To be fed up with derogatory comments about my floating paradise...

[boatwitch]

I live on a narrowboat with my 7mnth ds, and Im constantly being asked Isnt it damp?I point out that I live on the water and not in it.Ive been unlucky this winter and suffered several colds and the like,only to be asked on several occasions..could it be because you live on a boat?Well no..why should it be!!!Surely that implies that my home is somehow inferior? I have doors and windows which open and close,a fully functional kitchen and bathroom [with full size bath] a washing machine,tumble dryer,solid fuel stove..I could go on..I will..a garden,with chickens [fresh eggs every day] and a very happy healthy ds!My hospital notes referred to me as a boat dwellerwhich I know isnt exactly derogatory,but it needn`t have been mentioned,and sounded a bit,well,tree dwellerish.Am I being over sensitive?

Oh, I used to dream of living on a narrowboat. My sister and I were going to buy a boat and butty and run our own floating art gallery...

Boatwitch - I have a 70ft barge with an 18ft beam, central heating, an aga, a garden - every mod con you could think of - and people are always saying "Isn't it damp?"

I've never been called a boat-dweller, though - don't think I'd care for that!

Yes please! We can put my whistling kettle over the campfire, while our children run barefoot around us on a summer evening, shawls over our shoulders... And have crochet so starched it can be made into little bowls...

It all sounds so lovely...

I'm all about the crochet.

Bloody hell, I shouldn't have painted my circumstances so badly - now boatwitch and seeker will never agree to a holiday swap with me.
I can look after the chickens and water all those lovely troughs of flowers you have on the roof...pretty please...

FfreckleFface - LOL - that's exactly what I was going to say about the cartwheeling!! (except I've got a year or two (ahem ahem) on you and I'm now terrified of trying to do one!!). A friend (of similar age and build) was asking how the hell we are going to teach the LO's how to 'play on the bars' and I told her, I no longer play on them, only in them ... then I told her the LO's will learn the way we did - from bigger kids, my Mum sure as hell didn't teach me (nor her Mum her!!).

Florence - your desire to go cartwheeling merrily along may have to gather dust with a few other things very soon - hate to tell you, but it's all downhill from 29

Boatwitch - PMSL - 'I live on the water not in the water' I would love to holiday on a narrow boat ... where did you say you are???

Maybe 'boatdweller' was just intended to warn midwives and HVs that they'd better not have their 5 inch heels on?

Ha ha..I`m really happy again!You can all come and visit..FlorenceDaphne would love it,gaily painted purple,horse brasses on the walls [although not so shiny since having ds].I did lovingly crochet him a blanket before he was born,and we sit out in the evenings on my roof garden [the top of a pill box]under the grapevine.No nightingales,but the owls are rather lovely.
Thanks all for your kindness

Boatwitch - it sounds beautiful; how lucky you DS is to have this as his home.

Hey, this is what I mean!

Maybe your hospital have heard stories such as the one my mum delights in telling!

Family holiday in the 1950s, her sister got up to 'use the facilities' early one morning - turned the wrong way and walked straight into the canal - aged 14!

Doh

Boatwitch, i am jealous It sounds fantastic, something i have always wanted to do! Although, if i am honest i would probably get fed up after a couple of weeks and miss my home comforts, but it sounds amazing!!

Take no notice of what anyone else says, who really cares what they think!!

yanbu,sounds wonderful.my friend has boat usually moored st john wood

Night night..off to bed,going to dream of a 70ft boat with 18ft beam..big enough to cartwheel around,and all these fab visitors I`ll have this summer!

Actually, having always loved narrowboat holidays, when my father injured himself it quickly became apparent that boats are a little tricky if you are disabled even temporarily (broke his ribs, hospital didn't have any beds so couldn't admit, we were a long way from home and he was the only driver as my sisters and I were still teenagers. Think my mother had to come and rescue us all - forced into an act of mercy towards her ex because we were there, poor woman!).

So maybe that's why 'boatdweller' is worth having on the notes, in case you developed SPD or something?

Message withdrawn

ooh, I'd LOVE to live on one of those boats! I see them quite often as nearest (well, I see 'near' but it's over 10 miles away!) Tesco is next to a canal and there are lots of boats there. They look lovely.

I've never been inside one though. Do you have any pics? I bet it's really nice.

i lived on a nb for 3 years during uni and LOVED it. I was doing a teaching degree and it was always fab trying to explain it to children but I think adult were the worst.
'Where do you go to the toilet?' does it move?' how do you do your washing? Is it cold? How do you wash?' etc etc etc

It was the best of times (would go back tomorrow in a shot but dh said something like 'over my dead body...') and the worst of time (partner at the time was having an affair/becoming a policeman and it was all going wrong)

Loved the freedon, nature, living a 'different life' aspect but above all I loved the boat (52 foot, trad I sanded and painted all 52 foot of the sides and top and then did the wood on the indside, blacked its bum to which was very messy!)

I, for one, are very jealous of you and would swap my hideous newbuild house for a boat anyday...

You're not called Martha are you?

My stepmother refused to come on my Dad's first n/b holiday because she was convinced there would be no loo, or fridge, or kitchen sink! Just would not believe him.

my ds grandma lives on a boat and we love going there it is just a house on the water very spacious fully functioning and i love it

Hi again..Im not called Martha.Our local Tesco has moorings for those shopping by boat,and boats moored opposite. I havent got any pics unfortunately,Ill have to sort that out! Muppetgirl..Ive had all the questions you mentioned.When my HV came aboard..she exclaimed gleefully ooh you have a sink..er yes!The funniest by far was my 5day check after birth of ds.The MW brought a trainee with her..a very tall man.She announced she didnt like boats and wouldnt be staying long.Tall man just looked terribly uncomfortable throughout short visit.When visit was over,tall man (and this required a huge effort),climbed out of the roof hatch.He`d entered through the doors..had he forgotten?How on earth did he think I got in and out with a newborn.I tried to tell him, but was laughing too much!Feel a bit sorry for him now,but at the time it was hilarious!
Gotta black my bottom this year!

really? You don't live in a place called W. B. do you?

well, not wb, that's a stupid name

Lol..I live on the Grand Union in a place called R in Herts.Think quite a few Tesco stores cater for the boat fraternity.Once went to Tesco by canoe..v.funny.