Floating Neighbours by Luciana Mayume

FLOATING NEIGHBOURS

Leed s & Liverp ool Ca nal

La nc as ter Ca nal

River Ure River Derwent

River Ou se

River Anch olme

River Tre nt Macc le sf ield Ca nal Caldon Ca nal

River Dee Llangolle n Ca nal Shrops hire Unio n Ca nal

Tre nt & Mersey Ca nal

River Wit ham River Tre nt

Erewas h Ca nal

River W ella nd & Gl en

River Soar

River Ne ne

St affs & W orcs Ca nal

River Wis sey Li tt le Ou se River

Mi ddle Level River Great Ou se

River Severn

River A vo n

Ox ford Ca nal

re Mo nmout hs hi l & Brec on Ca na

River W ye

Bridgewater & Taunto n Ca nal

River Lark

River St ou r

Gran d Unio n Ca nal

Rege ntâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ca nal

River T h ame s

Ke nn et & Avon Ca nal

River Cam

River Lea

River T h ame s

Ba si ngs to ke Ca nal

River Medway

River W ey River A ru n

t idal rivers

narrow canals

broad canals

planned or canals under res torat ion

editorial by Paul Rennie

Until recently the canals of England were derelict post-industrial sites. Nowadays, they are an integral part of many redevelopment schemes that offer “waterside living” amidst London’s industrial heartlands - from camden and Islington to Hackney and beyond. The canal system of inland waterways was one of the great legacies of the industrial revolution. The advent of speedier transport alternatives, through rail and road, seemed to push the canals into irreversible decline. Until quite recently many canals, especially in their inner-city forms were unappealing - with backwards facing buildings, poor lighting and limited public space. The re-discovery of the London canals was first facilitated through the interest in “industrial archeology.” In the first instance, the focus of this interest was in the specific architecture and engineering of the canal network. Subsequently, the people and spirit of the canals were re-discovered at the very moment of their disappearance. In architectural terms, the modern potential of canal buildings was first recognised by Gordon Cullen. Cullen is an important, but largely under-recognised, figure in the story of British modernism. In the 1930s he worked with the Tecton practice and was a member of the Modern Architecture Research Group (MARS). Subsequently, he was art-editor of the Architectural Review. The Architectural Review was the main editorial conduit for new ideas in building during the 1940s and 1950s. From about 1941 onwards, the magazine positioned itself at the fore-front of proselytising in favour of a post-war reconstruction informed by diversity, abundance and pleasure, as well as by materials and functionality. Obviously, this was a reaction to the austerity and difficulties of war, but it was also a reaction to the demanding philosophical framework that supported the discourse of architectural modernity. In response, Cullen conceptualised a theory of “townscape” that worked with the grain of the existing aggregation of buildings spaces and people. The “texture” of industrial buildings, and the specific expression of values through materials and typography was especially attractive to Cullen. He sensibly assumed that many other people would share his view... Nowadays, it seems amazing and remarkable that these buildings and spaces were ignored for so long. Their rediscovery is testament to the foresight of Cullen, and to the pioneers who crafted the new lifestyle choices of “old London.” As Cullen anticipated, much of the excitement of the canals is in seeing how old and new mash-up together.

P. 33 ANNA

P. 33 BRIAN AND VALERIE

P. 33 YAARA AND SAM CAMDEN TOWN LONDON ZOO

GRAN UNION CANAL

KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY

C NTS

REGENTS PARK

EGE

R Wormwood WORMWOOD SCRUBS Scrubs

LITTLE VENICE

PADDINGTON

HYDE PARK GREEN PARK

P. 33 HOLLIS

KING’S CROSS

P. 33 TONI

TRACEY AND SHABA P. 33 RIV

BROADWAY MARKET

ISLINGTON TUNNEL

REGENTS

CANAL

D FOR

LEA

TOR

VIC

AR AP

AN NC

T HER

CITY ROAD BASIN

GRAHAM P. 33 RIVER

THAME

LIMEHOUSE BASIN

CANARY WHARF

MAP 6

yaara and sam Yaara came from Germany to London in September 2012 to work as an aupair and started living on a boat because of her boyfriend Sam, who was looking for alternative ways of living and found himself living on a boat. They sometimes organize a market, called People Space.

When we were getting close to your boat, one of the first things we noticed was that there is no door bell or mail box. Can you get post delivered to your boat? How does it work when you need to pay bills? Yaara: Not really, there are a few boats which are on the same spot all the time so they kind of pay for the mooring space and they can put post boxes. Sam usually uses his school address, and some people use from work and other people have these post boxes that you can rent. Or you just ask friends, if you have a friend living in London you can just send your letters to your friend and collect it a week later.

What about the locks, are they difficult to open? Yaara: There are different locks, there are new ones, which are maintained, and it’s fairly easy to open them and there are really old ones that are harder. It’s alright but I think that if you go on a trip sometimes it’s really annoying if you go from one lock to the other one. You mentioned about when the toilet is full and you need to go to the pub. I was just thinking: what other kinds of relationship do you have with the city? Or what kind of services from the city are you constantly using? Yaara: Well, another thing is that we don’t have a washing machine. Sometimes we can wash the clothes with our own hands as well but the guys usually bring their laundry to a launderette and it’s always damp on a boat so it’s quite hard to dry wet laundry on a boat, so we use that service from the launderette.

Where are you from? Yaara: From Germany. When did you move to London? Yaara: I moved to England last year in September. Did you move straight to a boat? How did you get to the boat? Yaara: Well, my boyfriend owns the boat and I was actually working as an aupair in London so I actually lived with my host family, but I spent quite a lot of time on a boat. I spent the weekends on a boat, usually a few evenings. So I already got used to the life on a boat because it’s different. I moved to the boat recently, a few months ago, it feels longer though.

Do you think that being constantly moving makes you explore more different parts of the city or do you have your favourite laundry that you always go back to? Yaara: We got our favourite spots and obviously it’s good if we’re close to the unis and schools which are in central London so it’s great to be at Kings Cross, Camden, Little Venice is nice as well. So I think we got our favourite spots for different reasons, some are close to the centre. Little Venice feels quite safe, there are lots of boat people, there’s a water point next to it and a rubbish cage. That’s another thing we also need to have a look, some recycling points and toilets.

What do you think the main differences are, what did you first notice when you moved from a regular flat or house to a boat, what changed in your lifestyle? Yaara: I think you live really consciously on a boat. So, as I told you before, we got this big water tank and we have to fill it up one time per week, so if we use too much water, it runs out before the week is over and we need to go to a water point and fill up water. If we turn on the water tap, or if we do the washing up, or having a shower we try to save water. And it’s the same with electricity: we use the engine to charge the batteries and so, at the moment the electricity is turned off, for example. Only if the engine is on we can turn on the lights. So, if I want to charge my mobile I need to turn on the electricity so I’m really aware of how much I use.

You mentioned safety, when we’re here I feel that we are super close to the passers by and to what would be your street, much more than inside a house or a flat. How do you feel about the issues of privacy and security in relation to this very direct contact with the outside? Yaara: I think every person is different but I got used to it quite quickly, you know. If you change your clothes in the morning there might be someone walking by or some people come to the window to look inside. So, sometimes it’s a bit awkward. But on the other side it’s lovely to see if somebody likes our boat and they are curious how it looks like inside. Well safety, luckily nothing happened to us yet but it’s different, it’s kind of fairly easy to break in, just smash the window. I think you just need some confidence in all the human beings.

Instead of having the resources delivered to you, you have to go after them, so maybe that’s what makes you conscious about it. It’s a really good thing, though. We’re so consumable with the things coming to the house and we don’t really think of these things and end up wasting too much energy or water, so it’s interesting.

How do you guys do, I don’t know if that ever happened to you, but if all of you want to travel somewhere else, where would you leave the boat? Yaara: That’s a good question, I haven’t leaved in a boat for too long, i think usually they try to find somebody to look after it, so I think they put the boat perhaps next to a boat of a friend and leave the keys so they look after it. I don’t know, this time we’ll just take it with us.

