July 7, 2010 · 5:10 am

British Canal and Narrow Boat Blog

Great Britain (well, a GOOD Britain, anyway) has an extensive system of canals and the narrow boats that were once used for hauling freight are now used as pleasure craft. This morning I received a comment on my other blog (http://houseboatshantyboatbuilders.wordpress.com/) from Andrew Denny who has this wonderful blog that is well worth your time perusing… http://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/

1 Comment

Filed under boats, cruising, Small boat cruising

One response to “British Canal and Narrow Boat Blog”

  1. shoreacres
    July 7, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    I’m sure I’ve looked at your shantyboat blog, but I don’t remember doing so. Sigh.

    In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed it tonight, and followed some of the links, especially Tiny House Living. I’ll have to go back and do some digging for square footage – the cabin I used to spend time in was about 250 square feet. It would be interesting to compare.

    Obviously, I need to spend more time going through your blogroll!

    Blogrolls are like quicksand. Back in the old days when I was impaling myself on my freelance one of the aspects of writing an article I most enjoyed (other than receiving a check in the mail) was doing the research. I LOVED the card catalog. You’d be digging away for some nugget and then as your fingers flicked through those stiff little cards a word would pop out totally unrelated to what you were looking for but never the less you were compelled to follow that thread for a while. Blogrolls are sorta like that except now with hyperlinks ZOOOM off you go whirling into cyberspace. For that reason they’re also horrible thieves of time.

    I find the entire tiny house phenomena extremely interesting. I guess it comes from having lived on boats for so long where space is at a premium. When I returned to the States in December ’92 I was living on my 26′ sailboat. When I started dating women would invariably ask me how I could stand living in such a small space. My answer was something along the lines of: “Why should I try and find a job that will pay me a lot more than I’m making now so I can afford to pay the rent on an apartment simply to have a place to sleep?” I HAVE a place to sleep and it’s mine, bought and paid for. I don’t pay anything to dock it (always had some scheme going for free). I don’t lack for anything. I have free cable television. My only monthly expense is my phone. What more could I want? Alas, they never could grasp the concept.

    Then when I worked for a couple of years for a limo service I’d pick up people at the airport and take them to their gated communities where I’d drop them off at their McMansions and it was like dropping two BBs into a 55 gallon drum. Crazy. I could never grasp the concept.

    One of the two quotes that literally changed my life came from Sterling Hayden’s Wanderer: “‘I’ve always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can’t afford it.’ What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of ‘security.’ And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine–and before we know it our lives are gone.
    “What does a man need–really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in–and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all–in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.
    “The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it the tomb is sealed.”

    If you like the tiny house thing there is a blog that sends out a weekly summary of tevery Sunday that I find captivating. It’s http: //www.tinyhouseliving.com/