Has been a GOB Day.

Hi Friends.

I hope that your Easter weekend has been a wonderful one?
Today was a day off, we did not bother setting up the stall.

For me it has been lovely in many respects. Today however as the day wore on I became a GOB. I know your thinking what is a GOB, well I will tell you. GOB stands for Grumpy Old Boater. I will explain more later, because the start of my day was absolutely fine. I was awake early, so made the decision to strip the bed and take the sheets, towel etc down to Tony Matts Laundrette at Bridge 61. I know we have our washing machine back, but it is still sitting in the hold, because of Keith's back. So having done the usual morning stuff, I packed my large rucksack with all the washing and set off down the flight to the laundrette, hoping I would catch it as it opened. I got there at 8.50am, but was still to late to be first in the queue, because the cafe and pub had got there first. I asked how long they would be and was told 45 minutes, so I decided to stay put, otherwise there was the chance that someone else would take my place. I settled in on the bench outside the laundrette and watched the world and his wife go by. Eventually the cafe and pub washing was done, and I could put my load in, I also offered to dry their washing whilst mine was washing, so they handed over the tokens for the drier and left me to it. It was my good deed for the day.
Keith came down to see how things were going and bought me a coffee whilst we both waited for the washing to finish. I did not bother with drying it, because I was going to hang it all in the hold. Whilst we waited for the wash to finish, a gentleman, his daughter and grand-daughter sat opposite us with their dog Rosie, sporting some wonderful saddle bags. Apparently she has them on because they keep her calm when she is out. I had to giggle when I took this photograph, because it looks like she is standing in a queue for the shower ;0).Back at the boat, I made us some lunch and a coffee before heading out with my camera. I wanted to capture the crowds that have flocked to Foxton Locks today and over the weekend. The fields across the valley were paved with Gold, as the Rapeseed shone in the glorious sunshine. A lot of people hate the stuff, but you cannot hate the wonderful colour it brings to the countryside. Both the Foxton Locks Inn and Tony Matts pub Bridge 61 were packed again today. I think theyboth had a very successful weekend, with food and drink.I met Gail and Trev who have the Candy Boat Shop. This is there first season selling sweets and chocolate from their narrowboat and if this weekend was anything to go by, they will do very well indeed this summer. It is always nice to meet a new trader who is actually trading officially with the trading licence. While we chatted and a queue gathered a couple of male cyclists tried to cycle past the queue, so I asked them to dismount from their bokes, because there was no cycling on site, and did they not read the signs. I got a smirk and a nod from one of the guys, as they went on their way. Grrrrrrrrr my temperature was rising.Tony Matts trip boat Vagabond, was very popular again today. Over the whole weekend it did over 30 trips. Everywhere you looked there were people. Even the Lock Keeper said it had been much busier than they have seen for ages. It was so busy they had to open up the overflow car parks which also filled up. I think the lockies will be glad when it all gets back to normal tomorrow, because even they have had canal rage to deal with over the weekend, which is very much out of order.The Foxton Flight was crowded with visitors from bottom to top and this is where the GOB bit comes in because I walked back to the boat and was pushed and shoved by people who were not looking where they were going. I then got back to the boat and saw a couple of dogs off leads coming towards us, so I politely asked the women to put their dogs on leads, because it is required on the site. Now I have gone on in the past about the younger generation being rude, well you can now add the mature generation to that list. Keith even backed me up with my request, but these two women were decidely off hand with the both of us. Now I could of taken the decision to say nothing, but that is what everyone seems to do. No I decided that saying something was the best policy, because I knew if I did not ask nicely, then they would have been shouted at by the Lock Keeper. Maybe next time I should allow them to get shouted at. The two women did put their dogs on their leads after sometime, but clearly the women were not happy at having to do so. Do these dog owners not realise that not everyone likes dogs coming at them off the lead, especially young children and because it was so crowded at the locks dogs needed to be on leads for safety reasons.
Ok, Ok off my soapbox.
With that confrontation over with, I then withdrew back into the boat, mainly because I was feeling like I would literally explode at the next person who came past either on a bike or with a dog off its lead. I put the TV on and watched 'Independence Day' and 'True Grit', whilst knitting dishcloths, Keith stood out on the back counter chatting to the general public with Paddy and Marmite. I was much happier staying inside.
As the day has drawn to a close and I have had dinner and a shower, I am much more chilled out and looking forward to getting underway tomorrow, when we will be in the middle of nowhere heading to Crick.

Chat soon xx