The Adventures of Tuggy

The Adventures of Tuggy Meanderings of a Ships Cat CHAPTER 1

The Upheaval

It all started some seven weeks ago. After much sorting and packing of clothes and other items, I assumed they ( 'im and 'er) were off on holiday again. This, of course meant a week or two in the cattery for me. Sure enough, the dreaded basket appeared and despite objections from me, I was bundled into it and put in that awful four wheeled machine they call a car and driven, for what seemed to me an eternity but in actual fact was only ten minutes, to the cattery.

As usual, my time there was spent mainly sat outside my pen, eating, but mainly sleeping. After some time I adjusted to the daily routine and began to relax. After just about a week they arrived to collect me, ..Oh what joy, .1 was going home! They loaded me into the cat box and again into the car. What should have been a short return journey, didn't end when I thought it should, we went on and on. After a while they let me out of the box and I was allowed to explore the inside of the car, but they started to panic when I decided to get on his knee while he was driving. We stopped and they changed plages, but I definitely wanted to sit with the driver, it was warmer over that side of the car! He kept a firm hold of me for the rest of the journey. It must have taken weeks (about 3 hours actually) and it was only at the very end that I was eventually sick!!!!

When the car stopped I was put back into my cat box and manhandled across unfamiliar ground. When they let me out I found myself in a very nice, but very narrow room. There were smells of new wood, paint, furnishings and a couple of rugs that I recognised from home, that was reassuring, but there was something else I hadn't come across before. It was a heavy, oily smell and it was coming from the far end of this long thin room. On investigation I found a big green boxy thing right at the Back - the oily smell was definitely coming from under it. It reminded me of the smell of his old car when I used to go under it on the driveway at home. I'd have to investigate later.

Going back towards where I came in, I found a very familiar smell. It was their bed, just as it had been at home, the same smell, the same covers, the same feel, it was great!

In the middle of this strange dwelling was an area which smelled of food and cooking, this was my favourite place and after a short while my special treats were produced and I knew I was going to like it here.

CHAPTER 2

Settling in

Later that first day, I was trussed up in my new harness and a long lead attached to a ring on my back, I was picked up and carried out onto the grassy ground by our new home. This was great fun but every time I wanted to run off and investigate this wonderful area, the damn lead on my back stopped me and I fell over! I wasn't too keen on this at all and voiced my concerns. Eventually they cottoned on to the idea I was wasn't happy and decided on unfettered but accompanied outings.

It was while returning from one of these early trips that I had a fright. Our new home was completely surrounded by water. I'd seen this stuff before, in the bath, kitchen sink and even my own food bowls but never this much !!!! In fact the big long steel tube that was our new home was floating in the bloomin' stuff. I decided great care would be needed and that an investigation was in order, so I set off on a tour of our 'boat', as they called it, and walked around the little ‘ledgy’ thing which ran round the outside. This caused great consternation to 'im & 'er. One of them climbed out the front of the boat, the other appeared at the back. I didn't know what they wanted so I decided to go back. Now it's not easy for a cat, despite rumour, we aren't that sure footed and I lost my nerve in mid turn and decided reverse was the best bet. They thought this very amusing, they'd never seen a cat walking backwards before, well not for forty feet along a 4" ledge.

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Things started to settle down nicely, 'im & 'er relaxed as I gained more confidence around the boat (as we boaters call them), I was allowed to explore 'on shore' which was great fun, the place was full of trees and shrubs and mice and birds. There were lots of other boats around, all lined up next to each other and it was great fun walking round them and jumping from one to the other. When they called for me I quickly realised that, if I hid and waited a bit, they would get so worried that when I did finally condescend to return they were so relieved I was given one or two of my favourite treats. I did something similar at night. I'd wait till they had got into bed and everything was nice and quiet then I'd start to cry and scratch at the dividing door. After a few attempts to quieten me, they would give-in and allow me to sleep on their bed which was softer than mine and a damn site warmer. Of course I had to train them to leave the adjoining doors open so I could still have two or three snacks a night plus the usual visit to my litter tray, but we soon settled into a routine acceptable to all parties.

