London houseboat mystery: who is secretly leaving random ‘gifts’ on canal boats — and why?

[Alan de Enfield]

London houseboat mystery: who is leaving random ‘gifts’ for canal dwellers — and why? | Evening Standard

A

single onion, still in its net bag for three. Two medium-sized tomatoes. An orange. Tamar Saphra was surprised to find these ingredients —all fresh, all within their sell-by date— left in a Sainsbury’s bag on the back of her canal boat, moored in Limehouse.

Still, she cooked the tomatoes and onion into a curry and ate the orange, assuming they had been left by neighbours going away.

 

Tamar and her partner Joe Warner had moved onto their wide beam together in November 2021. A member of the 20,000-strong London Boaters Facebook group, she began to notice other posts about gifted food: a spate of tuna cans left on boats in east London; a baguette in Victoria Park; a bag of mini chocolate croissants in Tottenham.

[rusty69]

Secret Satan.

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, rusty69 said:

Secret Satan.

 

Is that like giving Rats 'nice' food in the bait boxes, and when they get used to coming, and have told all their mates, you swap it over to poison ?

[rusty69]

5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Is that like giving Rats 'nice' food in the bait boxes, and when they get used to coming, and have told all their mates, you swap it over to poison ?

Nope. Its like a dyslexic father christmas.

[magnetman]

It seems likely to just be a tactic to find out if the boat is occupied on a regular basis.

Or someone erroneously thinks that people living on boats are doing so because of terrible hardship. I suppose there might be some people who think living on a boat would the last resort but on the other hand there are some people who actually actively want to live on a boat. Maybe they are rare.

 

It could be an assumption of poverty thing.

Edited February 7, 2023 by magnetman
edit to remove truly terrible comment

[rusty69]

19 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It seems likely to just be a tactic to find out if the boat is occupied on a regular basis.

Or someone erroneously thinks that people living on boats are doing so because of terrible hardship. I suppose there might be some people who think living on a boat would the last resort but on the other hand there are some people who actually actively want to live on a boat. Maybe they are rare.

 

It could be an assumption of poverty thing.

 

There are probably also those that move onto boats because they perceive them only as cheap accommodation and later grow to love the lifestyle.

 

Not me, I hasten to add. I've hated it from the very start.

[ditchcrawler]

Maybe I am strange but I have no desire to live on my Narrowboat and I probably boat more than most.

[enigmatic]

Only food items gifted to my boat seem to be empty packaging, though a chap with a lot of apple trees did offer me some very tasty apples as I was passing through a lock on the K&A.

 

Does the gifting extend to more useful stuff like mooring pins?

[David Mack]

5 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

Does the gifting extend to more useful stuff like mooring pins?

Only in negative quantities.

[Mad Harold]

On 07/02/2023 at 15:41, ditchcrawler said:

Maybe I am strange but I have no desire to live on my Narrowboat and I probably boat more than most.

I agree totally. For me the joy of boating is cruising and looking at the scenery drifting past.For that, practically any boat will serve the purpose.On the boats I had, the overnight accomodation left something to be desired, and had I stayed away for more than a week I would have made the boat more comfortable.Much as I love boats, I don't want to live on one.

When I first bought a boat on my first overnight stop out on the cut, I found it a bit scary.Wind moaning through the trees, a distant fox bark, pitch dark and scuffling against the hull (ducks)

Wouldn't want it any other way now, when going off for a few days, but living full time on a boat, it's not for me.

[LadyG]

On 10/02/2023 at 12:50, Mad Harold said:

I agree totally. For me the joy of boating is cruising and looking at the scenery drifting past.For that, practically any boat will serve the purpose.On the boats I had, the overnight accomodation left something to be desired, and had I stayed away for more than a week I would have made the boat more comfortable.Much as I love boats, I don't want to live on one.

When I first bought a boat on my first overnight stop out on the cut, I found it a bit scary.Wind moaning through the trees, a distant fox bark, pitch dark and scuffling against the hull (ducks)

Wouldn't want it any other way now, when going off for a few days, but living full time on a boat, it's not for me.

I'm not sure how I'll deal with living in a house when that day comes, it will seem strange.

It's very liberating to have a proper shower room with integral loo, the rooms seem very large, and numerous, but after a day back on board I'm fully adapted to tiny living.

Edited March 28, 2023 by LadyG