London-(living on boat) There’s something amazing around Camden: just coming down through the steps next to the Art & Crafts Market, you can start an inspiring walk in Little Venice, an unexpected microcosm which looks like it belongs to a fairy tale.
Down the road alongside the canal, the atmosphere is surprising and surreal to the point that, surrounded by trees and the relaxing sound of water, you forget all the frenzy of the city. A turn calls the following one, you can’t stop moving on. Noises, soon, will be far and you’ll feel at ease.
A part from the astonishing experience that this place can give people just passing through, it should be remembered that Little Venice pearl is populated by people peacefully living in their boats.
Among them, Kenn Mac Kay and a mysterious guy (MG) told us something about his life on water.
How much does it cost to live in a boat?
KENN: It costs six hundred pounds per year to live in the canal. And you can stay just one week in each place, then you have to keep moving.
MG: It costs about one thousand year for licence, also more, but it depends from a lot of factors. And every two weeks you have to move through the canal.
Do you need any permission, authorization for staying here and to move through the canal? Do you use charts?
KENN: You just need your boat.
MG: Actually you don’t need anything. Me, especially, I know the canal very well, so I move easily. You learn fast living here. It’s not so hard.
If I want to rent a boat for holidays, can I? Can I do it where?
KENN: You can check on internet, there are a lot of websites about renting boats. A big boat costs about one thousand pounds Monday to Friday and one thousand pounds Friday to Sunday.
MG: Actually I don’t know. And I don’t even know prices. I’m new here in London. I come from another country. I lived in a boat there, as well.
You chose to live in a boat. Why? Which are the pros and the cons?
KENN: It’s cheaper. And I like boats, you can go anywhere.
MG: Mainly it’s cheaper. You don’t have to pay rent, bills ecc. I’m living here in the last six months and I’m planning to keep on living in my boat. You can go everywhere with a boat. A friend of mine, for example, has just arrived here from Scotland.
