On his Waterlily blog Nev Wells explains why he likes boating and asks why other people do it. Here's my response.
I'm really, really looking forward to enjoying my own boat*. It'll be my "retreat". A home from home, but with a more manageable maintenance load. My mobile "garden shed", my space. My workshop, my music listening room, my place. I will share it with Jan, of course, so it'll have to be her space too. When it's cold outside we'll be cosy with the stove going, sitting in comfy chairs, reading the paper, drinking coffee/tea, not having to work.
Actually, that's one of the main things about boating now: the escape from the pressures of work. If only I could do it more often.
Add the serious amounts of fresh air, the exercise from walking or cycling to shops etc. (no car, of course), the changing scenery and the changing seasons, sometimes the sense of pioneering (as when we inched through Froghall Tunnel), and that's why I like boating.
Oh yes, it's also the privilege of working the same locks, crossing the same aqueducts, navigating the same tunnels as the working boaters did all those years ago. I do feel a connection with the past. It's exciting. Still.
Did I mention the slow pace of life? At the walking speed of a narrow boat you see a lot more than you do from a car.
* I do own Shadow, but with a lot of other people. Not quite the same as owning a boat outright.
5 comments:
I agree with everything you say here Halfie. I also like it for the feeling of peace you get from the water, and also the sense that you are living in a sort of parallel world. It's so different from life on land.
Peace. Yes, definitely (usually). A parallel world? You've hit the nail on the head. It's being away from the hectic pace of modern life. A few years ago we'd been on the boat for a bit, moored up on the outskirts of Birmingham to go to a supermarket, and crossed a busy main road to get to it. We were taken aback by the speed of the traffic!
Yes, that's exactly it!
Halfie
I notice that you regularly come back to the theme of owning a boat outright. Like you I was baptised into the murky waters of the cut as a child and never got it out of my system.
I decided at the tender age of eight that one day I would own my own boat and finally realised the dream forty years on! It seems like a huge extravagence but given the amount of time I spend on Wand'ring Bark it isnt bad value.
But money isnt everything. Whilst a great deal of money flows out of the Ahab bank account each month but the bit I enjoy spending the most is that which goes on the boat.
In short, no regrets.
Have enjoyed looking at your back posts - they have brightened a particularly dank autumn afternoon.
Captain Ahab,
Thank you for your comment. I'm glad my witterings have brought some pleasure.
I'm sure that if we lived a bit nearer the connected system we'd have bought our own boat by now. For the moment, while we both still have jobs in the Norwich area, it's still a future prospect.
Post a Comment