Spending time on a boat, really cheaply and content in the knowledge you've escaped the rat race will never quite lie down and continues to inspire every aspect of my life, right down to what I shall cook today, especially when I read stories like this from Ron Lovelady, "Schooner Sailing" on Blue Moment.com:
"...As the tide dropped we settled into some interesting mud that came over our welly tops when we waddled across to the boat that had hailed us. John the owner informed us that he was “temporally resting” i.e. on the dole (He would chase floating planks up river in his eight foot clinker dingy sometimes for five or six miles, haul them back and incorporate the best in his boat the others he chopped up and sold as fire wood to help with his rest). “Come up t der ouse an ave a cuppa wid me mam” he invited, So off we clomped through the mud to the two up, two down with outside loo, in which he lived with his mother and brothers and sisters. With the typical hospitality of the poor parts of Liverpool we where given chipped mugs of strong sweet tea and large plates full of scouse, a tasty stew made with end of lamb, potatoes, onions and any other vegetables available all seasoned with plenty of salt and pepper. ..."