Today's visitor.

Hi Folks.

There is only one more week until the Foxton Festival, so if you have nothing else to do on the 17th and 18th September why not come over to the festival and sample all it has to offer.

So Saturday began as almost every other day does at the moment whilst we wait for the festival. Keith made us both a cuppa, which we drank in bed, before we both decided we should get out of bed. Gary from the cafe had gone past, because we heard his trolley at 7.40am on the dot like every morning since we have been here and Paddy was stirring in his bed. Paddy never actually gets out of his bed until I put my boots on, he prefers to lounge in bed for as long as possible.

The one thing I noticed as Paddy and I stepped off of the boat, was the fact that there was no wind, not even a gentle breeze, the winds of the past couple of days had gone. We set off along the towpath, behind a couple walking dogs (I comment on them later), I said "good morning" to Tony on the Fudge boat, who was enjoying his morning cigar. After admiring the view from the top of the locks, Paddy had done what he had to do, he then did an about turn back to the boat, where breakfast was waiting.

With nothing planned for the day, I thought I should put another coat of paint stripper on our short engine exhaust chimney, which is coming a long nicely, as the day wore on and the black paint was finally giving in to the stripper, it was time to give it a good wash in soapy water and then rub it down with some sand paper. Another boater asked me what I was doing. I told them I was stripping the chimney. There reply was "I cannot be bothered to do anything like that, I just ignore those sort of jobs". My reply was "Well if I did not do it, then it would not get done". When living on a boat, or even if you just have a boat, if you do not do the jobs yourself, you have to either pay someone else to do them or watch the boat deteriorate around you and in my mind that is not an option, I like to keep a tidy boat as does Keith, so we like to get on with any jobs that need doing. It is just the way we are.

Lunch time and it was time to settle down to watch the F1 qualifying session. Vettel is on pole again, this is somewhat boring, but hey you cannot ignore the fact that he is a good driver and Red Bull are very dominant at the moment. It was good to see Hamilton and Button in 2nd and 3rd, so they are in a good position for race, just a shame the season has not been theirs. I also got to catch up with the World Cup Rugby, England won by the skin of their teeth against Argentina 13-9. It was not a pretty game but they won which is important.

After lunch I was stood making a coffee when this Grass Snake swam past the galley window, fortunately the camera was close to hand.

Such a beautiful creature and very elegant in the water. I wonder how many people walking a long the towpath noticed it. Just as many who notice the signs which say "Please keep you dog on a lead at all times".

Why is it people never read the signs, or do they just choose to ignore them?

A lady and a gentleman came past the boat this morning when I was going out with Paddy, both their dogs were off their leads, so I said to them both "You really should put your dogs on their leads, there are notices all the way along the path requesting you do so for the dogs safety". The woman replied " I know we will do it when we get to the locks". I left them to go on their way, Paddy and I followed a little way behind, as we got to the top of the locks the couple and their dogs were half way down the flight and they still had not put their dogs on a lead. The lock keeper on duty spotted them and was off down the flight with stealth. No sooner had he approached the couple they put both their elderly mutts on a lead. I have no idea what the lock keeper said to them, because he went down the flight, but I reckon it was on the lines of "Did you not read the signs, you must have you dog on a lead at all times". The signs are there for a reasons and that reason became only to obvious a few weeks ago. I spoke to a friend of ours who is a volunteer lock keeper and he told me that a dog had drowned a few weeks ago. The dog fell into one of the side ponds, unfortunately before anyone could get the dog out the lock paddles were opened and the dog was sucked into the lock causing the dog to drown. The woman who owned the dog said to the lock keeper"Why didn't you jump in to save my dog", he replied "If you had done as asked, your dog would not have died, I am not here to save dogs I am here to work locks, and for my own safety I was not about to jump into the side pond". She them replied "My dog was worth a lot of money". My reply to that would have been "Obviously it was not worth that much otherwise you would have done as instructed".

If you see a sign, read it and do as it asks because it may just save a life.

The lack of wind first thing this morning did not last, the wind has been getting stronger as the day has worn on, so it looks like Hurricane Katia is making her presence felt already. It is now 5.53 and dinner is cooking, Paddy and Marmite are both sleeping and all is well in my world.

Chat soon xx