Slightly less enjoyable days.

Some days are very good and some days are slightly less enjoyable on board a boat. We all like the sunny warm days, when we can laze around and enjoy life to the full. For some on warm sunny days, its time to top up the tan. For others it time to clean the brass portholes and mushrooms. Each of us has notional good weather jobs that we like to do. 

For me its reading and drinking or there again, maybe its drinking and reading. Its all a matter of priority. I enjoy a good book, but there are those special times when a cold beer hits the back of the throat. Then the enjoyment is immeasurable. However, it only lasts for the first swallow and then tapers back a notch or two to be just refreshing. 

The only days we don't actually like when riding or boating are the soaking wet and muddy days we get on very rare occasions these days! If you are a keen off road biker, you might just enjoy coming back caked in sludge and shit muck. This last year has been very good for the off road biker as its only rained the once - for about 300 days non stop. As for the rest of us, its been a time of mixed feelings. Dashing off the rivers and onto the canal whenever there has been a heavy rainfall. Watching the river water in York climb to new record heights. Most of our enjoyment has come from being knee deep in the towpath mudslide that has gained our attention. Churned into a mud-bath by bike wheels and then into a slip trap by the walkers feet round the edges as they try to avoid the puddles. The greatest pleasure of all, its knowing that mixed in with all the mud is dog shit!

But winter is not such a bad time of the year. Think of those clear fresh cold mornings as rime covers the hedgerow and highlights the spiders web. The crunch of frozen puddles underfoot, a day when you can have a ramble in the countryside and know that there will be no mud on your boots at the end of your walk. The air is so clear you can see for miles and miles.Think of coming back to a wood burning stove with the toasty warmth spreading around the boat. Bright flames licking around the logs and a curl of smoke from the chimney. Mooring ropes frozen hard as iron and a layer of frost on the roof. Next time someone says "is it cold on your boat in the winter" you can answer "It depends on where I set the thermostat".

I quite like the frosty crisp hard days. This comes from riding a motorcycle in all weathers and for some unbeknown reason. The cold, clear, crisp and frosty mornings have a certain attraction all of their own. Its a bit like the dog thing, when enjoyment is having its head out of the car window. Yet if you blow in the dogs face it is not a happy pooch. We don't know why - but that's the way it is. Maybe the head out of the window for the dog is like those special times when a cold beer hits the back of the throat and the enjoyment is immeasurable. Plus when the dog shit is in a frozen lump on the towpath, its much easier to kick it out onto the ice.

CaRT - Canine arse's Relief Toilet.


Later....