What I’m reading: Narrow Boat

Narrow Boat by L.T.C. Rolt is his personal account of fitting out and then living with his new wife aboard the Cressy narrowboat in the days just before World War II. It’s a charming — maybe over sentimentalized view — of the England that was disappearing beneath the onslaught of highways and aerodromes (he really seemed to hate these).

The book is part travelog, part reminiscence and part gripe about how life used to be better when the simple folk and their simple values contributed to English life. He’s probably correct, but it’s hard to feel too sorry about what’s been lost when we know what will be about to be lost. Having just done our narrow boat trip in September 2011, it’s a wonderful and poignant look back at the time when the canal were on their last legs. The war would extend their life a little as they were considered part of the transportation system and part defensive line, but in reality the end of the war spelled the end of the canals.