A man comes to poke around,

the place where so many
have been poked before.

This lucky little book has become part of a mini-trade! :)

May it provide some fun and entertainment with it's new reader! ;)

The box of trade books arrived today - many thanks for knocking off so many of my wishlist books at once! This one sounded fascinating - a year-long trek through the waterways of London, a mix of history, memoir, and science. The concept reminded me of the (marvelous) fiction series Rivers of London in which those waterways are embodied by human avatars in a world where magic and police-work combine, and the Narrow Dog books of travel-memoirs via narrowboat.

Later: An enjoyable look at the lives of the author and her partner as they enjoy (and sometimes suffer from) making a home in the canal boat "Pike", with no permanent moorage and a charming but rather cramped 550-ish square feet of living space. (She does point out that for the London area, that much space is moderately decent for two people, and would cost WAY more in apartment form than their canal boat does.) The descriptions range from cozy and delightful to uncomfortable to rather scary (especially when a long-unnoticed leak is discovered, one that could literally scuttle their home), with digressions into the canal infrastructure that allows recreational canal-boat life and travel. Also into things like battles to protect wetlands, the water's-edge-view of birds and wildlife in rural areas - and people's legs, dogs, and trash in the urban ones... Details of how to manage the locks, how one deals with sewage, the debate over whether to rent a permanent mooring or continue to flit from place to place every few weeks - all that and more make up the "adrift" life.

I admit I'd like to spend a little time in a canal boat, but I wouldn't want to make it a permanent lifestyle. If I ever go traveling again I might see if there are canal-boat B&B equivalents - ideally with someone else to do the actual boating and lock-management and whatnot...

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in this new-to-me Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2021 e-less challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2021 Keep Them Moving challenge. ***