Thank You!

I haven’t posted so much on the blog recently. Ever since I arrived back in London, a lot of the boaty fun stuff I wanted to get on with has been held up by a seemingly endless stream of comparatively minor interruptions.

One of these was that I discovered recently that none of my mail was being redirected as it should have been. It took about a week to find out that it had all been delivered to my old address and to collect it from the various people who had it.

Amongst the mail was a card from London Underground, telling me that something belonging to me had been handed in. I knew immediately that it must have been a wallet that went missing about a month ago. I’d cancelled the bank cards, library cards etc., but I was more concerned about losing my driving licence (I didn’t think there was any money in it, so that wasn’t really a worry).

When I went to collect it, though, I was told that it had £20 in it, plus €28, which I had completely forgotten about. If the person who found it had taken the money, or even just the sterling, I would have been none the wiser and would still have been relieved to have got it back. That they didn’t take the money was a really reassuring reminder of the honesty of random people. Whoever found it could very easily have taken the money, sold the driving licence or just thrown it way, but they didn’t. So, whoever you are, kind stranger, thank you very much!

Racist Filth?

A couple of days ago I bumped into our local PCSO, who advised me to make sure I locked my boat up if I was going to leave it unattended. Apparently there have been a number of break-ins around here, the most recent being a couple of weeks ago.

Clearly, the culprits haven’t been caught (otherwise there’d be no need for the warning), but he told me that they were eastern Europeans – “the sort who kill swans”. I’ve no idea how he knows this – until they catch the thieves, they won’t find out their nationality. This sounds just like spreading racist nonsense. He told me in the most minute detail how these people operate, but he still hasn’t managed to identify them – all he knows is that they are foreigners with repugnant dietary habits.

I’ve seen lots of eastern Europeans around this area, many of them street drinkers, and that they have all been perfectly pleasant. Some were even having a barbecue on the towpath and offered me and my friend a sausage (not sure if they were swan sausages…). I haven’t seen them, but the PCSO told me there are some homeless people living in the bushes right next to where I’m moored at the moment. Apparently, these people are well known to the police and work in one of the local factories. It isn’t easy for homeless people to find work, so they must be extremely resourceful and determined people, and whatever difficulties have led to their current plight are hardly helped by having the forces of law and order making them out to be criminals.

The only problem I’ve had at all in recent weeks was at Sainsburys in Alperton, where the kids in the slums next door regularly threw stones from the balcony at shoppers and boaters alike (I was wondering why there was always plenty of room to moor there). The Plod told me there’s no point in calling the police, as there’s nothing they can do about it. I imagine they simply haven’t got the resources- they’re all too busy harassing homeless foreigners.

Actually, I have had a certain amount of trouble from immigrants lately – it’s the Canadians. Yes, those damned geese have barely given me a minute’s peace ever since they discovered that I got HobNobs! (Actually, I’ve discovered that they have just about the best table manners of any water birds I’ve seen. They are the only ones that understand the idea of taking turns instead of fighting each other for every single piece).

I simply don’t understand racism – even when I try to find one, I can’t find a legitimate reason to hate foreigners simply for being foreign. Perhaps someone who does might be able to enlighten me…