Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Banbury not cross

Oh yeah oh yeah. Banbury town cryer is not a newspaper, it's a real bloke who woke us up on Sunday morning .

 

I should think that the good people of Banbury town council are pleased with how this year's canal day went. The towpaths and surroundings were packed and the stall holders selling food and crafts must have been very busy. The Welsh Cheese boat opposite us reportedly sold out. We dined splendidly on jerk chicken and my favourite curry goat, and in the evening ate probably the best French Brie I have ever enjoyed spread on fresh sourdough bread and washed down with a nice bottle of merlot. All, except the wine, bought from the market traders

We had a jolly time with Herbie looking good with her bunting flying. We seemed to spend a long time chatting to visitors like Maffi ( and Mollie), Bones, and Oakie popping their heads through the side hatch.

 

Across the canal CRT sported a working boat displaying the astonishing pile of supermarket trolleys and bikes they hauled out of the canal on Friday. Just as well they did because the canal itself was busy with canoes and trip boats threading the narrow lane between the moored boats.

 

 

On Friday night the boaters were treated to a bash in Tooleys dry dock with food and drink and a brilliant little show which included a lady playing O Sole Mio on the saw, a nostalgic tale of bath night for boating families in the old days, and another lady playing English bagpipes. What's not to like? If you want to see some very good photos of the day rather than the poor ones I grabbed with my phone, take a look at Captain Ahab's report which incidentally has a photo of a handsome chap aboard nbHerbie.

We stayed put on Monday to avoid the steady rain. Friend Christine who I often bump into at towpath ranger meetings came round for tea and cake Andre spent last night entertaining Maffi ( and Mollie of course) for dinner. It was not his fault that our wine cellar is now looking depleted. Kath led us astray in that direction. Our gourmet dinner was prepared earlier by our regular chef Lloyd Grossman, who was having a night off but kindly left us a jar of tomato and chilli sauce to pour on our chicken and pasta.

Of course both Maffi and I are both famous authors, so we spent a happy hour discussing the finer points of John Steinbeck and RL Delderfield both of whom are nearly as good as us. After that we worked on some chords for a song Maffi is writing. I could post the words here but I fear that a couple of them might not get through your ISP's profanity trap. Very good though. All in all a splendid evening.

Later in the week we have plans to share a meal at Great Heywood with Bones and the Moomins. My cup runneth over.

 

 

1 comment:

Vallypee said...

What fun! This looks as it it was a lovely colourful event. As for the intellectual discussions with Maffi, well I'm sure all who listened were enthralled by the erudite nature of your conversation...