[Video] Narrowboats: Is it Cold in Winter?

What's it like living on a boat? Is it cold in winter? How much does a narrowboat cost?

These are common questions when living on a narrowboat. Sometimes there are silly questions too. At Easter I went to visit my friend Lina, and helped her to move her boat to a new mooring. I made a short film, just for fun, asking her some of the common questions we get asked about boats, and adding some of the sillier questions too.

I've blogged about Lina before; 

"She was gentle and hippy, witty and funny, and her boats (there’ve been a few) are always full of candlelight and cats, the smell of wood-smoke and the sound of relaxing music. To be with her is like living in my favourite part of my brain. To share a bottle of wine in a country pub is to laugh relentlessly, listen intently and glow internally. I always come away feeling like a much bigger and better version of myself." 

“Don’t be fooled by the boat that I got, I’m just Lina from the Lock.”

I hope you enjoy meeting Lina here, and seeing some of the countryside around Banbury.

(Music by UK rock band Cleaner.)

These are all actual questions Lina and I have been asked about living aboard.

Do you live on a canal boat? What questions have you been asked about your lifestyle? Leave me a comment below!

My Snow Day Video

At last, my first ever video-log! There's a tiny bit of me, a lot of snow, and the story of what to do when the tap at the water point is frozen. This took me hours to make, I think I'll be less ambitious next time I make a film!

Thanks to Mike Andrews for making the soundtrack Snow In The Dark available under a Creative Commons licence.

The Frozen Canal Slide Show

Narrowboat and frozen canal

I love Erica and Antonias ebooks and courses - especially the free ones! The Ace Blogging e-Course suggested adding a slide show to your blog and I've been meaning to try it for ages. But why use a slideshow? Erica says,
"A slideshow is simply another way to present content to your audience. It varies your blog up a bit, and there are some things that I think look better as a slideshow - for example presenting a number of pictures and telling a short story."
So this is a collection of pictures of the canal frozen around Marsworth, including lots of narrowboats and snow, ducks and swans. This is basically the things that I see on the nursery run when we're walking to nursery. Our boat is in there somewhere too.

Now, I thought embedding the code meant the slideshow would appear here on the blog but it seems you need to click on the link below and go to YouTube. Let me know if you know how to fix that! It took me ages to sort out 'cause I had to download Picasa and join You Tube, so please leave me a comment :-)

Anyway, if you only see one frozen canal slide show this year, see this one!


View Narrowboat Wife's Frozen Canal Slide Show

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link to Ace Inspire.

Winter Boating

Canal frozen, Angel Islington, London.

As part of my Living Aboard series of blog posts I wrote an article titled Is it Cold in Winter? The past two winters have been exceptionally cold and more of the same is forecast for the end of this year. British Waterways, with assistance from the Residential Boat Owners Association has recently produced a guidance document explaining what services will and will not be provided in extreme weather conditions. British Waterways will arrange for contractors to visit mooring sites to repair emergency plumbing problems, electric faults and frozen locks, (if there is no other access to the site.) They will organise follow-up calls if refuse collections are missed and will arrange grit delivery to sites with grit bins, (the grit is to be distributed on site by boaters).

BW will not organise emergency call-outs for frozen water pipes or pump outs, as these cannot be repaired until they thaw. They will not arrange for the removal of sewage from a boat where there are working alternative facilities on site. BW recommend that boaters stock-pile water supplies in advance of a forecast freeze, as they will not supply on-site water bowsers (trailer mounted water tanks). BW offices will be closed from 2pm on 23rd December until 3rd January, but customers can report any faults by calling the Freephone Canals number 0800 47 999 47. Cruising in winter can be a challenge. You will need to be aware of the dangers of ice and snow on towpaths, bridges and lock-sides. Keep well back from the edge and use handrails on lock gates. Hold on to something sturdy when getting on and off your boat. Clear snow from the gunwales and use grit when you can. De-icer and spray grease are useful for locks and padlocks on your own boat and on the boating facilities. Try to keep ropes out of the water as frozen ropes are difficult to work with! It may be an idea to keep spare, dry ropes indoors.

Winter can actually be a good time to buy a narrowboat, barge or canal boat as you can really get a feel for what the boat will be like during the colder months, and go into it with your eyes open. At Boatshed Grand Union you can see a great selection of photos of each boat before arranging a viewing.

Finally, I am going to re-iterate my previous advice for boating in the winter: Put a casserole in the oven and some mulled wine on top of the stove!

