The penultimate xmas meal

Well not quite because the Great Northern Pub must be the only pub round these parts without a  Christmas menu. We have moored on and off at Langley Mill for at least 3 years now and in all that time the pub has changed hands at least 25 times and probably more then that. In fact only last week  a new relieve manager arrived and within 3 days the pub was closed down by the local Constabulary for not having a licence to sell alcohol! This caused us a bit of a dilemma as we had already booked a table for lunch time today and we had no idea if, at this late stage, we could find another place to eat. Anyway, thankfully it opened again yesterday and so we were able to dine even though it wasn't the Christmas meal planned. Still the food was excellent and the cook did a great job considering all the problems that she had to deal with. Our friends Tony and Lynda joined us to add another memorable occasion to all the years we have been out together as friends. Returning to the boat for coffee and cake it wasn't long before we started reminiscing about the good old days, especially the time we all took a narrowboat on hire from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough back in the 70's. Then the canals were like ditches and rubbish dumps with many a dead animal floating in the putrid water. We hardly saw any private boats on the move with hire boats and working boats being the norm. I remember trying to get to the bank which was nie on impossible because of the shallow depth of water and many a time we had to take a leap of faith with rope in hand so we could moor up. How things have changed for the better and as much as we moan about BW, now C&RT, without their effort our canals could still be in the same state as they were  several decades ago.

Lynda. Tony, Ian and me.

My coffee cake.

So now it's the big day itself to look forward to. It also appears that the weather is set to turn very wet and windy during the run up to Christmas so to everyone still enjoying their winter cruising, batten down the hatches, put the logs on the fire, pour yourselves a glass of mulled wine and enjoy the festive season.

And finally:-