Why do houses seem odd now?

[Roger Gunkel]

Having lived all our lives in houses and flats, my wife and I decided we needed something different two and a half years ago. I had owned and understood quite a bit about boats and boating and we finally bought, fitted out and moved on to our wide beam in September 2004. Over the last 12 months, we have noticed a distinct feeling of being 'hemmed in' plus other feelings, when visiting 'house dwellers' and have been trying to understand why we are changing.

 

The first thing we are uncomfortable with is the permanance, not just of the house, but of the neighbours, the noise and the need to conform, more or less. We have started to notice how rooms, no matter how big, seem little more than boring square boxes. We feel so detached from the world outside and the subtle changes that we take for granted on the boat. We immediately miss the lack of light and air and being one with whats around you. People seem so obsessed with status and what the neighbours have got or what they are doing. As soon as the door shuts, the TV goes on and people desire what they see on it and seem so dissatisfied with their own lives. All the the houses/boxes they live in are so crammed in like cages in a zoo, all filled with the same things, leather suites, big wide screen TVs, identical kitchens, cream carpets, laminate floors, in fact all the things they see on the TV! Whats more its all paid for by lifetime commitment to big mortgages and loans and the need for both partners to work flat out to try to make ends meet. Then they think its us that are odd!!

 

We also find ourselves wondering about the sort of questions people normally ask boat dwellers but in reverse, how do they manage to keep such a big house warm in the winter, why have they got a coal fire with all the heat going straight up the chimney, why do they need so much space when all they do is sit in one room? All these and many other things - the constant background drone of an urban environment, streetlights burning out the night sky, drunks shouting down the street, car doors slamming, next doors lawnmower. The list is endless and we can't wait to get back home to the boat and feel the tension slipping away.

 

Is it just us?

Roger

[magnetman]

Don't............tell them..........please.................................................

[charles123]

Roger,

 

I feel exactly the opposite to just about everything you say, I love my boat and have been boating for 20 years and spend as much time as I can on the boat. But when I return home I wonder at the amount of space I have and the proportions of the rooms, the solidness and the garden. Would I ever wish to trade it in for a life in a steel pencil box? not on your life

 

Charles

[BlueStringPudding]

When Kev and I returned from spending Christmas on a 35ft narrowboat, our two bedroomed flat seemed horrible large. The walls too white and plain and the ceilings much too high. We've since put pictures up on most of the walls to make it cosier!

[Roger Gunkel]

Roger,

 

I feel exactly the opposite to just about everything you say, I love my boat and have been boating for 20 years and spend as much time as I can on the boat. But when I return home I wonder at the amount of space I have and the proportions of the rooms, the solidness and the garden. Would I ever wish to trade it in for a life in a steel pencil box? not on your life

 

Charles

 

Thats an interesing reply Charles, because I spent many years living in houses and enjoying boats for holidays and weekends and felt exactly the same as you. Its ownly since living permanently on the boat that that we have felt this change slowly coming over us.

 

Roger

[Supermalc]

It's not the houses that are odd ...... just the people in them. I'm 'odd' in that I've never desired a big house, type of car, or boat etc. But I have to say I have to get into the countryside every few weeks. Being brought up in a very small village though, there is as much noise, inconvenience as anywhere.

[fuzzyduck]

We have started to notice how rooms, no matter how big, seem little more than boring square boxes.

 

You live in a "wide beam narrowboat" and you think all rooms are boring square boxes?

 

but seriously. i think you're just getting used to the environment you live in. I would live aboard, my wife would not, but there are some sweeping generalisations in your post.

 

All the the houses/boxes they live in are so crammed in like cages in a zoo, all filled with the same things,

 

leather suites, Not in my house

big wide screen TVs, Not in my house

identical kitchens, Not in my house

cream carpets, Not in my house

laminate floors, Not in my house, we do however have quarry tiles on the kitchen floor, but they've been there for over 80 years.

 

I have never desired anything I accidentally see on TV, I did however once get a serious yen for the ship in the beginning of the Ondin line.

 

Actually your viewpoint seems a little aspergic to me, not being able to see the viewpoint of others.

[Roger Gunkel]

Actually your viewpoint seems a little aspergic to me, not being able to see the viewpoint of others.

