On to Burlington


It was good to be on our way again and it seemed that Lil Cloud and Big Wessie had heard the saying "we sail at dawn" from Treasure Island I think but no matter, and assumed that this was the rule

"Eeh Cloud we're going fast aren't we, look at t'watter going past us" Big Wessie kept saying.

Lil Cloud kept nodding and looking at his chart and sextant to confirm this, but I noticed his pipe was starting to turn out more and more smoke, a sure sign of impending doom.

"Eeh Cloud that church spire must be on wheels over theer,  cos it's keeping up wi'us" said  Big Wessie after several hours in the same place.

Then the penny dropped, what they had failed to take into account was the tide, consequently I was struggling to fight it for most of the trip when with a bit of planning it could have been used in my favour.

Worst of all the longer the trip took the more I had to endure the ramblings of Big Wessie. It was going to be a long trip!

By listening carefully it became obvious that this was a man who had done everything and achieved nothing and had a chip on his shoulder larger than the combined output of Mc Cains for a year.

Seemingly Big Wessie had been the Landlord of a pub called the Gumboot
It became obvious now why Lil Cloud had chosen him as crewman. They had both failed in the licensed trade indeed it became a competition to outdo each other in tales of how badly they had been let down by everyone but themselves. Little did I know it at that time but this was a trait that was to continue.

"Eeh luk at this boat in frunt onus Cloud, its reet in ahr way, wots it doing" Big Wessie  sings out.

"Not sure, its only going slow, I wonder why it doesn't get out of our way" replies Lil Cloud reaching for his pipe.

The fishing marks on her side indicated that she was of course a small trawler, with a basket hoisted to indicate that she had her gear down The Trawler was like a magnet, drawing him closer until at the last minute he gave way narrowly avoiding the warps.

The faces of the two men on watch were a picture as they gave us the two-fingered salute, though my two heroes were oblivious to this because of a thick cloud of pipe smoke laid down by Lil Cloud.

"Bloody amateurs" says Big Wessy "trailing wires abaht like that cud cause an accident!"

Lil Cloud just smiled and nodded in agreement.

My bin blushed a deeper shade of red in embarrassment,
Eventually we reached the Humber estuary, which is a pretty busy place for traffic and shipping laid waiting to go upriver. "Right" said Lil Cloud "I'm going forward to keep a lookout, you can take the wheel Wesley."


                                                                       
                                                                                           
                                                                                                    Billy Inkwell Ashtray