All went well for the first few days then one day there was an almighty noise from the back of the boat!

That nasty oily smell became noticeably worse and there was a severe vibration all over the boat. 'Im & 'er wouldn't let me out and made sure I was shut in the saloon. From what little I could see through the small round windows, the whole boat was moving! The noise at the back kept changing and the boat wobbled about quite alarmingly. Eventually the rhythm of the noise settled down and remained steady for ages. I must have fallen asleep but was woken by change. The motion had stopped and the noisy, vibrating thing at the back was silent. When I was allowed back into the front of the boat (my favourite place, apart from the bed), I found to my amazement the whole area outside the boat had changed.

Where there had been a wooden landing stage there was now water and on the side where there was another boat, there was now a grassy bank . Oh what joy!! . Let me out! Let's go exploring!

I found on these outings that I could get off at the front, go exploring and, if need be make a quick return via the rear doors and over the big green boxy thing at the back. Incidentally, this thing , after several hours of noise, vibration and smell started to give off great quantities of heat which at the end of the day remained warm for some considerable time. This very quickly became another favourite place!

CHAPTER 3

Tragedy!

All was going so well, we moved every few days and I enjoyed exploring new places, they settled down and didn't worry too much about me (unfortunately this meant the supply of treats diminished alarmingly!). Eventually we returned to where all the other boats were (our home marina) and for a few days strange men came aboard and did bangy noisy things with nasty whirry things but that didn't cause me too much bother as I was allowed full freedom of the area around the marina.

One day they started moving boats about and I followed 'er around the marina while she tied a rope between two boats. I was walking along the side of one boat at the far end of the line as she walked along the path. When I got to the front of the boat, I attempted to walk on the edge of the ‘tenty’ thing covering the front end, something I'd done many times on our boat. Unfortunately this ‘tenty’ thing was made of plastic material; now I don't know how many of you know about the coefficient of adhesion of cat's paws on plastic, but it's not very high. The next thing I know is I'm floundering and splashing around in the water at the front of this boat and can hear screams of alarm from the path above. Fortunately I was able to hook a claw or two onto the chain holding the bow fender (as we call them). Above me the commotion had stopped and 'er was lying on her stomach above me and was just able to get a hand under my tummy and heave me onto the path. Oh what a mess! Cold, wet, but worst of all I'd totally lost all my 'boat-cred'. I was left dripping and scrawny-looking on the path. Water was literally running off me, especially my tail and tummy. I tried shaking each leg in turn but this just caused great merriment and laughter amongst all those who had been alerted to my plight by all the screaming and shouting earlier. I was eventually wrapped in a towel, taken aboard our boat and thoroughly dried off.

After a while I calmed down and was allowed out again, they assumed I had learned a valuable lesson They were right!

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Days went by and we settled into a routine, we would spend a few days at our base marina where the men came and did jobs on our 'snag list', then we would go out for a few days 'cruising' and do things like fill the tank at the front with water and/or empty the tank in the middle of the boat that smelled absolutely dreadful.

One afternoon, after one of these cruises, we moored just below our marina while we waited for the workmen to move some boats so we could get in. I was allowed off to explore the adjacent towpath and hedgerow, this was great, lots of new smells and holes to explore. Just as I was getting familiar with the surroundings they started calling and whistling for me to return to the boat, which I sometimes did, depending on my mood. On this occasion I was too enthralled by the field on the other side of a rather well laid hedge, so well laid that 'e couldn't get through it or over it. hee hee!

