Why do houses seem odd now?

[Carrie]

Roger - I've only just read this thread and I feel just the same about houses as you wrote about.

They seem such inefficient and wasteful living spaces now! If I ever move off the boat, for whatever reason, I can only imagine it would be to live in a mobile home, bender, teepee or yurt! I have finally found my true vocation as a vagabond and love it.

[Gillie]

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.

 

How do I see your gallery Roger ??

 

Gillie

 

Oh...found it...obviously was being too lazy and not looking properly:)

 

Lovely pictures your boat home looks wonderful..as does your wedding..

 

We are getting a narrowboat but I wish wide boats could cruise the system as it looks so good and so much more space..

 

We are hoping to get married on our boat..not sure if that can be done but we will see

Edited February 10, 2007 by Gillie

[Ditch Crawler]

What an interesting thread in which there are many different views, I have noticed that there are many people who have always lived on the land in what ever sort of house or flat, then move on to a boat and love it, and i say good luck to them.I Lived on a boat for many many many years and enjoyed nearly every minute of it, but i now live in a large detached house in the country with no neighbors and fantastic views and i wouldn't swap it for anything. it strikes me that a lot of the people who have chosen to live on boats have come from houses or flats with neighbors, on the road side, mainly from urban areas and the boat is almost like a floating cottage in the country.This i am not knocking if we were all the same life would be boring

 

This is just a thought, if you could swap your boat for a cottage in the county with a canal at the bottom of the garden, no neibours,no main road, no mortgage, would you, now be honest, apart from those wishing to cruise all the time that is.

 

There are many reasons for wishing to and or living on a boat, but the security of owning ones own bricks and mortar, where you don't have to answer to any one for what you want to do(except maybe the planning authority)is wonderful.

 

One last thing about owning anything, it doesn't matter what it is, we are only custodians but owning the the rights to the land/water that you sit on is security and peace of mind. (excepting compulsary purchase)

 

Just my 2p worth

[Dave45]

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

 

 

Hi Roger.

Its lovely in the summer innit.

I think its six of you and half a dozen of the other.

Does your fire on boat not have a chimney?

Dave

[Roger Gunkel]

Gillie,

Glad you liked the pictures as we love our home. We thought long and hard about what sort of boat we wanted. We listened to the views about cruising the system, but felt that having the space to fit what we wanted in our home, particularly as we are onboard most of the time, was more important than maybe wanting to visit canals with narrower locks. We have found that our decision was absolutely right for us, as there are enough waterways accessible to us to keep us happy for years. (Have a look at the list on Gary Peacock's site) We loved narrowboats but felt very restricted by the lack of width and space for the sort of living that we wanted to do. We are not purists, but others feel the opposite way to us.

 

Ditch Crawler,

I am sure you are right about previous dwellings of many that have chosen boats, but I would exclude myself from that. My last house which I lived in for 20 years, was a large 1937 detached character house in the country with half acre of land and no neighbours at all. It had large open fires, central heating, double glazing and a 24ft swimming pool. The mortgage was minimal. Given the choice of both lifestyles, I would continue with the one that I now have. Having said that, I would prefer to own my mooring for the long term security, but that is something I am working on.

 

Dave45

We love the Summer, but I have to say we love the Winter as well. There is nothing better than having the logs glowing away on the stove, the kettle singing on top of it and the frost on the jetty glistening in the light from the moon. Mind you, parasole up on the stern and breakfast in the sun, or morning cofee on the deckchairs in the Summer is pretty idylic as well.

If you look at our gallery picture of the boat on the jetty with the front doors open, you will see our chimney about 15 feet back from the front doors on the jetty side.

 

Roger

Edited February 11, 2007 by Roger Gunkel

[elessina]

...we have noticed a distinct feeling of being 'hemmed in' plus other feelings, when visiting 'house dwellers'

Is it just us?

Roger, agree with you.... it's not just you! I can not see us returning to a house.

But it's nothing new.....written by Arthur Ransome some 75 years ago:-

 

Houses are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. I admit, doubtfully, as exceptions, snail-shells and caravans. The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place.

 

It is for that reason, perhaps, that when it comes, the desire to build a boat is one that cannot be resisted. It begins as a little cloud on a serene horizon. It ends by covering the whole sky, so that you can think of nothing else. You must build to regain your freedom. And always you comfort yourself with the thought that yours will be the perfect boat, the boat that you may search the harbours of the world for and cannot find

 

So true!!!!!

