If there is one thing that this time of year teaches you, it’s that owning a narrow boat is absolutely awful. Experiencing temperatures over twenty degrees the last few days has really exposed the pitfalls of Narrow home ownership.

Firstly when the sun is shining you can step outside and be surrounded by the awful peace, tranquility and beauty of the Marina. Some people may be inclined to lay on the roof of their boat sunbathing, but do not be fooled, from up here you will be refreshingly cooled by a soft breeze and could even fall asleep against the soothing motion of the boat, believe me this is as hideous as it sounds.

Want to know what makes this experience even worse? You can’t escape it by doing some wonderful gardening, or hear the seductive tones of your neighbours firing their lawn mower into life. So you have to sit out in the sunny weather, pretending to enjoy the well manicured surroundings, knowing someone else had to create them, and you literally have no excuse to escape.

So you realise you are stuck in this sun trap hell with nothing to do but sit in the sunshine, potentially with an alcoholic beverage to help console your misery. To top off this hellish experience there is a good chance you’ll get interrupted by a Swan family hoping to be fed by you! If you’re very unlucky you will experience a Swan and Duck family.

But wait suddenly you remember your Narrow Home has an engine, and that engine can take you places. Imagine yourself out on the open waters, cruising the cut, wind in your hair sun on your back, something to do … but wait, you suddenly remember that much like rats in London you are never more than 5 metres from a Pub on the canal (Disclaimer: This fact has been totally made up by myself, but is potentially true), imagine chugging along and having to stop every 5 metres at the next pub! No time to get up to top speed!

So as you can see, having a Narrow Home in this weather is quite frankly awful, and with the weather forecast looking the way it does it would seem we have a few more days of this to endure.

James & Kirsty