days out...

Just a quick post in case the computer dies altogether and then I'll forget what I wanted to say!!!

Not so much a day out really as a trip to Derbyshire to help son 2 find a flat to live in while he's on his work placement year - so a whole load of driving in the space of 24 hours really! But amongst looking at the tiny overpriced flats we did manage to have a bit of a look round some pretty villages and came upon a little coffee shop by a canal lock. We just timed it right as two boats were going through the lock; I have always found the whole performance fascinating, from the cleverness of how the lock mechanism works to the characters on the boats. 

We have some lovely waterways in Norfolk but nothing you have to negotiate in a watery 'lift'!

The power of water pouring into the lock was quite impressive and it filled pretty quickly. The people on the first boat had been living on the water pretty much for 20 years and deftly negotiated the boat through the narrow gate...

before letting the water drop and heading through the next gate...

The whole thing took a very leisurely 15 or 20 minutes, during which there was plenty of time for chatting. It struck me this must be a very relaxed way to live, and a good lesson in compacting most of the 'stuff' we accumulate to fit it into a 60ft narrow boat! I'm not sure I'd fancy having to fetch water (especially in winter) or deal with the whole chemical toilet thing though.

For those of you who live near the canals I guess this is a familiar sight but I was quite excited by all this!

I feel when S is settled a proper trip to Derbyshire for a bit of exploring is on the cards!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that the nice people in the Apple shop can breathe new life into my laptop tomorrow...

Til next time

Sx