Image Credits
'Mulled Wine for the Party' by fieldtripp
'Frozen Canal' by D Melmoth
Creative Commons License

You may also like:

Living Aboard - Part 5: Is it Cold in Winter?

The short answer is no. It is a bit of a running joke amongst live-aboard boaters that this is the most common question that people will ask. However, it may well be a question that you need to ask when you are looking for a boat to buy on the Grand Union canal in London or Hertfordshire. The longer answer is that it depends on your heating. Many boats and narrowboats for sale on the inland waterways are heated with a solid fuel stove. This burns coal or wood and a narrow steel boat can get very hot when the home fire is burning – enough to need opening the window in mid-winter! The advantages of burning solid fuel include a choice of coal or logs as fuel, and the romance of cosy nights in front of the amber glow of real flames. I've had casseroles and mulled wine simmering away on top of mine. The downside to solid fuel is that the fire can sometimes die down to an ember overnight making the mornings a little chilly. You will need to re-black the stove from time to time and sweep the flue regularly.

Solid fuel stove

When I was pregnant with our first child we invested in a diesel stove. It runs off red diesel from the engine tank and maintains a constant heat. It may not seem as cosy and romantic as a real burning fire but some models have an imitation coal flame effect. You can leave the stove safely burning all night while you sleep, and all day when you're out at work. They can, however be a bit of a pain to clean.

Narrowboats can also have a variety of panel or fin radiators which circulate hot water. Alternatively they may be heated with warm air ducting. They either run on diesel, or run off the existing diesel stove or from propane gas bottles. Some systems are electrically controlled so you will need to make sure your batteries are in good condition and regularly charged. Some central heating systems take up very little space but the diesel systems sometimes have noisy exhausts, or electric pumps which can be disturbing at night.

 

On 1^st November 2008 The EU Energy Products Directive stipulated that the full rate of duty should be applied to fuel used for “the purposes of navigation” of private pleasure craft. However, boaters can declare at the time of purchase what percentage of the fuel will be used for domestic heating, and this fuel will be sold to the boater tax free.

Diesel can be purchased at marinas and boat yards, and also from working boats who travel the waterways selling a variety of fuels. Working boats will often sell coal, smokeless fuel, diesel, propane gas bottles and other useful products such as kindling or chemical fluid for the toilet.

Both diesel and solid fuel stoves can be adapted to include a back boiler which may heat the radiators and the domestic hot water. On a live-aboard boat you may like to have more than one heating system, for example a solid fuel stove and a radiator system. However, when you're looking at boats for sale remember that most boats can be adapted to suit your requirements.

Have a look at Boatshed Grand Union to see several different types of heating on the boats for sale that are suitable for living aboard. There are up to 80 photos of each boat so you can get a good look at the options available. The real answer is that it is cosy on board in winter, and perhaps this winter it will be you snuggled up on board eating casserole with mulled wine warming on the stove!

Casserole image credit

Already have a narrowboat? Are you often being asked, Is it Cold in Winter? Contact Boat-Wife for a free postcard sized magnet to display on your boat. It is a small advert for this blog.

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Living Aboard a Narrowboat – Part 1

My little Boat-Wife brain is full of fascinating things that I learned at the parent blogging conference Cybermummy11. I was reminded that a blog is not just a publishing platform. It is an interactive community. The writer is approachable and available. When I’m on my boat people passing by on the towpath sometimes ask me questions. Think of yourself on a stroll on the towpath now; I’m hanging my washing out on a clothes horse on the front deck. You think to yourself,

Hey, it’s that Boat-Wife off the internet! I wonder if it’s cold in winter on a narrowboat?

Ask Narrowboat Wife

You may be thinking of living aboard a narrowboat, buying a narrowboat or just going on a narrowboat holiday. You may just be curious about narrowboat family life.  Leave your question as a comment below and I will add the answers to the blog.

Is it cold in winter living on a narrowboat?

The short answer is no. It’s kind of a running joke among boaters that this is the question most people will always ask. The longer answer is that it depends on your heating. Most narrowboats are heated with a solid fuel stove. It burns coal or wood and a narrow steel boat can get very hot when the home fire is burning – enough to need opening the windows in mid-winter! The downside is that the fire can die down to an ember overnight making the mornings a little chilly. My friend Barge-Mum found that her solid fuel stove was inadequate to heat her large Dutch Barge. When I was pregnant with our first child we invested in a diesel stove. It runs off diesel from the engine tank and maintains a constant heat 24/7. The downside is it’s not as cosy and romantic as a real burning fire and it’s a real pain to clean (says The Doctor!). Narrowboats can also have a variety of radiators which either run off the diesel stove or from propane gas bottles.

