We visited Crick Boat Show today - and met a couple of the people involved with the business side of buying Honey. It was good to meet people you normally only exchange emails and signatures with.
It was also nice to be able to browse. We had a lovely chat with Meg Gregory and John Sanderson (Google them if you don't know) about our future plans for painting our boat, we sprawled on sofabeds designed to fit under gunwales, we looked at ancient steam boats and brand new floating palaces, we ate overpriced Southern fish & chips (with the skin still on the fish! Southerners are barbaric!) and we listened to excellent live music.
Best of all, most promising of all, was our autistic son. He coped with more sensory overload today than ever before - because he wants a boat!
Autistic kids and boats are an excellent combination. We have two (autistic kids - not boats) and they have been afloat for 8 or 9 years now. The routine and subdued pace seem to suit them.
ReplyDeleteI am completely blown away at how well our autistic boy has taken to narrowboating.
ReplyDeleteHe has slept for six hours straight four nights in a row - he normally gets 24 hours sleep in about a fortnight. He sits in the well deck, watching the world go by and smiling at everything. He hasn't been brave enough to get out at locks yet, but I'm sure he will.
And he is so chilled on a boat that the rest of us have found it more relaxing than anything.
We aren't going to live aboard our boat, but we can spend a lot of time on it.