Let's start with the bad news and end with the good news.
Millions of pieces of plastic are polluting rivers and canals. But there are plans to clear it up. Why should we care about canals?
I have stopped to photograph canals.
Yes, I have been on canal boats, calm and peaceful.
No big decisions. You go forwards. You stop at your end point or come back to the starting point. The scenery goes slowy past. The hum sends you to sleep.
The stop-off points for food are few and far between and the canal boat owner or cruise company has them already arranged.
You take your own food and drink. You share everything.
Life Stories
You have endless hours to talk, share your life story. You listen to theirs. They listen to yours.
You learn things about them and yourself you would never normally have the time and intimacy to tell. "Childhood ... Marriage ... Divorce ... Bereavement ...
"Past jobs. What I did. What I should have done.
"Don't tell anyone. Success and failure. Dreams."
Midlands
In England we went crusing along a canal with a friend called Phil in the Midlands. He wanted to see his friend who retired to live half the year on a houseboat. We made up a foursome.
Picnic Food
The deal was that we took food and drink. He provided the boat. So we took along a copious amount of good food and drink, leaving our car in the car park by the pub at the departure point.
To our surprise, our food and drink was just for the hours on the boat. We started with the canal boat owner, more time and money spent at the pub. Have a drink.
Why? No preparation nor washing up. Hot food. The best place on the canal, why he had chosen that as our start and end poing. Order while waiting for our fourth friend to turn up on the motorway jam. We needed two to release the boat from the moorings and our fourth friend was familiar with it, not likely to fall overboard when untying the knots in the rope or chain.
After a while our fourth arrived and after a jolly lunch we left for the canal.
Pub At Night
In the evening we came back to the same pub. What had seemed like a simple, downmarket, dusty, half empty pub at lunchtime felt like a lovely warm and welcoming return home in the evening.
The lights shone through the darkness. Never mind the outside. The sound of laughter and the samll of food.
Inside was candle-light and cheer. The night hid the dusty corners. The pub was cosy, familiar welcoming, staff we knew. The toilet location we knew, no longer an unerving surprise. Pictures on the wall we recognized and now wanted to know more about. Regulars we hailed like long-lost friends. The buz of chatter.
Firm Friendship
Our friends, new at lunch time, like strangers not seen for years, were now close as family, their whole lives familiar to us.
Norfolk Broads
Long ago we went on the Norfolk broads. Invited by a friend called David. Again, by the end of the three hour afternoon our friends not seen for weeks had become very close.
Norfolk is now no longer just a place on the map for me, but like a forever childhood home, always with distant memories revived as we look at maps or drive past familiar names.
So, now I come to think of it, I do care about canals. More about the plastic in the next post.
If you are interested in the waterways, visit the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, UK.
Interesting and Useful websites
Canal clear-up
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g1118256-d3183144-r144069111-Ring_O_Bells-Marple_Stockport_Greater_Manchester_England.html
visitbritain.com
https://www.watermuseums.net/museum/national-waterways-museum/
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker
Millions of pieces of plastic are polluting rivers and canals. But there are plans to clear it up. Why should we care about canals?
I have stopped to photograph canals.
Yes, I have been on canal boats, calm and peaceful.
No big decisions. You go forwards. You stop at your end point or come back to the starting point. The scenery goes slowy past. The hum sends you to sleep.
The stop-off points for food are few and far between and the canal boat owner or cruise company has them already arranged.
You take your own food and drink. You share everything.
Life Stories
You have endless hours to talk, share your life story. You listen to theirs. They listen to yours.
You learn things about them and yourself you would never normally have the time and intimacy to tell. "Childhood ... Marriage ... Divorce ... Bereavement ...
"Past jobs. What I did. What I should have done.
"Don't tell anyone. Success and failure. Dreams."
Midlands
In England we went crusing along a canal with a friend called Phil in the Midlands. He wanted to see his friend who retired to live half the year on a houseboat. We made up a foursome.
Picnic Food
The deal was that we took food and drink. He provided the boat. So we took along a copious amount of good food and drink, leaving our car in the car park by the pub at the departure point.
To our surprise, our food and drink was just for the hours on the boat. We started with the canal boat owner, more time and money spent at the pub. Have a drink.
Why? No preparation nor washing up. Hot food. The best place on the canal, why he had chosen that as our start and end poing. Order while waiting for our fourth friend to turn up on the motorway jam. We needed two to release the boat from the moorings and our fourth friend was familiar with it, not likely to fall overboard when untying the knots in the rope or chain.
After a while our fourth arrived and after a jolly lunch we left for the canal.
Pub At Night
In the evening we came back to the same pub. What had seemed like a simple, downmarket, dusty, half empty pub at lunchtime felt like a lovely warm and welcoming return home in the evening.
The lights shone through the darkness. Never mind the outside. The sound of laughter and the samll of food.
Inside was candle-light and cheer. The night hid the dusty corners. The pub was cosy, familiar welcoming, staff we knew. The toilet location we knew, no longer an unerving surprise. Pictures on the wall we recognized and now wanted to know more about. Regulars we hailed like long-lost friends. The buz of chatter.
Firm Friendship
Our friends, new at lunch time, like strangers not seen for years, were now close as family, their whole lives familiar to us.
Norfolk Broads
Long ago we went on the Norfolk broads. Invited by a friend called David. Again, by the end of the three hour afternoon our friends not seen for weeks had become very close.
Norfolk is now no longer just a place on the map for me, but like a forever childhood home, always with distant memories revived as we look at maps or drive past familiar names.
So, now I come to think of it, I do care about canals. More about the plastic in the next post.
If you are interested in the waterways, visit the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, UK.
Interesting and Useful websites
Canal clear-up
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g1118256-d3183144-r144069111-Ring_O_Bells-Marple_Stockport_Greater_Manchester_England.html
visitbritain.com
https://www.watermuseums.net/museum/national-waterways-museum/
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker
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