Canal and waterway restoration seems to have taken off in the past couple of decades with more and more waterways being put back into public usage – and I take my hat off to all those hardy volunteers who put their backs (and quite often their own money) into this kind of environmental reconstruction.

I took a wander down to the Bridge Marine boatyard on Sunday – just to check that Terra Nova, the old Seamaster Admiral cabin cruiser that Julie and I own along with my brother, was still where I left her when she came out of the water back in October.

The River Thames is probably cleaner today than it has been for decades. Yet there is still much to do.

There are some people you always enjoy visiting - and among those of my wife, Julie, and I are the lovely folk at Weybridge Sailing Club (WSC).