Aren’t you worried that your children will fall into the canal?

Yes, but probably not as much as non-boating parents. They were born on board and have the risks drummed into them every day. If you lived near a busy road you would not leave the door unlocked. We keep the doors bolted shut and there are playpen barriers around the front deck. Accidents happen to children every day, on roads, in houses and very, very rarely on canals. The memory of the tragic loss of my friends’ child is never far from my mind.

How often do you have to move your narrowboat?

We move the boat every two weeks. We have a British Waterways Continuous Cruising Licence which requires us to continue our journey every fourteen days. In practice we have to move about once a week to fill the water tank at a water point. After fourteen days we are required to move to the next ‘place’ or ‘neighbourhood’ – not just to the next bridge.

Is living on a narrowboat cheaper than living in a house?

It is possibly a little cheaper but it depends on the particular house and narrowboat that you are comparing. I bought my first boat in the year 2000 when I was renting a room in a shared flat in London. Taking into consideration the BW licence fee, insurance, mooring fee, boat loan repayments to the bank, cost of gas and coal etcetera I found that the lifestyle was similar in monthly costs to my lifestyle ‘on the bank’. However, a big motivating factor for me was to be able to own my home. For a couple sharing a boat it would definitely be cheaper than renting a flat. Your costs will depend on the size of your marine mortgage or boat loan repayments, and your mooring fees which can vary depending on location and facilities. The bigger the boat the more expensive your insurance and BW licence will be.

Narrowboat Hire

When you hire a narrowboat the hire company will give you a brief lesson in how to steer the boat. They will also provide life jackets for the children. You can use Google to find a hire boat company in your chosen area. They are also advertised in the waterways press. Many companies offer day boat hire.

Living Aboard a Narrowboat

The Residential Boat Owners Association website has a lot of useful information about living aboard. There are also several books on the topic.

How Much Does a Narrowboat Cost?

A new narrowboat will cost about £1000 per foot. Second hand narrowboats can start at under £10,000 for a ‘project boat’ – something tired and weary. A 40 foot boat for one could be as little as £15,000; a good condition 70 foot boat to suit a family may cost around £45,000. The price depends on the age and condition of the boat. The important thing to check is the condition of the hull, by paying for a professional survey before purchase. Browse narrowboats for sale at http://grandunion.boatshed.com/

Have you got a TV/shower/toilet etcetera?

Most boats have all of the above and depending on your budget you can have all mod-cons including a microwave, dishwasher and washing machine! The complicated part is do you have a big enough water tank and an electric system that can cope with the demands of modern life? Running these modern luxuries is easier if you are on a mooring with 240 volt electric supply and your own water tap. If you are continuously cruising you will need to find out about generators and invertors and make sure that you have a good sized water tank. Chemical toilets can either be the pump-out type, which is emptied at a pump out point (pumped out by a machine), or an Elsan (sometimes called a ‘porta potty’) which can be emptied by hand into a sewage disposal point.

And there you have it. It’s never long before a boater’s conversation degenerates into toilet talk. Why not share this wealth of information with all your canal-curious friends on Facebook and Twitter? Click the buttons below to share.

Boat-Wife

The Boating Community

I’d been so lonely, travelling for so long. I longed for a sense of community (and my own bedroom, and a washing machine...)

Liveaboard boater/mum/nurse

I know a nurse who lives aboard with her eight year old daughter. Shehas lived on canals for fourteen years and likes everything about boating but she told me,

“The best things are a wonderful sense of community and belonging, looking after my neighbours and feeling looked after. Financial freedom, change of scene, great friends and canal family, lots of colourful characters and musical gatherings.” She still lives aboard now.

The Marine Engineer lived aboard for twelve years before ‘jumping ship’. He lived aboard with The Original Boat-Wife and their two sons. He said,

“The lifestyle was brilliant, if you never had a friend in the world then the Cut is the place to find them, summers are wonderful for socialising and getting together, moving around all the time was for me the greatest part of it all. A different view every couple of weeks and even when you were somewhere that was not great you knew that very soon you would be moving on again. Generally we always tried to find somewhere really remote and out of the way so there was no one around for miles, or we would be very close to the pub which was equally as nice but for completely different reasons. last but not least the pleasure of just picking up my rod and fishing whilst carrying on with the rest of my life. At times I fished from the moment I got up until I left the boat and started again as soon as I got home: wonderful.”

