Bones and Maffi are tops

NB Bones and Milly M above Day's Lock, R. Thames

The journey started with a pheasant. It was lying in the road half a mile from home, and was still warm when I bagged it up and put it in the car. I took its lack of protest as sufficient indication of its being deceased.

We had taken up Bones’s offer to look after us for a weekend (or was it that we should look after her?) And it was to be 48 hours of boating fun and games, although the official game (of croquet) was left unstarted through lack of time. With a brief explanation of the gear/throttle control, “lift before moving, pull away to disengage. You’ll knock the ignition switch and cut the engine when you dont want to”, Maffi gave us charge of Milly M and we set off in convoy down the River Thames.


steamers Sandra and Chimera II

We shared a lock with a couple of steamers and moored up just above Day’s Lock, having enjoyed sunshine all day. Now I could practise my barbecuing skill, such as it is, on the three varieties of Pickerings sausages we’d brought from Norfolk: Classical Greek; Thai; and a new, as yet anonymous, pork, pepper and garlic sausage. (photo here) I’m happy to report that they were consumed with gusto, along with other things, so a Success. And I didn’t need the umbrella I’d brought especially, although we could have used the fortified look-out post if it had been chucking it down.


camera with viewfinder (see top photo for image)

Oh, the pheasant? Yes, it was dead, and we presented it to Bones on arrival. She seemed pleased.