When you guys are in the countryside, how do you plan, for example, where’s the next water point...? Yaara: We’ve got these maps, we just had a look in the morning, so these maps, these black things are locks so you know how many locks you need to open and that’s a sign for water point. We didn’t do it often yet, to go to the countryside so it’s a little adventure for the summer.

Do you think that the life on the boat changes over the year, with different seasons, we noticed that you have a garden up there... Yaara: Well yeah, it’s quite different for example in winter it gets very cold...

(Sam walks in) Sam: Hello What about the market that you guys have? What is it like? When does it happen? Yaara: Well, we just started it, so we had two big markets. There was one in Camden and there was a lot of singing and dancing, music and it was more like a big party. The second one was in Kings Cross and we had more stuff to sell. The plan is actually to have a market all the time, so just put out things during the day and have some bigger ones on the weekend.

Even with the heater? Yaara: Yeah, we only use this stove and if nobody is on the boat during the day it gets quite cold. And when we come back we heat the stove, light the fire and then it’s warm. If you go to bed it’s warm, but in the night the fire goes out so it’s quite cold in the morning, sometimes it’s hard to get up. I didn’t find it difficult, it was alright, but it might be difficult for some people. In the summer it is lovely to be outside, do some gardening and you meet more people, the neighbours.

How did you get to buy the boat? Sam: Well I’m lucky to have a quite wealthy grandmother. I come from a quite poor background and my grandmother is quite wealthy so she agreed to buy the boat and I’m kind of paying her back, progressively, like renting a house or paying off a flat.

Are there neighbours that you are always bumping in to or is it always changing, do you build relationships, what is it like? Yaara: There are a few people that we know and we meet sometimes, but sometimes it’s difficult to get to know your neighbours, for example at the moment our neighbour is working during the day and I haven’t met him yet, so it always depends if the people are on the boat and open to talk. But we know some people and sometimes we got really lovely neighbours, some give us their keys and ask us to look after something or sometimes somebody is knocking asking for coal or sugar.

Did you just see an announcement? Sam: Looked for ages actually. When I found out I was coming to London, I was studying acting in central London, and I knew that I didn’t want to come to London. Because of everything that has been and I knew that it was very fast paced, kind of a shallow place in lots of ways, very capitalist, as everywhere is, but particularly and intensely in London. And I knew, the way that my personality was going at the time, that those two things were gonna collide quite strongly. So I looked for alternative methods and this was kind of the thing that made most sense. So I moved on a day before my school started, so last year. I mean, this year is still insane, but last year was completely mad because things were breaking and we didn’t have water...

Do you have any tips to give to someone who’s starting to live on a boat? Yaara: It’s really good if you know something about engines or if you’re happy to do quite a lot of work, if you are kinda experienced with all these little jobs which need to be done on a boat. Because there’s always something, so if you can’t do it by yourself you have to call somebody all the time. And I think you really need to like living on a boat and you need some time to put on the boat.

Did you say you were looking for alternative ways of living, did you have anything else in mind?Sam: Squatting

was one option that I looked into, and house sharing. Or when I moved to London there was lots of those occupy movements, there was a big on at St Paul’s. Do you know what I’m talking about? The occupy movement was all around the world, there was people putting tents in really important places, in Italy, New York, and a lot of my friends lived there for four moths, in a tent by St Paul’s Cathedral. So there were those options and I’ve kinda gone for the in between option. I was thinking about it today, before I came here my morals were very important to me, I was a vegan, didn’t really buy anything, but now I just bought a powered drink on the way home. I’m definitely kinda really being sucked in by London. But this is definitely in between, I’m not paying money to a landlord that I don’t have any love or respect for and who doesn’t have any love or respect for me. But I’m also just about still in the world you feel quite isolated. Not isolated, but more alternative. No one really understands, I spend a lot of my time maintaining thins or fixing things.

you are really happy about that bottle of gas. Same applies to water, you can’t turn on your tap and take it for granted. Sam: It is really amazing how quickly we get used to it. As human beings, that is just how we operate. As much as we do think about the future and the past, we are very much in the present and we just forget about these things. If I spend a week in my mom’s house in Bristol, I am already just letting the tap run and forget to think about these processes. Your circumstances denote how you relate to the world. And if you are forced to care about things, you realise how much you care about them. It is a lesson we all have to learn but we won’t until we have to.

Do you grow anything in your garden for your own consumption? Yaara: Yes, we have got lettuce and we have got cauliflower, rhubarb, strawberries, tomatoes, herbs, radish, carrots..

Did you know any skills before? Sam: No, I couldn’t plumb, I couldn’t do anything.

(Sam heads outside)

So you learned it all by yourself ? Sam: Yeah, you just kind of have to. And the Internet tells you everything these days.

That is quite a lot of stuff... Yaara: Yeah! (Sam walks back in, bringing some baby carrots chopped up on a plate for everyone to try)

It was really interesting how Yaara mentioned that you need to be very aware of how much energy and water you spend, since you have to go get them when they are over. So this forces you to have a more conscious domestic life... Sam: Specially with the water. You have to make more of an effort, and that is how it was always like before we had such a developed society. We had to make a real effort to get water or to produce power. But now these things are so kind of meaningless and we have forgotten how much they matter. If you want to be warm, you have to fucking put wood on fire, loads of it. And before that you have to go out and get cold to bring the wood in. And I really love that. I love being affected by the seasons. When it is cold, I am cold, and when it is warm, I am too warm. It makes me feel like a proper human being.

Sam: Carrots from the roof! Oh, these are tasty! Much better than the ones at Tesco... Sam: Yes, they are very tasteful! We are also trying to collect some tips or advices for people who might be interested in starting a life in a boat. Do you have anything to share with them? Sam: Nothing specific. The key is just to do it. If you are passionate enough about it, then it is the right thing. It is a lot of work, so I think it is good not to rush into it. Make sure it is what you want to do, and if you do it, you will make it work. Be careful, be mindful. Try to be conscious, because there is a lot to go wrong. If you don’t twist this, turn that or turn this off then things can be exploding or sinking. It is not like a house. I suppose the same rules apply, but there are more of them probably. I don’t know really, just enjoy it!

Yaara: And I think it is really nice to be able to appreciate all these things. If you run out of gas there might be a few days without cooking until you get another bottle of gas, and then

According to Sam, one of the beauties of having your own space is being able to constantly take things down, reinvent objects through different uses and creating things to on the walls. In their boat, this was done with nearly no money, as most objects were gifts or found in bins on the streets of London.

1. Didgeridoo brought from Shambala Music Festival 2. Saxophone bought by Sam’s mother for £5 30 years ago in London 3. This harp made by Sam still needs a bit more work before being ready for use 4. Shelves built by Sam and Yaara using wood found on the streets 5. Sam had found this bag right before arriving home for our interview 6. Wood burning stove for heating in the winter 7. Jewelry designed by Sam and Yaara for People’s Space, the towpath market organized by them 8. This table, also found on the streets, was made slightly shorter to fit in the narrow boat and still leave corridor space for the dwellers 9, 10. Most plants, futons and cushions were also found outside 11. Recycled Costa Coffee chairs

narrowboats 1. The bow

The outdoors front part of a boat !is great for having a drink and catching up with friends in warm afternoons. Chilling in the bow is also a good opportunity to see your constantly changing neighbours.

2.Top garden

Many boaters like to use their â&#x20AC;&#x153;rooftopsâ&#x20AC;? as a gardening space. Apart from being a great place for catching sun, the top of the boat is easily accessible from the towpath, making maintenance easier.

4. Part time job

Boaters need to be active and hard-working. Although it seems to be a very romantic life style, it requires constant work. If anything breaks, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to fix it yourself or with help from neighbours. On the other hand, these duties help you become fitter and more sociable.

3. Fireplace

Boats come with wood burning stoves for interior heating. The heat provided is also used for drying clothes, once the boat is most of the time too damp for letting the clothes dry quickly.

5. Pets

Pets tend to enjoy the constant change of landscapes a boat life requires. Every new towpath is made part of the home and both pets and boaters do a good job at exploring their surroundings. And if you have cats, they will specially enjoy the geese.

