The forecast rain arrived in the early hours of the morning and continued most of the day so as planned we never ventured out in the gloom although several did with the first NB going past about 7.30am then more passed at irregular intervals, private and hire boats, all looking like drowned rats.
Late afternoon it stopped so I ventured out to look around. It blew quite strong during the night and our NB had a liberal coating of leaves and insects from towpath trees...
The NB roof ....
Before I took the broom to it...
A couple of these....
Crested ducks hanging around so I gave them a feed of bread out the side hatch......
The sky lightened....
But the sun reflected from behind the clouds.....
But that didn't last too long......
The sun was soon enveloped in the cloud.......
Tomorrow looks fine so an early start is on the agenda....
A real interesting part of travelling the canals by NB, whilst preparing the locks and walking between locks on the towpath, is the fellow boaters you meet and get to chat to. Sometimes you find out in a very short time things about husbands, wives, etc that you really didn't need to know.
It's all good fun and the nice people out number the others by 99.5 to 1...
Hearing of what others do for a job is interesting and it's usually the people on the hire boats, because they have to return to work, who surprise...
Some we've met...
I fly a private jet for the second, reputedly, steel magnate, likes curries, richest man in the world.
He has a fleet of 3, two for work , 55 -70 million US dollars each, the other for family to go on holidays.
Based in the UK and can get short notice to fly anywhere in the world.
The Boss says hello, hope we have a smooth flight, does business work then goes to bed, generally...
The average passenger load per flight is 2.5 people......
I commission nuclear submarines...
Sea trials take 3 - 4 months if nothing goes wrong, like break downs, or you go back to base to repair it then more trials...
How many you do a year? I ask...
None a year. It takes 6 odd years to construct a nuclear sub... I have a commission next March....
I sat next to an old fella, well retired, on a bench seat as we waited for the water tank to fill on the NB. During the course of the conversation I asked what he had worked as..
Professional Bell Ringer in Churches..
For real?..
Yes done it all my life.
He rattled off some, name dropping, church names but not being a regular attender of the establishments they've slipped my memory.
I guess he still has a handy income though... Be getting Royalties from those songs he used to ring....
Then there was the Coincidental affair..
Joined in a double lock on the Grand Union canal by an English lady steering the NB while her husband was helping with the winding above..
She looked at the side of our boat with the letters NZ then asked, Are you from New Zealand?.
yes I answered
My brother lived there
Where
Um Oh dam.. God I've been there 4 times. George, husband, where'd my brother live?..
Napier
That's our home town
Oh really. But he's dead now.
What suburb I ask?
Um oh Dam.. he played, well was national president of the bridge clubs.
Wasn't Taradale was it?
Yes
That's where we live
The Bridge club was there to
In Devonshire Place I say, it's a culdersack street about 250 yards long.
That's right
My Panel shop was directly opposite, the Bridge club moved recently after 25 years there.
Oh he had bought a house before he died and moved into the city.
Where too.
Um oh Dam.. that's right the street was known for it's...
Art Deco houses I say.Yes
Tom Parker avenue?
Yes that's the one
Well I say, see those two people travelling with us, here on holiday, Nat & Bruce, they've just bought a house in Tom Parker Avenue which they are renting out.
We roughly worked out that her late brothers house was probably only a couple of houses apart..
Freaky EH......
