This is the first email from a lovely couple that stayed on Shylock and we thought we would share their happy love story, as they meet for the first time. From all of us at Shakespeare we wish them all the happiness in the world for future.
-
- Jared and Sunni at Classic Narrowboats
-
- Jared and Sunni on the water
Part 1 – Of our Narrowboat Love Story (wrote this two weeks ago, you can take one paragraph or whatever…we wanted to relive the experience and since then we have been busy as I have moved to Sweden and we are starting a business on the farm here;))
Narrowboat Holiday-A Link in the Chain of Destiny
This is a story about love, a story with a very important link in the chain
of our destiny that involved a narrowboat experience on the canals in
England that would be a metaphor for the rest of our life.
In December of 2011, I only knew that I would start out 2012 with a new
experience in another country. What happened whether it was fate, luck, or
even divine providence can only be described as pure magic.
As the timing and throwing of the dart so to speak on “holiday’s” in
England went, we had no idea what we signed up for because in the beginning
it was just about “being” together.
Did I believe in this type of love? Yes.
Had I truly witnessed in real life, or even read about the kind of
connection we shared? I had not.
Was I nervous to cross the big sea with a bag full of items, a head full of
dreams, and a spirit wrapped up in love? You better believe I was.
Meeting my soul mate, Sunniva for the first time at
Heathrow Airport in London was the day the earth stood still. I lost all
concepts of space and time.
After the long embrace that left me rattled through my core, we were off
and running. Literally.
Having minutes to spare to catch the tube out of the Heathrow, racing to
King’s Cross train station that would take us north, ultimately to
Willington, we moved with intensity, with a rhythm only people who had
shared a lifetime would understand.
Without words, we seemed to whisper to each other. A familiar glance of the
eye said “stay back with all the bags while I run.”
The US card I used to purchase the tickets did not have the chip that the
machines in Europe read. With only 5 minutes till the train took off and
the last train into Willington for the day meant we had no choice. Our
ride, our boat, and our future await.
I was weighted down like a mule and she took off like an elf in the forest.
“What is your code?”, she asked turning. I yelled it out as she took off in
a run.
Smiling, I knew life would mirror the calmness we experienced in the midst
of what could be intense stress to others. Adventure would be something we
embraced on every day of this experience.
After the transcontinental flight from Dallas to London, rushing from tubes
to trains, Steve of Classic Narrow Boats picked us up at 3:10PM
local time.
The energy out of the gates was contagious. Running on pure adrenaline
after weeks of late night Skype sessions, two long days of travel, we had
arrived.
I can’t stress two things enough. How comfortable we felt with the staff,
and how unintentional this narrowboat vacation was. Looking at places in
England with a unique experience was my only goal and this just “felt
right.”
Besides a brief description, a look at the image of the boats, we didn’t
spend much time thinking about that. How prophetic the feeling would be I
had no idea.
We were losing daylight fast and Gavin, an enthusiastic and bright-eyed
narrowboat crew member was guiding us through the basic operations of the
boat, as we would need to stay in the Mercia Marina the first night.
This would be our home for the next week in every sense of the word. While
we originally planned to spend the last 3 days seeing sites in London, our
time on the narrowboat was so powerful, so important to understanding the
dynamic between us, there was no question that London would still be there
on our next visit and we should and would stay the full week experiencing
all that life on the canal has to offer.
Dropping our bags and going over the check list was a blur. Remember, this
was the end of our first day of being physically together at this point. We
were lost in locked eyes as the train sped by the beautiful English
countryside. Focusing on the details of operating our little home on the
canals was the last thing on our mind.
We had to focus for an hour and get in Jedi mode as we could feel the
importance of what navigating a narrowboat through the locks, facing winter
weather, and understanding the canal culture meant.
Basic tour of the boat from front to back. Check. How to operate the
heating system. Check. How many hours a day you had to have the motor
running to charge the batteries that would power your boat the rest of the
day. Check. When you run out of propane gas, how and where to change that.
Check. When you run out of water, where and how to fill it. Check. How the
galley is set up. Check. How to moor up successfully. Check. This list was
long and I will admit we absorbed maybe 50% of it when told to us, but the
rest just worked out.
After plenty of laughs and some shared stories with the crew, we were ready
to head out. Bare in mind the marina and some parts of the canal were
covered with a sheet of ice that morning. Gavin was with us until we
cleared the town of Willington and after seeing we had the boat under
control as far as navigation, he hopped out without a second’s warning as
we passed under a bridge.
“I guess this means we’ve got it! I hope you were paying attention during
the demonstration” we laughed. And so the journey of life on the canals
really took root.
One thing I learned the first day by some trial and error is don’t take
your eyes off the front for long, or the boat can get dodgy fast. The
lessons and metaphors of life would be woven deeply into this experience.
After an afternoon on the water and getting comfortable with what it meant
to navigate and live on this boat, soaking up the changing scenery as
we headed south; we decided to moor up on a safe spot near an interesting
village that just happened to be prior to the first lock. Locks you see,
would be a very important part of this experience and some of the deepest
metaphors for life.
Proud of ourselves for making some distance that day, feeling the
tremendous history and energy from the landscape, we headed out from the
boat to explore a bit.
