Thoughts and reflections form the past week or so from my own financial independence campaign.

Progress on my goals

Boat plan – we board in two weeks

A gas fitter has been booked in to sign off on our new gas oven. Provided that goes to plan, there’s only one more job to do:

Reverse park the boat.

Sailing snobs will point out that this is “mooring stern to the pontoon” but it’s easier for everyone to understand if we call it “reverse parking”.

If that sounds like an easy job we should have sorted before now… well, you’re partly right. The reason for the delay was Storm Ciaran. As this will be out first stern-to mooring and only the third mooring we will have done as a short handed crew, we’re trying to wait for conditions to be just right before we give it a go.

I’m a bit more philosophical about that – no cuff too tough! – but understandably my partner isn’t keen on YOLO-ing our home into the mooring.

As a compromise position, we’ve set an arbitrary date of two weekend’s time to move aboard. It feels a bit more real with a target date.

Transition plan

There’s probably going to be a period of living in between two places for a while. Our aim is to make the move aboard with the bulk of our stuff and leave skeleton amounts in the room we’re lodging in, so that we have time to get the dog used to boat life.

Concerned readers might be tempted to think that we are somehow being cruel to our dog by subjecting him to this lifestyle, based on the information provided so far. I’m not overly concerned because we have deliberately factored him into our planning.

  • Our marina is near a huge area of common land and dog-friendly beaches.
  • During the week, we have daycare arrangements for him, so he’ll spend most of the day on dry land and being spoiled.
  • As an older dog, he doesn’t need as much exercise as you’d expect. All he wants in life is to be around us and have access to a settee.
  • We’ve deliberately chosen a boat that he can comfortably board with a simple gangplank and we have a set of steps – the same as you see for car boots – to get him into the living area.
  • There is a garden area where we are moored for the obvious logistical problems.
  • The marina is pet-friendly and there are other dogs living aboard already. They’re used to it.

That all being said, if Muttley really hates it – and he’s been on a few boats before – then we’ll start looking for rentals or a small flat with a garden. We don’t plan on leaving him behind, even if that sets us back on the FI Campaign.

Distractions and detours

Storm Ciaran was a total dick

If you’ve been watching the news in the last week you’ll have noticed that Storm Ciaran decided that our trees were an affront to the elder gods and pushed a load of them over to prove a point. The islands have generally responded quickly, but it was a great week to be involved in tree surgery, landscaping or roofing.

We escaped pretty much unharmed and only limitedly hindered. The boat was fine – we stripped the sails off her and tied double lines to secure her to the pontoon. The house we’re lodging in was also totally fine.

Sadly, we can’t say the same for next door, who were away from the island. We spent today doing some emergency temporary repairs to their roof as a large hole had appeared where the tiles had been lifted up by the winds.

It’s a bodge job with some waterproof membrane for now as a temporary measure. In classic building style, those tiles aren’t made anymore, and they will need to replace a load of them. Hopefully this will mitigate the damage until they get back.

Before you ask “why not get a roofer in?”, it’s not that straightforward. Someone we know from a local insurance firm said that they have received over 800 roofing claims related to Storm Ciaran, and to our knowledge there aren’t 800 builders, let alone 800 roofers. We’re big believers in doing what you can with what you have.

Spontaneous night out

I thought I’d overshot my budget this week by saying yes to a spontaneous night on the town with some work colleagues that got a little out of hand.

Turns out, on reviewing account spending, we’re all lightweights who drink in the cheapest pubs. While it wasn’t a cheap hobby, the damage wasn’t as bad as I expected it might be.

Still, won’t be repeating that for the rest of this month. Partying hard is great but it’s too pricey to be a regular event, financially and physically.

Non-FIRE goals

My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)

No guitar lesson this week and I couldn’t attend my work seminar! Oh well.

Cigarettes and Alcohol is going OK. Not great, but not awful progress.

The Spark Mini has been life-changing. I know, deep down, that I still suck and will continue to suck for easily another year; but at least the guitar now sounds great. My practice sessions are getting longer, I’m getting bolder and although I haven’t used all the features I definitely enjoy it more.

Fitness

Week 2 of weightlifting suggests that my conditioning is coming back fairly quickly.

Not perfectly, mind you, but it’s not as bad as would first appear. My hamstrings are feeling fairly confident for week 3.

I guess going out on the town is a negative to my fitness quest this week. I’m a bad man.

Final thoughts

Aside from being a naughty boy this week and staying up all night, my week was pretty cheap. I’ve made some progress on my goals, but not overly much.

I’m grateful that we avoided the damage of Storm Ciaran, that could have been a lot worse.

Hopefully we’ll (finally!) start moving aboard in the next couple of weeks.

My financial independence campaign continues!