As I explored I became aware of a snuffling and grunting. On looking up I found myself confronted by a semicircle of huge, four legged monsters which were gradually enclosing me. Mooooo ! cried their leader as it lowered its massive head and advanced toward me in a very provocative manner, whoops I thought as I backed up and made myself as big and mean-looking as possible by arching my back and fluffing up my fur. Just then 'e found a branch to stand on and poked his head above the hedge, this startled the monsters confronting me and they turned and ran. My hero! I took the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat the other way, back through the hedge at lightening speed, much to the amusement of 'im and 'er as I was still at full fluff with my tail looking like a Christmas tree.

CHAPTER 4

The Tourist Scene

Just before Easter, 'e went off in his car and didn't come back that night, 'er was a bit on edge as this was the first night we had spent on the boat without him. I was sat out on the steps of the mooring , there was a splashing disturbance in the water alongside our boat, probably a duck or large fish. Well, 'er came flying out of the boat all of a quiver because she thought I had fallen in again, .... silly woman, ... me?.... Fall in Huh? She was that pleased to see me safe and sound that I got an extra special cuddle and a tasty treat.

Next day 'e arrived back with his brother, my friend Derek! He was going to spend the holiday weekend with us. We set off south and went further than I had ever been before. At night when we moored up, they made up another bed in the dining area, ooh this would be fun ; two beds to choose from! .When they went to bed I settled down with 'im and 'er as usual but during the night I got restless so changed beds. Derek didn't seem to mind too much when I walked all over him, I dare say he'll get used to it as time goes on, 'im and 'er did!

After going through a very long tunnel, we stopped at a place called Stoke Bruerne, this is a major tourist place where people called 'gongoozlers' come to look at and into boats. We moored up not far from a museum and lots of people were walking along the towpath. 'Im and 'er had opened the side hatch and put a Perspex sheet in place for security. As a result, people could look into the boat and see me curled up on the ‘dinette’ cushions. There were lots of comments about how nice the boat was and how comfy looking and well appointed it was inside. Suddenly I heard one woman say, "Ooh look John, ... they've got one of them stuffed ship's cats from that Nauticalia mail order magazine."

STUFFED CAT!!!??? MAIL ORDER??? ME???? I think not Madame! She was amazed when I uncurled, stretched, lazily got off the dinette and walked away.

Next day we set off but soon stopped in what appeared to be a narrow dock. I expected them to start tying up the boat but after a bit of clanking from the gate at the front, I got a distinct sinking feeling.

Sure enough, we began to get lower and lower and it started to get dark. HELP! WE'RE SINKING HELLO! IS ANYONE THERE? Eventually it got light again and the inside of the boat was still dry so we hadn't sunk after all. Soon they (Continued on page 4)

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were back on the boat and acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. This cycle was repeated another six times in short succession and eventually we moored up for them to have a rest, this usually involved drinking alcohol. I later learned that we had descended a flight of locks which was the only way they could get their boat downhill.

As the weeks went by I became more accustomed to the boater's way of life and began to enjoy exploring new places, some were more exciting than others. One of my experiences occurred at the bottom of Hillmorton locks, we had moored up for the night and I had been released to explore but before I disembarked I decided to investigate the off-side gunwale (as we call the ledgy thing round the outside of the boat), just at that moment a huge white swan poked it's head into the foredeck.

Yeeeeoow! What a big bird and it wasn't a bit frightened of me, in fact it wasn't even frightened of 'im or 'er. I decided a diplomatic withdrawal was in order, so abandoned ship onto the towpath and found something else to do,.... pronto!

Several times that evening I tried getting a closer look at these swans but they were most unsociable and caused an awful fuss every time I approached them. As the night went on, the pair of swans hauled out onto the towpath just in front of my boat. They weren't half as agile and so I decided to take a closer look BIG MISTAKE!!! Theywere even more aggressive, I suppose they felt a little more vulnerable away from there natural habitat. They turned on me with such hissing and flapping of wings I was back on the boat before you could say snuff! I think I'll give swans a wide berth in future (another boating term you will note).

CHAPTER 6

The Boatshow

After a short while we returned to the marina we started from and as time went on more and more boats arrived and were marshalled into position until you could hardly see any water between them.

