today they are eating .................. cabbages!

I can always tell what the moorers upriver are eating because of the bits that float downstream and get trapped around my hull.  I hasten to add that they only jettison biodegradables, most sink to feed the fishes, some feed the ducks and some float passed my window (oranges, lemons and mushrooms are particularly buoyant).  I once got a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream but I don't think that went into the river intentionally. Today it is cabbage leaves and red roses. I hope the red roses were a romantic present and not part of the diet (although they’re an odd lot upstream so maybe …..).  I also know when people shower or put on a wash load by the bubbles that float past.  Of course I have no idea about the dietary habits and hygiene regimes of the people downstreamstream from me because their rubbish goes in the opposite direction.

The debris that has been washed downriver is piling up between my boat and the bank.  As well as cabbages and roses there was a shoe, various bottles and plastic containers and some coal bags.  I thought if I move my boat those coal bags could float off downriver and foul somebodies prop, then I thought if I’m moving the boat they probably wouldn’t bother heading off downstream to cause trouble they’d just wrap themselves around my prop.  So I got the hook out waded into the mud and retrieved them. I must add that the water in the river is still bloody cold.