Janathon Day 3: of bowls and canal boats

Janathon Day 3: Walk 8.9km, Time 1hr 45min, Weather cold but with some sun and blue sky before it clouded over.

There is something reassuringly orderly about bowls: the greens are square and the surface flat and level with carefully maintained grass. Nature has been tamed and parcelled, and the tradition goes back centuries. 

I think of them as calm spaces (you can tell I don't play the game because I'm sure things get cut throat in the heat of competition), and like them as well when they are empty as when they are in use. This morning the green was still, covered with frost and with a low sun creating zebra patterns. All quite peaceful and it suited my mood as I ambled past.

There is an advantage to this bimbling: I am happy to stop to take photos or even just look around. I am not sure how this rates as exercise but it is enjoyable.

This morning I walked by the canal, on one of my standard running routes but this time I  stopped to talk to a boat owner about living on the canal in winter (running I would have passed by with just a nod). I wanted to know how cold it was when the hull was surrounded by ice and the wind was blowing. He said it was OK - the boat was well insulated and the fire kept the temperature up in the 70s. The problem came with being frozen-in. He had just spent more time than he would have liked moored at Winkwell and now he was moving back to his home berth.

The thing I like about canal boats is the variation. Some are very slick, shiny and well maintained, others are good but just a little down at heel, whilst others look as if they almost home made. In many ways they express their owners personality -  in the same way that individual running styles  say something about the runner.