Email: Different shouter

I met a different type of speed complainer last week on the Ashby Canal. He was walking slowly along, nearly twice the speed I was travelling, carrying a newspaper and smartly dressed.

As he overtook me he, in a quiet modulated tone complained about my speed and that I hadn't slowed for the boat I was passing. Reason for this being that I hadn't speeded up since passing the previous boat. He arrived at his boat, Mystic Rhythm, by which time he was about five boat lengths ahead of me over a distance of about 300 yards, and as I passed carried on complaining about my speed. I usually find that travelling at 900 revs is slow enough for most people, in fact my other half says I am too considerate.

I had two visitors with me who know little about canals and they wanted to know how many people moaned like he had as I was definitely not going fast. They thought all boaters were friendly people but were now reappraising this belief.

Denise Hunt