houseboat

Houseboats used to be a really cheap way to live, but not anymore, especially on the Thames. Moorings and service charges are ridiculously expensive in London.

But I know a couple of people who have lived on them for years. The downside (as well as the above) is the maintenance and the fact that that they rarely increase in value. It's the lifestyle you do it for. There is often a real sense of community spirit, sometimes communal gardens, drinks on each others roofs... and there's the waking up with mist on the river and ducks and swans paddling past - bliss!

I want one!

Which one would you have?

Norfolk - Northfork

I was filming in Norfolk recently and we spent the night on the north coast next to these huge mudflats by the Sea. It was bloody freezing but beautiful.
We stayed in a little B&B, with all the English chintz that you'd expect.
Behind the house was a boat in a field. It belonged to the couple's son and I thought 'how cool to live in a houseboat in a field' - but apparently, and to my disappointment, it's not a houseboat but just a regular boat he's renovating and no one lives there.

Reminded me though of the crazy 2003 film Northfork (note similarities of name with Norfolk!) Has anyone seen it? I still have no idea what to make of it. I think it probably had amazing potential which it didn't quite meet unfortunately. A modern day Noah's Ark? Maybe that's what the son was really building...

  

   

I like the loneliness in it though, and that's what the Norfolk boat reminded me of. Poetic.

Talking about loneliness, here's 10 words a Twitter friend just used to describe me:

Beautiful, intelligent, sullen, travelled, protective, sculptural, simpatica, graceful, lost, tierna

Tierna is Spanish - Literally, it means "tender" but the connotation is sweet, loveable, innocent, heart-warming, etc.

Northfork at IMDB