As the weather isn’t enticing me and Sam to go outside, and we are staying here for the weekend, I am reserving this post for a grump. Yes, the title describes my mood right now.

Boat traffic is quite busy today. And the vast majority are careful and considerate. Sitting at the table with the laptop (doing some accounting stuff), I can wave good morning to these friendly boaters. I pride myself on my skills in mooring the boat securely. I’ve often, inwardly, scoffed at those other boaters who complain about being un-moored by speeding boats. They obviously didn’t do a good job. Well, no more scoffing for me. There are mooring rings here. The stern is tied to one of those. Even the most determined speeding narrowboater would struggle to do anything about that. The bow, however, is moored on a mooring pin driven into the ground. It turns out that 57ft is an odd boat length that often does’t match the spacing of mooring rings in most locations. And it’s no different here in Ansty. I have now learnt that it doesn’t matter how secure your mooring is, it won’t survive exposure to a speeding narrowboat. Especially when it is helmed by a drunk wearing a white captain’s cap who is determined to try to break the 4mph speed limit whilst holding a can in one hand and tiller in the other. He leered at me through window and slurred out a “Sorry mate”, as he collided with the side of Heron. I was gently fuming after uttering my usual “Really?” and then I realised the view out of the window had changed. He had been going so fast he pulled the bow pin completely out of the ground. Heron was now right across the canal. Cue a lot more ineffective muttering and grumbling as I rescued the boat. And, then to my complete shame, I had a go at the guys on another boat from the same hire company that appeared as I was doing this. Just because their helm was also wearing a white captain’s cap. Guy’s, you were polite, considerate and travelling at an appropriate speed. The grumpy man you passed at Ansty is sorry.