A MAN who moved out of his home to live on a narrowboat has saved a fortune after growing tired of suburban life.
Joel Sanders, 57, ditched his one-bedroom flat in Watford, Hertfordshire, after getting the bug during a stint on water.
The comedian was offered a gig on a cruise ship and wanted to replicate that feeling when he got back to the UK.
After a brief chat with boat owners along the canal in Hemel Hempstead, Joel put his money where his mouth is.
“Within a week I had bought a boat, travelled across London in it and was in that same marina,” he said.
“I am very intolerant to noise and in a flat I felt that my private space was invaded by other people’s noises.
“You could always hear your neighbours.
“A boat has all the benefits of a detached home and if you don’t like the place where you are because it is too loud then you move.
“I live a simple nomadic existence. You get a sense of independence and freedom on a boat which is very hard to get on the land.”
After spending a year in the Hemel Hempstead marina, Joel upgraded to a bigger boat- a 1996 Colecraft- for around £60,000 and began moving across the country.
Since the switch, he has docked in Nottingham, Birmingham, London, Oxford, Bristol, Reading, and Gloucester.
However, life on a boat is not all positive, with Joel adding that it is extremely hard work managing your own limited water, gas, and electricity supply.
Joel forks out around £1,600 annually on his boat licence, is set back £800 on heating and spends tens of thousands of pounds on upgrades and maintenance.
The boat owner has also experienced tragedy since he took up his marine residence.
Recently, Joel found a dead body floating in the canal in Nottingham.
Despite its flaws, he says he doesn’t regret a thing.
He continued: “With boating the good days are great but the bad days are very bad. It is a life of extremes.
“Boating is a fairly intensive part time job. It makes you feel more alive somehow when you have to manage those things that you once took for granted.
“It really toughened me up. I have learned a huge amount.
“Most of my friends when I bought it said I was mad, and I wouldn’t last three months. The things it gave me were so thrilling to me that I ploughed through the difficulties.
“I will take the physical challenges for as long as my health will allow me to for the benefits.”
Joel added that the main trick is to find the right boat, saying that if you buy a bad one with lots of problems then you would “have a better quality of life on a park bench.”
Joel said: “With the housing crisis a lot of people are deciding to buy boats, but it is not a lifestyle that is right for people who just can’t afford to live on the land.
“You need to want the lifestyle.”
It might seem an idyllic lifestyle living on a narrowboat and taking this at a slower pace but it’s not always plain sailing.
The Pros
Freedom – you get to choose where you stay and can move from the countryside to a city in possibly a few hours. If you don’t like your neighbours you can simply move.
Work anywhere – remote working has shot up with the Covid-19 pandemic and what could be better than working from a barge.
Declutter your lifestyle – There’s not a lot of space on a narrowboat but this can be an advantage as it forces your to get rid of things you don’t actually really need. Decluttering your life can do wonders for your wellbeing.
Life at a slower pace – anyone fed up of the 9-5 rat race and the pressure to earn money to pay for high-cost living can benefit from the easy-going life on a barge.
More environmentally friendly – while not entirely carbon neutral, living on a narrowboat can help the environment as you use less electricity, gas and fuel.
Improve fitness – living on a narrowboat doesn’t suit a sedentary lifestyle. There are endless tasks that will keep you active, such as operating locks, carrying coal and gas canisters, toilets to empty, wood to chop and weed hatches to clear.
Sense of community – many boaters feel a strong sense of community as they are with like-minded people to share tips and advice.
Saving money – one big advantage is the amount of money you can save. Big savings can be made on monthly living costs not only from using less gas and electricity but you don’t have any costly mortgage or rent payments to cover.
The Cons
Having to plan ahead – if you have a cruising licence you will need to move every 14 days, so you have to think about the future, where to next, do you have enough supplies to get there?
Limited space – narrowboats are restricted in space and you may find you feel claustrophobic living in a confined space. Plus, you may have to chuck out some prized possessions to fit everything you need in.