Marsworth towpath (Herts)

The Marine Engineer’s wife was the first Boat-Wife I ever met. When I asked her about boating she told me,

“I loved the lifestyle, the friends, chatting to strangers, moving around - everything. I  hated...er....er...er...um...restricted space, but only after having children, and...er...running the engine to charge to batteries, too noisy and I think that’s it.”

But surely children make life aboard so much more difficult?

The nurse said, “ I enjoyed living on the boat even more when my daughter was born, because I spent a lot more time at home with her and enjoyed walking along the towpath whilst pushing her in her buggy. I knew a good few boat mums and felt quite connected. We travelled on the boat a lot as well before she started school, so it was a great adventure.

We do so much off the boat, she is well loved on the canal. My daughter does like going up to Denham and being at the country park”.

Denham Country Park offers 69 acres of rambling walks and woodland footpaths. It is surrounded by the Grand Union Canal and the rivers Colne and Misbourne.

“Being on the boat, means that I get to spend more time with my daughter because I don't have to work like mad to pay rent or a mortgage and I like being there for her.”

Marsworth towpath

The Marine Engineer and his wife lived aboard for four years before their first son arrived and lived aboard as parents for 8 1/2 years in total.

The Original Boat-Wife said that sometimes she would drop hints to The Marine Engineer about moving, for some of the same reasons that I have been thinking about,

“Laundry, cramped space - especially when it was raining, dragging shopping and kids from the car to the boat; and I was always paranoid about the water.”

But The Marine Engineer said,

 “Once we had children I think my feelings pretty much stayed the same. to be honest we had a better social life on the Cut with kids than we ever would have had in a house. You can be outside with friends and the kids inside asleep or outside playing with you, and when we moored outside or near a pub a really good quality baby monitor meant we could sit in the pub have a few drinks and the boys would be asleep inside a locked boat and very safe.

The advantages for kids are the outside lifestyle, growing up knowing and understanding a non orthodox way of life, great education of life and nature. Healthy living - having to walk to many places sometimes a long way to get to the shops or even just the car. We lived in some of the most beautiful places in England. Oh yeah, and did I mention getting to have the pub garden (swings, slides and the rest) as your own little garden when you were moored up outside?

The downside for children is the dangers of water, you know what I am saying Boat-Wife.”

When interviewing boating families I asked them,

What are the most common questions that people ask you about living on a boat?

The answers were always, “Is it cold in winter? And, “Aren’t you worried about your children falling in the canal?”

I asked, what are the best things for children living aboard?

The Marine Engineer said,

“As a parent the greatest thing for me was teaching and watching my boys learn how to swing a lock gate and lift and lower paddles properly etcetera, at an age where most other kids would not have a clue what they were even for.

We left only to emigrate, and I think if we had not then we would still be afloat. Living in England   I had no urge whatsoever to move to a house. “

The Original Boat-Wife said,

“I do miss it terribly but would not go back for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. What do I miss? the shock on people’s faces when you say you live on a boat. The friends, the pubs and social life; talking to complete strangers on the towpath and not being treated or treating anyone like a psycho murderer, the peace and quiet, no traffic, crowds, noisy neighbours and of course the beautiful English countryside like nowhere else on earth.

It was the best time of my life and I wouldn’t swap it for the world, a house is great...bigger though more expensive, more mod cons, and cleaning! Believe me cleaning a boat was fun compared to a big house. If we didn’t emigrate we would be still on the boat unless we moved completely away to the countryside, somewhere quiet, remote and beautiful and I doubt that would have happened.”

The Marine Engineer told me,

“What I am trying to say is that of all the chapters in my life, the canal would be the longest, and holds truly some of the greatest, loveliest memories I could ever wish for, it also holds the most painful as well, so for us it was a good time to go. Never look back, just forwards, but always remember what has passed, it makes you a better person at the end of the day and appreciate what you had and what you now have.

Learn from it all and then a house can be as enjoyable (for all the opposite reasons) as the canal ever was.  Take care and good luck with whatever you choose to do. At the end of the day only you can decide what is right for you guys, but I would take this opportunity to say that a mooring is different from continuous cruising, but it doesn't mean you can never move the boat -  in fact I would recommend it, every chance you get you take it. But a mooring is definitely nothing like having a house. Especially in England where a house is a hideaway, not many people know their neighbours in the street, other than the immediate next door ones maybe. But a mooring, well you know how it is. No need to tell you guys...”

