I also only had a small GoPro camera without a microphone so our first videos don't sound too
great oh well. to throw spun in the works i also had no idea how to use a video editing software
and the laptop I was using at that time stopped working but I didn't give up
i spent months waking up at four or five a.m in the morning to borrow Myles' computer before
nine a.m, spent all day watching tutorials and doing online courses and taking over his
laptop again after six or seven and staying up late making episodes. The main reason i
didn't give up with all of these challenges was that i absolutely love it! These videos
is an incredibly exciting way to tell a story and the possibilities are endless so I stuck with it
at the end of May when the lockdown ended we made a grand plan
not knowing when we both are going to be back into london we decided to go on an adventure
and cruise up the grand union canal down to the oxford canal and back into London via the Thames
on the way we passed a friend's house who was incredibly kind and we ordered a
new camera and a microphone to his address now the videos started to look much better
as the world events unfolded working from home kept being extended and I got
made redundant in July. Once we arrived at oxford instead of turning left towards London we turned
right to explore the thames from its earliest navigable point
and took out time going downstream very very slowly and savouring the beauty that it has to
offer
in August for the first time in five months we left Alba we visited our families and spent
a few weeks on land. By then I already knew I was serious about documenting our adventure I couldn't
wait a second longer and so I bought a drone Getting the drone was incredibly exciting and Myles
loves it too he's becoming a really good pilot and i also feel braver and braver every time i fly it
although the fact that the drone ended up swimming in the thames on day two still gives me anxiety
it will take time to work up the courage for more exciting and long distance shots
we waited until the very last minute to get off the river
and had one hell of an adventure escaping the flood.
our next chapter is on Kennet and Avon canal we are spending all winter on it
lockdown 2.0 was very productive and we finally had a chance and access to a talented mechanic and engeneer
who looked at Alba's problems and the list was very long
it's not all playing sailing and we had some challenges along the way too although we don't
want to focus too much on negatives it is important to show the difficult aspects of
living on a boat as well. We had a few crashes we've been having engine problems since February
that took three different mechanics and over 10 visits to solve and only at the end of November
the batteries give up in October as we've been working from the boat every day from
very early hours in the morning late into the night draining them continuously and of
course the shower pump broke in july and it took three pumps three mechanics and six months to fix
losing a job living in a small space, working long hours for months and months and a constant stress
of running out of power and being dependent on a leaky engine to get that power also for a long
time without a shower and without any opportunity to just go anywhere and get away from it all even
for one day this was challenging to say the list but we did it! No one could predict how
this year will turn out and we all had to struggle with a whole array of challenges
I feel like a real boater now with all of these hours of cruising and problem
solving under my belt and we can't wait to see what the next year has got in store for us
Because you chose to watch our videos we feel inspired to film and create more. The more videos
we make the better we become at this filmmaking thing and the easier it gets to tell a story
interestingly, the more excited we are to share it. We are incredibly grateful for every single
one of you who has been watching our videos, we're very touched by your support and we want to send
our love and gratitude to all of you, every single one of you! We hope you stick around
for the rest of the voyage so if you're new here subscribe and click the bell icon to get notified
when the new video is coming out we release a new one every friday sometime saturday
and if you would like to support what we do head over to patreon and join our community there
you can get access to bonus content early episode releases and a chance to get invited on board with
us, whenever we are allowed to have people over again thank you all and happy new year!