Lack of security – criminals may see a narrowboat as an easy target and you may need to invest in some quality security to keep your things safe.
Maintenance – Beware that you will need to learn about engine maintenance, such as how to repair a bilge pump or water pump. You will also need to ensure it is properly insulated and ventilated or you could be battling dampness and condensation.
The cost – while living on a boat is certainly cheaper than living in a property, it is not cost free. You have to pay for things like: a Canal and River Trust licence, insurance, engine and pump maintenance, blacking the hull, as well as running costs such as fuel and a TV licence.
LYING on the track in a tangled mess, Tai Woffinden admits the last thing he remembers is people crying at the extent of his injuries.
The five-times world champion blacked out minutes after the horror crash where he sustained over 15 BROKEN BONES following a high-speed pile-up in Krosno, Poland in late March.
Great Britain ace Woffy, 34, was given an emergency helicopter airlift to hospital as fears grew over his survival because of chest injuries and a huge loss of blood.
He was then put in a medically induced coma after three lengthy major operations.
But two months after fighting for his life, Woffinden is now walking and eight weeks ahead in his gruelling recovery plan in rehab.
In his first interview since the incident, he reveals how he heard the femur bone in his leg snap on impact and that the first people on the scene were in tears on seeing his condition because his arms were “pointing in the wrong direction”.
He admitted: “I remember everything. In the race that I crashed I made a pretty decent start, so I blipped the throttle a little bit coming into the corner.
“The junior rider off gate one drove over the kerb, ran into the guy that was off gate two, who then collected me.
“As I got collected, as you normally do, you drop it on the side and slide towards the fence. And then while sliding across the track, my bike hit the APD (airfence) first, which lifted it up probably about a metre.
“And the moment I saw that lift, I just went, ‘oh f***’. And then I hit the fence, I heard my femur snap.
“It’s almost like if you’re underwater and you snap a tree branch.
“I then was laid on the track. I remember looking up and seeing everybody around me. The team manager’s face looked like he had seen a ghost.
“One person was crying looking at my body. My arms were pointing all in the wrong direction. My left shoulder was dislocated, pointing upwards.
“My right humerus was shattered at the bottom. My elbow was dislocated and my elbow was broken.
“I actually couldn’t see my hands when I was laying on the track because they were both pointing up.
“So I’m sat there saying, ‘give me some meds’. I was saying ‘bol, bol, bol’ which means pain in Polish just to make sure they knew what I was talking about.
“I don’t know if I passed out from the amount of Fentanyl they’d given me or the amount of blood that I’d lost.”
Woffinden, Britain’s greatest-ever rider, had a double compound right femur fracture, broken back, right humerus compound fracture, dislocated and smashed right elbow, 12 broken ribs,punctured lung, left broken shoulder blade and dislocated left shoulder.
He added: “I remember the blades of the helicopter, the noise of it starting to take off. And then the next thing, I’m in a coma.
“There were so many injuries, I probably wouldn’t have been able to be awake and deal with the injuries. One of the operations was 12 hours long and I had multiple blood transfusions.
“I thought a coma would have been a pleasant sleep. It was quite the opposite. It was the worst thing I’d ever experienced. It was quite scary at times. I was on sedatives and painkillers and antibiotics.
“I was hallucinating, I was dreaming and having nightmares. Normally you have a nightmare and you wake up. Well, I couldn’t wake up.
“I dealt with some wild s***. I woke up from the coma, and everything that I’d dreamt, I believed it was real. And my wife Faye was like, ‘mate, that didn’t happen’. I was getting angry with Faye because she wasn’t believing me.”
Woffinden refused to be drawn on what the future holds in speedway, his only focus is on full recovery from the huge toll of injuries.
He added: “There’s so many variables. We need to give it that extra month to heal and then have the CT scan so we can really see what’s going on from all different angles.
