We are still heading south on the Oxford Canal, through beautiful countryside. There are fairly frequent locks, but they are scattered, so you go through them one at a time with some motoring in between. We went through one of the deepest narrow locks on the system today, twelve feet. Any deeper than that and the paddles would be under too much pressure to crank up easily and the gates too heavy to move. The old lock keeper’s cottage is now a desirable residence with serious shutters to shut out the view of the creepy people in canal boats.

There was a boat coming up with Christian branding on it, and the couple it belonged to were wearing shirts saying Canal Chaplain. The elderly guy in the boat going down asked them which particular god the were promoting.

“We’re Christians,” said the lady chaplain.

“Is that like ISIS then?” he asked innocently.

The lady earnestly started to explain the differences between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. I was doing my best to keep a straight face.

When our turn came to go down the lock a scruffy guy approached me and asked for a favor. I should have recognized by the thin coating of dirty grease on his clothes that he was a marine engineer. He had been called in to work on a boat just below the locks, and needed a jump start. Paula was driving, and she maneuvered Pegotty stern to stern with the crippled boat, and we tied up for long enough to get it started. It was named after another Lord of the Rings character.

We also went past The Prancing Pony, so it was a good day for the JRRT collection.

Meanwhile a rabbit with a rifle is trying to take out a golf playing frog.

Political assassination? Target practice? Crime of passion? Or does Mister Rabbit just not like golfers?

What could be better than a boat covered with flowers and Disney characters?

Of course, now this picture is on the Internet they’ll probably get sued by Disney, so enjoy it while you can. By this time next year that boat will be plain blue.

It’s probably better to invent your own set of characters.

Apparently someone is trying to do for canal boats what Thomas the Tank Engine did for trains. Of course, it is a complete fantasy. Can you see why?

That’s right, canal boats never go at top speed. The speed limit is four miles an hour, and that is not top speed in anybody’s book.