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| View from our over-night mooring |
Now there are two universes. The outside universe of traffic jams, rushing around and.... work. There is also the canal universe where the world goes by at 4mph (tops) and everybody says hello to everyone else. Time is different too and the sun has been known to be above the yard arm as early as midday.
Foxton is the anomaly - the portal between the worlds - a place where the two universes collide.
You see people from the normal world know about Foxton, with its awe inspiring staircase of 10 locks and they have turned it into at ATTRACTION. The problem is that Canal people also appreciate the beauty, but need to get up and down the aforementioned flight while they are appreciating it. And the hundreds and hundreds of visitors from the other universe get in the way.
People from the canal universe call people from the other universe GONGOOZLERS. A gongoozler will stand at the lock-side and put their nose so close to the boats window to look in that you can count the nostril marks. They also ask dumb questions.
"How long is it?". "Its 54foot". "Is that long?" "Er.... its 54 feet long"
"Where do you come from?" "Oh weve come up from Reading". "Wow! Did you bring the boat on a lorry?"
Annie had a good one. "I cant see in!". "No, thats because Ive drawn the curtains." "Why?" "So nobody can see in."
We booked in with the lock-keeper - who as well as lock-keeping does a good job as a circus ring master. 30 minutes later he gave us a wave and we started our ascent. From bottom to top took a little over an hour. Moored at the top and I went back to go around the museum, whilst Annie caught up on her sewing and the ships dog licked itself clean from all the sticky gongoozlers fingers that had petted her on the way up.
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| The portal between the worlds. Note Gongoozlers on the left. |
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| View down the |
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| 1896 & 1903 Motor Car Act Signage |
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