These accounts of parenting on board made me realise that perhaps I could have everything I wanted if we just travelled in The Countryside instead of in and around London.

I thought that to have a sense of community we would have to settle down on a mooring. The Doctor always said that if you stay still on a mooring you might as well have a house; that there would be all the disadvantages of a boat without the advantages. But the boaters I’d interviewed from outside of London had inspired in me visions of myself in colourful clothes, huddled around a campfire, surrounded by beautiful countryside and like-minded romantic day-dreamers. I dreamed of living close to nature, the freedom of the Cut and the gaily painted charm of a traditional boatman’s cabin.

Boatman's Cabin

I told The Doctor that maybe I didn’t have to have a house, or a mooring. But I did want a bigger boat, with our own bedroom and a washing machine. He was so relieved. He never wanted to stop travelling, but he had been willing to give up the lifestyle that he loved, spend a vast slice of his salary on rent, council tax and bills, and see less of the children due to time spent commuting, all so that we could live in a Victorian cottage in St Albans.

A cottage in St Albans where the landlord did not want tenants with children.

Meet The Boaters: Karolina's Family



Rainy Kensal Green

 What makes someone decide to live aboard? Does having kids change that? Why do some families stay living aboard, and others decide that as their children grow older, it’s time to leave the waterways and live ashore? I’ve begun to interview some boaters and ex-boaters about life afloat.


Karolina, (32) is a finance officer and lives with Grzegorz, (27) a sound technician, and their daughter who is fifteen months old. They bought their first narrowboat in April 2009, so have lived aboard for two years. They are “continuous cruisers” who sometimes take a winter mooring. She loves the peace and quiet of canal life.

Karolina, what first attracted you to the boating lifestyle?

There are no noisy neighbours, you can sightsee London easily, it’s close to nature and on top of it. We could not get a loan for buying a flat so this was a nice alternative. My husband always dreamed of living on a boat, he is a "sailor soul."

Our boat is a 40 foot, traditional, BMC1.5 (engine) I love my plants on the roof. The down sides of this boat are that there is less space for a spare gas bottle, and we need to fold and unfold our table every time after eating.
The best things about living on a boat are being close to nature - birds, peace – and escaping from the rush of London.

The worst thing about living on a boat is winter - you need to be careful with the heating (not too hot, and not too cold, and not to run out of coal etcetera).

After having our daughter I would say that the worse elements are these same things.

I lived in Germany for four or five years before moving to the UK, and we moved together to the UK in Autumn 2008, so we have lived for one year in the UK before having children. I think the best thing for children about this lifestyle are that you can feed ducks from the kitchen window!

Duck

So what are the worst things for children about the boating lifestyle?

I just wonder how I will commute to work and nursery once the winter mooring has finished and we have to cruise again.

What are the best and worst things for parents about living aboard?

My daughter will speak English without any troubles! But the worst thing is that we are too far from the grandparents and all family - I feel quite often isolated, we do not have here many friends who would do babysitting.

What are the most common questions people ask you about living on a boat?


Is it cold in winter? And is there any risk that my daughter will drop in to the water?

What encourages you to stay living aboard? Can you imagine anything that might change your mind about living afloat?

Poland is quite an expensive country; it is easier to live in the UK for us at the moment. We might move to Poland only due family reasons, for example, if our parents were ill.

Click on the label/tag Meet The Boaters (in the side bar) to read more boat family interviews.

Meet The Boaters: Rosie and Tony

Rosie and Tony lived on a narrowboat for four years and a Dutch barge for two years. Rosie is an artist and Tony is a careworker. They have two dogs and a one year old baby.

Rosie says, “Tony used to walk Mabel, our dog, down by Kensal Green canal when we were renting a flat up that way and he got into the idea of the boat, I was nervous about coming back at night but there was a woman with a baby moored there and I thought, ‘If she can do it we can’.

We got a shell from the Liverpool boat company and fitted the whole thing out at Kensal Green. We had a camp stove and no toilet or running water. We had to go to Sainsburys for the toilet and a pound shower at the leisure center. The roof was totally piled up with crap but we were really excited about it and enjoyed roughing it up! We did Bobby Dazzler out lovely in the end, and it’s now well loved and looked after by its new owners.
Our next boat was bought off a bloke who was doing it out with his wife, but she died and he wanted shot of it. I was ready for land but Tony talked me into looking and we decided to buy it. It was cold when we moved onto it and the heating was a diesel stove that didn’t work; it was pretty grim. We had a beautiful lake to ourselves in Shepperton but it was full of Canadian geese which never shut up! It had a lot more space and it was a lot easier to do out as you could put normal furniture in it, but because it was old it wasn’t well insulated and needed all the rust taking off and painted and greased again.

