by a thousand winding channels and creeks and watercourses, gyptian boats were moving in toward the Byanplats, the only patch of slightly higher ground in the hundreds of square miles of marsh and bog. . . . so many boats filled the waterways that you could walk for a mile in any direction over their decks; or so it was said. (Northern Lights, 112-13)
These pictures are to show how narrow these contemporary, urban canal boats can be — and how narrow the canals.
True, we aren’t talking about climatic storms in Northern Lights but instead the gyptians coming together to counter a moral catastrophe. For the innocent Lyra, it it began as a time of play, to run uninterrupted from boat to boat, but soon she will be hiding in a cedar lined cupboard as the gyptians decide democratically to protect her and, at all risks, to save their children and others’ stolen and hidden in the North.
The gyptians demonstrate the power of community against authorities. They have kept themselves free of their manipulations and obligations.

Photo shared by Theresa Drouin.

This work has been released into the public domain by its author, G-Man. This applies worldwide.