Ian

Elessina

[Roger Gunkel]

Roger, agree with you.... it's not just you! I can not see us returning to a house.

But it's nothing new.....written by Arthur Ransome some 75 years ago:-

 

Houses are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. I admit, doubtfully, as exceptions, snail-shells and caravans. The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place.

 

It is for that reason, perhaps, that when it comes, the desire to build a boat is one that cannot be resisted. It begins as a little cloud on a serene horizon. It ends by covering the whole sky, so that you can think of nothing else. You must build to regain your freedom. And always you comfort yourself with the thought that yours will be the perfect boat, the boat that you may search the harbours of the world for and cannot find

 

So true!!!!!

Ian

Elessina

 

I love it Ian, just as true today.

[tomandsophie]

The age-old infuriating question "isn't it cold on your boat?" (grrr) - I reply with "most likely much warmer than most houses!". This opinion was reinforced very starkly when I went to a few friends' houses over this weekend. They were all bloomin' freezing compared to our lovely warm boat. And it costs them a hell of a lot more to run their crappy central heating than it does to run our - mostly free - stove! (smug grin).

[Ditch Crawler]

The age-old infuriating question "isn't it cold on your boat?" (grrr) - I reply with "most likely much warmer than most houses!". This opinion was reinforced very starkly when I went to a few friends' houses over this weekend. They were all bloomin' freezing compared to our lovely warm boat. And it costs them a hell of a lot more to run their crappy central heating than it does to run our - mostly free - stove! (smug grin).

 

 

How true that is, when i moved from my boat to my house, i really noticed how cold my house is compared to my boat.

 

On the boat i had a diesel stove running 6 rads and a calorifier and it was toasting all the time, the house on the other hand has diesel central heating, two open fires and a solid fuel stove and it ain't anywhere as near to toasting as the boat, and it cost a damn site more to heat, but a lot less hassle as everything is delivered to the door.And without a shadow of a doubt the best thing is electric, unlimited electric at the flick of a switch and to be able to lie in the bath with water up to my neck when ever i want.

 

But at the end of the day it is each to there own, go on admit it you miss a nice big bath,

[tomandsophie]

But at the end of the day it is each to there own, go on admit it you miss a nice big bath,

 

Sorry, can't admit that - never liked baths really, and even if I did, we have a nice big bath on the boat. Sorry, had to have the last laugh there!

[Ditch Crawler]

Sorry, can't admit that - never liked baths really, and even if I did, we have a nice big bath on the boat. Sorry, had to have the last laugh there!

 

Ok your not into baths, there must be something you miss, even if its only have unlimited electric, or not emptying the toilet

[tomandsophie]

Alright, unlimited electric and no toilet-emptying would be nice, but I do love the boat. There's nothing like moving your home to the places you just happen to fancy living today.

[Ditch Crawler]

Alright, unlimited electric and no toilet-emptying would be nice, but I do love the boat. There's nothing like moving your home to the places you just happen to fancy living today.

 

I think with either living on a boat or in a house there will always be things in favour of each and negatives of each, so i suppose it is what you are comfortable with and enjoy.

[Roger Gunkel]

I think with either living on a boat or in a house there will always be things in favour of each and negatives of each, so i suppose it is what you are comfortable with and enjoy.

 

My sentiments entirely DC, but never one to resist a comeback, a reliable electric supply would be nice, but I remember many occasions in houses, running around trying to find candles and torches in a power cut and feeling totally helpless, now I just flick the inverter on. Much as I am no lover of emptying the toilet, I much prefer it to rodding out the drains in sub zero temperatures up to my elbows in s**t, which again I am no stranger to.

 

As you say, every coin has 2 sides and it is what you are comfotable with.

Roger

[Ditch Crawler]

My sentiments entirely DC, but never one to resist a comeback, a reliable electric supply would be nice, but I remember many occasions in houses, running around trying to find candles and torches in a power cut and feeling totally helpless, now I just flick the inverter on. Much as I am no lover of emptying the toilet, I much prefer it to rodding out the drains in sub zero temperatures up to my elbows in s**t, which again I am no stranger to.

 

As you say, every coin has 2 sides and it is what you are comfotable with.

Roger

 

I remember to when living on boats having to move the boat in the pouring rain, freezing cold to fill up with water, only to find the water tap frozen solid, the elsan point vandalised and out of order, boat yard shut and out of gas, not all at the same time i hasten to add.

