Update, January 2025

Hello, and every good wish for the New Year! Mike and I are well (other than the usual winter niggles). I hope you are, too. I've just realised that I missed doing a December update, which is a measure of just how busy I've been since starting work at Norton Canes boatyard, just round the corner from our house.

Work at the boatyard

If you'd like to see what goes on at our busy boatyard on a typical day, I've just started creating a new series of "what's happening" videos, which I'll be posting on our Facebook page. Here's one I made yesterday!

I'm mainly involved in narrowboat brokerage and social media, but with the quiet winter season upon us, we have been trying to get on top of some other tasks, including streamlining processes and preparing for the Crick Show in May.

My big project at the moment is developing a self-service online calculator for potential customers who wish to commission their own bespoke narrowboat build. You'll be able to use it to design every inch of a boat, based on our gold star standard build, and enhanced by your own choice of extra features. It has been very gratifying to have my boss, Sarah, pronounce that my coding of the calculator is "cool", and just what she's been wanting for years. Now all we have to do is finish pricing the 143 items (gulp!) currently listed on the calculator.

Canalside Homes Lists

As you may know, since November 2024, my lists have been divided into four price brackets, and released weekly:

• Week 1 £0 to £300,000,
• Week 2 £300,000 to £500,000,
• Week 3 £500,000 to £700,000, and
• Week 4 £700,000 upwards.

New members are paying £10 per month for this service. Existing members have kept their original pricing, but back in November, I announced that I would start bringing them into line with new members in January, and everyone will be paying £10 by the end of 2025. I will be implementing the first price rise later this week, so the minimum anyone will be paying is £7.50 per month.

So far the increase in subscription prices has just about covered the loss caused by members leaving. I'm pretty happy about that, given that it's a quiet time of year for the property market. My hope is that this restructuring will make my lists more financially viable and sustainable in the long term, and that this will keep me motivated through the spring, when it's particularly hard work to research all the properties on the market!

Teddy Bear Therapy

Many of you will know that I'm interested in mental health. I have traits which I am pretty certain are autistic, and whenever I talk about my issues online, I usually hear from a few people who can relate to what I say or find my comments helpful. Last year, I decided that I wanted to do something to help people who are struggling. In Portugal in October, I had some fascinating chats with my friend Will, who is a professional counsellor.

With Will's help, I came up with a concept for a series of videos in which I provide therapy sessions using teddy bears for emotional support and comfort. Did you spot the bear in my photo at the top of the page? That's one of my 'influencer' bears, Potterton! Below are a couple of examples of the videos I've made so far - you can see all the rest on Youtube.

If you like these videos, please could you do the usual thumbs up and perhaps subscribe to my channel? I only have 21 subscribers at the moment, and you have to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months to monetise a channel, so there's a long way to go!

Incidentally, the teddy knitwear in the video is made by Teddy Bear Essentials - my friend Lesley who lives on NB Orkney.

Right, I'd better crack on with today's list. Last week's took 8 or 9 hours to research and I reckon today's will be similar!