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This is Bliss.
I met Bliss when she staggered past me carrying what appeared to be the entire contents of a small laundrette.
She had a backpack rammed full and several more heavy bags of washing. She’d just done twelve loads in one day at her dad’s house.
We swapped notes about laundry - my own was sitting on my front deck in two large IKEA bags. Speed washes versus proper washes. Domestic machines versus laundrette machines. The mechanics of getting an unreasonable amount of washing clean in the shortest possible time.
And somehow we moved on to curtains.
Curtains, we agreed, are a problem on a boat. You need them hanging in the windows for privacy from the towpath. Unfortunately, this means there is never a particularly convenient moment to take them down and wash them.
It was somewhere around this point that Bliss mentioned her own curtains.
It turns out Bliss doesn’t merely have curtains.
Bliss has curtains.
She spent more than £1,000 on the fabric and made the whole lot herself - sixteen curtain panels and three blinds in glorious William Morris fabric.
And apparently they have acquired a certain notoriety of their own.
People recognise Bliss’s boat by the sumptuous curtains.
Naturally, this made me curious. As she was moored nearby, I asked if I could see them.
Oh good lord.
They are gorgeous. Properly, gloriously rich and extravagant and absolutely wonderful in the boat. They consume the space. The sheer volume and quality of the fabric dampens the sound, so stepping inside feels strangely removed from the world outside.
Entirely worthy of their reputation.
Bliss is used to them getting attention, which is fortunate because I spent quite a while admiring them.
And she isn’t finished.
There are plans for two more curtains to deal with the winter draughts, and possibly voile curtains for summer. There is upholstery to redo too - although she broke her sewing machine on the very last panel and ended up hand-stitching the remaining seams in her determination to finish.
Bliss kindly said I could show you some photographs she took in daylight.
So here they are, for your delectation.
The infamous curtains of Bliss.
And they are.
Bliss.
