Beau on 'Brum'

Lapworth, Stratford upon Avon Canal

At last, things are back to normal. To coin a phrase, I am now 'back in good odour', my collar has been restored to its original colour, and apart from a few muddy droplets on the ceiling above Mum's chair, you'd never know that our last 'misunderstanding' happened at all.

We are now heading back to our base at Stratford, but we have taken an alternative route back, 'Just to see what it's like'.
So, for the last few days, we have been going round a place called 'Brum', and it certainly is 'different'.......

Brum is a really warm place, all of the year round. I know that, because most of the buidings I saw from the boat have had holes put in the windows to let more air in. The really warm buildings have had their roofs taken off as well.........

Brum has a lot of artists, who have been very busy brightening up the canals by putting writing and pictures all over the sides of buildings and most of the bridges.
Because it is such a long way round 'Brum' on the tow paths, every few yards or so, the usual number of bench seats has been added to with matresses, and I even saw some old quilts and sleeping bags for people to use if they got really tired.

Another popular facility seemed to be places along the towpath where you could buy drinks. Nearly every alley way and bridge had a group of people who had been served, and there were piles of cans and bottles around, so there was obviously quite a demand for the service.
Dad had been complaining that there hadn't been many places to get beer round 'Brum', but I reckon that if we'd stopped and asked the guys under the bridges, they could have sold us some, or at least told us where to go............................

Even though the colour of the canal water had been different to what we'd been used to, I thought that 'Brum' was a very interesting place, and a real change to some of the towns we've been through.

I know that Dad thought it had been worth coming this way round because he said that he was 'glad to see the back of it'. I guess that means that one day we'll go another way round and see the front of it.

xx Beau

OK, I promise, no more rolling!!

Local artists really made an impression

Beau and The Soap Opera

Autherley Junction, Shropshire Union Canal

Well, a few days have passed, and things seem to be getting back to normal.
I've been thinking though, how, even when doing things for the best of reasons, misunderstandings are apt to arise.
Take, for example, the recent Incident of the Unknown Substance ( see previous Blog posting 'Beau Smells Trouble'.

Misunderstanding No.1
I thought that Dad would share my curiosity regarding the stuff that I rolled in and brought back to the boat; I WAS WRONG...Having got it all over his hands when he grabbed my collar, he was, selfishly, only interested in wiping it off on the grass.

Misunderstanding No.2
I thought that, if Dad wasn't interested, then Mum certainly would be, so I ran down the boat and put my head in her lap so that she could get a good look at what I'd brought back.
THIS WAS A MISTAKE....Mum just shouted 'MIKE!!..He's rolled in something!..Get him out of here!!

Having just finished cleaning off his hands in the grass, Dad heard Mum shout, and came running down the boat..

Misunderstanding No.3
In case he tripped over me on his way in, I thought I'd better get out of his way, so I jumped up onto the bed.
THIS WAS ANOTHER MISTAKE....Seeing me lying on the bed, Dad grabbed me by the collar to get me back onto the floor, but, as my collar was still carrying a reasonable quantity of the unknown substance, Dad, once again, had it all over his hands.........

The sticky stuff that I had brought back to the boat was, by now, starting to flake and drop onto the floor in lumps, so Dad decided that he had to get me cleaned up as soon as possible. His decision was to utilise the shower. THIS TIME IT WAS HIS MISTAKE........

Dad got the shower running, opened the door and tried to shove me in. Out of politeness, and as it was me that had got him covered in the stuff, I thought that he would probably want to come in too....
So, whilst Dad shoved, I suddenly walked forwards....and viola!!...not a huge amount of room, but we were both in!
APPARENTLY, THIS WAS ALSO WRONG!!...For several reasons.....
1. Dad still had all of his clothes on, though to be honest, they would have needed washing anyway
2. The shower door was still open, and the bathroom floor was already awash
3. The nice-smelling squirty soap that he needed, was still outside of the shower.......

Dad turned off the water, got out of the shower in his wet clothes and said 'WAIT! while I get a towel. (I suppose he wanted to dry himself off).

Well, I couldn't wait for Dad to come back, and I knew that Mum would want to see me now that I smelt nice again, so I ran down the boat and shook off all of the dirty water in front of her so that she could see how lovely and clean I was.......

But apparently, that was a mistake as well...............................

xx Beau

Beau Smells Trouble

Norbury Wharf, Shropshire Union Canal

There's a certain pattern to the start of my day....it's been honed to perfection during my time on the boat, and Dad hasn't been the easiest of people to train; but I'm getting there.

It's my duty to get everybody up and about,..... whether they want to or not.
If Dad pretends to be asleep, even though its gone 5:00 in the morning, then a lick on the elbow, or the foot will normally be enough to stir things up..- failing that, a cold wet nose applied to his anatomy will generally do the trick.

After I have breakfasted heartily on dried biscuits, mixed with low-priced, low-pork, low-taste sausages, it's time to leave the ship....or as Mum puts it, "Get him out from under my feet", ...I think that she's talking about Dad, but I'm not really sure.

Out on the Towpath, (so called because it's where dogs tow their owners along), and it's time to pick up my P-mail, leave replies and do a bit of waste-disposal.
Being well-trained, Dad always picks up behind me, predictably saying " Good grief Beau, what HAVE you been eating?"

I take the view, "Well, you're the one that fed it to me.....it's low-priced, low-pork, low-taste lookalike sausages...You know what they say, Rubbish in, Rubbish out, so what do you expect?"

At this point, we would normally return to the boat, but today, I was getting a sniff of something rather interesting a bit further up the track....something that had to be investigated.
Dad didn't really want to go any further, his mind was already on toast, peanut butter and a hot cup of tea on the boat, but such considerations are as nothing to the curious collie................

Dad called me, (I think), and started back to the boat. I adopted the cunning disguise of the half-deaf  sheepdog which has served me so well in the past, and carried on towards the distant, inviting smell.

When I got there, I have to admit, I couldn't really work out quite what it was. It certainly smelled nice, it was a greenish, yellowy, brown-black lump of stuff that reminded me of Dad's experiment with Curried Faggots..........

Dad was still heading back to the boat, so it was no use waiting for him to come and identify it....I didn't have anything to carry it back in, so what else could I do but smear a bit under my chin, round my ears, on my back and under my collar..........
Having made sure that I had a good sample, I ran back and caught up with Dad just as he got to the boat.

He looked at me, turned up his nose, and his eyes began to water......He grabbed me by the collar to stop me getting on the boat.......
"OH BEAU!!...What in heavens name have you rolled in!!!!"

I thought, " Well, now you've got it all over your hands, You tell me"..........

I don't think we've heard the last of this episode...

xx Beau