Well, a mixed bag of late. We've managed to shift a few things on Trademe, selling off books, CDs various bits and bobs. It might not seem like much but it certainly is all moving in the right direction toward getting out of the house and on to the boat.

All the sales have also funded the purchase of an iPad which we are currently evaluating for its potential usefulness onboard. Yes, it can be used as a backup chart plotter, but its potential as an easily portable, web-connected communication tool to allow emailing, accounts checking, web browsing everyday stuff is exciting. Early days yet and Ade is thorough in her evaluation of its potential as an entertainment device. ;)

Our appliances all appear to be getting to the end of their useful lives. First off our clothes dryer decided to stop heating and become a tumbler only. Sounds like replacing heating elements is going to be prohibitively expensive. It too will find it's way onto Trademe on an "as is" basis (amazing what other people will buy). Just the other day the electric kettle went through a rapid course of progressive failure. First up the switch refused to turn off when the water was boiling, then the switch refused to stay on when the water wasn't boiling (but continued to stay on once it was) and the final straw came when it started to leak water all over the kitchen bench. We're hoping things will just hang together long enough to allow us to sell the cars, sell the house and move onto the boat.

Speaking of which, the house is off the market over winter while we work around the place to tidy things up and re-launch in spring. Meanwhile there's been a flurry of interest in buying cars. Ade just recently sold her little sports car ... a sad moment indeed that marked the end of an 18 year era and we've currently got 3 different people climbing over themselves to buy the Fraser at the moment. Sad, but necessary, steps towards achieving our ultimate goal.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming ....