Just look at that amazing blue sky! That gallant figure, by the way, is Roy in his shorts (not a sight for the faint-hearted but luckily we are all pretty strong by now) slashing away at the man-eating brambles at the top of the bank, which was our task for the day.
Remember last time we burned out a couple of stumps? This is one of them, looking quite dramatic - the other one was actually sprouting...... 
... and here is Jim, on the hottest day of the year so far, starting a bonfire. 
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In no time at all, a tea break was declared, so here is Graham, Roy, Harry, Jim, Nady and Malcy all sitting quietly down for a cup of tea. And where did we all choose to sit?
Yes, you've guessed it, we're huddled round a flaming bonfire! 
Here's Malcy strapping on his waders: a worrying moment, as they hadn't been tested for water-proof-ness. You can see that Nady is very concerned. 
Harry and Phil are very concerned as well. We were all concerned. No really, we were - all that hooting and catcalling was just our way of showing that we care. 
Quote of the day: "They seem to be waterproof so far!" (NB for those of you who enquired: yes, they proved to be waterproof!!) 
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Later in the day, we stopped for lunch. Here is Vic struggling with a moral dilemma - should he gamble some of his sarneys to tempt a duck out of the reeds? You can see the problem, is it worth investing a small amount of bread for the chance to get a whole duck to himself? In the end he didn't take the chance, and ate the bread himself.
Later again, a rare shot of Jim sitting down in the sun instead of working. Well, it was turning into a very hot day, and we were just starting to wilt a bit..... 
....as you can see! Five of us (six including me) stood around watching Malcy slashing the brambles. That strange character to Malcy's left is James, with a tea cloth under his hard hat, Foreign-Legion-style. 
Well, that was my lot for the day: I have it on good authority that not a lot happened afterwards, but at least we'd achieved our aim of clearing the bank two yards down from the top. In the meantime, Bob had taken Little Blue (the sit-on mower) up the towpath on the other side of Challow bridge, and had done sterling work up there. In a strange twist of fate, one of the pulleys broke as he was on his way back to us. "What's strange about that?" you might ask? Well, the mower belongs to us - and usually we are not the ones who break our own toys! (Feeling sorry for us? Care to make a donation to allow us to fix the mower? All donations are welcome, really, no matter how small! Please e-mail me for information about how to help us - please! please!) |