A Grand Day Out

Today was all tally ho, blazers on and chocks away as we departed Aylesbury for the fairer and certainly much snootier climes of Cambridge. The new exhaust worked a treat and an hour and a half later we were lost in Cambridge looking for a car park. Next on the list was some breakfast and after a nice cup of earl grey and some marmalade on toast along just outside King's college. The best thing was the way everyone had such a posh English accent, I have two degrees but even the tour guide at the gate to King's college made me feel positively uneducated! We had a jolly good look around the place, including taking in the Adoration of the Magi (Rubens, not da Vinci) and a wander up the river Cam, then up 123 steps of the tower at St Marys and then it was time for a nice quiet PUNT. Yes that's right, we went punting, and as a master punter, it was I who was in charge. Actually it wasn't all tea and biscuits and I was in charge more because no-one else wanted to fall in, but what they didn't realise was that I was most like to fall in regardless. As it turns out, I am not a master punter, and our punt turned out to provide some rather enjoyable entertainment for those dining at the pub by the marina. Luckily the current took us on our way and I soon learned how to efficiently zig zag up the canal/river, without falling in, though I came very close, without losing my punt stick (that's the official term) and without capsizing the boat (thou we did have a head on collision but it was their fault) and by our return, I was certainly capable of captaining a small boat up a narrow river with a punting stick. All in all a top notch day, one of the most enjoyable I've had in some time!

Being captain of the punt requires intense concentration










One must inspire the confidence of ones passengers

And do one's best not to lose one's punting stick.

Despite all this I did manage a moments quiet contemplation while Toni watched the deck.