Alice
Grace
The Mindful Narrowboat is a series of vlogs filmed and narrated by Vanessa Thomas. She has lived on
her narrowboat, Alice Grace, for six years, accompanied by her yellow Labrador,
Zephyr.
Vanessa was
a teacher for twenty-five years, and a head teacher for the final five years of
her time in that profession. Now she travels the canals and waterways of Britain,
recording the wildlife, and sometimes domestic, farm life, and some history of
the places she visits. She also keeps a journal, in which she documents and
draws the things she has seen, accompanied by poems she composes.Her life
seems calm and measured, and obstacles are met and overcome with aplomb. Even
when the weed in the water clogs the engine, or the water level drops perilously
low, she is steadfast and cheerful, but realistic. Lashing rain and beating sun
are treated alike as part of life, to be borne and accepted.Towards
the end of each video, Vanessa makes tea in a china teapot, places biscuits
carefully on a plate and takes mug and plate to her drawing desk. She sits and writes
and draws, making everything seem so effortless.
Watching
her videos is almost an exercise in mindfulness. Each episode lasts about
thirty minutes. To live comfortably in a relatively small space takes
considerable organisation. Alice Grace is a welcoming craft, though I have to confess
that it is not a life I would embrace.Vanessa
publishes her journals periodically. The photographs I have taken are from her
2022 work.
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