6. Spatial organization

The rooms in a boat are distributed along a corridor located in one side of the boat, cutting the whole space through. Unlike most houses, the corridor is made part of almost every room it gives access to. This is made by giving each centimeter of the corridor an intense use, which are most of the times linked with storage of personal objects.

7. Top garden

Another good use for the top of the boat is to install solar panels. Considering that you have to charge the boat every time energy is gone, generating your own can be a great advantage.

8. Water supply

You need to watch out for the amount of water being consumed in a boat. Instead of having the water delivered to them, boaters need to fill up their tanks at water points distributed along the British waterways.

Building a boat

Toilets

A narrow boat has a very simple construction process. It is very similar in it’s design and hull shape to a supertanker. It’s just a square box, like a shoe box. The only bits that matter on a boat like that is the bit of the front and the bit of the back: the bit that breaks the water and the bit that closes the water around. These are the parts that make it efficient or inefficient depending on how they’re designed.

There are two types of toilets on boats: pump out toilets and cassette toilets. A pump out toilet is a hole in a tank: you use the toilet, you flush it and it all goes into a tank. Every now and then you have to go to a marine and pump out that tank. That type of toilet was designed for continuous cruising. A lot of hire boats, for example, are pump out tanks, so if you go on holiday you don’t have to worry about the unpleasant job of having to empty the tank.

You will not find many people who built their own narrowboat from scratch, simply because of the time it takes. You need to have a group of 6 or 8 guys working on it for probably about 3 or 4 moths solidly to get the hull built.

But if you live on a boat you don’t really want a pump out tank because in the winter the canal freezes. If it gets really cold it will freeze to 50mm thick or even thicker, so you can’t move the boat. So, if you’ve got a pump out tank and you are stuck, it will get full and you will have problems. So, more stationary boats have a cassette system. Basically, there is a hatch in the toilet so you push the cassette in; when it gets full a light will warn you and you just release and the cassette seals itself as it comes out. It’s self contained so it’s completely sealed. Then, it has a nozzle to empty it so you have to lift it and carry it to an elsan point. There are some places you can go, you get a key from the canal and river trust when you buy your license.

The base plate (the bottom of the boat) is made out of a 10mm steel plate. For the curves in the bow and in the roof you need to have a rolling gear that is big enough to take full size sheets, which are probably about 4m long to 2.5m wide. So, you need to have a big gear to do that. If you buy a narrowboat you either buy a complete boat or you buy a shell that is just all the steel work done for you and you do the interiors, paint it etc.

The sizes

Resistant boats

Narrowboats are designed specifically for the canal. The width of the brick arches for the bridges determined how wide the canal could be. So, a standardized size was developed: in imperial measurements of 6’10”. That is the width of a narrow boat and that allows two narrowboats to pass each other. In some places, like King’s Cross, the canal is broader, so it is like a motorway for narrowboats. The length of a boat varies. It is determined by the size of the locks, which varies around the country because they weren’t built as a system, but as local networks. So, some bigger boats can’t go everywhere because not all locks are big enough.

Narrowboats really need to be made of steel. Narrowboating can be described as a contact sport because you bounce off things. So if you are going down the canal, don’t forget there’s no breaks on a boat. If you want to stop, you have to turn the engine off. If you’re coming up to a lock you will turn the engine off about two to three boat lengths ahead of where you want to be. That’s why boats have fenders, these great big pads on front and back. They’re made out of rope, they are bumpers effectively, so they don’t do damage to other boats, to the locks or to the canal. So, it needs to be steel. If you have a fiber-glass boat, it would be very fragile and get sunk all the time by big steel boats smashing into them.

was a boom in boat building. Actually, there is more boats on the water now than there was when the canal was a commercial waterway. But when the economy crisis came, people got worried and started dumping their boats onto the market to get rid of the mortgage as quickly as possible. Therefore, there is a lot of boats on the market now, so the prices have dropped because people are desperately trying to get rid of them. It’s a good time to buy: you could buy a boat now for about £50,000 that is only 5 years old but cost only £90,000 when it was built. Boats depreciate, but they are like cars: they hold their value for 4 to 5 years and then start dropping slowly in 10 years, until they find a level and don’t go below that as long as it is well maintained.

Buying a boat

If you want to buy a boat you may want the best you can afford, but don’t forget to keep a bit of money back for alterations and equipment. It is not recommended to purchase a boat under £15,000. If a boat is cheaper than that, it might be because it is in bad conditions. So, you will end up having to spend lots of money on repairs. Obviously, the more money you have, the better boat you get. Boats have come down in value in the last few years because of the economic conditions. When the economy was booming, house prices went up. So, people thought: “Well I’m actually quite well off, I got all this money but it’s all locked into the house, so why don’t we mortgage?”. A lot of people did that and bought narrowboats, so up to about 2008 there

toni sailor Toni was part of Soho Dolls, which acted as a band for five years, recording in London and touring around the globe. Now he lives with his girlfriend on a boat in London, and his life is still in constant transit.

Did you buy it like this? Toni: All the furniture as fixtures came with the boat but everything on the walls and everything external that you can lift up is my work of art sort of thing, you know.

Did you travel all over Europe with Soho Dolls? Toni: Yeah, we were lucky enough to do that. We never sold many records, though but we were lucky to tour up and down the UK, all over Europe, America, Japan, Korea, Russia, to name but a few places. Over the years I have also played with other bands. I toured for about 18 years, and my life was a constant movement. Now that I live on a boat I move every two weeks although at slower pace, constantly slightly moving.

If you are to give a tip to someone who wants to buy a boat now, what would it be? Toni: You have to be absolutely certain that you are that sort of person. It does look romantic and it’s a very nice way of life, but it is not for everybody. A lot of people jump into it and a later when the first winter comes they realize they can’t do it. You’ve got to be a hard working person, it is not always easy. It is like a part time job, really. You need to fill up the water, empty the toilet, make sure you’ve got wood, coal and fire lighters in the winter. You need to be always ready and prepared. If you wake up in the morning and you haven’t got that stuff, it will be as cold in the boat as it is outside. It can be tough if you are not an active and organized person. In the summertime you don’t have to worry about the heating so its nicer, you just need to empty toilets, fill the water, water the flowers and change gas bottles. There’s the engine as well. You need to look after the engine, that is the heart of the boat. If you don’t have engine, you have no electricity either. Then the boat is just a cold and dark metal box. About buying a boat… The boats come in every sizes, shapes, colors and prices possible. You never see two identical boats. If you do, they are holiday boats by hired companies, like Black Prince. You can buy a boat for 5,000 pounds or you can buy a boat for 55,000 or 500,000 pounds. You can even buy a boat for 2,000 pounds, but then you’ll always have a sign on the window saying “broken down, mechanic called’. If you buy a cheap boat you will spend money to fix it and it still won’t necessarily be good. The engine has to be good. Make sure that the heart of the boat is good. If it doesn’t have any windows it doesn’t matter as long as the heart and the hull (bottom) are good. If they are not, the boat will sink, there is no mercy. The best place for look for boats is a website called Apollo Duck, there are millions of boats there. And if you are buying a boat, never do it without making a survey, like you do when buying a house. There are different types of surveys. You can do hull survey or the full boat survey. Boat surveyors will tell you how much the boat is worth.

Have you ever played a gig on a boat? Toni: I haven’t played gigs on this kind of boat, but I have played on many bigger boats in various countries: Germany, Holland, France. Hello! (Toni greets a friend who walks by) Toni’s friend: Hi how are you? Toni: I am good, yeah, chilling! How about you? Toni’s friend: The boat is looking really good! Toni: Where are you heading? Toni’s friend: We are going to go get a pack of ice for making ice lollies! Toni: Oh, that’s a good idea! See you. Sorry about that. That’s how it goes. When you live on a boat, you end up knowing people that walk by. It is a one big social life, you know. You can be very social or you can also opt-out and have a nice solitary life. Before I got into boating, during the years with the band, I lived in a music studio for five year. There were no windows. I used to make music and when I opened the door at six o’clock I wouldn’t know if it was morning or evening. Those were good times but I became slightly anti-social and not wanting to see people that much. I thought that if I got onto the boating I would also be a solitude person. But certainly didn’t happen. I have never had so many people around me since I got a boat, you know. On a boat you are always inches away from whoever is walking by... you can double moor but you can’t triple moor. I don’t mind double mooring though i prefer being on the outside. That way you can sit down outside on the deck and eat your dinner without someone staring at your veggie sausages. Slightly more privacy. Do people usually stop and look at your boat? Toni: I made my boat too good looking. I’d say that between 50 and 100 people stop to take photos every day. When I am somewhere like Little Venice, where there are more tourists they stops to look at it, and I have to keep the curtains closed. You feel like a rockstar.

