A soggy end

It's all over here. The Shakerstone Festival has been cancelled due to the ground conditions and general weather. It has been raining all week and the place is a quagmire. In the end they couldn't get the stuff onto the site by vehicle. The only thing open is the been tent this evening with the musicians intact. They put some hey at the entrances at the start of the day and I was dubious as to their worth. There are about twenty or so ex-working boats here but other than the pub and beer tent it's all a bit of wasted effort. Well it's never really a waste if beer is involved.

This week I watched a certain ex-working boat (which will remain nameless) attempting to moor. A fellow boater took the lines and was helping pull the boat in but was shouted at by the owner of the boat to, “leave my lines alone and don't pull me in”. I thought this was a little mean spirited and harsh as he was only trying to help. This attitude just emphasises what many narrowboat owners already think about historic boat owners.

Well most owners of non-historic boats would also believe that others who own ex-working boats would know what they are doing and how to handle their boat but this is seemingly not the case. This chap had ample room to moor albeit it was a little shallow at the edges and to find a decent spot he had to move about a bit but just couldn't manage it. He manoeuvred back and forth jumping on and off his boat with his three lines, hauling on them then hopping back on his boat to try another manoeuvre. He tried every move in the book but couldn't get it into the bank. The Ashby is very shallow here at the banks as it is saucer shaped.

To cut what ended up as a long story short after forty five minutes he finally tied his lines for the last time. No-one helped him (I wonder why) but I think that many, like me, were sniggering from the safety of our own boats. I would love to have been brave enough to bring a chair up to beside his boat with a cup of tea to watch the spectacle.

To top it all my starter battery has died as I suspected it might. I'll make do with the smaller van battery I've been using until I can get a proper decent one to fit. It's a little underpowered but beggars can't be choosers.

I've just noticed that for some inexplicable reason I have fifty members of my blog audience according to my Feedburner count. Haven't you all got better things to do?