 

You're quite right about a generalisation and of course not everybody lives the same way, but is surprising how many people do. I think you are being a little unfair about being 'aspergic' as those that know me would say the opposite. I certainly see the viewpoint of others, I just don't neccessarily subscribe to it and am certainly not afraid to express my own. Also as I said before, my views have changed now that our boat is our home and naturally those that have their main home in a house will have a different point of view.

 

My viewpoint is purely my own which is why I asked the question in the first place 'Is it just us'

Perhaps it is!

Roger

[nbtafelberg]

My wife, myself and our 2 kids have lived aboard now for 3 years, we love it, holidays "at a whim" when we feel like it we just untie the ropes and go (when the kids are not at school!). I can't really imagine now what it would be like to live in a house - I think I would find it too limiting. Ok, so our space is small but it's OUR space. Our boat is getting better and better, she's come a long way since we first bought her after getting out of the Rat Race.

[magnetman]

I have noted that the 'why would anyone want a house' effect is quite common however the price of houses does tend to climb away compared with boats so re-accessing housing can be a bit of a headache at a later stage if it is necessary.

 

edited for relevance to topic.

Edited February 9, 2007 by magnetman

[Purple Fairie]

As soon as the door shuts, the TV goes on and people desire what they see on it and seem so dissatisfied with their own lives. All the the houses/boxes they live in are so crammed in like cages in a zoo, all filled with the same things, leather suites, big wide screen TVs, identical kitchens, cream carpets, laminate floors, in fact all the things they see on the TV! Whats more its all paid for by lifetime commitment to big mortgages and loans and the need for both partners to work flat out to try to make ends meet. Then they think its us that are odd!!

 

Is it just us?

Roger

 

I didn't know you knew my sister!

 

Since moving onto our NB we have got rid of all our debts, we have no mortgage, we spend all our time together (even working together), we don't have a lot of money, but we don't 'want' anything as, as far as we are concerned, we have all we need, we love our home and our way of life.... and yet.... both my sister and my mum look down on us and try to pull us down at every opportunity - then wonder why we don't visit very often!

 

No, it's not just you!

[Roger Gunkel]

I have noted that the 'why would anyone want a house' effect is quite common however the price of houses does tend to climb away compared with boats so re-accessing housing can be a bit of a headache at a later stage if it is necessary.

 

edited for relevance to topic.

 

That was something that we thought about carefully before buying the boat. We balanced that against the reasons we wanted to change our way of life and felt that going back to something that we felt we had improved on was not what we would want to do. We may find that our outlook or circumstances change in the future, but for us, the quality of life became more important than the quality of the investment. Now looking back we are even more convinced that for us at least it was certainly the right decision.

 

I can perfectly understand why most people want a house, after all it is what the vast majority spend there lives becoming accustomed to. The herd instinct is also perfectly natural, but having lived that way for 57 years, I followed the urge to find something more individually satisfying and can now look at things from a totally different perspective.

 

Roger

[Supermalc]

Irrespective if the why's and wherefore's of living on a boat, the one thing that is important is to own 'a piece of the Earth'. This was told to me by someone years ago, and although I disagreed with most of his opinion, this was sound advice.

 

The first home I 'owned' was a mobile home, and not owning the land did make for a feeling of insecurity. So my advice to anyone with a boat is either buy a lake, river, pond, or field so you have somewhere to put it, should things go wrong.......

[magnetman]

Irrespective if the why's and wherefore's of living on a boat, the one thing that is important is to own 'a piece of the Earth'. This was told to me by someone years ago, and although I disagreed with most of his opinion, this was sound advice.

 

The first home I 'owned' was a mobile home, and not owning the land did make for a feeling of insecurity. So my advice to anyone with a boat is either buy a lake, river, pond, or field so you have somewhere to put it, should things go wrong.......

 

Or a bit of the moon maybe? I hear freight carrying rocket technology is improving.

In a way I agree with this but in a way I believe there's always going to be water, just a funny feeling I have.

Quality of life versus quality of investment is a good argument for living on a boat however boat dwelling in old age is going to be more difficult than living in a bungalow.