People were washing and polishing boats wherever you looked, brasses were burnished and bunting was strung around the trees and buildings. Lots of people came to see me and I went to visit them. One particular favourite was called Geoff and he had a nice boat called ‘Timbers’. Geoff was a real cat lover and I really liked him 'cause he called me 'Puskins' and tickled me in all the right places.

A great many of the boats had dogs on so my boat was placed as far away from them as possible, I don't like dogs, they make me frightened and my tail goes all stiff and fluffy like a bottle brush. Some people don't look after their dogs properly and they do ‘poos’ on the grass near our boat and don't cover it up like us cats do. ' ‘Im and 'er get really cross if they stand in doggy ‘poos’ and get it all over their shoes and they shout at the dog owners.

At the end of May, lots of visitors came to the boatyard to see all the boats. We had lots of them come through my boat. They asked lots of questions and stroked me and said what a lovely cat I was, I liked them. They also said how unusual it was for there to be a cat on a boat, what did I do when we stopped? How did 'im and 'er keep me in when we stopped anywhere? Huh? Keep me in? Why? Don't these people know how independent I am?

After the first day of visitors, all the boat owners went into the workshops where there was lots to eat and drink while they all talked about their visitors, their boats and where they were going during the summer. I was left to my own devices and had a wander around as all the dogs were locked in their boats, tee hee!

The next day was much the same, many visitors and 'im and 'er telling them all about their boat and me.

By mid afternoon on the Sunday things began to slow down and some of the boats set off for their various bases.

Once the boatshow was over, all the boats had to be moved back to their original moorings, we had to move and as a result found ourselves next to another boat with people on it. I went visiting the back of their boat but just as I did someone came out of the back doors and frightened me so I tried to jump back onto my boat. Unfortunately, the only bit I could reach was the four inch wide gunwale. This is not (Continued on page 5)

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a sufficient landing area when jumping a four foot gap. My feet landed OK but my nose contacted the side of the boat and there wasn't enough room for the rest of my body on the ledge. Gravity took over and I found myself sliding down the side of the boat and into the water once more. Fortunately there was a rubber fender close to hand and I was able to climb up it onto the gunwale, 'Im and 'er, alerted by the call of our new neighbour, soon had me wrapped up in a towel again and all was back to normal

CHAPTER 7 Another Boatshow then Homeward bound We left the next day and toured the area, we went to a place called Braunston and onto the Grand Junction Canal, I'd not been here before and we passed a field with lots of sheep in it. There were a gang of men in an enclosure and when they spoke to 'im, they sounded very strange, 'e said they were Australians and were here to cut off all the sheep's coats. This sounded very inconsiderate to me and I was very relieved when one of the men offered to give 'im a haircut and he refused. We went to Napton junction and turned round, then we went to Hillmorton, Rugby and Hawksbury junction where we joined the Coventry canal. This was where I got stuck up a tree but I was more careful this time.

We went further than I'd been before, right along to place called Harts Hill where we turned round.

They found me some wonderful places to stop the night with lots of woods to explore, though I was a bit frightened sometimes when I heard strange sounds and rustling in the bushes, but there was always a door open on the boat so I could always beat a hasty retreat when called for. We retraced our route to Rugby, where we stayed for a few days while 'er went away on a train trip to our home town. I was well suited as there was lots to do by the moorings in Rugby and there was lots of woods nearby I could explore, especially at night though it did worry 'im when I didn't want to come in when he wanted to go to bed.

We left the next day and toured the area, we went to a place called Braunston and onto the Grand Junction Canal, I'd not been here before and we passed a field with lots of sheep in it. There were a gang of men in an enclosure and when they spoke to 'im, they sounded very strange, 'e said they were Australians and were here to cut off all the sheep's coats. This sounded very inconsiderate to me and I was very relieved when one of the men offered to give 'im a haircut and he refused. We went to Napton junction and turned round, then we went to Hillmorton, Rugby and Hawksbury junction where we joined the Coventry canal. This was where I got stuck up a tree but I was more careful this time.

