The crew were up so early that over breakfast I had to make a unilateral declaration that there was to be no talking or any activity of any sort aboard Pangolin before 6 am, except for essential trips to the loo (or, if like my crew, you insist on boaty talk, the “head”).
Mr Crew said that Mrs Crew had told him he should apologise for the lock incident the day before, and he promised to follow the rules from now on, so we were more or less friendly again.
Nevertheless, I thought everyone would be happier if I let Mr Crew drive for most of the day. He and Mrs Crew stood at the stern, while I took my binoculars up front, in pursuit of ducks.
It quickly became clear that bird watching was an irritant to Mr Crew. The binoculars belonged at the helm, and to add insult to injury I took pictures when I ought to have been concentrating on throwing ropes. My ropes were never tidily coiled as we approached the locks. Instead I busily photographed dozens of ducks, hundreds of pesky Canada geese, and the occasional, endlessly patient heron.
I admit that Mr Crew had a point about the binoculars, at least, but I didn’t care. I was being petty: they are my binoculars, and if Mr Crew wanted to see where he was going he should have brought his own.
I don’t think our morning’s truce lasted until lunch time.
Bit by bit the river widened and for much of the day Pangolin seemed to be the only boat on the river, now and again followed by a single narrowboat or cruiser. Just before five o’clock we slipped into a mooring at Henley on Thames, where the river was suddenly crowded, and we had to dodge crews practising for next month’s Royal Regatta.
The river Thames
Geese and swans
A heron by the bank
A cormorant in the trees
Okay, I admit it: I took pictures of cows too.
I
Day 4 statistics: 24 large river miles and 7 wide locks.
what else are you supposed to do when you’re floating down the river on a boat and you’re not driving it? lovely photos!
Comment by M.E. — June 27, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
Oh, dear, I am dangling in the wind. What happened next, for heaven’s sake? I can’t stand the suspense.
Comment by Old Woman — June 27, 2010 @ 8:03 pm
Oh god–or as the Brits would say, gawd (TP, I am an American, which is why I get to criticise us). Mr. Crew is being a true asshole—or as we Americans say, an asshat.
Comment by Jane Gassner — June 28, 2010 @ 1:57 pm
i’ll bet mr crew couldn’t identify a cormorant in a tree if you paid him. asshat, indeed.
Comment by M.E. — June 28, 2010 @ 3:27 pm
Drayton, writing sometime around 1612, sees the Thames as a man — kind of a stud, actually — and ports of call like Henley as babes he’s courting:
Set out with all this pomp, when this imperial stream,
Himself established sees, amidst his watery realm,
His much-lov’d Henly leaves, and proudly doth pursue
His wood-nymph Windsor’s seat, her lovely site to view.
So I’m really looking forward to next blog entry, hopefully from Windsor.
Comment by T P — June 28, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
Am i correct in assuming the Family Crew doesn’t read your blog?
Comment by Ruth Pennebaker — June 29, 2010 @ 5:50 pm
When two people who like to be in control spend days on a boat together…
Nice pix, though. The lovely tended landscape makes me wish I were there on the boat with you. (I’m an American, but I’m very easy going.)
Comment by Hattie — July 2, 2010 @ 2:02 pm
Ruth, I rather hope not, because Mrs Crew is ever kind, generous and well behaved, and though I was open with her about my frustrations with Mr Crew, I don’t think she quite understood, and that is probably as it should be.
TP, Windsor it is.
Hattie, you probably have it just right.
Comment by Duchess — July 6, 2010 @ 1:03 pm
My dear Duchess, if you can put up with this odious man for more than fifteen minutes, you are not only a duchess but a saint! Couldn’t you just set him down on the nearest sandbar and carry on without him?
Canadian Chicadee
Comment by Carol Lake — July 12, 2010 @ 4:42 pm