Seven years on the water

It is seven years today since I bought my boat 'Don't Panic and moved from land living and a full time career to canal living and earning just enough to keep the wolf from the door.
I am now financially poorer than I have ever been. I have almost no security as far as where I live and how I live. From hardly being able to change a light bulb, I now have to service my boat engine, cope with things going wrong like my inverter blowing up and provide my own power and heating. I have to dispose of my own poo, fill my own water tank and work locks, lift bridges and other canal challenges alone apart from my dog. Having been a detective sergeant on murder squad and a deanery evangelist for the Church of England, I now clean loos and showers for a living. I am regarded as little more than a gypsy by some, a lapsed Christian by others and a bit of a loafer by many.

I have never been so happy in my entire life.