2011 Streak 63/365: Back Home

2011 Streak 63/365 Walking - 6.34 miles, Time -  2hr 5min, Weather - back to grey

How many habits do we have? Most of us like to think we are not totally predictable and have some spirit of spontaneity; but how many of our actions are really free? How often do we follow along well established channels?

I ask because although I know I have certain routines and repeated patterns, I am sometimes unaware of all of my habits. For example when I come back from being away my first outing is always to the canal. It is as if I don't think I am fully home until I have run or walked the stretch between Boxmoor and Nash Mills.

So today's picture not only comes from that stretch it also continues the theme of return. I first saw this wrecked boat on January 5th and posted a picture. Since then nothing much has happened, apart from a soft barrier protecting other craft from bumps and the inevitable smashing of windows. Something left abandoned will attract kids at play and damage will result. Once the damage has started, usually, more and more will be broken until everything is smashed. I hope this boat doesn't go that way

I really do not know what happens when canal boat sinks. What does an owner do if he lacks resources (I had previously seen the owner of the boat and I don't think he had much money)? What does British Waterways do to ensure the canal is clear?

All will be revealed over time and as I frequently pass by I might be able to find out.

Other than that the walk was a reminder of the greyness of the weather and the dullness of Hemel Hempstead compared to Barcelona. We will never be a destination town!

I think it will take a couple of days to adjust to finding the pleasure in my surroundings

Photothon 26: Ozymandias

I love looking at the canal boat's names. Some are straightforward like 'Lucy Jane' others are jokey like 'Alibi' but in all cases there is a sense of people following their fancy. There is so much more freedom than in the naming a house: can you imagine a house called 'Lucy Jane' or 'alibi'?

You come to the waterways to discover something outside of the nine to five and the boat, the name, and the decoration all express this.

'Ozymandias' is an interesting choice. It comes from a poem by Shelley inspired by the broken statue of an Egyptian king. It has the theme that all power and glory will eventually decay into dust and there is an inevitable cycle for all civilisations. Its most famous lines are:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Now my guess is that the owners do not want to liken the Grand Union Canal to the sandy boundless dessert or their boat to a decaying statue. I doubt they even think their vessel is the 'king of kings'. Instead they want to affirm to poems message that the mighty will fall. They want to quietly get-on with their canal life whilst knowing that the flash, the pretentious, the overbearing, and the masterly can be safely ignored.

That is the spirit of the waterways. It is a mixture of the make-do and mend and the beautifully appointed, the rough and the shiny. Everybody goes their own way, on their own terms. It is also the spirit of running. We all do what we can within the limits of our bodies. Some are faster, some are not, but it doesn't matter. We are all just quietly getting-on . It is why I like running here - there is an affinity.