P O Box anywhere
[Continuing our occasional series on the range of home physical configurations.
Previous entries here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.]
Just as housing demand is elastic, housing tenure is a choice, bounded by factors economic and personal, even if it leads to an address of no fixed abode:
Often unseen, even by neighbors in apartments and houses on nearby dry land, a growing community of people live afloat on Britain’s inland waterways, particularly in and around London. Many live on the placid canals that meander though the capital, a legacy of days when they were passageways for coal during the Industrial Revolution. Others live on the River Thames, where water levels can rise and fall 20 feet with the tide twice a day.
Narrowboats such as these in
“Some see it as affordable housing, and some see it as an idyllic way to live,” said Beryl McDowall, chairman of the Residential Boat Owners Association.
Because so many different authorities oversee the 3,000 miles of inland waterways, she said it is impossible to know precisely how many boats are residential, but she estimated about 15,000.
A ship is a floating palace of infinite imagining:
“O God, I could be bounded in a nut-shell and count myself a king of infinite space” — Hamlet, II, ii
Beyond the considerations romantic are those economic. Who can afford to live afloat?
Michael Stevens, who has written histories of the waterways for London’s Canal Museum … names “writers, software authors and actors” among those trying to get coveted moorings.
The first category is therefore live-work space. Another is temporary accommodation:
Some have country homes and use their city craft as a cozy pied-a-terre — some of them narrowboats that are only seven feet wide.
For some, it’s the housing of retirement:
Other users are retired couples who continually cruise the waterways, never staying anywhere for long.
Those who choose this life discover that live-work has another meaning:
You need as many arms as dancing Shiva
The nautical life is not always easy. Broom’s fridge is tiny; a visitor once broke it by stuffing too many warm beers into it. His electrical system can’t handle running the teakettle and toaster at the same time. There is a worrisome crack in the hull, and the water pump is broken.
Gas powered refrigerator
“You have to learn a lot of patience,” Broom said. “It’s a lot like living in an old Bentley.”
But Broom, who like his hearty neighbors is accustomed to plenty of fleece clothing and practically no storage space, said his lifestyle suits his personality. “I don’t want to be like other people,” Broom said. “I don’t want things to be too easy.”
Like many other forms of property, the barge began its life as other than residential:
In the late 18th century, the British dug an extensive network of canals to link mines and quarries in the country’s industrial midsection to rivers and ports.
The canals were the most efficient way to move coal, for example, but they became a less attractive option with the rise of railways in the 19th century and highways in the 20th.
“There was a rapid decline after World War II,” said Stevens. He said the “collapsing point” came in the famously frigid winter of 1962, when the canals were frozen solid for months.
The narrowboat St. Kilda, fixed on the frozen
Demand changes, property endures — until cycles rise again:
But now, he said, space on the canals cannot keep up with demand.
[Ms. McDowell] has noted a dramatic increase in “people living afloat,” whether solo or as families.
Interest in boat life has risen as the government has spent $1.8 billion in the last six years to restore and beautify canals and rivers, said Debbie Walker, spokeswoman for British Waterways, which manages more than 2,000 miles of canals and rivers.
British Waterways banner, showing Regent’s Canal,
As housing anchors a neighborhood, it creates a spontaneous community:
The couple are coal-mongers, carrying fuel and news up and down the canal on their 72-foot narrowboat, which they share with their baby daughter, Mary Rose.
Concentrating like-minded citizens into a neighborhood
This new community stimulates other property uses, and these revive the community economic:
Pretty footpaths, trendy restaurants and breezy cafes have sprung up on the rejuvenated banks, many of which were so derelict 10 or 15 years ago that developers designed buildings to face away from them, she said.
