Cavalcade Eve and Day 1

2nd & 3rd May

Bruce is run off his feet so this is Sheila's contribution to the blog.

Yesterday started quite easily as breakfast was not until 8 am. But we were not allowed to linger over it. Bruce was detailed to help Bungle and Malcolm with putting in the electricity supply. That was particularly fun when it came to wiring up lights on the island in the middle of the pool. There were nesting Canada Geese and a pair of swans already fighting each other for possession. None of them much liked the idea of surrendering their territory to humans. They had also booby trapped the island with liberal supplies of poo.

Other cables were needed to supply power for the public address system and the festoon slung from the bridge at the entrance to the pool. It was a full day of work, then in the evening the traders started to arrive and needed to have their power supplies wired in.

I meanwhile was working round a variety of jobs, starting with hanging banners and covering with plastic sheeting the rather tired boards for the market stalls that we had collected the day before. Then there were tables and chairs to be set out in the Entertainments Marquee for the Boaters' fish and chip supper. As soon as the Water Bus had made its last run of the day there were detour signs to put up to direct travellers to the temporary Water Bus Stop that will be in use for the weekend. Finally the stall holders started to arrive and I was on the towpath in a high vis jacket leading the traders vehicles to their pitches. It was a bit like the days when there was a man with a red flag walking in front of each motor vehicle only I wasn't supplied with a red flag.

One nice event was the receipt of an e-mail from Davinia of Incite. She had caught up with the blog and wanted to thank Bruce for the nice comments. She was very interested in the link Bruce had posted to the web site of Incite as it was the wrong company! Someone else is using a very similar company name, the correct addresses are here and here.

The day felt a bit as though it would never end but at last Maria called everyone into dinner at 8.30 pm then just as we were finishing Elanor arrived but we only had time for a brief chat before we decided that enough was enough and went to bed. Elanor went off the bar to socialise.

Today started very early for Elanor as breakfast was 6.30 to 7 am. We decided to skip breakfast in favour of a lie in and eat on our own boat a little later as we were to take most of the day off. Jane and Tom, Graeme's mother in law and her husband, were coming to see us and have a look at Cavalcade and we needed time to tidy up.

Bruce took the opportunity to type out a notice to put on the fence of the wrg compound. It was deliberately written to look like the sort of notice seen on an enclosure at the zoo. It seemed appropriate in view of the way we spend a lot of our free time sitting in a fenced compound with commuters streaming past us and giving us some rather strange looks. The text ran as follows:

Homo wergiensis

This compound contains some interesting specimens of Homo wergiensis, a species closely related to Homo sapiens. H. wrgie, as it is known, was first described by Palmer and Arnold in the 1970s, but is believed to have existed in secret for many years prior to that.

Territory

It is quite unusual to find H wrgie in an urban environment such as this; they are normally to be seen lurking about in rural habitats, usually near old watercourses. This group was attracted here by placing the Dualit toaster and Burcos on a table, and within a few hours the first specimens had arrived and assembled the typical fenced area around them. Sleeping accommodation has been provided on the old boats behind you – this is always a popular move, as in the wild wrgies sleeping arrangements are best described as basic.

Feeding

H wrgie is probably the most omnivorous species known to man. The diet is widely varied, and invariably involves some form of alcohol, although subspecies H wrgie veggie and H wrgie vegan have been recorded.

Breeding

The breeding habits of H wrgie are something of a mystery, as normally only mature specimens aged between 18 and 70 can be found. Wrgies younger than this are very seldom seen. Older wrgies have been known to shed the typical bright red colouration for the blue "eclipse" colouration. This mimics the blue which appears on the related species Homo iwa. It's thought that they do this in order to avoid having to do any hard work around the nest site.

Much more research is needed into the habits and distribution of this fascinating animal. You can find out how to contribute by visiting the website dedicated to them, www.wrg.org.uk. It is also possible to subscribe to the research journal Navvies, which contains details of recent sightings of the species.

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It was a reasonably fine day and quite warm so we had a really nice day. Jane and Tom did not have a good journey coming up from near Maidstone as the railways were disrupted by maintenance but they arrived in time for a leisurely lunch. Then we took a ramble round the pool to look at the boats and see some of the decorated boats in the parade. After a cup of tea back at the boat Jane and Tom had to start their epic journey back without knowing which trains would be running.

Most of the wrgies have gone out to a Spanish restaurant for dinner so Bruce agreed to cook for the five remaining workers. That is why he has no time to write today's blog.