Painting day.

Still moored above Osney lock.

Last night when I was clearing up I heard 2 women talking loudly to each other and thought nothing of it. When I looked up I saw a woman in a canoe hanging onto the front fender of the cruiser “Magic Lady”. Next thing a man ran out of a house opposite and grabbed her paddle and tried to pull her in to the bank. She got out of the canoe but the latter got away from her. The 2 of them then chased it down river until they managed to catch it by the last moored boat by jumping onto the moored boat which annoyed the owner no end. Later 2 guys in Canadian canoes came up river from below Osney lock. They carried the boats up to the lock where they re-launched them. This was OK until they reached the weirs where they found it very hard work and eventually gave up. What planet are these people on?

I was up at an ungodly hour this morning drying down the roof after heavy overnight dew. By 9am the front section was dry and warming up with the sun so I started painting. By 11am I had one section finished and was half way through the second section when the sun got the better of me as the roof was heating up too much.

To fill in time I cleaned the towpath side of the boat and spoke to umpteen boaters about when the river would be open to navigation again. After lunch there was a bit of excitement when a small cruiser with 5 adults and a dog aboard came down river from where we don’t know. Some how they finished up going sideways and backwards trying to negotiate the rapid river flow. Somehow they managed to get into the bank and moor up. I went down and spoke to them telling them the river was still on red boards but they just replied that they had been told that could take their boat out at the week-end. I could see that they were visibly shaken up by the whole experience.

After a session in the pub they set off up river from whence they came. I could see that they were struggling with the engine on full throttle and being pushed all over the place by the turbulence. Even after they had passed Botley Road Bridge their progress did not improve much as they were still bouncing around all over the place. Idiots, stupid, morons, words fail me.