When you travel (and live) on a narrowboat you always encounter gongoozlers.
Picture of Foxton Locks by a gongoozler
Gongoozlers? And that are?
Well, a gongoozler is a person who idly watches activity on the canals of the UK.
Gongoozlers flock locks, gather at canalside pubs, and are always full of questions.
“Are you on holiday?” (There is a Dutch flag on the back.)
“No.”
“Is this your own boat?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you been out cruising?”
“Since March.”
“Where do you live?” (Must be the Dutch accent.)
“On the boat.”
“You don’t have a house?”
“Yes, we have” (pointing at WRT).
Then awe strikes. It gets silent, while they imagine themselves, living on a thing like WRT.
How small it is.
Would they have a TV? (Yes, but only 21 inch, not 60 inch.)
Would they have a bath? (No, just a shower, and no unlimited water!)
Envy is the next emotion.
“You just go anywhere?” (Yes, as long as there is a canal.)
“And you stop whenever you want?” (Yes, unless mooring is not allowed.)
And then they get it all wrong: “Is it cold in winter?”
That is definitely the wrong question.
“No, we have a solid fuel stove, and a central heating.”
The right question should be: “Is it hot in summer?”
Yes, it’s flippin’ hot in summers like we have now. Perfect insulation keeps the heat in in winter, as well as in summer. And once it is 30°C inside, it stays 30°C inside.
Bread rises in 15 minutes, instead of in 45 minutes, cookies in a jar just melt, and we sleep in a sauna.
When we cruise we spend a fortune on sun cream (factor 50, of course). We fight with other boaters over a mooring with some sort of shadow. And have to deal with all these stupid questions of all these gongoozlers.
Living on a narrowboat in summer is absolutely horrible.
Picture of Foxton Locks by a boater