20th July 2016
Well, today was not so hot, but still hot! We all had showers first thing, and after washing up I filled the water tank from the tap on the pontoon. We left the mooring at 10:15, and arrived at the picturesque town of St Ives 2 hours later, at lunchtime, finding a space on the Town Quay again, just downstream of the bridge, which is famous for being one of very few with a chapel built into it.
The town is a moderate size, and we went shopping for much-needed supplies, having run out of milk, bread and eggs. The main square is dominated by a statue of Oliver Cromwell, the only statue of said "King slayer" in the country that was funded by public subscription. There is a good variety of shops, with a few high street names, but not the bigger ones.
Returning to the boat with such luxuries as pizzas to go in the oven, and some fresh salad stuff, I was happy to sit on the quay wall and watch the world go by, while Joel and Shannon took Koko for a proper walk. Mid afternoon, a man appeared just above our boat, and spent2 hours - yes, 2 hours, shouting down his phone on speaker in an incredibly excited Arab language. Occasionally he would get a call and speak in very poor English, quickly finishing, calling someone else and reverting to Arabic. We jokingly conjectured that he might be plotting an attack, and decided his name was Allahu Akbar. He certainly was annoying, but eventually he left. At 3:30, I was surprised to see a load of school children in uniform come along the quay - it seems that the holidays ended a week later here than they did in Hampshire and Dorset!
After doing a few jobs on the boat, it was time to put the oven on and cut up the salad. The shadows were getting longer on the quayside and we sat outside the boat to eat. Around 7pm, a troupe of Morris dancers arrived on the quay, and proceeded to entertain us with several songs and dances. It is such an English tradition, and a dying art by all accounts, so it was gratifying to see a few small children joining in alongside the dancers and trying to do the steps and claps, though by the time they are 12 or 13, they would probably be mortified to see themselves in that situation.
A little later, a seal was spotted swimming up the river, and I did manage a reasonable photo despite the dusk. We had quite a late night. At midnight, 4 people jumped off the bridge into the river. I heard the first splash and quickly got up on deck. They were drunk, obviously, young lads of 16-18, and they had stripped completely naked and were jumping off the parapet in the middle of the river. Three of them managed to swim to the bank quickly and retrieve their clothes and run off, but the fourth was quite the worse for wear, and I was on the point of calling 999 when he finally managed to get close enough to the bank to get his feet on the bottom and stagger ashore, limping off after his friends without a single stitch of clothing!
Well, today was not so hot, but still hot! We all had showers first thing, and after washing up I filled the water tank from the tap on the pontoon. We left the mooring at 10:15, and arrived at the picturesque town of St Ives 2 hours later, at lunchtime, finding a space on the Town Quay again, just downstream of the bridge, which is famous for being one of very few with a chapel built into it.
The town is a moderate size, and we went shopping for much-needed supplies, having run out of milk, bread and eggs. The main square is dominated by a statue of Oliver Cromwell, the only statue of said "King slayer" in the country that was funded by public subscription. There is a good variety of shops, with a few high street names, but not the bigger ones.
Returning to the boat with such luxuries as pizzas to go in the oven, and some fresh salad stuff, I was happy to sit on the quay wall and watch the world go by, while Joel and Shannon took Koko for a proper walk. Mid afternoon, a man appeared just above our boat, and spent2 hours - yes, 2 hours, shouting down his phone on speaker in an incredibly excited Arab language. Occasionally he would get a call and speak in very poor English, quickly finishing, calling someone else and reverting to Arabic. We jokingly conjectured that he might be plotting an attack, and decided his name was Allahu Akbar. He certainly was annoying, but eventually he left. At 3:30, I was surprised to see a load of school children in uniform come along the quay - it seems that the holidays ended a week later here than they did in Hampshire and Dorset!
After doing a few jobs on the boat, it was time to put the oven on and cut up the salad. The shadows were getting longer on the quayside and we sat outside the boat to eat. Around 7pm, a troupe of Morris dancers arrived on the quay, and proceeded to entertain us with several songs and dances. It is such an English tradition, and a dying art by all accounts, so it was gratifying to see a few small children joining in alongside the dancers and trying to do the steps and claps, though by the time they are 12 or 13, they would probably be mortified to see themselves in that situation.
A little later, a seal was spotted swimming up the river, and I did manage a reasonable photo despite the dusk. We had quite a late night. At midnight, 4 people jumped off the bridge into the river. I heard the first splash and quickly got up on deck. They were drunk, obviously, young lads of 16-18, and they had stripped completely naked and were jumping off the parapet in the middle of the river. Three of them managed to swim to the bank quickly and retrieve their clothes and run off, but the fourth was quite the worse for wear, and I was on the point of calling 999 when he finally managed to get close enough to the bank to get his feet on the bottom and stagger ashore, limping off after his friends without a single stitch of clothing!
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