Amazing what you see in 5 hours on the Regents Canal

The Regents Canal is fascinating. Walked from Bethnal Green to Camden on Saturday, snapping all the way. Here are some things we saw:

People waiting for delicious cheese toasties, coffee and blood orange juice at the Towpath Cafe, Hackney.


Evidence of the argument between Banksy and King Robbo.

As part of an art project, photo portraits of real tenants adorn the windows of their old Haggerston flats. I got a picture of a tenant in front of her portrait.

Promised picture

Here's a picture of the lovely man I met last week at the jumble sale.

Boat painting

Got a good farmer's tan working on the boat on Sunday. The weather was absolutely fantastic - we've skipped spring and gone straight to summer!

Mine and F's hands are a little the worse for wear after a lot of sanding, but we're on the way to a more beautiful boat.

Now I'm thinking about how I'm going to repaint the boat's name. I want to rename it 68b (or Sixty Eight B) in honour of my mum's family home, the sale of which enabled me to buy the boat. But I'm growing fonder of the name Pinny and it seems churlish to change it.

Here is a picture of the current boat name, taken last summer before the ravages of winter.

A dashing gypsy

Met a lovely guy at the jumble sale yesterday. He was wearing a dashing outfit: white shirt, straw hat, cravat, braces and jeans and had an extremely impressive set of mutton chops. He really looked like Pa Larkin from The Darling Buds of May, except more stylish.

He lives in a van these days, but lived in a horse drawn caravan for 14 years prior to that. He bought a lovely cord wine-coloured jacket and told me he likes to surprise people by being better dressed than they are, even though he lives in a van.

I took my own pictures of him but on film, so I will post them once I get them developed. In the meantime, here is a reminder of good old Pa Larkin and family

A day off that was busier than work

What a day yesterday.

Firstly to Uxbridge Boat Centre. What a great place. Spent far too much money and was charmed by the lovely woman who works there. It's fascinating to see all the boats in the yard too.

Then to my boat for sanding, rust converting, lunch and red oxiding. Balancing precariously on a gunwhale I turned to see a swan a foot away looking at me earnestly.

Then back to London, and South London at that, to the first day of a new photography course. It's run by the brilliant Zoom In. I did their basic photography course last year, and this is the follow on. I've got to shoot two rolls on specific things and get the photos developed before next Thurs. I think I will do some on the theme of shopping as I am going to a jumble sale with my granny in Berkshire tomorrow.

Then in Paddington I apprehended three men who had stolen another man's bike (he was running down the road after them). I asked one of them how he would feel if someone stole his bike (he was riding one). He gave me the finger in response, and then they all cycled off the wrong way down a one way street. I reported them to the police. Seems doubtful they will get caught,but you never know.

I should take the day off work more often!

Thanks to the boating community

I was impressed at the speedy and helpful responses from Towpath Townie and the kindly folks at Just Canals to my questions about boat driving (sailing?) tuition and painting.

I only posted the questions this morning!

Secret getaway

I love this house with its direct access to the river. I imagine it would be useful if you needed to make a moonlight flit.

The will power gym

Happy Easter everyone!

I have celebrated this weekend in the time honoured fashion by eating vast amounts of chocolate. And the brown stuff was all the sweeter because I had given it up (and cakes and sweets and biscuits) for Lent.

Despite my athiesm I tend to give something up for Lent every year, and I've only just started wondering why.

It seems like a good excuse to stop eating something I eat too much of already, and it's time delimited exercise in self-control. But why do I need to exercise my self control? And does it improve with exercise?