Bruce wrote: > Seems to me that boats evolve to suit the waters they are used in, and > there's little point, and often some danger, in using one away from the > conditions for which it's been designed over the centuries. I'm > passionately fond of the narrowboat shape on UK canals, but why on > earth insist on using it in situations where you could have something > so much roomier and better suited to the demands of the navigation?
We have seen several narrowboats over in France and they do attract a lot of attention because of their colour and unique style. Unfortunately some of the ones that we've seen are somewhat run down and you get the impression, rightly or wrongly, that they are over there because it is cheaper living. One boat has been plugged into free electricity in a village for several years now and rarely seems to move. I'm not sure just how long the village's generosity will last because we've heard that the locals are getting a little peed off with boatowners using the free electricity and not using the village shops etc. In their opinion the purpose of the free facilities is to attract the tourist type visitor, not the freeloader. In our experience there are fewer and fewer free electricity points still working. It does seem that the abuse of the free facilites has caused a local reaction against continuing to provide them. Roger
