Report by Ed Walker

Tuesday 15^th July saw the return of the annual London WRG canal boat trip, last run (if I remember correctly) in 1996! An intrepid bunch of WRGies plus various other people who had been dragged/invited along, met up at Camden lock for a trip on the London Waterbus Company’s boat “Water Buffalo” down toward Ladbroke Grove and back. Confusion ensued for several people even before they reached the boat due to the fact Camden Lock isn’t actually called Camden Lock but Hampstead Lock! By the time we left we were still short of a number of people who would have to join us en route. As we cruised around past London Zoo we received a phone call from Steve Davis, “Could we slow down a bit so he could catch up?” a few minutes later a figure was seen striding up behind us! We were tempted to keep the boat just slightly ahead of him so he would never quite catch up but decided it would be a little cruel! Back at more normal speed again we headed through the Maida Vale tunnel and into Little Venice. Many comments were made that it doesn’t look right without all the boats in it and we continued under the horse bridge after looping behind the island. During this idyllic trip much food was eaten, beer drunk and the conversation ranged over topics like the care of PhD supervisors, housing in London and possibly most importantly: pubs on the new LWRG T-shirt!

Reaching the Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury’s we turned around and headed back toward Little Venice and Camden, we stopped briefly to pick up an extremely smart Martin who had just made it in from work. After a very smooth run back to Camden, we went our merry way to take our chances with the Underground.

Many thanks to Tunji for organising the evening, to Lesley and her team who provided the wonderful buffet, to Andi for another of her never ending salads and the London Waterbus Company for putting up with us. Contrary to usual LWRG events it was a very civilised evening cruise, but I am sure we will be back to normal by the next social!

Ed Walker