Walking along the towpath towards Wolvercote and passing a small community of ‘hardcore’ barge dwellers. An array of detritus both on the boats and the canal bank, as though the home contents had spilt out onto terra firma. An old bearded man boards his vessel carrying a hybrid axe. The ‘good morning’ gesture is reluctantly returned before he launches into a mumbled diatribe about ‘public access’ as we progress further along the path. A case of cake and eating it?