Perhaps there is going to be a market for managed marinas for old age residential boaters, like a sort of care home of the cut? I've been thinking about this for a while and I reckon this will be a 'niche market' soon.

Edited February 9, 2007 by magnetman

[blackrose]

That was something that we thought about carefully before buying the boat. We balanced that against the reasons we wanted to change our way of life and felt that going back to something that we felt we had improved on was not what we would want to do. We may find that our outlook or circumstances change in the future, but for us, the quality of life became more important than the quality of the investment. Now looking back we are even more convinced that for us at least it was certainly the right decision.

 

I can perfectly understand why most people want a house, after all it is what the vast majority spend there lives becoming accustomed to. The herd instinct is also perfectly natural, but having lived that way for 57 years, I followed the urge to find something more individually satisfying and can now look at things from a totally different perspective.

 

Roger

 

Tell us about your boat Roger, as a fellow wide-ass I'm interested.

[Lesd]

As a 'soon to be' fellow wide ass I'd be interested to hear more too !

A picture paints a thousand words and Roger's glary has some cracking pictures, the boat look really nice to me

[nichimyo]

Roger you know how scruffy our boat is but it's great for us and it's the home we chose. OH was visited by a friend the other day who declared he knew someone who has a wide-beam "and it's quite palacial". As if we want to get something with "more status"! No, we like Homey, and if we ever get round to getting a wide-beam (we are thinking about it), it won't be palacial (somehow I think I've spelled that wrong). Palacial we don't do, comfortable yes.

 

Your observations about many people's houses quite easily map onto boats too, people often have things because they are status symbols, not simply because they need the things. On the other hand, if you want things, why not have the best you can afford if that's going to make you feel good?

 

But I agree with the adaptation to boat life - it's taken me only a year, and being in a house often makes me feel wierd. Tell you what, though, the hardest thing is going off to work ... I'd much rather be home fishing or doing something around the boat.

[honey ryder]

houses seem still the same to me,

ive spent most of my fairly short life so far on or around boats, it feels entirely natural to hop on a boat and sleep in a fraction of the space a house provides. my folks have a decent sized house and my soon to be vacated flat is really airy and has lots of space.

i feel that houses are a bit wasteful in terms of energy and maybe more could be done to make them more efficient, as on boats i think they are much much more efficient without the loss of comfort or quality of life.

 

"owning" a piece of land is a curious concept to me, if you look at it from an alien perspective, how is it possible to "own" a piece of the planet we live on... and if you do, is the piece of land you own all yours, right up to the centre of the earth? where does your ownership end?

yes, i think thats it, the thing that makes houses seem odd is the people that live in them believe that the land they are on is somehow theirs exclusively, possessive land owners are a bit bug bear of mine.

 

i recently saw a floating warning sign saying, private water... how on earth can water be private? naturally I went to have a look.

Edited February 9, 2007 by honey ryder

[Supermalc]

houses seem still the same to me,

ive spent most of my fairly short life so far on or around boats, it feels entirely natural to hop on a boat and sleep in a fraction of the space a house provides. my folks have a decent sized house and my soon to be vacated flat is really airy and has lots of space.

i feel that houses are a bit wasteful in terms of energy and maybe more could be done to make them more efficient, as on boats i think they are much much more efficient without the loss of comfort or quality of life.

 

"owning" a piece of land is a curious concept to me, if you look at it from an alien perspective, how is it possible to "own" a piece of the planet we live on... and if you do, is the piece of land you own all yours, right up to the centre of the earth? where does your ownership end?

yes, i think thats it, the thing that makes houses seem odd is the people that live in them believe that the land they are on is somehow theirs exclusively, possessive land owners are a bit bug bear of mine.

 

i recently saw a floating warning sign saying, private water... how on earth can water be private? naturally I went to have a look.

 

Actually I agree with much of what you say.....noone owns land, but is just a caretaker for the time they are alive.

 

But in the concept I was refering to, if you live on land you own, it is much harder for someone to tell you to leave. It's still easily possible, but providing you don't do something stupid, like get into debt, or put your house up as collateral, you are more secure.

 

However, unless you own the land and water, well you can be asked to leave by the 'landlord' at any time. Just suppose, BW was transfered to private ownership, who decided the canals were only for commercial use, and all private boats had to leave. Where would you go.

