The Mystery Boat — Tales from the riverbank.

3 min readJun 19, 2023

Today there is a double-sized wheelie bin parked next to the boat. The boat is empty except for a large yellow pillow in the hull.

Until now, the boat had all kinds of rubbish in it: old cans, dirty rags, bags, magazines, a ragged sail, and a worn-out tiller.

The boat has been there for what seems like forever. Once, I saw a woman sitting in the middle of the trash eating a sandwich. The other evening, a tiny, thin woman with a deformed face walked over and pulled at the mooring rope to pull it closer to the bank. Then she walked away to two men on a bench to tell them what she’d done. She sounded excited, as if it were a mammoth task she’d carried out.

It’s only a little boat, maybe 12 feet long. There’s a small cabin that sometimes has a blanket draped over the opening. Sometimes not. The pale blue and white paint is peeling. One evening, the old, ragged sail had been pulled out and laid beside the boat on the river bank. The next day, the tiller lay in some bushes opposite.

From time to time, holidaymakers on their smart leisure cruisers moor up right next to the boat. Given that they have the choice to moor up anywhere along the river, it is a mystery why they chose this spot next to a worn-out, sad little boat full of unwanted dirty bits and pieces.

I’ve peered in through the cabin window, trying to see if someone might be sleeping in there, but whatever time I pass by, no one is there. The woman eating a sandwich is the only time I have ever seen anyone on the boat.

There is a larger boat that sometimes moors next to the little boat. This boat also appears to have a lot of rubbish on it, so maybe the owner stores extra rubbish on the little boat. Again, I’ve never seen the transference of items, so it’s impossible to say if there is a relationship between the two or not.

There don’t appear to be any homeless people using the boat; that would make the most sense. Others have suggested it may be used as a drop-off and pick-up point for drugs. I have never seen any such activity take place, but then I have never passed by any later than 11 p.m. Anything could happen I suppose in the depths of the night.

I wonder if the double wheelie bin is a precursor to the disappearance of the mystery boat. It’s bizarre, I know, but I would miss it if it left. Not knowing the mystery of why it is there at all is strangely comforting. We don’t have to know everything, do we?

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