For those of you who may be wondering what has possessed us to embark on this mad escape, here is your answer from the 1970s. Our first married home, on the Tipton Canal , Netherton Branch, a barely canal-worthy narrowboat by the name of Heather.
Made of oak,fastened together with iron bolts, as leaky as a rusty bucket, no steering and the top built  from an old bus, but we loved her!!! And it was  very romantic, of course!

Hopefully Vasillian will prove to be a better investment, particularly as we paid more for the survey on it than the purchase price of Heather.
Unfortunately (!!!) there'll be no Vespa scooter this time round, at least I don't think so, you never know with John...