 

And before everyone jumps as to that being to preposterous to ever happen, I know quite a few people who paid money into a pension fund for many years, thinking they'd get it back.

[Roger Gunkel]

Tell us about your boat Roger, as a fellow wide-ass I'm interested.

Hi mike,

If you have a look at my gallery, there are some pics there and I'll be glad to tell you anything else you want to know.

 

 

Lesd

Glad you thought are home looks nice, as we have really worked hard at it. If there is anything you want to know, feel free to PM me.

 

Amanda

I wouldn't consider your boat 'scruffy', its a boat after all and gets scraped, pooped on covered with leaves etc just like ours does. I know the problems you have had with it and how hard you have worked at it. Its your home and you love it, oh and can we have our kingfisher back please, its taken to fishing off your boat now!

 

Roger

Edited February 9, 2007 by Roger Gunkel

[magnetman]

Just suppose, BW was transfered to private ownership, who decided the canals were only for commercial use, and all private boats had to leave. Where would you go.

 

We'd all come and live on the drains and the fens where we've been assured everything is free or cheap

[Roger Gunkel]

We'd all come and live on the drains and the fens where we've been assured everything is free or cheap

 

You can clear off, the Fens are ours and we will defend them to the death!

 

Malcolm, don't want to worry you, but I had a friend with a nice little house on land he owned in Kent, but a compulsary purchase order was slapped on it and a motorway put there instead! Just thought I'd mention it

 

Roger

[magnetman]

You can clear off, the Fens are ours and we will defend them to the death!

 

Malcolm, don't want to worry you, but I had a friend with a nice little house on land he owned in Kent, but a compulsary purchase order was slapped on it and a motorway put there instead! Just thought I'd mention it

 

Roger

I suppose you do get some dosh for this, in the bank, unlike on a privatised canal system. I suspect when the canals do get privatised the new owners will actually quite like the income from people on moorings who never actually go anywhere or wear out locks etc, that looks suspiciously like easy money to me. Commercial use of the canal system will never be viable again unless hourly wages drop significantly. Privatisation, however, is bound to happen sooner or later.

[Lady Muck]

Houses do sometimes seem absolutely huge to me, like the Albert Hall. But I know boat dwelling is not for everyone. I just wish people would stop asking me, 'aren't you cold?'

 

I spent last week in Bermuda (staying at a clients house), working (I'm a freelance designer), I could have fitted our nb into the bedroom I slept in approximately twice and I was really freezing compared to the nb coz they had the aircon on full blast!

 

Yes, most people I know think its a bonkers existence, but I don't care, I love it.

[Supermalc]

Malcolm, don't want to worry you, but I had a friend with a nice little house on land he owned in Kent, but a compulsary purchase order was slapped on it and a motorway put there instead! Just thought I'd mention it

 

Roger

 

I know all about it. OK, this is me being cynical but......

 

About 10 years ago the A46 was dualed. Suddenly my area housed murderers released from London/Glasgow etc. Loads of my neighbours sold up to absentee landlords. A council office was opened locally and the ward regeneration set up. The local park has had a makeover £6.5 million.

 

Now, I know I live in a decent country, on an island next to a mainland, with no dangerous earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes etc. I live slighltly off centre of this island, with good road and rail links, 1/3 of a mile from open countryside, next to a school and hospital, and approx half a mile to a decent town center, with 3 good corner shops about 1/4 mile away ...... and I'm off the flood plain, but protected by not being at the top of the hill.

 

All true. So when/if they get the link to the dualcarrageway built, it will be 20 minutes by car, and 1 1/4hours by train to London.

 

If they can bulldoze me and my house into the river to make way for Blair's banker mates on a million a week, it'll be 'good' for Lincoln.

 

Couple of years ago chap bought a terrace in Leeds/Manchester, somewhere like that. Local houses were going for £120,000 or so. They offered him £33,000 and he got £50,000 or so on appeal. Even sent the bailifs to get him out.

 

I CERTAINLY know the score.

 

 

We'd all come and live on the drains and the fens where we've been assured everything is free or cheap

 

Until you actually start living there........