Was your boat brand new when you bought it? Toni: No, I bought this two years ago and it had one previous owner. This boat was built in 1991 but it is a very good boat because the guy who owned it before looked after it. He belonged to a boat club, he was a proper boat enthusiastic. So if anything went wrong he would always get it fixed.

Which is true… Toni: Yes and no. (laughs)

You buy your boat and if the hull and engine are good, then you can see how much more money you can spend to get everything else look nice. The rest of things are just cosmetics,

How long have you been in this boat for? Toni: Two years.

outside the canal depending on where you moor? Toni: Well, that is one of the most exciting things about this lifestyle. When you live in a boat, you might end up in Mile End, for instance, where I had never been and I have been in London for eighteen years. I know every road, and I can drive anywhere, but I had never got off the car in Mile End and lived in that spot for two weeks. And it is exciting because you have to find new bus routes all the time or To find out how to get to my grandparents place? or Where is the closest shop? It’s like moving to a new town every two weeks. And after awhile you’ll end up knowing the areas but in the beginning it is quite fascinating.

it’s like putting a make up on, you can do that later. Once you have a boat, you need to get a license. The canals were run by British Waterways, a government run organisation but it recently changed to The Canal and River Trust and became a charity. They look after the waterways. Every year you have to buy a license. And for a boat the size of mine it is about 1,000 pounds a year. Every four years you have to have a Boat Safety Certificate, BSC, which is like a surveyor’s work. The surveyor checks your gas and electricity and anything safety related and that costs a little money as well. Is annual license what allows you to moor along the canal? Toni: The first thing to do is to get the BSC, because you don’t get a license before the BSC. And once you’ve got the license, you can bring your boat in the water.

And what reasons make you choose a certain place to moor? Toni: You can moor up anywhere on a towpath unless there is a “No Mooring” sign. There are few places where you cannot moor, like near London Zoo. I like City Road Basin, I like Broadway Market, Mile End, Little Venice, Paddington Basing, Victoria Park, King’s Cross. There are plenty of good places. I don’t really like Camden Town. In between all these places there are some dodgy spots, so you have got to be careful. You are always thinking if your boat is safe, that is another thing. You feel quite vulnerable. Anyone can break in to a house but somehow boats are more vulnerable. They can just kick a window in and carry on walking. If you want to kick a window house you have to fucking get a ladder to climb it.

Have you ever had any conflict with the authorities? Toni: No, I have never had any conflicts with them. There are certain rules in the canals, like everywhere else. Respect and don’t cause mess, unlike those people over there, they are a bit of trouble makers (points out at boat near by). You don’t cause trouble out if you live in a house, do you? So it is the same thing, you know. And you need to move every two weeks. If you don’t, they will fine you, £25 a day. You need to make sure you are willing to move every two weeks if you are going to live in a boat. Also, you can’t be moving A to B and then B to A. You need to constantly keep going, you know. Do you establish different relationships with the city

tips and tricks Getting started

Moving from a house to a boat is an important decisions in a person’s life. It can be a challenge and a big financial step. So, before you do it you should make lots of research in websites, books and magazines. A good idea is to hire a boat for a few weeks just to feel what it is like. Meeting someone who is living on a boat for a long time can also be very helpful. People who are more experienced can teach you a lot about small details that are not on books and magazines.

Heritage

If you are given an old boat, be prepared to do repair work before moving in.

Buying a boat

Boats come in every sizes, colours, shapes and prices. Prices can vary from £5,000 to £500,000. Make sure the boat has a good engine and a good hull. The features that make it look good can be added later. And if you don’t have to fix a damaged engine or a rusty hull, you will have more money for the decoration. For that reason, it is really important to require a hull or a whole boat survey.

Angles

The non-right angles of the boat can be tricky when fixing or building furniture for the boat.

Levels

If one side of the boat is heavier than the other, it tilts. For that reason, before fixing floor or wall pieces, make sure to check the boat level.

Safety

The direct contact between the interior of a boat and the towpath makes it more vulnerable than a regular house. However, this situation is also responsible for a higher level of interaction between neighbours, whose presence inhibit burglary and increase trust. Besides, different parts of the city have different reputations for this kind of activities and the boater can always choose whatever feels safest and most comfortable. Every four years, boaters also need to pay a fee ti get the Boat Safety Certificate, which can be obtained after the authorities check your gas, electricity and other parts that require extra care.

Gas, coal and petrol

There are some business that sail along the canal selling gas, coal and petrol, offering better prices than petrol stations. They also do the toilet pump out. These sellers are easier to find in urban areas, where there are more costumers.

Curtains

Be prepared to have people looking inside your boat at awkward times, for instance, when changing clothes in the morning. However, boaters say you quickly get used to it and it is really nice when you realise someone is appreciating the beauty of your boat.

Alternative lifestyle

Such as squatting, house sharing and the Occupy Movement, boating can be an alternative lifestyle to the conventional ways of living in a city. This decision can be driven by personal morals or simply by the opportunity of making life affordable in expensive cities.

Mutual help

Desperately bored drunk people can sometimes open the knots from the boat for it to move when the boaters are asleep. But it is common that neighbours help each other by bringing the boaters back and by watching out for trouble makers.

Boat top

The top surface of a boat offers a great spot for gardening and planting. Many boaters don’t need to go to the shop before making salads: many ingredients can be available for free on the boat top! But remember to leave some room for a solar panel, which can help you save electrical energy.

Urban explorer

If you don’t have a permanent mooring permission, you are required by the authorities to move to a different mooring spot every two weeks. This will encourage you to constantly establish relationships with different parts of the city. You will get to learn new public transportation routes and choose a new favorite shop, pub, café and launderette every time you move, which can be very exciting.

Staying fit

The boat is not a house you can come back to after work to watch the tele. Looking after your boat and being in a constant journey will definitely make you fitter.

Staying away

When staying away for a couple of days, you can leave your keys with a neighbour you trust or leave it at a marina.

Anonymity

However, the life a boater can also be a good escape from the city and its inhabitants. Many boaters take the opportunity to moor up in the country side as much as they can. They can then enjoy beautiful and calm landscapes with a far smaller density of neighbours.

Dry clothes over the stove

Maps

If you are traveling around the English canal network, it is very important to have books with maps and information of the whole system. They show you where to put water on and where to find pubs, restaurants, supermarkets and hospitals. With that, you can always plan ahead and make sure you are not lost in the middle of the canal with no water in your tank.

The wood burning stove puts up a lot of heat, so the best way to use that heat is to dry clothes with it. Wood burning stoves also give up a really dry heat, so they suck all of the moisture out of the air in the room and your eyes start to get gritty. In the summer obviously you can use the outside. But in the winter, when it’s raining all the time and you have the heater on for the stove anyway you just hang your clothes there and they actually put moisture back into the air.

Planning

Boaters who are constantly traveling around the English canals network usually plan ahead their journey. Doing that allows them to have in mind what they want to see and do in different places. It also makes it easy to know how long the journey is going to last. However, it is important to be prepared for unexpected situations. Sometimes the canals can be flooded or water might be too shallow, and you may be stuck in one place, having to change your plans.

Permanent mooring

Generally when you pay for a mooring you are paying for the mooring only. Sometimes, there is land attached, which technically is not what you’re paying for, but nobody else uses it, it’s there for you to use. It varies wether it is a private mooring or a Canal and River Trust’s. The Canal and River Trust manages the canals, so it owns a lot of land around the canal, which they rent as mooring spots. Some spots are on private property which happens to be by the canal. Permanent mooring usually has its own water point, its main supply to plug in to, such as telephone line. There’s a bollard, like a pillar that contains all your services, so you just plug into that: your phone, your broadband, etc.

