1980-something? The Fastest of Her Tribe!

Of our extended family, Rena (my mother-in-law) is the fastest and highest member. She flew in Concorde! She'll retain that status, alone and forever I suppose, because both have now, sadly, slipped into history.

Andrea was the instigator. We (Glennys & I) and Andrea shared the payment but the latter did all the arranging and driving.

One day Andrea took Rena to London's Heathrow airport. Rena was all spruced up for a "surprise". She had no idea what or where the surprise was.

On arrival at the British Airways 'Concorde' counter it transpired that "their" Concorde had a fault. Not to worry, the passengers were to be flown to Paris and an Air France aircraft would be used.

And so it went .............. Rena flew to Paris in a lesser machine. She boarded Concorde. They flew down the English Channel, climbing to 50,000+ feet. At that height, the sky above has the blackness of space. Then the aircraft did a "supersonic dash" and strawerries and champagne were served.

Rena was now "our" fastest ................. she was proud of her certificate - it hung on the wall of #97 for all to see. Well done Andypooh!

That Elusive Sister Toni .......



Have I heard the last of her? I hope not, but rather fear so. My last try, unsuccessful, to contact her was in November of 2006.
Then, in the New Year of 2007, she phoned me. She'd moved to British Columbia (from Toronto)and was "house-sitting." She told me that when the 'sitting' was done she was moving into a nearby apartment, a sort of 'retirees accomodation.'

Since then - nothing. Her choice - not sure I have a way of contacting her. She's often intimated that she wants us to "go our seperate ways." Never understood it - almost as if there's something sinister about me that she knows about. Well 5,000 miles is a safe distance I guess!

Sad really. My only blood relative of my generation. We share the same father. She's another of those funny Huttons I suppose.

Will she pop up again? Watch this space.

Why Canals?

Given my endless talk of canals; how come this fixation?

I lived in Farnborough, Hampshire (England) as a child from 1944 to 1954. Nearby lay the Basingstoke Canal. It's the only "worthwhile" canal 'south of the Thames.' It was derelict in my young days. Like all English canals, it had fallen or was falling victim to the railways and more recently to road haulage. It was a place to go as children, a place where frogs and newts and tadpoles waited to be caught. I avoided being drowned and I suppose the Basingstoke is one of those rich memories that bask in the eternal sunshine of our childhood.

Between leaving the Royal Air Force and coming to Canada we, our family of four, lived for a while in a watermill, 1967-8. It stood at the end of a short arm off the Pocklington Canal in South Yorkshire. I explored most of it on foot, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by son Mitch and or a black Labrador named Lurch. The Pocklington was derelict too. Weed choked and with it's ruined locks it was a sorry sight I suppose. But it did facinate me. Pike swam in it , willows leaned over it. I even started to build a punt-like craft to travel on it. But we moved into a "proper house" and left the Pocklington behind.

We'd been in Canada for maybe seven years when I was bitten by the genealogy bug. In the course of all that research I discovered that my father's mother had been the daughter of a "waterman". This confirmed the dark remarks of my mother's about my dad's lot being bargees. This was a sort unfavourable side of family affairs that mattered more in those days of yore. Me, I see it as rather romantic (better a serial killer as an ancestor than a boring clerk eh?!). Perhaps "canals are in my blood." Sounds good to me!

Over the years 1975 - 1990 +/- Mitch and Martin joined me to travel the Shubencadie Canal system from Dartmouth to Maitland on several occasions. There's a journey full of variety!

I knew of the blossoming holiday traffic on the revitalised canals of England and rather got the urge to try it. My lady wife reacted oddly to such ideas and pretty well said, "she'd not be caught dead on a barge." Waterway holidays therefore seemed doomed not to happen.
A chance remark in the company of friends, the Greenoughs of Kentville, prompted Pam to say "Sounds wonderful!" Within a year a canal holiday was being planned by the two of us. Glennys gave her blessing and George didn't seem to care and this seemingly "strangely wicked holiday" was getting well into the planning stages. Then disaster struck ... Pam, who seemed 'game for anything' went skydiving and injured her knees. The holiday was off. Or was it?
Mike Grice and a guy called Derek Seaton from the UK joined me instead and, in one glorious week we did the Llangollen Canal ......... I was hooked!!!

A year later the same trio did the Warwickshire Ring including Birmingham in two weeks.

In 1997 a certain maiden called Vivian opined that a canal holiday seemed a wondrous idea.

Since then the two of us have had nine canal holidays in ten years, spending over six months afloat. We've travelled over 1600 miles and passed through more than 1300 locks in that time.

That's "Why canals" I suppose.