{"product_id":"a-narrowboat-at-large-paperback","title":"A Narrowboat at Large - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJo May\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUpdated February 2021So why did we take to the water? My wife can't swim, the dog hates it and I prefer beer. Financially we were afloat and we lived in a perfectly decent house until my wife came up with the zany idea of living on a boat. I'd just got home from work, via the pub, when Jan asked me to watch a video while she prepared our frugal meal. I watched a pair of old fogies trundling along a canal in the rain on a narrowboat. You can imagine my reply when she asked if I fancied emulating the sodden wrinklies and taking to the water. She's a lady of vision and determination (she married me after all) but this was elevating madness to a whole new level. Jan's oncologist had her a few years previously that she probably wouldn't see the new millennium, so she had a different perspective about the future than many people. Despite lots of huffing and head-shaking, twelve months later we had sold a perfectly respectable house, given up a job that kept us in cornflakes and moved onto a metal hole less than a tenth the size of our house - excluding garden. It was the 4th July 2003 - independence day.We knew nothing about narrowboats - their workings, waterways lore and how we would cope being cooped up together - particularly when it's minus five and the nearest shop is miles away. We had a mountain to climb - which you can only do by using locks, and we'd never done a lock. A more accurate analogy is shooting the rapids because our venture took on a life of it's own and we were washed down stream on a tide of enthusiasm and ignorance. We had to make it work or the people who had laughed and scoffed would be proved right - we really were mad. Well, make it work we did, and we're still boating twelve years on. It's marvelous and it possibly saved Jan's life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 214\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.49 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 18, 2015\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42716414148671,"sku":"9781514604489","price":18.82,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/7e3634f25fef97060f8d8708d23efdbc.webp?v=1765074822","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/a-narrowboat-at-large-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}