Maintenance

A boat requires more maintenance than a normal house. Most of the jobs can be done its own dwellers, such as varnishing and painting. These are usually done during the winter, when the boat is more stationary. You might need help from someone else to maintain the engine. Also, you need to take the boat to a boatyard, so it comes out of the water and has its bottom blacked with bitumen. This stops water rusting the steel.

Mail box

If you have permanent mooring license, which are only allowed across from the towpath side, you can install a proper postbox to get mail delivered to you. However, if you do temporary mooring, there are a couple of alternative ways to get post. You can use your work’s postbox (if they let you!), a friend’s regular address or rent your own postbox.

Exchange information

Expenses

Not all the information you need is in the canal maps. So, it is always good to talk to the people who are on the boats coming in the opposite direction. They might tell you if there is any danger, which places are better for mooring, which spots are unsafe, what are the interesting things to do and see. You may say the same things about the direction you are coming from.

Every year boater have to pay a fee of £1,000 to the Canal & River Trust, which allows them to moor in designated spots along the waterways. Each time you moor up allows you to stay for a maximum of two weeks in the same spot. Any overstay will cost boaters £25/day. Every four years, boaters also need to pay a fee to get the Boat Safety Certificate, which can be obtained after the authorities check your gas, electricity and other parts that require extra care.

Team lock opening

It is much easier to open a lock in teams. While one person stays on the boat and steers, the other can climb up and do the opening and closing of the gates.

River Thames

It is not very easy to navigate on the river Thames. Since it is tidal, there are several restrictions of time and you need to have the right equipment.

Pets

They will enjoy exploirng every new surrounding that you moore byIf you have a cat, it will enjoy the geese.

hollis We met former squatter Hollis by the industrial bits of West London as he was repairing his boat before moving in. While chatting by the towpath, he shared some of his thoughts on alternative ways of living in the city.

How long ago did you start living in there? Hollis: It was only last week that I stayed in a boat more days than in my place in Oval. But I have been coming few days a week for the past three weeks.

You previously mentioned this boat belongs to your friend’s father… Hollis: Well, it used to be. A friend of mine used to live on it, and he sold it to another friend’s dad (laughs). And they both looked after it for a long time, but they were kind of shit at looking after it. And now I am moving into it.

And at this moment you are setting the boat up for you to move in… Hollis: Yes. Over the last week I have slept on it more times and last night my cat came in for the first time.

Have you been moored here ever since? Hollis: Well, at the moment the engine is broken… (laughs). But me and my friend who used to live on it moved it from the other side of the nearest main road. But we had to do it by pulling it along with the rope and using these two crap little oars, and that was ridiculous (laughs). We got to this one bridge and there was this family there just staring at us and being like “what are you doing?”. And the wind was blowing against us, it was a mission.

And how did the cat like the boat? Hollis: He was really interested in the geese. For him they are like any other bird, but fucking huge. He is quite good at killing bird, but he has never seen anything as big as a goose until yesterday. He was excited (laughs).

And as a fresh boater, do you have any tips or advices for people who are starting to boat? Hollis: Not yet, really. Ask me in a few months and I will probably have learned from some of the mistakes I will make (laughs). Do you have any advices for me? (laughs)

And how do you see living in a boat comparing to a regular house? Hollis: Hm, I am not a good person to be asked this. For the last ten years I have been squatting. I don’t think I have ever lived in a normal house, really.

Have you dealt with any infrastructural duties, such as getting water, emptying the toilet, etc? Hollis: So far I haven’t got a toilet in the boat, so emptying it is not an issue.

But you are still living in South London at the moment? Hollis: Yes, I live near Oval.

Where do you go to the toilet? Hollis: Sainsbury’s or against that wall… (points at wall by the towpath).

And in comparison to squatting, how different is boating? Hollis: For me is quite strange to be on my own. It has been ten years since the last time I lived on my own, and I find that quite strange. But it is similar to squatting in a site or a trailer, except the site is really long.

Have you established any other relationships with the surroundings since you have moved in? Hollis: A little bit. I didn’t know this part of London at all, so it has been quite interesting in that level. Exploring a new bit of the city. Specially out that way towards… what is it called again?… That’s how good my relationship with this area is, can’t remember its name (laughs). Anyway, it is a posh area where they are having a bit of reconstruction work, so I collected some pieces of wood for the repairing of my boat.

And what made you take the decision to move from squatting to boating? Hollis: The opportunity was just there. It sounded fun and I thought it would be a nice project to work on the boat and making it nicer to live in.

And one of the most fascinating facts about living on a boat is the possibility to travel around the city and discover different parts every two weeks. Hollis: When I fix my engine, yeah. (laughs)

Did you know how to fix things before or are you learning now? Hollis: I have done quite a lot of fixing random things over the years.

It is interesting that you were squatting before. Squatting and boating are two unconventional ways of living in the city… Hollis: That’s true. I’ve got quite a few friends in Tottenham Hale and Walthamstow who used to be squatters and now live on boats. So it seems that quite a few of us are doing it at the moment.

Is there anything that makes fixing a boat different? Hollis: The shape of it. I don’t know how to deal with it most of the times. The things you build don’t go in the right places, everything is a bit wonky. And if one side of the boat is heavier than the other, the boat tilts a bit, so you have to check the level. So, nothing in this boat is straight, everything has different angles. (laughs)

Do you find squatting more difficult? Hollis: To some extent it has more difficulties. A little while ago they have changed the laws, making it illegal to squat in residential buildings. It has become more difficult because of that. But I think that London is a city where it is still easy to do it than in other cities.

Did you see the people having a barbecue nearby? That’s something really nice about living on a boat. You can always extend your domestic life to the outside… Hollis: I think that is something I am kind of used to that from squatting. A lot of times we are quite good at using the space around us. We tend to use our roofs a lot more than other people do, for instance. The house I’ve been staying in recently has barbecues in the bit of street in front of it. That feels the same as in a boat. But I guess that for people who live in a normal house situation that means exploring more the word around them in a way that they don’t do.

Have you socialized with other boat dwellers? Hollis: A little bit. But most of the time I have been solidly working on it and trying to improve it. So, I haven’t yet spent so much time socializing with the people around. Also because I spend half my time here and half my time in Oval, and it takes a long time to cycle from one place to the other. There is only time to sleep and work on it.

That’s interesting to hear. How about your boat’s name? Can you tell us a bit about it? Hollis: The boat’s name is Psalm. But I like to think that the person who wrote it was dyslexic. I will just call it Lamps.

PUBLIC domesticity The boat is much closer to the towpath than the urban flats are to the streets. These photographs capture situations in which the domestic sphere of boats is exposed to the city, blurring the boundaries between private and public realms.

graham We came across Graham by the Limehouse Basin, where he was tied up to a wall due to the lack of available mooring spots in London. He does not agree that the English waterways should have urban residential use and should only be used for continuous cruisers. In his own words, boating should be a life style, and not a way to live.

(Graham’s cat shows up).

We have been talking to people around the canal in order to compile personal stories and curious facts about living on a boat. One of the ideas for the material is to produce some sort of guide to people who want to start living on a boat. Graham: I completely disagree with your idea of making a guide for people to move to boats. We can’t have more people moored up in the canals. There are visitor moorings, which last for 48 hours, but some people spend months in them, which is illegal. I can’t agree with getting people to live on boats.

Does your cat like the boat? Graham: Yes, but we had a different lifestyle before we moved on to the boat. We used to have our own business, and we used to spend seven months living in a caravan and in the winter we would move back into the house. So you were already used to living in transit? Graham: I have a nomadic life. I just can’t settle in one place. I used to live in Moon Hill Rod, in Acton, next to the old Odeon Theater. It might have changed. I left it when I was fourteen years old. That is where my family is from. But I don’t like London, it’s horrible, it’s all concrete. I’d rather be in the country, that’s why we do this [boating].

It is a way of life; it is not a way to live. We travel the whole of England, and have done it for six years. We have two houses, they are both rented out, and we never lived in a house again after our boat. We are taking out boat to France next year to do the continent.

