They used to say that the primary function of a boat was to be beautiful. I suppose that is why boats were feminine, as in ‘she’s a real beauty, that one’. Puritan is certainly a beauty and I’ve had a great time on board, especially when anchoring near some modern horror or other, bloated and overstuffed with ‘toys’, its occupants reflecting the boat: fat, ugly and invasive.
Why is it that boats reflect their owners, as dogs do, and as women used to, although one can get oneself killed nowadays for describing a female as ‘owned’? Show me a tart and she’s sure to be with a James Stunt type. Show me an overstuffed gin palace such as Lionheart (the greatest misnomer ever), and I’ll show you a barbarian lowlife owner like no other, Philip Green. Mind you, I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said before. It’s a very old story which tells us that things reflect their owners, whether it’s a house, a boat or a mistress.
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