I rang my girlfriend last night after the news after I heard Boris Johnson
saying that we need to all basically limit ourselves socially — social
distancing — and just to stay at home with our families
I'm on my own on a
boat here I don't really want to be stuck without any public transport so
I'm gonna use the train today to get back to my girlfriends which is about
an hour and a half away so not too far away but it's gonna be a long way if
I have to walk!! So I'm gonna get on that train today my girlfriend is at work today and
she's got people coming via train so she's not particularly that worried
because if they're going by train then I'm alright going my train as well
so I'll just have to go for it I'm sure I won't pick up anything on the way but
you just you just can't be too careful can you
and this is the whole point so I'm gonna enjoy my last few moments on the boat
leave the naughty lass where it is lock it all up, turn the gas off make all the
preparations as I would do if I was leaving it for a while and then just
come back when I can perhaps borrow a car or something so yeah it'll be alright but
it does mean that my plans at the moment are postponed you know about to start
filming my next series of the BBC's canal boat Diaries and yeah that's been
postponed until further notice so
yeah so I've just got to get my stuff packed and yeah go see my girlfriend and her
daughter because they are most important to me at the moment well apart from my
actual family but they're about five hours journey away so it's a bit little
bit further right let's go
i'm just gonna pack some essentials basically because I can
always as I said borrow a car to get back and get some more things I've got
leave my guitar here which is an unfortunate but I think some friends
said they can look after it so that's good I might see them in a bit they're
gonna give me a lift to the station the train station but yeah just t-shirts
socks pants all the stuff I can do to make videos from home as it were for my
girlfriend's house I've been seeing a lot of comments on YouTube about yeah
just about it all being 'yeah it's all fine It'll blow over' and all that sort of
stuff but in terms of people's jobs as well as health it really affects
everyone you know no one can get away from this for me I'm just thinking about
my own... how do I make a living if not doing a BBC series I'm not working a
normal job I'm doing YouTube but I don't have adverts for my videos and I don't
want to I don't want to have adverts and even if it did would perhaps a lot of
the businesses that are suffering just withdraw them anyway just thinking about
working from home as it were at my girlfriend's house I need certain
things so I've got laptop for doing subtitles on videos I've got where is it
my ipad for actually editing, that's how I edit my videos
and the log book which contains all the names of all the
people that have
basically supported with me over the last four years making YouTube
videos but I need to add some more names to that
and I want to say right now if you
are a Patreon supporter and you've given me money for these videos and you're
you're finding financial difficulty for whatever reason just stop
just stop the payments
I'll be alright, you know, I'll sort of scrape by somehow
I don't want to put you out so honestly just stop the payments if
you're worried about your own job or others around you so yeah I will take a
hit and then we'll just pick it up whenever this all does blow over
hopefully it will sooner rather than later but it's just crazy isn't it
it does affect us all
just turn the inverter off
well I've packed all my things
I'm ready to go I think
I really really want to be on
the boat I'd love to be just continually cruising keep on going around but just
yeah I don't want to take the piss that's the thing
you know and I'm
obviously more keen on being with my loved ones if there's gonna be some sort
of lockdown like there is in France or Italy so
it's just I don't know what's
coming up but I want to be prepared for it
that's that's how I think of it so
does that make me a 'prepper' I don't know?! but I can't wait to see my girl
my girls! all right let's move on out
Right that's it, lock up and then... it's not like I'm just
not gonna be coming back for ages but it does feel like that because I'll have
access to a car so I'll be able to come back whenever I want but at the same time
I know if they introduce some kind of measures that stop people from... well, this
is my home so I've got every right to check up on it haven't I? But luckily I've got
some friends who are gonna look after it for me
so you'll be alright girl and I'll see you see you back soon
and these are my friends who are helping me out - Sandy and Gary - and Gary you have a
YouTube channel don't you?
Yes I do! It's called Gary Captain Phillips
there we go so I know my boat's in good hands and they're very
kindly giving me a lift to Chester station. Are you guys worried at all about Coronavirus?
It's a very worrying time because Sandy's got her elderly Dad in a care home and that's on lock down
We're frightened of getting it in case we pass it on to the family so we're all a little bit hesitant at the minute
and it affects work doesn't it so if the boathouse closes in the marina
is that where you work?
yes, so I could technically be out of work myself
and with Sandy going round with her job
what's your job Sandy, what do you do?
I empty the fruit machines in the pubs
all right which are obviously all just waiting for an announcement whether they
can keep trading which obviously has a knock on effect for loads and loads of industries
if they close the pubs Sandy's out of work as well
we'll all have to survive then on statutory sick pay which is minimal but it's
something yeah it's a worry for a lot of people but it's like a 'health war'
isn't it and the nurses and the care home staff they're the soldiers fighting it
the trouble is I'm diabetic as well so with people going around it's going to affect me
because I'm one of the ones on target so a lot of people are going out and getting on with it
and that's possibly going to affect the elderly or the likes of me
cheers Gary, see you mate, bye Sandy!
Just got to find my platform now and get the train
no one's wearing any masks or anything
so it hasn't gone mental in Chester
but we're all a few weeks behind London aren't we
well that was a bit weird on the train no one was wearing masks it was
like business as usual really so am I worrying too much? Anyway I'm here
in Todmorden I'm gonna go and see my girlfriend and her daughter, I'll
update you when I can otherwise they'll be more canal videos to come!
Alright see ya bye bye
hello gorgeous girls!
Can I come in and wash my hands?!
Alice: Would you like to come and stay?!
I'd love to, I'll come in and isolate with you