Do you think the facilities for boaters are the same in the countryside as they are in London? Graham: They are better. There are more water points, there are points for throwing out the rubbish and pumping out. There are facilities around here [Limehouse Basin] that were made for the Olympics and are not available for us. If you were allowed to use them, what would happen there is what is happening now up the River Lea, many irregular moorings.

I think you will get some people like me who would be a little bit averse to producing a guide to people to move to the waterways. But it is good that we came across this disagreement. We need to hear all viewpoints and opinions... Graham: There are a lot of people who buy boats without thinking about where they are going to keep the boat. When you buy a boat and you license it, you have to sign a piece of paper saying that you either have a home mooring that you have paid for or you become a continuous cruiser, which means that you have to be in continuous navigation around the country. But a lot of people who buy boats to live on become what we call bridge-hoppers. All they do is to move from bridge to bridge so they can go to work, university or whatever. They break the rules.

A friend of mine has a boat in this marina here [Limehouse Basin], and it costs him about £6,000 a year to keep his boat there. What they [irregular city boaters] are doing is not paying their way. They should be moving into a marina and paying to be in that marina. That would allow other people to take the moorings that they are taking to travel along the canal. You can see why I am very anti having any kind of guide that gets people to move out their houses and live on narrow boats, or in the water in any form.

So you don’t see the boat as an alternative way to live in the city Graham: No, because there are not enough moorings available around the city to actually make people able to live on a boat. I am here, not properly moored up, because I am going out to the river tomorrow. And I have been trying to moor all the way down to the Regent’s Canal. The bridge hoppers got all the moorings and can’t moor. So I’m having to tie up in a wall because there are people living on boats illegally.

There is no way you can live on a boat and work, unless you live in a marina. Let’s say you work in London, and many of these people do, and the reason why they are doing that is because they don’t want to play London prices. They are saving £6,000 a year. They are blocking up the River Lea and The River Thames, and not many people cruise there purely simply because of what’s going on in there. There is nowhere to moor. If I go up there I would have to travel miles before I find where to moor, because these people’s boats are moored illegally. They could live on board, as long as they move, and are continuously navigating. I can stay here for 14 days, because there are no restrictions. But in the corner, there is a 48 hours restriction. After 14 days I have to move to another spot, county boundary, and then I have to find another spot, before I can legally return to the spot where I am now. But what these people do is to say that they have moved two or three kilometers to the next available rail station but what they really do is to phone up their friend to swap over and block the same spot again. That’s why I am against it.

And do you think the numbers of urban boaters have increased? Graham: Yeah, certainly. Over the last six years more and more people are doing it. And how long have you been on a boat for? Graham: Six years. I’ve been cruising all around the country for six years. I stay for 48 hours and move on, which is what my license requires me to do. And I see no reason why people who are given a continuous cruiser license, who know they are breaking the law, shouldn’t be fined, heavily. And have their license revoked for the next year.

tracey and shaaba We met Tracey on her break from helping out her partner Brandon painting their friend Brandonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boat red and green. They were moored in Hackney Wick, enjoying the shade provided by a flyover in a warm summer day.

Where in the city do you like mooring the most? Tracey: I don’t like it in the city at all. I like to be out of the city. But there is work here [in the city]. So I just have to finish some work and then get out.

When did you move to a boat? Tracey: 2010. What made you make this decision? Tracey: I was sick of living in a house. I was getting fed up with all the bills coming through the door, the neighbours. Mostly it was the bills, though. They were constant, you couldn’t get away from them. It was just so much that I decided I couldn’t afford it anymore. It wasn’t worth it.

Do you travel throughout England? Tracey: I can’t on my boat because it’s too big, but I can go certain distances, then I have to turn around and go back. But this boat is suitable for the river, so I want to go up the Thames, and then get to the coast.

Did you sell your house to buy a boat? Tracey: Yeah. I put the money from the house into another house that I don’t live in. But I can go there sometimes.

When you are in the city, what relationships do you establish with the urban surroundings apart from work? Tracey: As little as possible (laughs). The city is what I want to get away from. When you are in the canal, even though you are in the middle of the city, it doesn’t feel like one. And that’s because most of the places are surrounded by trees, and you can’t hear the streets. You feel like you are in the country most of the times. It’s amazing. It’s like a secret place. Before I lived on it, I didn’t even know these places were here. I would cross most of these roads, but not even know this was here. And a lot of people don’t know it.

Do you live by yourself in the boat? Tracey: I live with Shaaba. Did you change the boat after you bought it? Tracey: Yeah, I had a metal wheelhouse on it, which didn’t fold down, so I kept crushing into bridges (laughs). I couldn’t get through the tunnels to this side of London. And one day I crashed into a bridge, not on purpose. That knocked it off (laughs). Then a wooden one was build, but it is not ready yet, it’s a long process.

Yeah, before we started doing this research, we didn’t know how different from the city certain parts of the canal could be. There are so many hidden parts you can’t see from the city. Tracey: It’s like a secret little world on its own, really. Even the police don’t want to come down here. And we don’t really want them here. There are our own police for the canals.

Do you think that boat neighbours help each other? Tracey: Definitely. That’s all we do. If their engine breaks down, we help them out. We swap things. A lot of bartering goes on. If someone broke a bit of their engine and we’ve got that part, we give them that part and they give us battery, or something else back that we need. There is less money involved in the canals.

Is it the Canal & River Trust police? Tracey: No, it’s river police. It is separate from the Canal & River Trust. They are actually police who work on the rivers.

I see you are double mooring with someone. Did you know them before? Tracey: Yeah, we met on the canal. He wanted his boat painted and he couldn’t afford the professional boat painters, they cost a lot of money. So Shaaba said he would do it for cheap, and he has just started out the job. He has just started doing it as a job and this is his first job, and he’s doing a good job (laughs).

Do they come on boats? Tracey: Yeah, and street police aren’t even allowed to come on our boats. If you don’t give them permission they can’t step on your boat. But the river police can.

And I am going to do the fancy bits. Like stripes around the tiller, the diamonds, the hatches, things like that...

Do you know if there is as much surveillance in the canal as on the streets? Tracey: There’s none. Thank god. There are some people who live in town, they are new bees, who are not really boaters and just want a cheap place to live. And they want to put security cameras all over the towpath. Why don’t they just go live on a flat? We like to deal with things ourselves. If someone tries to rob your boat, you just have to come out with a bloody stick and chase them off, you know (laughs). Don’t get the police involved.

Do you guys write in the fancy lettering? Tracey: No, I used to do that when I lived in America. I did sign writing there. But there is a guy who has been doing sign writing in the canal for years, so I can’t really do it, I would be stepping on his toe.

in the canal. Apparently eight people from that building over there (points at building) have fallen down and died. Just last week there were some kids jumping from one of the bridges into the canal and some girl got impaled by a piece of wood.

Do you know his name? Tracey: He’s called Julian, and he is quite a character, actually. He wears a top hat and he has an old fashion boat and a cat. Do you find it easy to make friends with other boaters? Tracey: Yeah. You get to know everybody. I have been on this part of the river for a year. I practically know everyone know. It’s quite a small community. People passing through rarely talk to us, but you get to know the people who actually live in this part quite well.

There are loads of things going on. Canalival... Did you go to it? Tracey: No I didn’t. I kept well away. Apparently, they all left loads of dinghies there. I could have had ten dinghies and then sold them on (laughs). But I didn’t want to go nowhere near it. There was a rumor in the canal that someone got killed in the event. But it wasn’t in any of the newspapers or anything. Some boat came through, because they have to go through it, and a girl got ripped by the propeller. And it was too crowed. It was an idiotic thing to do. It is like playing in a highway, you know.

So you are usually moored in the River Lea? Tracey: Yeah. I’ve got a license to just be in this river now. So I’ve got to stick to the river for one or two years before going somewhere else. Are the rules different for mooring in the river? Tracey: No, because this is canalized and it is still run by the same people. But if you go up to a tidal river, it’s different rulers. If you go on the Thames, it’s different rulers completely. You can moor wherever you like, but it’s difficult because of the waves.