We went further than I'd been before, right along to place called Harts Hill where we turned round.

They found me some wonderful places to stop the night with lots of woods to explore, though I was a bit frightened sometimes when I heard strange sounds and rustling in the bushes, but there was always a door open on the boat so I could always beat a hasty retreat when called for. We retraced our route to Rugby, where we stayed for a few days while 'er went away on a train trip to our home town. I was well suited as there was lots to do by the moorings in Rugby and there was lots of woods nearby I could explore, especially at night though it did worry 'im when I didn't want to come in when he wanted to go to bed.

At the end of June we returned to Braunston for another boat show, but this one was for very old boats. They all had the same name on the side; ‘Fellows Morton and Clayton.’ Someone said they were old 'working' boats.

Well; when we arrived at the marina we were directed to moor our boat, along with some other new boats from our boat builders, in a very nice area just by a small garden. There were long boarded walkways between the boats and these were a bit uncomfortable on my paws as they were ridged. I found that if I walked down the pontoon (as we boaters call them) by our boat, turned left to the end and across the back of some boats, I could get into the garden by squeezing through a 4" square section, wire fence and would be nicely hidden from everyone. This was great fun as I could sit in the greenery and watch all the people, and their dogs, go by without them knowing I was there. Over the next two days there must have been thousands of people coming and going, looking at our boats and watching the FMC working boats pass in parade through the marina once a day. I busied myself between posing for the 'gongoozellers' and looking for things to chase in the garden area. It was during one of these hunting (Continued on page 6)

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trips that I had an accident. I had found something small brown and furry that rustled around in the dry leaves under a small tree. It was exceptionally quick and evasive once I pounced at it and scurried off at lightening pace. This was certainly a challenge as I gave absolute pursuit at breakneck speed. So intent was I on my prey that, as it shot out from under a low lying plant I completely forgot about the wire fence on the other side. Thwangg!!! The first thing to hit it was my nose. It was a horizontal section of wire right across, and it struck midway up my nose. It certainly made my eyes water and of course my quarry escaped. I was left to wander home with an extremely painful and ugly graze on my previously unscathed features.

There was no end of comments from 'im and 'er, they appeared quite concerned but I heard many a snigger when they thought I wasn't listening. I spent the rest of the weekend literally licking my wounds. After the weekend there was much preparation of the boat, it was refuelled, watered, gassed and generally made ship shape (as if it wasn't already). When all the other boats had gone we started the engine and slipped out of the marina.

We went back over familiar territory to begin with, what I'd learned was the North Oxford canal and onto the Coventry canal, but then passed where I had ever been before. We kept going further and further every day, through lots of new places and up and down more and more locks. We arrived at a place called Fradley junction. I liked it there because there were lots of nice places I could wander.

We had visitors there, someone 'im and 'er used to share a boat with before they got this one. They were very complimentary about me and thought the boat was OK too.

Onwards we went onto the Trent and Mersey canal, day after day we motored on, seeing new places and meeting new boats and people. I would stay inside on the bed most days while we travelled, but occasionally I would sit in the ‘cratch’ if it was sunny (which it was most days) and pose for the oncoming boats and people on the towpath. At night they were very considerate and tried to find moorings in an area they new I would enjoy and could explore. Occasionally I would take a walk when they stopped for lunch. It was on one of these lunch stops in a place called Wigan that I went for a stroll along the towpath, seeking out the local feathered talent. I came across this strange structure sticking out into the canal. It was an ugly monstrosity of concrete and had two bent bits of rusty steel sticking out of it. I walked on it and around it and as I turned to go back to the boat met 'im, scuttling toward me in a very excited way pointing his ruddy camera and clicking away like mad. Apparently this carbuncle on the face of the canalside was none other than Wigan Pier, a very famous structure indeed and the topic of many stories and jokes across the region. I must say, I wasn't unduly impressed.

