Dirty little Dutch barge secret

A Rising Tide of Gentrification Rocks Dutch Houseboats - New York Times

An interesting article on liveaboards in Amsterdam that has comparisons to draw with water-dwellers in British cities:

While most of Amsterdam’s 2,800 houseboats have running water, electricity and gas heat, few are connected to sewerage systems and continue to spill their waste into the canals.

The houseboats’ lack of toilet training is their dirty little secret, one that sits uncomfortably with a new generation of wealthier, more demanding owners who are leading a gentrification of the houseboat scene.

In the process, they are displacing the less affluent boat people, many of whom are relics of the 1960s and 1970s era of flower power now struggling to pay the upkeep on their boats.

Comments

[jackieB]

hi
any moorings still available in brentford? please advise. thanks.

[Alan]

Hi Andrew,

Like the new photo, makes you look a bit like Hunter S Thomspon. Keep up the Gonzo canal journalism!

[Pat Bycroft]

Hello Andrew, renting yer boat indeed, what next. tee-hee.

Like the wacky mug shot. Just to let you know we are still keeping an eye on you.
Ill health caused me to give up boating, but I will always stay in touch with the canal, and one of those ways is through you and your blog, so many thanks to you.

catch ya later. Pat x