Sunshine on the canal

There will be sunshine round that bend on the water
There have been dark clouds overhead for all this time

As you climb aboard your boat for the simple life afloat

You fill your life with gladness and sunshine.

All those jobs and waiting orders left behind you 

Where you got up to go to work at half past five…

Someone else can catch that train in the early-morning rain

Cos you are where your heart can come alive!

You see a flash of turquoise blue in the cutting… 

If you’re sharp-eyed, you’ll see him hide as you pass by…

See the tiny jenny-wren…here’s the cock, and there’s his hen…

While the sky-lark sings his praises to the sky.

On the banks are buttercups and lots of cowslips

And here’s mother duck with ducklings…add-up: fifteen!

While the cuckoo sings his song you just move slowly along,

The thrill within your soul ne’er seemed so keen!

Though the heavens may open wide with heavy showers

And the thunder rumbles around close overhead…

You just travel on your way with a smile so light and gay…

All worries about work have up and fled!

Evening stills the chilly breeze across the valley

As you moor up to take your ease and eat a meal…

With a glass or two of wine you enjoy a life that’s fine…

Makes the rat-race just seem pointless and surreal!

In the morning you awaken to the bird-song,

Have your breakfast out on deck in the sunshine…

All your tension’s gone away…life is peaceful, life is gay…

The pleasure is so heady…like strong wine!

You partake of God’s bounty on your canal-boat

Because He’s made it possible for you to see

That the simple things in life and the absence of all strife

Are plainly of God’s bounty…and they’re free!

******

My own photographs, illustrating another of my songs, 

this one had my own tune instead of a borrowed one.

Jake's canal hobby ... (in cartoon format)

Jake was a rescued dog, who was part of my baggage when Ken and I met ... he developed a serious fixation with fishing.

Half black poodle, half bearded collie, he was a very intelligent little fellow who decided that Ken could not possibly catch a fish without his assistance.

Ken had to try to distract Jake when he cast out his swim-feeder, or the helpful dog would dive in to retrieve it and fetch it back.

Jake would sniff the fish and then try to lick it ... that's all he ever wanted to do ... but Ken wouldn't let him, so he got pretty unhappy at times ... at least, until he saw the float bob under, then he would set up his special yelping cry.

When Ken did hook a fish, Jake would start yelping and announcing to the world that a fish had been caught. He would jump up and down on his hind legs, desperate to sniff the treasure.

The most entertaining video film I possess is one where Jake is 'fishing' for himself with a long bullrush, to which I had tied a float ... he spent ages with it, waiting for the float to bob under. Gave Ken some peace that day, LOL. Here we have Jake, examining his latest catch on the edge of the canal towpath.

The start of our canal life (incl. cartoon)

N.B. ‘SHROPPIE  LASS’

We bought a narrow boat for the simple life afloat,
travelling down the cut*…

It was to be a lifetime’s toy and we danced with joy

as into it, ourselves, we put…

We packed in all our stuff of which I’d brought more than enough

to last us for a year or two

Then we started on our way: whether near or far away,

neither of us really knew…

But, don’t you know, a narrowboat’s not a holiday…

it’s more a sort of way of life…

Involving much hard work…and if you shirk*…

you get a nagging session off the wife

You’re often underneath those deck-boards, gritting teeth,

turning all the air around you blue…

And when the work is done, you sit down upon your bum…

and the boat thinks: “Boy, have I got news for you!”

You’ve had your holiday and you head for home one day

sad to leave the boat behind…

You settle in the house…where you start to grouse*…

because the boat just won’t stay out of your mind

You rush through all the jobs…three weeks worth done 'on the trot'*

then you sit and you twiddle your thumbs…

You catch each other’s eyes, heave some great big sighs…

then dash off to visit the Mums…

You went home for twenty days and in eight you’re fair away*…

hurrying to pack the car…

You’re heading for your boat and the simple life afloat…

and you don’t care how near or how far…

For you’ve got a water-bug* or a narrowboat or tug,

a barge or a cruiser, white…

You’re off on your way (and you’re going NOW today)

you can’t sleep in that house another night…

For, don’t you know, a narrowboat’s not a holiday…

it’s more a sort of way of life…

Involving much hard work…and if you shirk…

you get a nagging session off the wife.

You don’t care when things go wrong…for you’ve got ‘the bug’* so strong

it’s a challenge to sort them out….

And round every single bend is a brand new set of friends…

it’s the boating life for you, without doubt!

**********
*cut ... a 'familiar' term for the canals, because they 'cut' through small hills inside tunnels or deep cuttings.
*shirk ... avoiding doing something
*grouse ... grumble and complain
*on the trot ... one after another at a pace which is faster than normal
*fair away ... a nautical term to indicate that you have started and are making good progress
*Water-bug is a type of small boat found on the canals
*the bug is usually used to explain having caught an infection ... here I use it to explain that life on the canals is, if you are inclined to it, highly infectious, LOL.

I fitted this to an existing tune and sang it often to other boaters ...
We had ten wonderful years with the NB Shroppie Lass, before ill health intervened.
From spring to autumn we wandered the canals of this country .... blissfully happy, despite the problems involved with buying an elderly boat.
The photo, above, of Ken after a 2+ hour session under the deck boards, sorting yet another problem out, covered in engine oil and blissfully happy, relates to my cartoon here ...

* My cartoons, although received with enjoyment by other boaters, were not wanted by the Canal magazines published in this country. After a few months, I lost heart and stopped doing them. It will be good to give them an airing here, in the hopes that they are seen by at least one or two other boaters