Jimmy, age 57, got a crippling back injury five years ago, while struggling with a mooring line to his houseboat. Since then, he's become a sculptor, sitting on deck when the weather permits, carving his demons out of wood.

About 20 years ago, I was looking in the Times for a loft, and in the Loft section there was an ad for a houseboat, so I got on my bike and came up here with $2000 in cash in my pocket. The boat I looked at was too expensive, but a guy living on another boat showed me his boat, which was cheaper. So I gave him the $2000 on the spot.

The thing I like about living on a boat is the water. I like looking at it, being near it, fishing in it. It's the water I like best. And it's like a small town and we all depend on each other. If there's a fire or a boat is sinking, we all run to help.

Our boat sank once, when we were on vacation. They had to break in a window and shut off the water. Most of the the boats that go down are from fresh water: leaks in the plumbing, not from salt water.

We have break-ins once in a while ... one night there were sirens and everything in the middle of the night and people were yelling, “Where's the gun? Where's the gun?” Well, the guy must have seen too many movies, 'cause he jumped into the water but it was low tide, and he was stuck in the mud about 10 feet from shore and the cops were laughing and had to throw him a rope.

There've been floaters, that's what they call dead bodies in the river, and sometimes just parts of bodies and helicopters come and cops and all. It never gets on television, interestingly.