Sunday 18th March
It’s been a funny old day. First thing this morning we were awoken by loud talking and the stamping of feet just outside our bedroom window. I thought they were walkers and that it was strange that they were trying to get the mud off their boots before they had finished walking the muddy path, but didn’t dwell on it.
When we got up we discovered that we were slap bang in the middle of a fishing match and the boot stamping had probably been trying to get us to move before they pegged out. No, not before they died, before they sorted out who was going to fish where! I had to text B and B to let them know there was no where to moor up because they were going to join us here today.
The fishermen arranged themselves round us and the 3 other boats which were moored further down. When I took George for his ablutions the chap who had set up just in front of our boat was a bit further down talking. As soon as he saw me and George he started saying very loudly – “Oh look, just look at that, look at that.” I thought he was talking about George, well he was but not how I thought.
He continued, “I’m going to have a bloody great turd right near where I’m sitting, a bloody great turd, that’s lovely that is, a huge turd right near me.”
Now, at this point George had not even produced a wee let alone anything else. Our friend piped up again, “Of course they never pick it up do they, never pick it up.” And he carried on chuntering in this vein for some time. I was pretty annoyed and pulled a poo bag from my pocket with a flourish and said, “Some of us pick it up, some of us always do!”
When George had finished doing what he had to do I returned him to the boat by which time this chap was sitting down on his tackle box eating a sandwich. I got a carrier bag and put the 2 bags of poo in it. I waved it at him and said, “See this? This is my dog’s poo – in a bag!”
He said, “Alright darlin’ I’m having my breakfast here I don’t need to see that!” To which I replied, “Well you shouldn’t sit there then.” Obviously thinking I was objecting to him fishing on the moorings he said, “I’ve been fishing here for 50 years darlin’.” I said, “I don’t care if you want to fish there. What I do object to is you making loud assumptions about whether I am going to clear up after my dog before you actually see if I have or not. And in any case, I didn’t even bring my dog any where near where you are sitting!” I was also going to point out that I was not his ‘darlin’ but decided against it. He spluttered a bit and told me to “Just stay over there.”
Later on Ken and I went to the Coop and had to walk practically in the hedge up the bank to get round the trollies, tackle boxes and, as it was now raining, the umbrellas! Ignorant bunch of tossers! We did manage to talk to one of them and found out they were packing up at 1pm so we let B and B know.
Lunchtime we decided to give The Red Lion a look. You can take your dog in there but we decided not to make George avoid all the tackle along the path, we’ll take him tomorrow. As it was Mother’s Day the pub was pretty busy and we squeezed ourselves in the corner. A nice family came and sat on the next table. Granny, Grandpa, Mum, Dad, Uncle Nick and two fairly well behaved kids. All was well until the younger child, a boy of about 5, wet himself at the table. Bless, he was so upset and Dad had to take him in to the loo to dry his jeans under the hand dryer. Mum did have spare pants in her handbag but no trousers. Everyone on the adjacent table gave up their serviettes so Mum could mop up the wee.
Dad and the boy were gone some time but when they returned he seemed ok. That was until he discovered that Grandpa had nicked some of the chips off his dinner while he had been gone and another round of tears ensued. Placated by Dad again he sat down to finish what was left but soon discovered his jeans were still damp so Mum took him off to have another drying session in the loo. Meanwhile the girl, who was about 7, but going on 17, was organising the ordering of the sweets, telling the waitress who had come to take their order to give them a few more minutes.
The sweets had barely arrived when the boy piped up that he wanted to go to the loo. Dad said surely he couldn’t possibly want to go again, whereupon the boy announced that he didn’t want a wee this time and dad quickly whisked him away! It was hilarious and highly entertaining!
The fishing match had finished when we got back and B and B were just arriving. We are all staying here tomorrow.
