Granville Street, Central Birmingham

We tethered our floating home to moorings adjacent to Granville Street, in sight of the nearby Mailbox and Cube. We love being able to stay so close to the heart of cities with all the comforts of home, without having to pay an extra penny!

Urban moorings are often limited to 48 hours but here we had four days. We were very grateful for the extra few days as the wind and rain were persistent and heavy. Also, we'd both managed to catch a cold 🤧

When we did venture out we discovered the friendly Canalside Bar which had ciders and a few beers in kegs on the bar. They served a range of food but we opted for a simple pasty to munch while sitting at a table made from an upright barrel. We returned the following day with Leo and Tiger for slices of cake 😋 Will also found an arabic café and tried his first arabic coffee, made from lightly roasted, coarsley ground green coffee beans and cardamon in equal measure.

During the days there was a large police presence due to the Tory conference taking place at the nearby ICC. According to officers, the Party had booked and paid for police protection before they lost the election so the number of officers on duty was probably more than was needed, but the force wasn't going to turn down the extra money.

Saturday night was noisy both outside and in, with late night revellers setting Leo off. He may have been unsettled overnight but he had some exhilarating walks during the day. He absolutely loved catching people's eyes as he romped around the brick paved walkways. He relished the activity, the buzz of busy people and the smells coming from the eateries. Fortunately he was happy to come back to us when called too. We got chatting to about 5 police officers monitoring the short canal tunnel. Will began telling them how careful we needed to be with Leo when there was duckweed on the water because he thinks it is grass... Right on cue, Leo runs over to the edge, takes half a second to think, then jumps into the cut 😖 We both rushed over and Vicky hauled him out, bundling him inside her jacket and quick marching back to Rainboat before the police could take him away for neglect 😳 Happily he dried off and warmed up quickly in front of the fire.

Will regularly watches Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and it just so happened that her studio in The Mailbox looks out on the stretch of canal where Rainboat was moored! There she was interviewing Kemi Badenoch with Rainboat in the background!

Back in the days when Will represented the Green Party, he had been interviewed by the BBC in the garden on the 7th floor of the Library of Birmingham. We were living in Netherton at the time and remember the iconic structure being built. Vicky had always intended to visit but never got round to it, so we were both pleased to be able to explore it. We didn't get the full experience because certain floors and outdoor areas were closed off because of those pesky Tories next door in the ICC. The circular core with rows of bookcases fanning out to the square outer walls was stunning and we still got panoramic views of Birmingham from the glass windows on the 9th and top floor.

We both feel really fortunate to be able to live the life we are living.Läs mer