We continued on our travels until we reached Appley Bridge. It was here that familiar people started to come and visit. There was 'er brother Chris and his family, then there was 'er best friend Cath and her son and daughter and finally 'er Mum and Dad. It was then that I realised that we must be near what I regarded as home.

We spent quite a few days at Appley Bridge and it was apparent there was something amiss. There was trouble further down the canal; the bank had given way (or breached as we canal cats say) and we couldn't complete our journey and get home the way they'd planned. We had to retrace our journey back to Wigan and go up a flight of 21 extra locks to get to a place called Addlington.

It was in Addlington that I got a surprise, 'er Mum and Dad arrived and I was loaded into my cat basket and taken by car ever such a long way to my usual cattery where I stayed for a week. The reason for this was that the boat had to be lifted by crane and put onto a huge lorry then taken by road, around the damaged bit of canal, to Tarleton where it was again picked up by a crane and put back into the canal. 'Im & 'er then set off down a lock onto the river Douglas and onto the river Ribble. They then turned towards Preston and, after several miles, turned onto the Ribble Link at Savick Brook. Once up the link they were on the Lancaster Canal where I joined them again at Moon's Bridge, only a short trip from my cattery.

It was about a day of gentle cruising before we arrived at a very nice marina at Garstang that was to be our home for the winter. We crept slowly in past lots of other boats of all shapes and sizes to our (Continued on page 7)

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berth at the far end. I immediately got off and went exploring, straight away I found I didn't like the roadway at the end of our mooring 'cause it was made of crushed concrete and bricks and it hurt my paws and made them sore, but eventually I learned to tread more carefully and got used to it.

During the late Summer and Autumn we had many trips out on the canal, at least every two weeks or so we had to go to Galgate to empty the smelly tank from the middle of the boat.

CHAPTER 8

Tuggy the film star?

Early in September, what I assumed was going to be another trip to Galgate and back turned out to be something quite different. The boat was exceptionally clean, it had even been polished and all the brass was burnished and shimmering. We did indeed stop at Galgate but then carried on to Hest Bank where we moored for the night. I like Hest Bank, the air is very fresh and clean and there are nice grassy places for me to explore, and trees.

Next day we were up early and away as soon as the breakfast things were washed and stored away. We cruised on past Carnforth to a place called Borwick, where we moored on a lovely grassy part of the towpath, just before a bridge. Again there was much hustle and bustle to make the boat all neat and tidy.

Next morning (a Sunday) we were up very early and just past 9 o'clock a pretty lady appeared and talked to 'im, who then got back on the boat and moved it to just the other side of the bridge where, with some difficulty, they moored to the bank. Soon a bus arrived down a narrow little track and lots of people got off. Some were in very fancy dresses indeed, they looked like ladies off the television programmes I'm sometimes allowed to watch. Others were in normal clothes and were carrying lots of equipment and setting it up on the towpath.

'Im and 'er were supplied with a bacon butty breakfast but there wasn't anything for me.

They were a film crew from "Thirteen Films" and they were shooting a film called "All or Nothing" and needed to shoot some scenes involving a narrowboat. They set up a big ‘tenty’ thing on the towpath by the bridge but then found that it obstructed everyone's passage along the path so decided to move it to the wider grassy area on the other side of the bridge. Talk about laugh, all they had to do was take down the frame and reconstruct it on the other side but they tried to carry it intact. Eventually sanity prevailed and they managed to move it properly. There were cameras, lights, batteries, people with 'walky-talky' radios, people in costume, people carrying boxes, people putting make-up on others and a nice lady doing a very pretty lady's hair. It was pandemonium! There were upwards of twenty people milling around. A young lady who worked for the boss asked 'im if the very pretty lady with the now immaculate hair, could change her clothes on the boat. Of course 'e readily agreed and offered to help but 'er soon sorted 'im out and organised the changing room 'erself.

