vlogging

vlogging

what does it mean, and what does it entail?

Well for us, it all started out as a way of showing our family and friends what we were doing when we first went looking for a boat to live on.

Having spent the bast part of 20 years hiring and four years owning a share in a narrowboat, with the children now grown up and flown the nest, we thought long and hard about if we seriously wanted to change our lifestyle – at our age!

In the end it was an easy decision to make, especially as we trawled the internet and later the brokers to see if there was anything we fancied. During this time, we filmed each boat, not only for our own reference, but also so that our family could see what we were letting ourselves in for!

We had already had a buyer lined up for our home – our youngest daughter, so we knew we didn’t have to worry about that. The only deadline was that she wanted to move in on her birthday, which gave us only a few weeks to find a suitable boat and move onboard. All of this whilst the first lock down happened, so viewings were planned to the last detail.

Like most boaters, we had a “shopping list” of things that we would like – a semi trad stern, a dinette, a separate work space... In the end we ended up with none of those, although we did end up with two duck hatches! A bonus!

But we fell in love with The Boat (yes, I know, silly name) as soon as we stepped foot on her. Looking back at that particular vlog, to us it’s evident that she was “the one” and many people viewing it picked it out as a strong contender.

we bought a boat - Jan & Tony LaceyIn many ways, we shared our frustrations, our likes and dislikes, with those viewing what we’d filmed. We are never afraid to discuss things between us and capture it all on film because we all go through that decision making process and people can often relate to the frustrations we have.

I suppose that’s one of the major differences between a vlog (a Video Log) and a Blog (a written Log) you can see instant reactions, decisions and naturally (for life on a narrowboat) the scenery and the lifestyle. It’s something you can’t really capture in written form. Sure, literature can conjure up thoughts and pictures in your mind, but visual media brings it to life!

Once we’d thrown out, or given away, or donated, everything we thought we would never need again, there were still boxes of “stuff” that we had no room for on the boat. The one thing we did have though was our memories and we were keen to make some new ones. When it came to look for a name for our channel, it was Jan who said, “Well, we’re going off making new memories, so why can’t we call it that?”

When we finally got on board to live, full time, it felt like a holiday had started, but this holiday would last our lifetime. We were looking forward to lots of new adventures and the beauty is that we can take you all with us. The highs, the lows, the sunshine, the rain, the canals, the rivers. And, amongst all of that, there are the jobs we and every boater have to do on a regular basis – we’ve even done our own engine service, so our vlogs have an instructional side to them as well.

on the tidal River ThamesWe do feel honoured to have been approached by lots of would-be boaters we met at the Crick Boat Show who have said they’ve learned so much from watching our vlogs. One or two even said they’ve been encouraged enough to actually go out and buy a boat… wooooh, so no pressure there then!

In future articles, we’ll share with you some of the locations we’ve visited, the canals and rivers we’ve travelled on and how we film and edit our vlogs.

This entry was posted in Editorials on by .

About Tony Lacey

Tony & Jan Lacey both come from the world of showbiz – Tony a musical director and Jan a singer and dancer. Both had successful careers in entertainment and television so perhaps it’s no surprise that they took to vlogging although they'd been used to working behind the scenes and not usually in front of the camera. In their articles they will write about their adventures, the kit they use and tech involved and also offer some helpful tips and advice if you want to start vlogging yourself.