I was a bit fed up this morning - post cold blues - but I sat down to do my steem housekeeping (buy a little steem, check out investments, think about buying and selling plans) and some wonderful things happened:

First, and in a way, nothing to do with steem, but in another way, *everything* to do with steem, because inspiration, joy, comes from every quarter and this was a little reminder about what do I want anyway:

https://d.tube/#!/v/old-guy-photos/5dsspdn0fvl
*Here's a lovely video from @old-guy-photos about messing about on a boat in the evening on a large expanse of water.*

Last Saturday, we drove over to Hunstanton, about two hours drive away and pretty much the nearest coastal place. It's an old-fashioned seaside place with a promenade and ornamental gardens, built in the 1800s for the burgeoning Victorian charabanc and bathing trade. It's like a life-size model village and beyond is the north Norfolk Coastal Path, an oasis of wide sandy beaches, dunes and wildlife. We were distracted by the crazy golf and searching for pinball machines and then, as we reached the start of the Coastal Path, rain threatened and, two minutes later, arrived and we scrambled for the beach side cafe. It reminded me of childhood holidays.

Most of my family live on the south coast, in seaside towns and villages, about 200 miles from me. I've looked at buying down there but, for a range of reasons, it's not been quite the right thing to do. The little excursion last Saturday, and @old-guy-photos video today reminded me that Leicester has a wide waterway network and there's a marina up the road. I checked it out and there's [a project boat](https://www.leicestermarina.co.uk/brokerage) for sale for £1,920 ...

![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRqGa7orLjJLKC631gPHdJnVAsGwBqfrBRsUEa4g2nLSH/image.png)
*[Source](https://www.leicestermarina.co.uk/) Leicester Marina. I'm popping down there later - it's about twenty minutes drive away - to have a look.*

The next thing that popped up was @exyle's [vlog 429](https://3speak.online/watch?v=exyle/zqspkark) this morning. In it, he talks about visiting an event yesterday and feeling brave enough to say a bit about steem, opening with @actifit, and talking to a diabetes foundation and, later, a teacher. In both cases, @exyle was realising the enormous potential of Steem to do so many things, affect so many people, far beyond what we are doing and to *"build and shape great communities."*

I found this so exciting. It's what I have been saying for the best part of a year now. I've been talking to people locally, visiting groups and local councils, and, also, working with 28 charities in London about how Steem could help them achieve what they want to do. To be honest, it can get a little bit lonely, especially when people keep focussing on the "create content, get paid" angle, rather than understanding the huge potential. It was great to hear someone else, @exyle, excited and talking about the potential uses for steem and *how we can make it happen*. We don't need anyone's permission, we can just get on with it, the tools are there and so are the skills and creativity. It really cheered me up!

Lastly, to SPinvest:

>Steem powered investments @spinvest has been set up to offer an investment fund based on funding from STEEM POWER. Investments are funded through extracting value out of STEEM POWER and taking advantage of STEEM's high inflation rate. The aim is not to get rich quick; the aim is to build a safe portfolio of investments that will stand the test of time while insuring all investors starting capital is not at risk. [Full details can be found here](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@silverstackeruk/introducing-steem-power-investments-the-new-steemit-investment-fund-powered-by-sp).

SPInvest has been going a little under a month and there are ~~only another 750~~ less than 500 SPI tokens to go before it reaches its first milestone of 10,000 SPI tokens invested. It's an initiative set up by @silverstackeruk and appeals to me for the following reasons:

- tremendous creativity, enthusiasm, hard work and openness from the the founder.
- a great idea with a focus on developing a community and learning as we go.
- it's on a journey from informal *let's get something started* with a vision for a more formal, sustainable transparent and accountable structure as it grows.
- low entry - just one Steem or up to decimals of a Steem will get you a share.

Of course, there are risks.

The major two are:
- loss of the founder and
- "not your keys, not your coins."

The first risk was raised and addressed early on, and you can read more about it in [Introducing the Contingency Plan](https://www.palnet.io/spinvest/@spinvest/steempower-investments-introducing-the-contingency-plan-for-spinvest-version-1).

The second risk is much more dependent on trust: At the moment, investors are trusting @silverstackeruk not to run off with the Steem and to do what he says. For me, there are ways of managing this risk:
- investigate the reputations of @silverstackeruk *and* the major investors ([investors screenshot in this post](https://www.palnet.io/spinvest/@spinvest/only-1500-spi-tokens-remain-before-1st-token-revaluation-and-200-spi-giveaway)).
- have a buying plan that limits your exposure, for example, some of the investors have been selling other Steem Engine tokens from airdrops and using the proceeds to buy SPI tokens.

You can read more about progress so far in the latest post [How @spinvest makes money and how much!](https://www.palnet.io/spinvest/@spinvest/how-spinvest-makes-money-and-how-much) and why @taskmaster4450 bought [1,000 SPI Tokens](https://www.palnet.io/palnet/@taskmaster4450/why-i-bought-1-000-spi-tokens). One of the reasons that @taskmaster4450 gives for doing this is because it is convenient - someone else (and a community) is doing the thinking and the work. Some of the comments beneath that post point out that you can do the same thing yourself and make similar returns. Well, yes you can, although I think the aggregated and compound benefits of the SPInvest model might be greater than what most of us could do with our individual stake on our own.

But the other thing is: it's *fun*! I enjoy reading the posts, they make me laugh, and I like the inventivemess and the creativity. There's 200 SPI giveaway when the 10,000 SPI target is reached, but rather than a straightforward allocation according to stake, there's a draw. More fun, more entertaining, more engaging!

Got to go and see a boat now, after all, this is what it's all for ...

![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmY7JGvUCb57Kowe66jT7KjHJLcnD9Yr9GY7W4Ejwh9CvG/image.png)
*[Source](http://www.jonesboatyard.co.uk/boat-sales/norman-boats-for-sale.html) Not this specific boat, but one like it. You can stand up in it, too, which is nice (not you, though, @revisesociology, @steevc and @starkerz, you're too tall, sorry :))*