Frequency Illusions, Narrow Boats and the British Canal System
November 2, 2020
It's the pandemic. Thus I have watched just about everything of value on Netflix, Prime, Disney+ and YouTube. One night, a few weeks ago, I am scanning titles on Prime in the “Seen it. Seen it. Wouldn't watch it if I was on fire and they had the only hose. Seen it.” method that we have all become used to. As I'm scanning, a title catches my eye: “Travels by Narrowboat”. What's a narrowboat? I asked myself. I didn't have an answer for myself so I decided to get to the bottom of this new, urgent issue before my pizza got too cold.
Turns out that Travels by Narrowboat is a documentary series about a 50 year old man, Kevin Shelley, who sold off everything he owned, bought a long, thin boat called a “narrowboat”, and began plying the waters of the British Canal System. I had heard of the British canals, because that's the kind of nerd I am. I didn't know that people traveled on them for recreation. But, they do, a lot of them.
Kevin's story is something of a glimpse into my possible future. I am hoping that in the next few years, about the time I turn 50, I have increased my skills and reputation (The Process!) to the point I can give up my day job and my apartment and travel full time. I've considered RVs or some other method. Kevin is doing what I want to do in a very British fashion.
I found it interesting that here I was, just starting to think about becoming a travel blogger, thinking about The Process, and I trip over a docuseries from a man who is doing what I want to do, the way I want to do it. Some coincidence! My best friend, Max, says it's the Baader-Meinhof effect, also known as a frequency illusion. He's probably right. It could also be luck, destiny, fate or the fact that I enjoy a good docuseries, especially a British docuseries. Whatever the case, I am glad I found Kevin Shelley, for a lot of reasons.
So far I have watched the whole first series. I am very much looking forward to the following series. Kevin has a very relaxing, calming style, even when he's facing a new challenge. As I watched, I felt like I was watching a YouTube series, without all the ads. Turns out, that's what was going on exactly. Kevin recut his YouTube channel to make a docuseries. In one episode, Kevin is invited to a barbeque where several canal traveling YouTubers had gathered. I'm now subscribed to most of them, picking up every tip I can.
Hope for my future comes from the fact that Kevin Shelley isn't the only narrowboat YouTuber to turn to docuseries on Prime. There is also Cruising the Cut by David Johns. Why does this bring me hope? Well, I'll try not to be long winded about this, but I hate streaming services. Don't get me wrong, I love the technology and the convenience. What I hate is that every time I turn around, there seems to be a new service, wanting $10 to $20 a month from us. When it was just Netflix, $15 a month with a lot of great content seemed like a great idea. A lot of people "cut the cord", getting rid of cable with all the useless commercials, terrible programing and ridiculous prices. Then, every major media outlet decided to start streaming and start holding on to their content. Want to watch the new Star Trek? Or a Marvel movie? They were all on Netflix previously, now they are on separate streaming services. These corporations completely ignored the lesson of the cord-cutters. If people didn't want to pay $100 or $150 a month for terrible programing and commercials to one company, why would they pay that same amount to ten companies? This new model just lowers profits for all the streaming services and screws the customer in the process. It's cable all over again, but perhaps worse! As a Netflix subscriber that is wondering why I still subscribe to Netflix, I hate all streaming services.
Doesn't sound very hope filled, I know. But, up until just recently, I was looking at streaming through the consumer lens. Now, I want to be a content creator and producer. If streaming services are so desperate for low cost content that they are turning to YouTube channels, that sounds like a potential revenue stream for myself down the line. Their incompetence and lack of vision might prove to be my bread and butter. (Hello future employers! I'll stop calling you incompetent when you start paying me!)
To finish up, I recommend all things Kevin Shelly. Find him on Prime and YouTube. Go for a relaxing float and a good pork pie!