“I might need another operation on my humerus in my arm because it was shattered in 27 places. If the metalwork hasn’t helped it knit together, I’ll need another op.
“I’ve done everything I possibly can. I’ve done four to five hours a day in rehab since I left the hospital. My progress is on another level.
“It’s ridiculous. Where I’m at given the injuries is f*****g phenomenal.
“I would like to ride my bike again, whether that’s competitive or not or just practice, who knows?
“But I just make micro personal goals to keep reaching. Only my recovery comes first.”
LOUIS VAN GAAL has launched a stunning broadside on former club Manchester United.
The Dutchman was in the Old Trafford hot seat between 2014 and 2016.
Van Gaal, 73, won a solitary FA Cup during his tenure as United boss.
And he’s been watching their horror 2024/25 season from afar with interest.
The Red Devils finished without silverware last term, languishing 15th in the Premier League.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe – who has embarked on controversial cost-cutting across the club – employed Ruben Amorim midway through the season to stop the rot.
But results continued to slide under the former Sporting Lisbon chief.
Van Gaal told Sky Sports: “It is still a commercial club.
“It is not a football club. I have said that before – and that’s always difficult.”
The 73-year-old believes United will never find success unless Amorim is given the chance to choose his own players.
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He continued: “When [it’s] not the manager deciding which player has to come, it’s very difficult.
“I think that is the way it should be.
“Because then you can fire the manager because he’s not getting results.
“When other people buy the players, then you have a problem.
“You need to have the knowledge [of the manager] because he has to train them.”
Van Gaal also begged United chiefs to “pay attention” to the way Premier League champions Liverpool are operating under Arne Slot.
He added: “Arne Slot is the man who says to his technical manager, you need to buy this player.
“Pay attention to [that].”
Van Gaal won 54 of his 103 games in charge at Old Trafford.
His overall win percentage with the club stands at 52.43 per cent.
That figure is lower than three United managers who have followed him through the door at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Erik ten Hag all boast higher win percentages.
But current boss Amorim has the lowest of all five.
The Portuguese manager has won just 16 of his 42 games in charge – a paltry win percentage of 38.10 per cent.
That’s the worst of any permanent United manager since Frank O’Farrell in 1971.
SUMMER is nearly here and many people are looking to get their gardens looking beautiful in time for BBQs and sitting out in the sun.
One woman shared how she got rid of her bland concrete tiles and replaced them with a gorgeous £6 Wickes buy.
Instead of forking out for expensive decking, she decided to lay decking planks down in her back garden, and then she added stones around it for a pretty effect.
Rachel Clutterham told Fabulous: “My garden was worn, unlevel and a trip hazard.
“I looked around for ideas and inspiration for what could be achieved on a small budget and could find nothing.
“The idea came about when Wickes delivered the decking planks and they were just laid on the ground!
“It all came from there, and so I came up with a design I liked and simply glued them down and added shingle to fill in the gaps!
“It had brightened up the garden no end.
“And the plus side of using the Easihold is that it leaves them with a lovely shine.”
She then spent a further £60.60 on one more decking plank which was sawn to make stepping for garden gate end.
She also added four more bags of shingle to lay over the slabs and then £35.00 on Easihold to seal it all.
She added: “Just a few little bits to complete at the end of it and it’s all done for £300.
“Not everyone’s style but it’s cheap, tidy and manageable for me.
“Apart from that, the dogs and myself are happy.”
Rachel said she was “fed up” of seeing “budget garden posts that weren’t realistic for a lot of people”, and decided to share her idea on Facebook, where it has racked up nearly 5,000 likes.
One person praised her saying: “This looks fabulous, do-able and affordable.”
Another added: “Very unique, I love it.”
And a third commented: “It’s just lovely, well done and a bonus that was done on a tight budget.”
Rachel replied, saying: “Thank you everyone for all of your lovely comments.
“Even if it helps one person with an idea for their garden I am thrilled.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely a budget garden and I’m happy with it.”
Total cost: £238.00