It was a very long day with much inaction while the director, JP talked with the camera crew setting up just the right angles for focus and lighting. It was during one of these pauses that I decided to make a dramatic appearance and nonchalantly strode down the gunwale and hopped onto the towpath. They were delighted, all the pretty ladies liked me and JP asked if he could get some 'shots' of me to use in the film; 'er agreed, saying if he could catch me in shot OK, but there was no way I could be trained or posed in any particular way. I think they got some shots of me swaggering down the gunwales as the 'leading man' posed on the counter as though he was cleaning the tiller. It was getting late in the evening when they set up for the last scene. Unfortunately there was a storm approaching and the light was fading fast so 'im and 'er hastily repositioned the boat as the leading lady changed into a very racy, 60's costume of white sailor tunic, white mini skirt, white fishnet tights and white plastic, knee length, platform boots. What a sight!!!

Just as they started to shoot the scene, which involved a very racy kissing session on the front of our boat, the heavens opened and there was a thunderstorm. We all thought they would pack up and run for shelter, but no! Someone got on the roof of the boat with a big board to shelter the actors from the rain and a huge floodlight was switched on. After just a couple of 'takes' ('e thought they should have done it at (Continued on page 8)

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least twice more, as he was watching the rear view from inside the boat) JD called a 'Wrap' and everyone started to pack up the equipment. It wasn't half dark when they switched the floodlight off.

When they had all gone we eventually were able to dry out and get our evening meal at about 10 o'clock. What a day!

CHAPTER 8 - A Dunking at Galgate During one of our jaunts to the north of the canal, we arrived at Galgate and moored for the night opposite the moored cruisers. All was going as normal but I was limited as to how far I could roam because I couldn't get through the hedge. While I was investigating the hedge bottom I was surprised by the approach of a lady walking her two Jack Russell dogs. Unfortunately, by the time I saw them they were between me and the boat and my escape path was blocked. As soon as they saw me they attacked and I was panic-stricken. What a to-do! All I could do was 'jink and jive' and try to wrong foot and confuse my two pursuers.

As luck would have it I managed to evade them and make a dash for the boat which was moored with the stern sticking out from the bank. I leaped for the safety of the boat but could not gain a decent purchase on the gunwale and slipped into the water between the boat and the towpath edge.

Immediately my two adversaries were onto me, yapping and howling like banshees. All I could do was flounder in the water below them, absolutely terrified, and hope they didn't jump in after me. At this point my two heroes came bolting out of the cratch. They had heard the commotion and me hitting the side of the boat, then the splash and all the yapping!

'E dashed to the towpath above me, pushed the dogs aside and scooped me out of the water and into his arms, saturated as I was, but still the two dogs wouldn't give up. They started yapping and snapping at his ankles despite his attempts to kick them across the canal; 'er was ever-so upset, they were both shouting abuse at the poor woman with the dogs, about lack of control. "Them dogs should be on leads" they hollered, "Get the beastly things under control!" and other words of advice. The poor woman could only scurry away once the dogs realised their fun was over and 'im and 'er returned with me to the boat and began the, by now well practised procedure of drying then pacifying one soggy moggy. Eventually we all settled down for the night, me with some favourite treats, they with rather suffer than usual drinks.

It wasn't till next morning that the final act of this story was played. After breakfast, when 'e popped his head out of the cratch to begin preparations for cruising, he had a surprise and called 'er to "come see this".

At the side of the cratch, on the concrete towpath edge, was a bottle bag. In it there was a bottle of wine, a tin of pilchards and a card on which was written a most apologetic note from the lady with the dogs. She was most sorry for the distress caused, explaining that her dogs were indeed usually on their leads. She too had been most upset by the incident but she did not expect to encounter a cat on the canal side, let alone one that lived on a boat. Another first for me, Tuggy, the ship's cat.

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