Messing around on the river

This Sunday Kerry, Amy and I spent a very enjoyable day in the company of Dave, Paul and Becky messing around on my Dad’s narrow boat. Since Amy’s been born we haven’t gone out on it as much as we used to, so it was really nice to get back out there and bounce £10,000 worth of boat off the stone sides of the canal. Amy’s at an age now where she can be left to charge up and down the barge as her whim takes her, with adults at either end to make sure she doesn’t fall off obviously. She warmed to Paul and Becky extremely quickly. In fact she warmed to Becky so quickly we’re considering making her an offer to quit her job as a teacher and come and be Amy’s nanny (and do my ironing as well, its important to have diversity in your job I always feel).

Highlights of the day included some spectacular stunt work from Paul and myself, leaping athletically off the boat, sprinting gracefully along the towpath, and opening a swing bridge without the boat ever having to stop. Dave refused to replicate this feat despite encouragement, probably because he saw how close to a heat attack we were when we had finished.

There were a few minor disasters as there always are. I managed to get one of our ropes wound around the propeller, a swing bridge was broken and took three of us to shift, and the boat’s chimneypot fell victim to a low branch and disappeared into the canal never to be seen again. Generally however I think a good time was had by all. It was certainly nice to see Paul and Becky outside a gaming situation, especially for Kerry who hears me go on about these people but rarely gets to meet them.