I thought it was really interesting when you mentioned trading situations in the canal. For instance when exchanging a piece of the engine for a battery. Can you share more experiences in which that kind of action took place? Tracey: Yeah. Kevin doesn’t have a van, and I’ve got a van. So I put him on my insurance, so he can drive the van around. And he just pays my insurance. And he can also drive me around when I need it, because I hate driving (laughs).

Do you usually go farther up through here? Tracey: Yeah. You can go right up to Essex, for instance. In what ways is life different from London? Tracey: There is less noise, less people. It is prettier. You wake up and there is just beautiful landscape around you. You’ve got wild life wherever you go on the canal but out there there’s more of it. And it’s healthier.

And before we finish the interview, would you give any tips or advices for someone who wants to start living on a boat? Tracey: Well, it they are just looking for a cheap place to live, because they can’t afford a flat, I wouldn’t advise a boat. It is a completely different lifestyle, and you have to be prepared for that. It is hard work. You are living in a vehicle, so you need to know about engines, batteries, wiring, plumbing, everything. If anything goes wrong, you’ve got to fix it.

What about these couches on the towpath we are sitting on. Did you set this up? Tracey: Yeah, this is Brandon’s old sofa, which he is going to throw out. But he can’t bring himself to throw it out because he likes it. But he is going to have to throw it out because he can’t put it on his roof that he has just painted. He is going to chop it off into bit, probably burn the woods, and have a fire. We might keep some of the foam, because we like recycling.

It is not really suitable for people who want to sit in front of the telly when they come home from work. I wanted to do it to get away for a while. And they are not doing for that, they are just doing it for somewhere to live.

Throughout the years you have been boating, have you ever experience any awkward or curious situations in the canal? Tracey: I personally haven’t seen any dead bodies in the canal, but a lot of people have. My friend has found two dead bodies

urban context Most boaters are in constant cruise, which is done either around the country or along the canals of cities, looking for spots that allow them to quickly get to work or school. The regulations set by the Canal & River Trust authorize these boaters to moor up to the same spot for a maximum of 14 days. During this time, the boaters get to socialize with new neighbours and explore an area of the city that is new to them. The image below depicts this continuous changing urban context and the type of commerce that most of our interviewed boaters first look for when arriving in a new bit of London.

CINEMA LAUNDERETTE

PUB

1. Cycling along the towpath

The towpath is extremely used by London cyclists and boaters, who cycle along the canal on their way to work or school.

2. Permanent mooring

Some boaters choose to have a permanent mooring, which allows them to moor up across from the public towpath for a longer time. In there, they have their own water point and electricity points, as well as a post box.

3. Two-week mooring

Most of the mooring places available along the canal allow boaters to tie up for a maximum of fourteen days. This regulation makes sure boaters are constantly cruising and giving space for other users to stop.

SUPERMARKET

GYM

RESTAURANT

CORNER SHOP

4. Public domesticity

Cruising boaters are creatively exploring the space around them as they moor up in different spots along the towpath. Even though their interior space might be sometimes limited, they can extend their domestic life to the outside, allowing them to relax and socialize in warmer days.

5. New routes

One of the most fascinating facts about urban boaters is their nomadic life style. Moving to a different area of London every two weeks encourages them to learn new public transportation routes, to explore different neighbourhoods and to utilize different facilities and services.

anna We met Anna in Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cross as she was arriving from work in her bike in a summer afternoon. She has been living on her boat with her boyfriend George since last April. With many smiles, she shared some of her recent yet joyful boat experience with us.Â

When did you move to a boat? Anna: Last April. What made you make this decision? Anna: Basically, the boat belongs to my boyfriend’s family. His sister was living in it previously and she decided to move back in with her friend, so his folks just said to us “Do you want to save some pennies and live on a boat?” And that’s what we did. Hi! (says neighbour who was walking by) Hey! I am being interviewed! (laughs) Sorry for that. (Anna to us)

You get to explore the city in a different way. Anna: Yeah. I have always lived in North London and I have always been curious about living in East London. But I just never had the chance to move there. And it’s been fun to be able to live in Broadway Market sometimes. Do you work around here? Anna: I work in Primrose Hill at the moment, so when we are in this area [King’s Cross], I cycle to work. But it’s a bit more of a challenge when we are moored in Broadway Market, but it is still possible. And you cycle along the canal, which is nice. And apart from the sense of community, what other differences did you feel the most when moving from a regular house to a floating one? Anna: I guess you lifestyle is a lot more humble. Ours specially, because a lot of the boats have showers but ours doesn’t, and it’s pretty tiny, too. So you just learn to live with not much in terms of clothing or just stuff. There is no room to have stuff, whereas before, I had a wardrobe of everything. And that just kind of makes you appreciate little things. For instance when you go home and you have a washing machine, a shower and a bath. Even though you don’t have those things you kind of learn to get along without them.

That’s no problem at all. Actually, that is something that always happens when we are interviewing boaters. The neighbours always stop by for a quick chat, that’s really cool. Anna: That’s Max and he lives on the boat we’re double moored to. And that’s one thing that I would definitely say: there is a real sense of community, you moor up next to people and everybody knows everybody else and we look out and after each other, which sadly I am experiencing for the first time since living in London and I’ve lived in London for eleven years. And it’s really sad that I only found a sense of community since I moved into a boat.

But it is also interesting how when you don’t have a shower or a washing machine you need to search for these facilities in the city, and every time you move you need to find new places to wash your clothes, for instance. Anna: Yeah, and it’s surprising how most places we moor have Launderettes near by and honestly we are probably quite guilty when it comes to washing. Cause my boyfriend George’s parents don’t live that far from London, so we tend to quite often visit them for that kind of thing, which is a bit cheeky (laughs). But if we don’t, we can just go to a Launderette, and that is just one evening out in your week. And in terms of showers, a lot of boat people are members of gyms, and you have the Lidos in the east, so you can just get some exercise and have a wash. Or otherwise you wash other ways, or you don’t have a shower every day, which isn’t always a bad thing.

And the people you are around are constantly changing as well. Are you always building new links to people? Anna: Yeah. So basically I could either have a permanent mooring, which costs a fortune, it costs the same as a flat in London, and you just stay in one place. Or you get another type of mooring, which is a lot cheaper, but it means you have to move on every two weeks. So, we live between Regent’s Park and Broadway Market and it kind of takes us about one to two months stopping along the way in different spots towards East London. But that’s kind of nice. I think that’s part of the fun of it, you are nomadic and you are meeting lots of people and living in different parts of London is nice, too.

we have conversations, read books, so it’s nice. If I have a computer, I just spend three hours of my evening doing nothing in the Internet. So it is nice not to have the chance to waste all that time in the evening.

Since it hasn’t been so long since you moved out of the flat, have you found any difficulties about living on a boat? Anna: People always ask if it’s cold in the winter, because we just had that horrible winter, and actually I can honestly say that I was never cold. I think that’s partly because we have such a small boat and we have wood burning stove, and as soon as that is on, it gets as hot as it is in any kind of centrally heated house. The only slight down side is that you do tend to smell like wood smoke, so your coat and your clothes can sometimes have a bit of a wood smoke smell to it.

You have to come up with other ways to spend your time. Anna: Yeah. But a lot of people live on boats like it’s their home. And I am not sure if I can do it forever. But it has only been a positive experience. And I am surprised that more young people don’t live on boats, because it is an affordable way to live. It’s challenging in other ways, like a house the boat requires upkeep, you need to repaint the boat, do maintenance work. It is not a free ride, there are things you need to pay for. But most people who live on boats are generally quite happy smiley people (laughs). It is a good place to live.

And the other thing people always ask me is how the two of us deal with such a small space. We don’t have any TV, we don’t have any Internet and we live in one tiny space together, and that can be a bit challenging. But then on the other side

brYan and valerie Bryan and Valerie have been boating for six years. They sold their house in Cambridge and are now constantly exploring England in the pace of the canal.

