One Street - Life in the slow lane

I liked the contrast between the slow moving barge and the traffic on the M6 motorway that crosses the canal at this point. The original bargemen were the fore runners of today's truckers although the demise of the canals was brought about by the railways.

There is also a huge contrast between life on board today's pleasure narrow boats which come with all mod cons and the accommodation that the barge men and their families had to endure 150 years ago. Even the trucker with his bed, television and cooker on board lives in the lap of luxury compared with their predecessors.

There are some very interesting contemporary articles about the condition of barge men and their familes on One Street in the 1870s here.

While life sounds very tough I am sure that they would not have swapped the freedom which it gave them.