The rain has gone. The gutter on the store room/potting shed needs fixing but that is another story.
There is something quite special about a garden after the rains have gone and the sun begins to shine. I was going to say romantic but I don’t think that’s quite the word. The shed doors are open and a slight breeze moves the seed heads on the grasses near the deck.
In the greenhouse we will today be trimming back the foliage around the tomato plants to encourage growing and ripening of the fruits. Looks like being a good crop after what seemed like a slow start.
Today is a day for getting stuff done as tomorrow is somewhat of a wipeout being the lads boating trip from Burton Waters. Jezzer bought the trip in a charity auction a year ago so we thought we should get it in before the next Burton Club hog roast and the next auction.
The trip starts at 10am and will involve the trading of much nautical banter and the consumption of grog. Suspect they don’t sell grog in Waitrose so we may have to improvise. The biggest issue I foresee is the absence of a refrigerator on the boat. Even if there was one I doubt it would be big enough to hold all the supplies we are likely to be bringing along.
The last thing you want on a lads boat trip is to run out of supplies. Look out for the movie: six men in a boat. No Montmorency though. Apart from me they are all dog owners and it would be a recipe for disaster if it were six men and five dogs in a boat. I doubt there would still be eleven passengers by the end of the voyage.
There is limited scope for exploring distant horizons on a boat from Burton Waters. Turn right and you get as far as Torksey Lock. I think there might be one pub, maybe two in that direction.
Turning left, sorry to the port side, takes you past Carholme Golf Club and into the City of Lincoln’s great harbour that is the Brayford Wharf. Here you will find a multitude of hostelries eager to sell you refreshment and sustenance that will keep you going for your return journey.
We need to book a cab out but THG has said she can provide transportation back. It is unlikely that the day will finish there. When sailors hit port they like to let their hair down after a long voyage in cramped conditions.
I suspect that, apart from the decision on which pubs to visit, the hardest bit will be to find a volunteer to drive. Personally, despite being the holder of an RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman Certificate, I would prefer to sit back and enjoy the journey rather than have to navigate the perils of the Fossdyke Navigation, at 5mph!
I daresay you will hear more of the jaunt at least when you go to see the film and in the meantime I have a Macbook to take to the menders. Ciao…
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The rain hath returned. Not quite in biblical proportions but heavy enough to render my trainers, left drying on the conservatory step, unusable for tomorrow. I am sitting in the front room avoiding the television. THG and I could not agree on a mutually acceptable programme.
Instead I am listening to some jazz classics, currently playing Summertime with Ella Fitzgerald and Satchmo.
I am ready for tomorrow’s voyage into the unknown. Suitable clothing laid out: shorts and t shirt and all relevant food and beverage items cooling in the refrigerator. Taxi is booked for oh nine thirty. Prior to departure I have an eight thirty conference call to discuss changes to the website and I need to cook and eat a sausage sandwich. You can’t go on a long sea journey without suitable fortification.
We cast off at ten o’clock shortly after which the sun will officially be over the yardarm. This is a later start than when we are off to the cricket or the rugby. We are clearly approaching the trip with suitable deference to to health and safety, it being a waterborne adventure.
Nobody has any real notion of what lies ahead, none of us having previously been further than the horizon. Will we encounter seaborne Leviathans? Scylla and Charybdis? Dark haired sirens with the body of a fish and hypnotic screams designed to draw us onto the rocks? We must remain strong, resolute, hiding our personal fears and drawing deep on the false confidence induced by navy rum.
Shipmates one and all. Jolly Jack tars. A lifelong bond of friendship that can only be created out of hardship, common experience and being cooped up for six hours on a small pleasure boat on the Fossdyke Navigation. We are prepared for anything that Neptune can throw at us.
I recall earlier this year when walking along a beach on the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean seeing a coconut washed ashore and thinking to myself such is the way that desert islands become a lush green paradise. There was plenty of evidence of palm trees seeded in this way.
This feels very similar to the anticipation now being felt in advance of tomorrow’s great voyage. I will shortly repair early to my hammock for hopefully a good night’s sleep to prepare myself for the journey.
Goodnight to all adventurers out there.