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(It's 'Rosy and Non-Human Life Forms')
Whilst in Gent, we had some rats living in/on the canal bank, and I didn't
have any rat-guards on the mooring lines. Still, all seems to be
well, as I've not seen a mousie-turd or a ratty-turd.
We do have a large number of our 8-legged arachnid friends on board.
I hadn't realised that there was enough flying food-stuff to support such
a large population, but there obviously is. They obviously don't
like all this travel, as they spend each night weaving webby ropes to
chain us to the bank. We have all types on board - from little speckly
ones that can jump, to the ones with tiny bodies and long gangly legs.
Outside we're in horse and cow country. Why do we treat them so
differently? Horses are good, and friendly, whilst cows are....
cows. Yet they both stare at one with lumpen looks. We are
a bit more honest with horses than we are with cows, and we pat horses
a lot more than we do cows. The French, of course, eat anything
they can lay their hands on.
Several of the locks are decorated with gnomes, and I'm thinking of starting
up a French branch of the GGRS (Garden Gnome Relocation Society).
The deal is that gnomes need a more varied and adventurous life than they
are generally offered. Society members purchase a gnome, and carry
it with them (usually in the boot of a car). Then, when they see
a gnome in a garden, they swap it for the one in their car boot.
They travel on, and when they see another gnome in another garden, they
swap it for the one in their boot. etc. You can often see
society members swapping gnome addresses with each other in motorway restaurants.
To avoid a charge of being élitists, the Society recently changed
its rules. It is now acceptable for unwaged members to forego the
necessity of laying out capital for the purchase of the initial gnome.
Instead, such members merely exchange two known gnomes. The effects
of this rule change are being closely monitored.
Rosy caught a fish the other day. One leapt out of the water and
landed on the foredeck. This is not at all unusual on yachts at
sea, but I've not come across it on inland waters before.
We were moored the other day, relaxing etc., when another boat hove into
view, obviously coming in to moor. I went out to offer to take a
mooring line. Apart from the two humans on board, there was a dog
and two cats. They had had a long passage. The dog and cats
were DESPERATE to get ashore. Later, in the evening, I was sitting
in Rosy, when a catty face appeared in the window on the non-towing path
side.
Today has been an eagle/hawk day, with several of them circling overhead,
and quartering the canal side fields. These fields are surrounded
by forest. One tends to forget just how much forest there is in
France. At regular intervals along the canal, there are substantial
saw-mills, surrounded by open-sided sheds where the sawn timber is seasoning.
And all the houses have extensive log piles, ready to see them through
the winter.
Toodle pip!!
Bill
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