Well peeps this week was the last week of the season for the volunteer lock keepers at Hillmorton (Boo Hoo). We finished the season , that's April to October, with a magnificent score of 9671 assisted boats through our locks. My last Friday accounted for 57 boats.
So what do we do now apart from catching up on the housework. Well yours truly will do a couple of shifts at Watford locks which are manned all through the year. Several of my colleagues will continue to walk the locks keeping an eye on the water levels so if your passing on your boat make them a coffee to warm them up.
It's been an interesting season with lots to cope with mainly due to maintenance issues on the middle locks which is only to be expected on the busiest locks in the country. ( I don't know about in the town but definitely the busiest in the country). Hopefully I will keep the blog going through the winter with tales from Watford and also retrospective tales from the last few years at Hillmorton, and there's been a few of them.
One tale I will share with you today shows how you can be unlucky and lucky at the same time. Fortunately this incident did not occur in the locks but at the water point.
UNLUCKY. A narrow boat had called in for water replenishment, which for those who know Hillmorton water point, is a long job. The lady off the boat had put her rope, doubled, through the mooring ring and wrapped it around her hand. Just as another boat came past at to fast a speed and caused the mooring boat to pull out. This had the unfortunate result in trapping the lady's finger in the rope and virtually severing it.
LUCKY. Another boat passing, a Calcutt hire boat NOT going too fast, had on board a highly qualified nurse who, having witnessed the outcome of the incident, stopped and offered expert assistance in dressing the wound.
LUCKY. The lock keeper on duty who was made aware of the situation, was our very own Bob a retired paramedic. This Saturday was turning into an episode of Casualty. Bob organised the attendance of a fast response paramedic and looked after the patient until they arrived.
The lady was taken to the A&E dept at Coventry where they thankfully managed to reattach the finger. The couple then remained at Hillmorton for a few days during which time the Calcutt hire boat came back at the end of their holiday so the lady was able to chase up the towpath to offer her gratitude and I believe a little libation to the nurse.
So all's well that ends well but the morals to be taken from this tale are two fold. Firstly please please do slow your boat down when passing moored boats. Secondly never ever wrap your rope around your hand or indeed any other appendage.
There is another moral from this tale and that is if you are going to have an accident, please do it when Bob's on duty as he writes a lovely report using all the correct terminology.
That's it for this blog peeps but keep your eye out for further installments through the winter and if your boating through Watford locks on a Thursday I'll see you there.
