Flotilla

Judith’s wise investment

“The River Thames is one of Spelthorne borough’s greatest assets – and we simply don’t make enough of that fact.” Those were the words of former major and borough councillor Judith Wood-Dow of Staines as she prepared to board the traditional shallop, Jubilant, at the Thames Lodge hotel a couple of weeks back.

Smells like happiness

When Lt Colonel Bill Kilgore, the character played by the wonderful Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now, tried to express his feelings for the Vietnam War he said he loved the smell of napalm in the morning – it smelt like victory.

Happiness is a boat jumble

This is supposed to be my last Riverwatch for a few weeks. I say ‘supposed to be’ because my wife and I are scheduled to be flying to Hawaii to celebrate my 60th birthday on Saturday. But as I sit at home writing these notes with a week to go before ‘The Big Holiday,’ the sky is a brilliant, clear blue without a vapour trail in sight and there isn’t an aircraft to be seen in the sky. It’s worryingly quiet.