The canals are all beginning to look the same. Lots of water stretching out in front of us with hedgerows either side. Sometimes, there is something slightly different, like the twirly, turnover bridges on the canal to Stoke, or the masses of weeping willows that obstructed the canal on the Caldon. We also saw a real steam train, all the kids were waving at us, we were waving back, the train tooted and the steam billowed, then I nearly bumped my head on the low bridge because I wasn’t paying attention.
India (the dog) is getting braver and cheekier by the week. She has realised that she jump off the roof when we go past a nip in the canal. She also jumps off when the boat goes up and down in the locks and she’s got it sussed that she only comes when called if there is a treat on offer. I’m not sure if we’ve trained her. Or she trained us........
Hanna has a passion for playing scrabble, and in fairness is quite good at it, but it does cause some arguments, so we bought a house dictionary. I had a great word, I could spell EQUATOR on a triple word score, I was so excited, but I need the “T” which was on the board already. I waited with my letters all lined up ready to go, I held my breath as Hanna laid her word, my T was still spare, then Lauren went- SHE STOLE MY T!!!!! I couldn’t believe it, the best word I’d ever had in a game of scrabble and Lauren stole my T. That caused an awful lot of shouting, name calling and general commotion until John came in to see what all the noise was about. This quite, mature, educated game of scrabble had turned into complete chaos, all because of one little letter T.
Scrabble is also the reason behind Johns new nick name. While we were playing another game on another day, he walked in, looked at the board and said “what is Ruff Led?”We all stopped what we were doing and looked at him, looked at the board and tried to work out what he was looking at. As he repeated it again faster it made more sense, he meant ruffled as in ruffled feathers, but the way he said it reminded us all of Elmo from Sesame Street. So now that is Johns new nick name.
Laurens nick name is Tigger, because she bounces all over the boat, leaps over 8 foot locks, drops 10 foot down on to the roof, and generally bounces around, this a great nick name as it has its own song as well.
We think that extreme waitressing should become an Olympic sport as well. We have delivered tea and cake in a variety of unusual ways, walking 300 yards up hill on a tow path, climbing over the roofs to get from one boat to another, passing it over as the boat sails past in a bridge hole and using the balance beam at locks as a table. The trick is not to spill any and get it there fast enough before it goes cold, oh yeah, and don’t fall over. Whilst climbing in and out of the boats with an empty tea tray one day, I slipped, caught my arm on the corner of the boat and had a massive bruise all week, but don’t worry, I didn’t break any mugs or tea pots.
Walking along the roofs in wet weather is very slippery; you need good sturdy shoes with a decent grip on them. Flip Flops don’t count I found out after I had fallen over one day. That was another bruise on my knees.
Pulling the boats about by ropes is getting easier, or maybe I am getting stronger. After breaking the mast a few weeks ago I am still a bit nervous about using the mooring posts to strap to and slow the boats down, it’s ok and perfectly safe as long as you use the right rope and the right post, but there are so many combinations depending on whether you are up or down, in or out, mooring, slowing down, approaching a lock, if there are other boats about and how fast you are going. Also the condition of the strapping post makes a difference. Some are square, which is weird because it creates more friction on the corners and the rope does not move smoothly like it does on a round post. Some have stoppers on the top so the rope does not slip off, these are all different shapes as well and react differently depending where you hold the rope. So many things to take into account, all in the 3 seconds you have before you miss the window of opportunity and the boat crashes into the lock gate. Ooops. Not that I know from experience or anything.............
While strapping the boats one day I was following all the rules and doing everything right, up to the point where as I leaned back, put all my weight behind pulling the rope, and the rope slipped off the strapping post sending me flying backwards, feet in the air, head over heels.
I have been sharing the back cabin with Lauren as the guests have been booked into my room for a couple of weeks and Hanna’s Dad came to help on the Huddersfield Canal. The back cabin is quite large; it has twin beds, but no window. Those of you who have seen me first thing in the morning, before my first cuppa, before a shower and definitely before I have woken up properly will know I look rather rough, sleepy and have a tendency to grunt rather than talk. Up till sharing with Lauren I was able to hide this from everyone else, they were all happy in their ignorance thinking I was a cheery sole who woke up with the lark, smiling and happy, oh how little did they know.
It was only the third or fourth morning of emerging from the cabin, blinking in the bright light and stumbling down the tow path in my PJs, hair all awry heading to the crew bathroom that Lauren saw me and announced to the world that I looked like a mole crawling out of my hole. Cheeky Beggar! Anyway, from that moment I was called Moley. I suppose as nicknames go it could have been worse, and like Lauren I have a song!
We went to Alton Towers for the day; we raced on Rita, Nailed Nemesis, flew Air and got soaked on the log flume. We also went on the new ride Thirteen. It’s good, can’t say too much or I’ll give the game away. Top hint for getting more rides in a day, use the single rider line, we were queuing an average of 25 minutes on a busy day in August school holidays when most queues were 75 minutes long! It was good to be away from the boats for a change and let off some steam; we had a water fight on the log flume and screamed on all the white knuckle rides. We even went round the castle, mainly because we were feeling sick and dizzy after Nemesis but even so, we saw the castle.
I don’t know if it’s because this job is more physical than everything I have done before, whether it’s because we all live so close and people notice more, if I’ve always been like it or maybe now I’m just more aware, but I’ve become a real accident magnet. Slipping, tripping, falling, bumping, crashing, bruising, dropping, smashing, ripping or spilling, you name it I have done it in the last four months. One day as I fell over (again) John looked at me and said “never mind Moley, Your nick name should be Calamity Jane!” He also keeps saying I am a liability, don’t know what he’s on about, I managed to live this long without ever breaking any bones or landing in hospital, so in my books I reckon I’m not that bad. Am I?
When I told Lauren that John reckons my name should be Calamity Jane she looked at me and said with a completely straight face, “Calamity Mole! I like that better!” so now that is what I am known as on the boat.
Take care everyone xxxx
