Doors. We have them in our homes. Internal doors to define and delineate our personal spaces, and external doors to define where our space starts and finishes. They give us the capacity to keep what belongs to us safe and keep things we don't like out. They make sure that when we warm our homes the warmth stays inside, and the cold is shut out. In many ways they define what is us and what is other.
You can get doors to suit all tastes - with varieties of shapes, sizes, colours and types.
We can slam doors to make a statement, express emotion and sometimes just because we feel like it.
We speak of opportunity as being an open door, and of failure sometimes as being a closed door.
We can even get locked out - lose the key that allows us access to our home!
When you think about it doors are a significant feature of our lives.

For the last year or so we have had no front door.
Oh we have a hatch that we can shut, but for the most part it is left open, it's like the welcome mat is always out! It's the way of things on a boat. People can't knock on your front door, instead they sing out, 'Permission to come aboard!'
It is wholly different.
No front door has, for the last year, been something of a metaphor for a different way of doing life. It has been singularly more social than any life we have lived before, people frequently visit us, friends we have made along the way. Sometimes people walk up to where we are tied up full of curiosity and ask if they might take a look inside and on deck. We are frequently the source of fascination as people watch us sailing or arriving in a new place. Well it is understandable, Argos isn't your usual yacht! But still it is interesting to be an object of interest, all the same!
Even when we are off the boat we still get people saying, oh you are from that boat! We are often called the boat people, and amongst her friends Erina is nicknamed Marina or Ariel!
Living without a front door has I think primarily meant that we are more open, more available and less likely to be shut away from others. It's an interesting thing really to be sitting inside and then to have someone call out hello - it reminds me of a life once lived where one's neighbours popped in regularly and where the kettle was always on, a life where people shared more of life with others, a time when the nuclear family didn't live in little boxes on the hillside.
I think too that because we have limited space on the boat we spend more time on deck or outside, more time walking and being out and about. I guess it all boils down to spending more time amongst people.
Having said that, this last week we were invited to move the boat a little, away from the slipway area and onto a separate jetty. We are at right angles to where we used to be, it is so much more comfortable! The swell as it enters the marina gently lifts the bow of the boat and we ride it as if it was nothing. It's so much nicer than the swell pushing us onto the wharf. The new spot does mean we are further from the amenities block so now our first task in the morning involves our first bit of exercise for the day too! The only thing we haven't liked really about the move is that we are on a locked jetty. We have a door! Yes, it's true, there is a locked gate that must be unlocked to gain access. No more wandering by-passers curious about the boat stopping in for a chat! No more casual visitors! Our only unexpected visitors now are those who have a marina key! It's a little more private, which does have some advantages, but we like talking to people about our journey and our plans and we are missing the casual chats - actually I think we are feeling just a little locked away! And sometimes locked out! I guess we will get used to it!
One of the reasons for our move is that we have agreed to assist a local family we've got to know in their house building project. We anticipate remaining at Batemans Bay until the house is completed, and are expecting at the very least that this will involve us spending Christmas here. We are not unhappy about the decision, although we would dearly love to be out there sailing! The bar has not yet been dredged, as the local paper said it would be, so getting in and out in a day isn't possible, but we have resolved that assisting in this project is the right thing to be doing right now and we are comfortable with doing it. We do hope we will be able to get some sailing in, but look forward to spending time in preparing ourselves and the boat more in the meantime. And going sailing with others too!