This Saturday, to London, to celebrate the thirtieth wedding anniversary of two of my oldest and dearest friends.
This took the form of an afternoon cruising on the Regents Canal, past moored barges and some seriously swanky gin palaces.
It was a bright, sunny April day. Among the guests were a number of Australians, easy to spot because almost every one was wearing a woolly hat. This was unexpected, but our friends explained that to the Australians it was actually winter.
At one point we traversed the zoo. Here we have an enclosure of painted dogs, a species at risk of extinction in the wild. We are fans of "The Secret Life of the Zoo", which featured a very small pack of these same dogs recently. Watching them savage each other to establish a clear hierarchy of dominance even among the four of them was very instructive.
Meanwhile, on the barge, we caught up with long-lost friends, scanning each other's faces to recognise the familiar under the ravages of time.
The boat passed through Little Venice before turning and travelling to Camden Lock. This involved passing through several dark and narrow tunnels.
On the way back, we were in one of these for some time, the barge making slower and slower progress. Once out in the open, the steersman opened a hatch and used a boat-hook to prise layers of debris - bin-liners and discarded tights - off the propeller. We made faster time after that.
This took the form of an afternoon cruising on the Regents Canal, past moored barges and some seriously swanky gin palaces.
It was a bright, sunny April day. Among the guests were a number of Australians, easy to spot because almost every one was wearing a woolly hat. This was unexpected, but our friends explained that to the Australians it was actually winter.
At one point we traversed the zoo. Here we have an enclosure of painted dogs, a species at risk of extinction in the wild. We are fans of "The Secret Life of the Zoo", which featured a very small pack of these same dogs recently. Watching them savage each other to establish a clear hierarchy of dominance even among the four of them was very instructive.
Meanwhile, on the barge, we caught up with long-lost friends, scanning each other's faces to recognise the familiar under the ravages of time.
The boat passed through Little Venice before turning and travelling to Camden Lock. This involved passing through several dark and narrow tunnels.
On the way back, we were in one of these for some time, the barge making slower and slower progress. Once out in the open, the steersman opened a hatch and used a boat-hook to prise layers of debris - bin-liners and discarded tights - off the propeller. We made faster time after that.
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1 comment:
Happy Anniversary! We are closing in on 30years as well!
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