The rain brings boaters many benefits!

The weather is a constant challenge this year, however it also has brought some benefits for boaters. What benefits are those I hear you ask!

The first benefit is overcoming the water shortage from last couple of winters. The restrictions have gone and we can enjoy our life afloat. Despite the best efforts of British Waterways to leak the maximum amount of water out of the system. The canals and rivers are awash with water.

The second benefit has been the significant drop in dog turds on the towpath. I think that this is because wet dogs with muddy feet are to be avoided. So the irresponsible dog walkers are sticking to the streets. It could also be that the turds float off into the undergrowth or into the canals.

The third benefit is a significant fall in the number of the high visibility Lycra and Spandex adorned speed cyclists. I think this is because of the depth of mud on the towpath velodrome. There is no greater joy to a boater than to see a huge black line made up of a concoction including mud and dog shit on a cyclists back.

The fourth group of benefits are a bit less tangible - such as a significant reduction in shiny boaters now doing less cleaning and polishing of paintwork and brasses. therefore reducing your guilt level.


Or the sudden realisation that comes when you discover that your joints are much more accurate at predicting bad weather than the meteorological office forecasts. 

One that I just remembered is a bit or research based around the effect of the weather with memory and mood swings. We get a few of those on the boat from time to time, but there not always related to the weather.

ABSTRACT: Can good or bad mood induced by the weather influence people’s ability to correctly remember everyday scenes? In this unobtrusive field study, we predicted and found that weather-induced negative mood improved memory accuracy. Randomly selected shoppers on bright, sunny days (good mood) or on cloudy, rainy days (bad mood) saw 10 unusual objects in the check-out area of a suburban shop, and their recall and recognition memory for these objects was later tested. Shoppers in a negative mood showed better memory and higher discrimination ability. The cognitive mechanisms responsible for everyday mood effects on memory performance are discussed, and the implications of these findings for current affect/cognition theories and applied areas are considered. READ HERE

I go to the shops, I know what I need. I come back without one or more of what I went for in the first place. At home, I used to do it all the time. I would just get to the top of the second flight of stairs and forget what I went for in the first place. Now one of the benefits of being on a boat is the total absence of flights of stairs. I can forget without having to exert myself. Yes another benefit!

However, the biggest benefit of all is being able to talk about the weather. We are weather conversationalist and we love to pontificate at great length. Our specialist mastermind subject would be "Weather, how it links into the effects of global warming and the ecological and social changes caused by the rise in global temperatures." Yes, boaters love to have a moan about the weather. Too much Rain/Snow/Sun/Wind -v- Not enough Rain/Snow/Sun/Wind.

Later......