The best thing about living on a boat is summer evenings when you’re moored with a nice bunch of boaters and there’s a barbeque on the go and we had some good New Years party cruises on the Bobby Dazzler. But the best thing is long summer trips down the Thames. You get a good set of people on boats from all walks of life but you all have the boats in common and I like that.

The worst thing is long winters; having British Waterways on your back, and toilets are nicer on land - but you just get used to that. It felt a bit damp on Jantina ( the Dutch barge) towards the end of winter but that was a long winter.

The best thing with our baby was that it was a nice towpath community, including some of the dog walkers. There were low overheads in that lifestyle. I would have loved to have taken our daughter on the Thames round Cookham way when she was a bit older. She used to like sitting in the wheel house when we were on the move.

The worst thing about boating with a baby is doing the locks, keeping the heat consistent (especially when she was really tiny) not having a doctors, having to move when you have made mum friends in an area, getting on and off the boat with a buggy, you couldn’t get a babysitter, and smoke coming in the boat! I could go on …ha ha!

We lived on the boat for four years before we had a baby and nine months with her.

I think it’s a nice way for kids to live as it’s a big adventure, although when they get a bit older they might make friends that they don’t want to move from. It would be ideal if you had a group of boaters with kids that moved around together. I don’t know how it would have been now that she’s walking; that wouldn’t be too relaxing.

I found it hard being so reliant on Tony for so much.. i.e wood for the fire, petrol for the generator, filling up, emptying out. It’s nice for him now that he can come home from work and settle instead of having a million things to do (athough he probably doesn’t know what to do with himself). The little things that are a bit harder on a boat really add up. Laundry, changing gas, topping up the fire, all become a lot more intense when there is a new baby. When she was really sick the other day we did about ten washes in one day, and I kept thinking, I’m so glad I’m not on the boat!

When you live on a boat people always say … “Oh how lovely, I’d love to do that!” …and I think, 'You wouldn’t last two minutes love!'

Rosie and Tony now rent a house with a garden.

“I left boating because of all of the worst things that I’ve just said, but in spring and summer I will miss it because of all the good things... “



Rosie Short creates quirky hand-made dolls at http://www.theworldofbobbydazzler.co.uk/

Winter Wonderland

18th December

Coming home I access the towpath from Danbury Street bridge. The concrete ramp is solid with frozen snow. I gingerly edge downwards step by step, one hand on the pushchair, one hand on the railing. Under the Victorian brick arched bridge the sound of water drips through the darkness into the cut. The edge of the arch is protected by black metal, with deep grooves worn into it: the result of years of ropes rubbing the corner, when horse drawn boats were the main traffic here. Like all boaters my key-ring has a spherical cork on it to save it lest it should fall into the Cut. The BW key opens the heavy iron gate, which is all vertical black railings. This magic key fits all waterways locks and opens gates, swing bridges, electric locks and boaters facilities across the whole country. My footsteps crunch on the towpath, which is crisp with pure white snow. Ice is slowly forming like translucent custard skin creeping by moonlight across the surface of the canal water. The steep cutting on the opposite bank is peopled with bare winter trees, their toes tucked snugly under the snowy blanket, their silhouettes back-lit by old fashioned style amber streetlamps. On our mooring boats are double moored from the bridge to the Islington tunnel. In the nineteenth century winters were so much colder that the local Victorians would come ice-skating on the glistening Cut down here and even go skating in the tunnel: A half-mile black bore-hole lurking and dripping secretly below the bustling boutiques of Upper Street. I can hear the distant chugging of engines as a couple of my boating neighbours recharge their domestic batteries. Single Boat Mum’s boat glows with winter merriment as solar-powered blue fairy-lights twinkle on her roof. Johnny Boater, tousled and curly, stops to chat as I lift the two sleepy angels out of their pushchair. Then he winks and grins and heads off down the towpath and disappears into the darkness. A thick icing of snow on the boats’ roofs’ make us all inhabitants of a charity Christmas card’s perfect winter scene. I shut the blue painted back doors against the snowy boughs leaning over the mooring. Soon chestnuts are exploding in the gas oven, there’s neat Jack Daniels in a glass and Frank Sinatra on the stereo, dreaming of a white Christmas, in Angel.