Canal-boating hottie Natalie is cool

On her blog Hotspotting, TV/Radio presenter Natalie Barrass is always on the hunt for 'trendspotting, coolhunting and culture-surfing'.  

Cool is hot, apparently.   Or is that 'hot is cool'?

Anyway, reading her post this week called Fancy rewinding to the 80s?  - complete with lively YouTube video - I was interested to see that she has a canal boat:

Over the summer I took my narrow boat on a journey of discovery to Henley-on-Thames. Not just an idle jaunt, it was in fact to visit the 80’s Rewind Festival with a couple of friends

So I searched the rest of her blog for evidence of a peripatetic waterway of life.  Sadly, apart from one other tiny mention of her boat, she doesn't mention the canals.  I guess canals just aren't cool, or hotspots, or whatever it is she's looking for. 

Which is a pity.  She's a bit of a hottie herself, a lively, watchable, attractive and competent video journalist, (all presented filmed and edited by herself, it says in the credits) and I'd like to see canal festivals done like this.  Not all the time, of course, but it would make a refreshing change occasionally.

But before she can bring her own perky style to the waterways, I guess the rest of us canal boaters need to to cool down first.  Or get het up, or whatever it is we need to do if we are to attract the attention of the people who surf-spot the trendy culture-hunting heights.

Update: I just came across this 2007 article in the Independent, describing Natalie's reasons for living afloat, and it suggests just why you won't find much about the canals from her.  She's quoted in the arcticle as living afloat (on a 'house-boat') simply because it's a way of living cheaply and temporarily as an investment "in a cool area", not because of the waterways: 

In the end, she picked up a 58ft narrowboat for £40,000 at a mooring in Southall, west London. "It meant I could live in a cool area and have a nice place. It doesn't make me money, but it doesn't lose me any either."  She will consider selling her boat, Jackpot, to buy a property again in a year or two. In the meantime, like many of her friends, she and her boyfriend may purchase a property in Australia where prices are cheaper.

Gosh, 30 months on, that article reads like a period piece now, with all its buy-to-let references, etc.

Comments

[Natalie 'Hot Nat' Barrass]

Granny - it's official - narrowboats are hot.

Although there are a coupe of things to remember...

http://hotspotting.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/narrowboats-rock/

[Natalie 'Hot Nat' Barrass]

Well, well, well Granny Buttons! - I'm honoured to be mentioned on your site! I've dipped into your blog many a time when scanning the net for info on the waterways.

As for not thinking the waterways are hot (or cool) - i have to say i most certainly do! 3 years on since first setting foot aboard, i'm still afloat (even in winter). This year i was exploring the Thames, the Lee and the Grand Union and extolling the virtues of narrowboat adventures to all who would listen!

As for the tone of The Independent article - it was written way back when and they took some creative journalistic license in their portrayal of me. I don't remember making plans to buy in Australia...

Anyways - I haven't written anything specifically about the waterways but they do feature in my blog postings from time to time -

http://hotspotting.wordpress.com/?s=boat

However - because you have drawn my attention to this deficit (in a most charming and flatterific way) i will rectify it immediately. Check back on hotspotting.wordpress.com this weekend...

Keep up the good work and i hope the cold weather isn't playing havoc with Granny's joints.
:)

[Martin Clark]

If she wants to live somewhere really cool, perhaps she should try Greenland.

[iain smith]

woops missed the zero out i was in fact 20 LOL.

[iain smith]

liked that! i was 2 at the beginning of the 80s and over the hill by the end! looks more fun than i rember it being.