First Kayak of the Year

The weather has been absolutely cooking lately, and honestly, I needed to get out.

Life has been busy. I feel like I’ve said that a lot recently, but it really has.

We’ve finally had an offer on our home and also had an offer accepted on the place we’re hoping to move to, so now the real work begins. Packing boxes, sorting through years of stuff, trips to storage units trying to make moving day easier when it eventually arrives.

I started packing my photography gear thinking, “one big box should do it.”

It did not.

Two boxes was a struggle.

It’s made me realise just how much stuff I’ve collected over the years, especially around pinhole photography. So I’ve started clearing things out and selling a few cameras. We’ll likely have less space when we move — although the kids will have much more room, which is the whole reason we’re doing this — so compromises have to happen somewhere.

I’m sure over time I’ll figure something out. Maybe a shed in the garden or some sort of little creative space again.

For now though, film photography has definitely been pushed into the background a bit.

I easily get stuck into things, and I’m trying really hard not to let every spare minute disappear into sorting boxes, tip runs, endless solicitor paperwork and stressing about the whole process.

So Monday morning I pushed the kayak out onto the water and it instantly felt good.

A few hours on the water, everything still and peaceful, just slowing down a bit and enjoying the moment instead of thinking about moving lists and paperwork.

Although… it wasn’t entirely peaceful.

At one point I spotted a seagull tangled in a fisherman's fishing line off the pier. So naturally, I ended up trying to rescue it from the kayak.

Picture the scene: me trying to untangle a flapping seagull from fishing line, with fish still attached to the end of it, while the bird had firmly clamped its beak onto my arm. All this while drifting into the pier and desperately trying not to capsize.

Great fun.

Thankfully, after a bit of chaos, the bird finally flew off safely and the fisherman got his fish.

Honestly though, ridiculous moments aside, it felt good to properly stop for a few hours. No packing, no paperwork, no stress — just being out on the water again.

And I think I needed that more than I realised.