Canal Boat – July 2018

canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat July 2018 21

ME & MY BOATS

WIN

£100

decade – or as the family spell it “decayed”,

we are fit and well and determined to carry

on boating well into our nineties. We set off

in April, and apart from short forays home to

see that all is well and the weeds haven’t

reached shoulder height, we return

invigorated sometime in the autumn from

our trusty narrowboat Halcyon.

Although nowadays we do seem to

experience certain limitations which we are

determined to ignore. Our eyesight these

days when approaching low bridges can be a

little suspect! Generally we take extra care,

duck our heads and make sure the chimney

and TV aerial are flat on the roof.

Unfortunately we had a slight lapse when

coming head-on to a bridge before the

double lock, the one just before the

Harecastle Tunnel from the north. As only

one lock was in our favour it made sense to

go through the other one... It didn’t! Even

reversing at top speed couldn’t stop the

inevitable clash of bridge roof versus

searchlight, TV aerial and top box.

The bridge won in spectacular fashion.

We were left with no light for the tunnel

traverse, no storage box, and worst of all no

TV which meant no ‘Neighbours’ for the

ensuing 24 hours. The RCR came up trumps

and fitted a new light within two days, there

was a local Tesco five minutes away so it was

unimportant when we got on the move

again, and we chopped up the top box for

kindling, even though we had no store box.

Our hearing is not what it used to be.

There is no use taking a two-way radio into a

lock as the sound of the water far exceeds

the voice in the ear. We revert to hand

signals providing we are in eye contact. This

can lead to a few misunderstandings as we

haven’t yet got our semaphore sorted out.

Signal from John to proceed under a bridge

was read as “Put the kettle on” and he waited

patiently for me whilst I poured the tea and

sat waiting for him to partake. By the time

we realised our mistake the tea was stewed

and there was a queue of boats waiting for us

to move! After shopping and a long walk, I

sat and relaxed, saying: “I’ll fill the kettle

dear.” This was received as “I feel decrepit

dear” and he sympathised accordingly.

After shopping and a long walk,

I sat and relaxed, saying: “I’ll fill

the kettle dear.’ This was received as ‘I

feel decrepit dear” and he sympathised

Hey, we survived the challenge...

Our jobs list is never-ending

Our 60ft boat goes on and on and on