 

You cant win in either situation

[Roger Gunkel]

Lets get a pint and drink to that

Roger

[Mert]

I don’t come from a family in the normal functional sense, we are spread across the globe doing a job that many people would consider ‘too much’ or even unacceptable. And that is why when I said I wanted to live on a boat not one member of my family batted an eye lid. They are concerned about the day to day things like electric and safety but otherwise they quite like the idea. We are defiantly non conformists.

 

So my reasons for living on a boat are ten fold, firstly and most importantly I don’t do the rat race if I can help it. I love the pace of canal life and how it contrasts to the sixty hour working week that my job entails. Secondly I can afford a home on the water for a fraction of the cost of a comparable home. And yes I mean a comparable home. The home I live in now is 20k more expensive than the same house down the road simply because it as a lovely view onto fields. I can buy five Narrowboats for the price of this house and what do I get? A phone line, internet and central heating and a lovely view. On a boat I will get that view and I will be able to change it when I like! Abit of brain power will provide the rest.

 

Finally there is a community on the cut that often doesn’t exist on the streets of suburbia. Just compare walking through a town to walking along the cut. Everybody in the town has their heads down going about their business, while last week I sat on a bench near to Wheelton watching a narrowboat going through the lock and a complete stranger parked up his bike and took a seat next to me. We then spent a while discussing dogs and boats and it was very pleasant.

 

It’s a different world. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the shared rooms and dirty workshops that I have to endure while I work in hot and dusty parts of the world.

 

I have noticed a boat fit out on the net. The boat is called the Antidote. That kinds of sums it up for me.

[pagan witch]

It is strange how when we cruise (we are liveaboards with 3 kids on board too) we always find ourselves singing 'little boxes' whenever we cruise past typical brick box houses. Strange in as much as really we are living in a much smaller space that apart from a choice of colour scheme (and even that isn't unique) is so very much like hundreds of other narrownoats out there.

 

I think the difference may be that it is OUR boat.

 

Like many of the other replies on here we have no mortgage and we feel no need for the latest whatever it is the televison, paper and magazines seem to insist we can not live without. We simultaneously love and hate visiting shopping centres to see how much we are different from so many others who's life seems incomplete without possessions beyond the wildest dreams of the vast majority of people on this planet.

[Guest]

I had never noticed this post before, but for me anyway it is just the desire to detatch myself from the rat race. Roll on two years or so when we can live aboard full time instead of a couple of months per year.

[charles123]

We love our boating but live on a narrowboat.........never, decided to cut long weekend short due to wash out weather. Lovely to come home to the bricks and mortar

 

Charles

[Keeping Up]

When Debbie and I go back to Milton Keynes after our summer travels, I always notice our difference in attitude. To Debbie, we are "going home". To me, we are taking our home back to where the house is. Then during the winter, the house is "home" for both of us.

[nichimyo]

We love our boating but live on a narrowboat.........never, decided to cut long weekend short due to wash out weather. Lovely to come home to the bricks and mortar

 

Charles

 

Well it certainly wetted down on us and the river rose and rose and now there's a reasonable flow on it as the sluices downriver have been opened to let it all out to sea. We battened down the hatches so to speak and loosened up the mooring ropes and got the fire going again and had a good laugh at the moorhens trying to paddle upriver against the flow. House? no, not even in last weekend's weather!!

[Elysium]

Hi There,

 

I think I understand Roger's pov and what he is trying to get across, as it something that fires my dream. Ultimately it is about being yourself, about expressing yourself without having to hide or to censor aspects of one's self-expression. In Roger I detect a 'bohemian' soul, and that equally his wife is of the same psychological frame. They have achieved a circumstance that is resonant with their characters and personalities...kudos to them, and all others that achieve similar in whatever form of expression befits them.

 

I do think his remarks regarding land-livers could be construed as inverted snobbery, but I am sure that this is not the case. We are all a variable lot, displaying different hopes and dreams and sorrows that take us through the drudge of each day, and sadly, a big percentage of people will never realise their dreams, many won't even attempt to do so, or conceive of an attempt. We should not knock them for their seeming lack of inspiration or aspiration...nor should we pity them in some way, but simply let them live as they feel they must do, and each of us that pursue that 'special' dream, keep up the chase until we succeed in the catch. Just some thoughts...

 

Best wishes all