Work life balance

[Sandyman]

[ QUOTE ]
Well actually, you do know what the future will bring......... which is as good a reason for going as I can think of! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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Har Har excellent reply /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Yes I know what you mean with the despots running this asylum. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We're on our way asap.

 

[nathanlee]

I quit my job on Tuesday. At 25, I feel that now would be the perfect time to take the spring/summer not working and take myself around the east/south coast.

The only flaw in my plan is that I have all of £100 in my savings account /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[ColdFusion]

Don't spend it all at once.

If you're being serious then how, may I ask, are you going to afford to buy food, etc, etc?

 

[highandry]

£100 on the South Coast 'aint a plan... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif When you get down Newhaven way, cheapest berths are North of the bridge (tidal) and you may get a job on the waterfront. Best of luck mate.

 

[Sandyman]

LadyinBed is your boat called Bold Explorer ?????? In Poole ??

 

[nathanlee]

Yes, sadly I was being serious. I actually have £100 in my savings account. The slightly better news is that I'll have a couple of thousand in my current account by the time I actually leave work, as well as a credit card for emergencies.

It's still not enough though I feel, although if I can get some contract work on the way around I'll be ok.

 

[craigbalsillie]

bloody good luck to you Nathan..

As has been said before.. we're all a long time dead.. so I for one think you are damn right to be doing what your doing..

Your IT skills are global , so if you find yourself in need of some cash, i'm sure you'll get some contract work without too much grief.. and if you're Med' bound.. theres obviously bar work etc.. There'll be plenty of doom and gloom merchants wanting to put you down.. just ignore them.. chances are they're only pissed off cause they never had the balls to do it when they were 25..

look forward to hearing how it all pans out for you..


Craig

 

[absit_omen]

Fine. Nice sentiment.

Reminds me of my SWMBO who has two kids. One with a degree in 'Design' and the other one in 'Fashion'. Both have been unemployed for two years.

When, after they phone up whingeing every few weeks I dare to comment of the uselessness of their degrees I am told 'Well, as long as they are happy'. However, they are patently NOT happy. It is a sad fact of life that without sufficient funds just to get you through the month you will never be happy. Lets not fool ourselves.

In Nathans case, the days of Shane Acton are over. He will get little sympathy as a penniless liveaboard - 25 years old or not - there is a limit to how many free drinks you will be given. Very little goodwill out there unfortunately. The best that can happen is that he will eventually be driven ashore to work and, hey, guess what! His free and easy liveaboard globetrotting lifestyle will be down the pan.

IT skills global? He will be out of date in minutes. In this economic climate? 'Hi Nathan, so you are a water Gypsy, here's a nice little IT job for you'. Work in a bar in the Med? What - a Chav bar full of other escapees also looking for work on the black? Where will he keep the boat whilst doing this bar work? In a marina? Do you know what a marina berth costs in the Med, in summer?

Before you label me Doom and Gloom. The most successful compromise I have seen has been young couples - in their 30's, with or without kids, who have held down decent jobs for 10 years, bought a house, paid off a proportion of their mortgage, bought a boat, done it up, rented the house out and sailed off for up to 10 years.

Sound like sour grapes? Not at all. I lived aboard for six years in the Med and I have seen it go on all around me. Not just in boats but in campervans and converted army lorries - free spirits eventually worn down and down by the great evil - money, or more specifically, the lack of.

Admiring the adventuresome spirit is easy. The real skill comes in finding a way to make it work and setting off with a hundred (or even a few thousand) in your back pocket is not going to cut it.

 

[nathanlee]

[ QUOTE ]

Admiring the adventuresome spirit is easy. The real skill comes in finding a way to make it work and setting off with a hundred (or even a few thousand) in your back pocket is not going to cut it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps. I am aware of this problem, believe me, it's making itself quite apparent.
That said, I don't have a degree in fashion, I have a 9 year career in internet marketing and web development. Until March, I am the lead programmer for one of Europe's largest search marketing companies. Having usable skills will not be a problem.

I appreciate what you're saying, really, but I don't have many options. I can stay in London burning far more money than I should be doing, looking for work and feeling under pressure, or I can take that couple of thousand quid and go sailing for a while and try to keep it topped up along the way with various projects and freelance work. Perhaps stopping in Christchurch to see my family for a while.

I shall find out one way or another I guess.

And Craig, thank you for those words.

 

[absit_omen]

OK. I am really not trying to piss on your parade - I know it sounds like that! I have just come across a lot of broken dreams, abandoned boats, horrendous debt and much worse.

I do love the 'go for it' sentiments. I went for it and had a great time. However, there was a crisis which brought me back and, fortunately, I had sufficient financial cushion to cope with everything.

Things have changed in the cruising world - even in the past five years. It is not getting any easier and you can tell the old hands because they don't speak to anyone! A good mate of mine reckons the only decent spot left is the Cook Islands. Dunno if they need IT consultants there! : /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Anyway. Good luck.

 

[Forbsie]

For what it's worth, I think that Nathan is ideally placed to cut his rates and get some contract work around London or the south east. Living aboard is still the cheapest way to live. My mooring is still half the price of renting a room.

Whilst not exactly a penniless liveaboard, I've been pretty close but have never had a free drink that I haven't reciprocated and nothing in Nathan's posts or blog give me the impression that he is not of like mind.