So, how did you guys start living in a boat? Valerie: We started because my husband was going to retire. So we thought ‘what are we gonna do when he retires?’. And I suggested, because we lived near a river, that perhaps we would sell the house and get a boat. He wasn’t very interested, but after we talked about it, my daughters found out about it. They got magazines for us, and the more we read about it the more we wanted to do it, because we wanted to do something active, not just sit at home and watch breakfast television, it’s easy. So, we put our house in the market, sold it straight away and decided to have a boat built, from new. And that’s what we did, we had to wait for a year for it to be built. That was about six years ago, and from then, we didn’t know anything about boats, we didn’t know anything about locks, we didn’t know anything about anything to do with the water. We just, of our own record, found a boat builder. And from there we just learned and made many mistakes doing things. From there we just learned more and more about it. We read articles, magazines to find out about different things, and that’s how we started. We haven’t regret it, it’s been lovely since then. We travel all over the country, as far as Liverpool, York. The canal system is vast, it covers the whole of England, from one side of England to the other. And from there we decided to travel and that’s what we’ve done. You know, the more we did it, the more we enjoyed it.

Do you spend a lot of time in London? Valerie: No. We will be in London now for two weeks. We are going to spend the week here because we have maintenance to do. And then we are going to Paddington basin. Everyday we want to go out to different museums and around London, so it will be like a holiday. And then after that we will go on to Hertfordshire and spend some time traveling in the river called the River Lea.. And then we are coming back through London, because we want to go on the Thames. You know, from Limehouse we go by the Houses of Parliament. And you are very restricted doing that because it is tidal, and you must do it at a certain time and have the right equipment to do it, on the Thames up to Richmond. It seems like you are always planning ahead… Valerie: Oh yes. Already this year we are planning for next year because next year we go to the north of England. Perhaps to Liverpool again, because Liverpool is absolutely fantastic for boaters. It is very historic and it is a lovely atmosphere. Is is like being on holiday, you know. Well, you’re on holiday everyday… (laughs) Every day is holiday. Has it ever happened that you needed to change your plans because of something unexpected? Valerie: Yes. For example, on our way home last year, in England there was a lot of rain and flooding. And the river was flooded. We were trying to get to Cambridge, we were in North Hampton. The river Nene was flooded so much that we couldn’t travel on it. So, we had to go into a marina and spend four months there because we just couldn’t travel in that time. If we had gone further, maybe we would’ve spent four months tied to a tree (laughs), because we couldn’t travel. But we were very very lucky that the authorities informed us to head for the marina. So, by the time we left to get back to Cambridge it was around end of April, so that was a change of plan. So, everyday could be a change. Tomorrow could be a change of plans, something could happen that we have to do something different. But we are very flexible.

We live aboard all the time and we don’t have any mooring. We travel all the time. In the winter, we have family in Cambridge, so we go back to around Cambridge and then we just travel backwards and forwards around Cambridge during the winter months, between November till March, April. And then we come back on to the canal, because that is on the rivers there. And then we come back up and travel wherever we want. So that is very nice, lovely. And do you think your life changed after you moved to the boat? Valerie: We both worked very long hours, you know, from early in the morning. My husband had a business, so he worked from six o’clock in the morning until seven, eight o’clock at night. And we rarely saw each other. We had a garden but we never sat in the garden. The garden was for mowing the lawn and for doing the weeding, and then it was time for work again. And then, of course, when we sold the house we had some security because the money for the house bought the boat and we saved a bit to put aside in case of an emergency. And then it’s made us very relaxed, because we were always rushing. Before you would come over work, you sit, you are tired, you can’t be bothered to do anything. Now we are traveling and there is lots to do, so it makes you a lot fitter. When you’re older, these things are important aren’t they? You need to look after yourself. And it gives you an interest. Everywhere you go, you’re learning about what’s around there, visiting places that you wouldn’t visit.

We are naming this project ‘Floating Neighbours’ so far, because we are finding it very interesting how it is easy to interact and build these relationships. Specially when you are so close to the towpath which would be your street, but sometimes also the backyard. Valerie: Yes, it is the backyard. You sit out there and you meet people… I mean, we’ve learned to interact with the boat in front. And it doesn’t matter about the age. Young people, old people, you strike up conversation quite easy. And also, if you are in trouble, if something happens to your boat, usually people will respond quickly to you, they will come to you and say ‘Oh, do you need help?’. We’ve towed people that have got stuck or broken down, you just put the rope around. You might not ever see them again, but you can be sure that most people will help you if something goes wrong and you do the same because you would say, well, you’re all in the same boat

(laughs). And also friendships. We were coming down here a few days ago. We were at a lock and there was a couple on their boat and they were going in the same direction. So we just spent four days together. We interact, you know, and I think we knew each other quite well by the time. They’ve now gone back down towards Bath and we came this way. And now we text them and say ‘How are you? Where are you? What are you doing?’. Probably we will meet up again at some point and travel again together. The only thing you’ve got in common is the fact that you are both living on a boat. But it’s enough to keep us entertained all evening.

anybody is thinking about it I think, from my perspective, I would encourage them because I haven’t met anybody that have actually said they hated it. To me, it’s a change of life that is better because people are more friendly, more sort of neighbourly.

Do you have any advices you would give to a person who wants to start living on a boat? Valerie: I would just say if you are gonna start...

At the same time, you can enjoy all the services of the city and everything it has to offer. Valerie: Yes, we moor up. Later on I will go for a walk, have a look around. I might even visit the cemetery over there (laughs).

Bryan: Help each other... Valerie: And relax. You’re not in the rat race. You go along nice and slow. You look upon the traffic going “zum zum zum”, and you are just tranquil.

(Bryan walks in) Bryan: Enjoy...

Just thinking about this relation you have to the place you are moored at, how different is this neighborhood relationship in the countryside in comparison to the city? Valerie: Not really different. That’s something you take with you. Whether it is in the city or whether it is in the countryside, it is still the same. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference, does it Bryan?

Valerie: Enjoy. I would say to look at the magazines available and read out about it. And maybe, if they are not sure, they can just hire a boat for a week to give them an idea what it is going to be like. Because for us it was a big financial step, we sold our house and had to get rid of everything because you can’t bring it all on board (laughs). But you know, if

Yes, I heard it. Bryan: So, when this is dry a little bit down again, I’ll put the dark blue on and then I have to do the black and the side, I’ll probably do that tomorrow or tomorrow evening, something like that. And then little bits further on the two days and then finished, no problem.

Bryan: No, most people are nice anyway. All over either if it’s villages or in town or a city, most people are very nice. Wherever you go, mostly, it’s very very rare you see trouble, people who are nasty to you or anything like that. You said that you hired someone to build the boat. Valerie: Yes.

Does it require lots of maintenance? Valerie: Well, more than a house.

Did you need to name the boat? Did you give it a name? Valerie: Yes, we gave it a name. After it was built.

Bryan: This year, it needs a little bit more because I didn’t do much last year. Because last year we were travelling all over the country. I usually do the maintenance over the winter, when we are more stationary than we are in the summer. But last year was such a terrible year for rain and... oh, it’s terrible, terrible. So, I couldn’t do the maintenance. Now we’ve got some fine weather I’m trying to get it done to make up for last year as well. So, this year we have got a lot, you know, a lot more than we would normally have. But it’s not too bad really. I mean, if you have to go paint your house, you have to paint your house, right?

What is the name? Valerie: Our boat is called Marie Claire. Because when we sold the house, we spent our children’s inheritance. One is called Marie and one is called Claire. So we thought, as we’re spending their money, we would call the boat after them, as a compensation.(laughs) So, how is the paint work going? Bryan: I’ve put the undercoat on now, so that’s got to dry. Tomorrow I’ll put the topcoats on hopefully. Because last night, do you know about the thunderstorm and the rain?

boat names It is said that the name of a boat can never be changed, even in the possession ofa new owner. This series of photographs suggest a short tour around the Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Regentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Canal through the names of boats.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission from the authors. The views expressed on Floating Neighbours are not necessarily those of the authors.

Editors: Luciana Mitishita, Manuela dos Santos, Mateus Lira, Vítor Lagoeiro Photos: Luciana Mitishita, Vítor Lagoeiro Drawings: Manuela dos Santos Maps: Manuela dos Santos, Mateus Lira Diagrams: Mateus Lira, Vítor Lagoeiro

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