As soon as it started snowing, the lovely little messages started tinkling into our inboxes: 'Are you guys warm enough?'; 'How are you coping?'; 'Do you want to come and stay at ours?' etc. All our kind-hearted friends seemed to fear that they would find us frozen in our little boat bed. But we have been warm - really truly honestly warm. Warmer than we ever were in our flint cottage when we had to mentally prep before venturing into the bedroom and R spent October through to May sleeping 'with a sheep' (not literally - although what he gets up to on those long walks who can say? - but I did wear excessive layers, scarves and a hat to bed).

Because the boat is such a small space it doesn't take long to warm through. R found an old thermometer at a car boot and mounted it very attractively on some smooth driftwood so we can check our temp regularly. It's become our new obsession! 'What's the temp?!' we squawk delightedly at each other. 'Yikes, it's pushing 22 degrees!!'

How are we keeping so toasty you may ask... Admittedly, we succumbed to the magic of electric heaters when the first cold snap descended. R insulated the skylights with camping mats which has worked amazingly well (although it is a little darker). Then, over the course of the last week, R has fitted our trusty mini wood burner, which kept us so snug when we spent nights out in our bell tent. It has proved quite a mammoth task and we both felt nervous about cutting a hole in the boat but it is CRAZY HOT!!! A dinkier woodburner you never did see - this little chap measures in at about 50cm high - but he can heat a room in half an hour. We are snug as two bugs in a particularly thick rug. I will get some pics up as soon as I can.

Last night, when I was making the bed, I discovered that the underside of the foam mattresses were soaking wet. No, not R and I wetting the bed but some kind of leak that is coming in the portholes in the bedroom and being soaked up by our sponge-like bed. I felt horrified that we'd been unknowingly sleeping on it but then relieved that I'd disovered it and could tackle it. R spent the afternoon drying it all out and I think we've discovered the source of the problem though we're still not sure if it's also condensation (the foam mattresses are on a plank of painted wood so no air circulation - R is considering drilling holes in aforesaid wood) so hopefully it shouldn't happen again. I feel like I am coping better with everyday stresses like this better though. There were days initially when I couldn't cope with all the stuff that went wrong and the problems like leaks and broken pumps etc. and I yearned for a clean dry house with central heating and ceilings I wouldn't bump my head on. I still do sometimes -shamefully- look at the double-glazed, thickly-carpeted, heated, wipe-clean-surfaced houses friends and clients live in and think 'oh god, how ridiculously, deliciously EASY..' and I have to stop myself from launching fully dressed into their big clean bathtubs. But not always...the pleasures of this life we've made remind me why we forsook living in a hermetically sealed box of our own - namely this peaceful evening with the wood burner crackling, candles burning, R reading and the boat moving imperceptibly, reminding us of our quiet good fortune.