COWROAST CHRONIC(le)




Greetings! I trust you are well. 

As I write these pearls of idiocy the weather forecast is telling me that the splendid Spring weather we've been enjoying for the last ten days is to be interrupted by a colder, damper spell. As the last ten days have also  featured a knee of considerable pain which sadly was one of mine I am unimpressed.
Whilst acknowledging that my knee which has borne a greater burden than most knees is of small concern compared, say, to some of the other ailments that afflict people more deserving than I,unfortunately my acknowledgement thereof does not stop this self-pitying hypochondriac from looking at my long term list of things to do and weeping. Not uncontrollable sobbing just a gentle, frustrated blub. Number one on my list , waiting for the right weather, is scribbled "plaml blot". Second is "rebqd battrope". 
It is not Lithuanian or any language of a country with few vowels. It is my writing. Never my greatest skill. What the first two items on my lozt, sorry list, should say is Paint Boat and Rebuild bathroom. They've been on the list for a long while.
 The weather these last ten days has been perfect for the first and if I could have made headway with that then the second could be done during the Spring interruption. But for the last ten days I have lain/sat prone or hauling myself round the boat cursing loudly and ineffectively at the pain and the inability to make progress.
The knee is marginally better, thank you, but the painting won't happen now till the sun returns and other matters are seeking priority. The list remains virgo in tacto.

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Talking of  bad knees my mate has been collecting the 

"Osteopathy Monthly Magazine" for 20 years. He says that

 he has a lot of back issues.

Whilst I'm in a bad mood next week sees the hideous waste of money that is the European Election. Now Theresa May has announced she's off fairly soon the Tories are lining up to see which of their stars will replace her.
So in both cases-the Euro Elections and the future Prime Minister of your country I submit the following picture. How sad.

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Let's lighten the moment. returning to the question of who reads this blog I was pleased to see that on 8th May bringing up the rear was one reader from Egypt! You are welcome though why the ramblings of a one kneed old boater should be of interest. Mind you there is a canal in Egypt.



8th May

Entry Pageviews United Kingdom 72 United States 52 Germany 14 Ireland 12 United Arab Emirates 4 Ukraine 4 Russia 3 Belgium 1 Canada 1 Egypt 1

15th May Entry Pageviews Luxembourg 71 United States 60 United Kingdom 18 Germany 12 Ireland 12 Singapore 6 Ukraine 4 United Arab Emirates 2 Russia 2

But the 15th May brought a real surprise! Top of the tree was Luxembourg

Ahead of the UK! Why are 71 Luxembourgers interested. We must be told. There are only  602,005, Luxembourgers altogether (the same when they are not all together I presume) so compared to other places it's quite a high ratio of blogreaders to non-blog readers. Did you know Luxembourg has the second-highest number of Nobel laureates per capita (33.880 laureates / 10 million people). Foreigners account for nearly half of Luxembourg's population; a bit like Dunstable really except the number of Laureates in Dunstable is lower. Much lower. 

Luxembourg's motto is here in four languages which are all spoken in the country.

"Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn" (Luxembourgish)

"Nous voulons rester ce que nous sommes" (French)

"Wir wollen bleiben, was wir sind" (German)

"We want to remain what we are" 

Which to us probably seems a strange ideal for a founder member of the EU.

Yet they manage it very successfully. Perhaps they don't have the misfortune to have a lying amoral Boris in their midst.

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I came across this picture taken at Cowroast. Judging by the clothes I would think 40s/50s but then clothes didn't change that much from the 20s till the 60s...well mine didn't anyway.

I often muse on the fact that when I started work (though some would doubt I ever did) at the age of 16 my dad took me to Burtons the Tailors to be measured for my first suit. It wasn't ready on the day I started (16th September,1963 since you ask) so I wore my school blazer with the badge removed. This did not appear unusual to me or anybody else. That was the extent of my wardrobe and that was that. How times have changed. Now 10 year olds strut as though on the catwalk with more clothes than would have been imagined by a child of the 50s. The gang above look a happy bunch without such luxuries though.

Something else that's changed in more recent times is the habit of waving. On the cut for most of my boating life (some 45 years since I first bought !) there has always existed the habit of acknowledging other boaters and gongoozlers with a wave of the hand or maybe just a nod or a smile. 

Nowadays-and it's not just me that's noticed it-many pass by staring resolutely ahead treating waving watchers like myself as though either we don't exist or are certifiably insane attention seekers uncomfortable in our own persona.(Ooops-might have given too much away there ) I know as you get older you apparently become more invisible-or is that less visible? who cares- but is it society generally or just the newer boaters don't get the point? I suspect the former but will carry out an in depth survey (no silly-not from the canal bottom) by resolutely waving at every passing boat and getting a response percentage. I shall report back next time if I haven't been locked up. I know you can hardly contain your excitement at such a survey.

These two both waved-but I know them anyway

An unusual sky over Roy's boat taken whilst he prepared an excellent salmon. peppers, sweetcorn with soy sauce all baked in a parcel.

 Bloody marvellous.....Roy always waves-even when he's on his own- in case there might be someone he hasn't seen who wishes to be his friend.So sad but a wonderful cook.

Fortunately these blokes didn't wave!

A bit of team lopping going on here-God knows where. Dunstable possibly....outside Wickes they have branches everywhere.
Here's a little known fact. I know it's little known because I just made it up. 8 out of 9 in Dunstable are mentally ill. Yes they're unstable-geddit.

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Unfortunately to prove this requires you to do a handstand in front of your screen. Good luck.
I enjoyed the joke I heard the other night-"My Yoga teacher turned up drunk-Put me in an awkward position"

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Late News!
The joint Devon and Cornwall music festival has been cancelled.
The organisers couldn't agree if The Jam or Cream should be on first.

Bye bye....and don't forget to wave.