122. Plethora of Lock-keepers

On arriving at Shiplake Lock we couldn’t believe our eyes, there were actually two lock-keepers on duty. The resident lock keeper is Geoff Horsnell, a river enthusiast for many years. Geoff worked in the City of London for 30 years before turning his hand to lock keeping and Geoff was accompanied by another lock keeper, Len.

The First mate asked Len “Why are there two lock-keepers on duty” to which he replied   “The third one hadn’t arrived yet” and Geoff chipped in “The fourth one’s also late”. Lock keepers are like London buses said the First Mate “You can never find one when you really need one,   and then suddenly a rake of them arrive all at the same time”. The Captain corrected him by saying you mean “Policeman”.””Yes” said the Cabin Boy having policeman connections “A bus load of Fuzz at the same time”

We had enjoyed the camaraderie between us and the lock-keepers and apparently the surfeit of lock-keepers had been caused by operator error at HQ, probably some young numerically dyslexic, not being able to distinguish between all digits between one and four.

120. Real Three Men in a Boat

While   waiting in Sonning lock we met another, the third one on this trip, a genuine Three Men in a Boat Crew. Instead of Jerome, George and Carl (Harriss) in the book,  we had Dave, Geoff and Harry accompanying them was Rollo and not Montmerency.

These chaps were real toughies and like those chaps in the book, they  were doing the trip in a genuine skiff. Skiffs found on the Thames are round-bottom clinker-built rowing boats that are still very common on the River Thames and other rivers in England. During the year, skiffing regattas are held in various riverside towns in England—the major event being the Skiff Championships Regatta at Henley.

These young men had been students at the other Oxford University, namely Oxford Brookes and were members of an Oxford rowing club and had been planning this trip for a couple of years .So much for their planning, they were trying to complete the journey in a total of four days, they didn’t have the sense to consult the weather forecast. They were well into day two of the journey; both the previous days had seen the heaviest rain of the year and more was forecast for the next two. Although they looked like drowned rats, their spirits were high and that was without proper accommodation and sustenance for they were camping and because of their arduous task which they had undertaken, they could not afford the pleasures that an over-suffiency of drink can bring. These boys were honed, toned and clearly too young to appreciate the real things in life such as wine, women and song but there again, decent chaps will always be decent chaps but boring.