Well, moved the last of my things onto IRIS at the end of September and then disappeared off to New Zealand for three weeks holiday. It was my brothers 40th and was great to see him and all my friends out there. My house still seems to be in good shape and my cat appears to remember me - bonus.

Back to the UK on the 22nd and onto IRIS, so this week has mainly been a rapid adjustment to full time life on board. Been testing out various things such as the oil stove (nice and toasty), the shower (not bad, but glass will be better than a shower curtain in the small space) and the oven (seems to work, no plans to use it yet ;-). Also been tinkering with putting up various small shelves and fittings. Have made enquiries about getting a new toilet installed, as I think that's going to be be the biggest improvement I can make to start with.

The T-Mobile 3G card is working well with the external ariel, even with all the doors shut. Mobile phone reception is flakier, but I've found that with Orange where I used to live, so no worse off really.

No real new pictures of the boat (its now just full of more stuff than before...) so here are some locals I spotted out of the front door this morning ;-)