"I live on a boat
because the canal is too wet."
Alice Thompson
FB London Boaters
15/11/2022
because the canal is too wet."
Alice Thompson
FB London Boaters
15/11/2022
Living on a boat, traversing big cities, small towns and distant rural parishes is a fact for me and my boat is the centre of my universe
That centre is constant. The area is a persistent variable, but will always contain the place where I can buy a pint of milk and the furthest point to which I am able to walk. The village may change twice in a week or once a fortnight depending on my finding a cosy pitch where I may tarry awhile. Once I up my sticks that village ceases to exist.
Where I am in space and time will be a constant of course. That's my boat and it is at the centre of my universe ... my villages exist only in time and emotion ...
On completion of each move a new 'village' becomes established and defined around my latest mooring. I locate my artisan butcher, my sourdough baker, my candlestick-maker and acquaint myself with new neighbours while I locate the bus stop.
That centre is constant. The area is a persistent variable, but will always contain the place where I can buy a pint of milk and the furthest point to which I am able to walk. The village may change twice in a week or once a fortnight depending on my finding a cosy pitch where I may tarry awhile. Once I up my sticks that village ceases to exist.
Where I am in space and time will be a constant of course. That's my boat and it is at the centre of my universe ... my villages exist only in time and emotion ...
On completion of each move a new 'village' becomes established and defined around my latest mooring. I locate my artisan butcher, my sourdough baker, my candlestick-maker and acquaint myself with new neighbours while I locate the bus stop.
Where to get the milk? ?
Where is the bus stop?
Where can I find groceries?
A gas bottle?
Where is the bus stop?
Where can I find groceries?
A gas bottle?
All mod cons could be available
but I choose to have my mod cons stored away
so I can live off-grid, independent of
The New Normal,
The Old Normal,
Imagined Normal.
I survived tempests, blizzards, tories, brexit
I survived the past thirteen years
without freezing or even being cold.
The Big December Freeze of 2022
was survived off-grid with no shower
with no central heating
without running water
but also without frozen pipes
or cracked radiators.
LOADSAMONEY
Off-grid has gone serious.
But that was what
led me to buy
the boat
in the first place,
wasn't it?
but I choose to have my mod cons stored away
so I can live off-grid, independent of
The New Normal,
The Old Normal,
Imagined Normal.
I survived tempests, blizzards, tories, brexit
I survived the past thirteen years
without freezing or even being cold.
The Big December Freeze of 2022
was survived off-grid with no shower
with no central heating
without running water
but also without frozen pipes
or cracked radiators.
LOADSAMONEY
Off-grid has gone serious.
But that was what
led me to buy
the boat
in the first place,
wasn't it?
