Captain's Reflections 0n Unexpected Pleasures

Our friend Melinda sent me a birthday card with the image of  a very young girl. She was spray painting  'Fuck off Banksy' on a wall.

Then something occurred to me yesterday and this insight is unlikely to be found in libraries alongside books of Plato and Aristotle. No, this is a much simpler thought. The thing is, there is and has been for a while now a general "improvement" in canal infrastructure. Take Gas St Basin, Liverpool, Stalybridge town centre, many modern marinas, and so on. They are attractive to both boaters and visitors, but - and this is my point - are these developments ripping the soul and history out of the network?

 

We came through Stoke the other day - somewhere mostly unaffectred by "improvement" and we loved it. It was fascinating with all its layers of history visible: rusty bits and decaying concrete from the last 100 years; from before that there were older blue bricked branches sometimes leading somewhere, sometimes nowhere.

 

Some of the nicest town centres are now those unaffected by visits from Mr Arndale and Mr Westfield. I hope the canals will not be totally shafted by similar developments. Congleton, for example, may lack an M&S but it retains its essential character with its Georgian town houses. Who cares if it's colononised by pound shops. Stone, where we are happily moored for the night, is also a very attractive and historic town which is still is  interesting. Bland and corporate it isn't.

 

Time for another Absinth.