[ QUOTE ]
It is a sad fact of life that without sufficient funds just to get you through the month you will never be happy.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is quite true, but sufficient funds means different things to different people. I live on a fifth of what I did in the 90's and am infinitely happier for it. I've even had a telly programme made about my work/life balance. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I also can't remember him expressing any desire to go down to the Med in the short term, so I don't understand where this has come from. His London berth may not be the cheapest, but there are loads of others less costly both here and on the continent.

Lastly, when the desire for goods and chatels and personal belongings goes out the window it will leave a lot of people poorer.....but the impoverished won't be among them.

 

[absit_omen]

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I also can't remember him expressing any desire to go down to the Med in the short term, so I don't understand where this has come from.

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Check and you will see I was replying to the post of craigbalsillie and the issues he raised - not Nathan.

I am not sure quite what his plans are and how this craigbalsillie guy came to be talking about the Med. I understood that Nathan was preparing for the Jester Challenge. I entered this in 2006 and spent considerably more than he has trying to prepare my boat - and I didn't even get to the start line. Only four months to go, and that will fly. If he wants a boat in the same league as Ming Ming he will have to get a wiggle on.

 

[nathanlee]

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Only four months to go, and that will fly. If he wants a boat in the same league as Ming Ming he will have to get a wiggle on.

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And don't I know it! It's 2010 though, so I've got a while yet, although even a year is worryingly not enough I feel. Still, I've bought a load of kit for the boat that's currently on board waiting to be fitted, for which I don't currently have the time. Perhaps taking a couple of months out would be a good opportunity to do the work /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also, Anteak, I really do understand your comments and know you weren't simply trying to piss on my parade, as you put it.
However, there's little more motivating than the threat of starvation. I'm sure I'll find something. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[absit_omen]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif OMG, I thought it WAS 2010! [--word removed--]. must get out more often. Sorry my dear chap. If you pop into Brighton give me a shout and I will see what I have in me boatshed.

Off to eat some humble pie now /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[grumpygit]

Just have a go, do what you want to do because you've only yourself to look out for. If you don't the doubts will be with you for ever. As the saying goes, better to try and fail than not try at all, well something like that anyway.
I also believe that anybody who is good at what they do and willing to work will always get by. Personality / persona also play their part as well. Quite often as one door closes another opens.
Then there is fate and luck if you believe in these, most people do even if they won't admit it to others.....

Anteak was out there for the good years and can't hack all the changes to how it is now. (No offence Anteak just an observation) It's changed for us too since we had the dream of doing it, but we are still going to give it a go.

Things have changed where ever you are, but what do we do, roll over, be subservient and all fit into the tidy ticked boxes for the the politicians and state officials (police, customs etc.) to have us by the short and curlies?

If it wasn't for adventurers and risk takers we still be a backward race to what we are today !

As I started, just go and do what you want to and bugger the consequences if that's what you want and bloody good luck to you. If I see you I'll buy you a beer and won't expect one back in return, and I'm a Yorkshireman ! ( not tight just bloody careful )!!!

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[absit_omen]

[ QUOTE ]
Anteak was out there for the good years and can't hack all the changes to how it is now. (No offence Anteak just an observation)

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Well, actually I am taking my little boat back to be based in Portugal although with commitments here cant be with her all the time unfortunately. (BTW, the good years were probably 30 + years ago).

I have no problems with what you say. I just want him to go off with his eyes open. As a very rough estimate, and I have nothing other than my own experiences to go on, I would say that nine out of ten 'Med style' liveaboards are back in the UK within 5 years. The ones who stay are either well able to afford it or too alcohol dependent to care.

Just my experience! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[grumpygit]

[ QUOTE ]
(BTW, the good years were probably 30 + years ago).
[ QUOTE ]

I think 30years ago life was at a lot slower pace to the gallop it's going at now. 30 days seems more like the norm now with the speed of our ever changing World. Who knows what's round the corner.
I think 5 years is a reasonable target to go for a liveaboard especially if one is at a certain age. At the moment I wish to travel with our yacht without having to die on it ! if you get my drift.
We are looking forward to our adventure although we have a few reservations which I would think is quite normal.

Just my opinion and no offence I hope.

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[craigbalsillie]

IF... thats IF.. you're Med bound I said in my original post..

and Nathan, if you do make it to NZ , let me know if you're ever in the Wellington area I'll only be too happy to shout you a beer or 2 .. ( I know he said Christchurch anteak , I'm using that little word IF again..)

 

[nathanlee]

[ QUOTE ]
IF... thats IF.. you're Med bound I said in my original post..

and Nathan, if you do make it to NZ , let me know if you're ever in the Wellington area I'll only be too happy to shout you a beer or 2 .. ( I know he said Christchurch anteak , I'm using that little word IF again..)

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha, I'll take you up on that if I ever get there, although I meant the REAL Christchurch, in Dorset (formerly Hampshire) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[craigbalsillie]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

obviously been living down here for too long..

Oh well.. If i ever make it to Wellington in Somerset in the next year or so .. you can shout me a beer or 2.. (it'll be better beer in that wellington too.. but don't tell the kiwi's I said that..)

Craig