There are certain noises that, living in a narrowboat, take some getting used to. They are eerie and sinister: The sound of ice cracking and breaking against the hull; fish and bubbles rising in still water to gurgle around the boat; ducks nibbling at the greenery around the boat's waterline; a bird pattering and hopping along the roof... leading the hubby and I to exclaim "monster!" and run to investigate. Sometimes, these noises appear to have no maker at all. They mysteriously come and go.
One such noise only seems to happen at night and is similar to the sound of a plunger being used to unblock a sink. There is also a babbling in the water and intermittent tapping on the side of the hull - not to be mistaken for ducks feeding - we are familiar with that - it is a bigger noise made by something larger than a mallard.
Geese or swans, that was the obvious answer. We'd hear the noise and the hubby would go, camera ready, to catch the clamorous perpetrator. Only, he'd return and say there was nothing there. And then the noise would start again and this time I would go and look. There is never any visable source, and the waters are still and calm betraying no evidence of waterfowl, fish, or monster.
Who is our ghost in the darkness?
