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.
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