Fortified with lunch, we set off down the flight, swapping Joshie minders as we went. The locks looked like they’d been there for ever, built of big stone blocks that would probably look as perfect as the day they were made if the green slime was cleaned off. I know they were originally built as a means of getting cargo moved cheaply and weren’t supposed to be the monuments that they are, but we really should treat them with respect for the folk that built them and the boaters that used them. It was annoying when we crossed with a hired boat with a mixed “crew” who all seemed pretty drunk. We said to be careful as we saw them drift towards the top gate which, on this flight, has a paddle in the gate rather than two ground paddles. I did wonder why they built the culverts for the ground paddles but when you see the water rushing out of the gate onto a boat that’s too close, you realise why canal hardware needs to be treated with respect. I guess that’s why being a proper boater required skill. Suggesting a quickie to Ella, Casey, me or all three of us is definitely not part of that skill set, so I’m afraid we grassed them up to the hirers. The worst part for us was that the drunks had managed to drain a pound further down, meaning we had to phone the trust. We didn’t want to try fixing it ourselves and causing more damage. Frances, who answered, was happy to listen and, when Casey gave the name of the boat, she recognised it.
“Doing another award this year?” she asked.
That prompted the story of the three of us heading to the Bank Top gathering along with my status as a sort of political exile.

An hour later the repair team arrived during which time we had a visit from a police officer who asked us about the incident, then headed off to question the crew of the hire boat.
“Right mess they’ve made,” Andy from the repair team, said. “They’ve gone and sunk their boat two locks up and all. Lucky they didn’t drown themselves.”
“It’d sober them up I a bit guess,” Ella laughed.
“We’ll get you down, but we’ll have to temporarily close the flight. We’ll have to use the overspills and just carefully raise the levels over a few hours. If we’re not done by the end of the day we’ll see you down the rest of the locks tomorrow,” Andy smiled.
“Tayo,” Joshie smiled, having sensed that the guys were helping us.
“He’s a cracker of a lad that one,” Andy replied.
Cue another telling of the story, and a few hours waiting for the pound to gradually fill up. Whilst this was all going on, we brewed several coffees for the team, and made them sandwiches. With them being mixed we felt safe inviting everyone aboard. The galley was a little snug with eight plus a toddler but we had a pleasant time chatting to them about waterways and our interest in them. I told them about Uncle Jim and Auntie Amanda’s little boat “Mayfly” and how she’d been rescued by Jim, also Auntie Vera’s narrowboat and, guess what. Frances knew of them.
“So you’re from a legendary group of canal people,” she smiled.

It took the rest of the day for the pound to fill, and we stopped for the night where we were. Pretty much exactly on time, two of the team turned up and helped us through the rest of the locks for what would have been our day's run. They asked us if we needed help through the tunnel but we’d read that it was quite wide, if a bit on the low side, so they headed off again. It’s always good to have a chat with other people, but Ella, Casey and I liked sharing our time with little Joshie too, who had amused the team with being quite vociferous in his charming little way. We were mulling over the idea of canal festivals when we came to the rather odd looking tunnel. In the distance it looked like a bridge, but as you got closer it was definitely a tunnel, wide and with a low roof. In contrast, the next one was going to be pretty narrow. Before we got there we were passing the yard that had hired the boat out when someone on the towpath called and waved for us to stop off. Not being in much of a hurry, we followed her directions to one of the jetties, and were ushered into the office.
“I want to say how sorry we are for the incident yesterday,” the woman (who had hailed us) said. “We will be far more careful vetting the people we hire to in future.”
“We got a bit or rudeness from them, that's all” I said. “You and the repair team got the worst of it.”

We’d seen the bedraggled boat sat on blocks in the yard and it was in a really sorry state.
“Needs a complete refit,” the manager frowned. “We won’t get nearly enough back from the insurance to cover it. Still that’s our problem. I hope you won’t think we’re trying to buy you off, but we’ve got a few bits and pieces as a gift from us. And something for your lovely little boy too. Absolutely no strings attached.”
“Thanks,”Casey smiled. “We weren’t going after you for anything. Not your fault the people were so tanked up when they got to us.”
What the hirers did for us was to top up our diesel tank, emptied the toilet cassette (horrible task), filled our water and gave us a hamper of rather nice treats. For Joshie they had bought a soft toy of a narrowboat made of a good quality cotton. He loved it.
“Tayo,” he smiled, his eyes saying far more than the words could.