Boat Names
You do get an awful lot of variety of boat names on canals. They vary from the prosaic and brief "Annie" to "Weary Tired" via "Erasmus", "Zenith" and all points west on the way. A popular language for boat names is French. I don't know pourquoi. J.R.R. Tolkein also provides inspiration for many, including "The Hobbit", "Arathorn" Gandalf" "Strider" and "Bilbo Baggins". One of my favourites however, is one called "Keeping Up", appropriately owned by the Jones family of Northwich. Today I've seen "Two Can Two", which makes no sense to me but probably does to somebody, and "Back to the Fuschia".

New favourites, "Bentley" (because my husband's always wanted one); Eeyore (things can only get wetter);

Our own boat, "Our Mutual Friend", was inspired by the title of probably the finest book by probably the finest author in the English language, Charles Dickens. The book itself features several wonderful characters of a waterside nature, starting with the faked death of the hero of the novel, the Mutual Friend of the title, and close to the end has the marvellous and murderous end of two of the nastiest pieces of work that Dickens invented, appropriately enough at a lock on the River Thames. Great fun. I recommend it to anyone who has never read it, and if you have read it before, read it again. It definitely improves with acquaintance.

Back to Home Page