Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'We don't tend to have too much bread left at the end of the day but I'll certainly look
for you,' said the lady in Co-op, who had the face and manner of a friendly lollypop-lady.
'Hereyougo.Isthisalright?'shesaid,holdingoutasmallloafoffreshlybakedgranary
bread. When I say 'freshly baked', I mean freshly baked a few days previously.
'That's perfect. Thanks very much,' I said. 'We managed to get some chips down the
road, so we're going to make chip butties.'
'Whatagoodidea.Youcertainlyareonanadventure.Doyouhaveanybutterandketch-
up?'
'No. Thank you. We'll be fine with just chips and bread,' I said.
'Don't be silly. You can't have a proper chip butty without butter and ketchup. Can
you?'
'No, I suppose not.'
'Wait there, I'll be back in a minute.' She returned a minute later with a packet of butter
and bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup.
'Wow, you're amazing. But how did you... ?
'Shhhhhh,' she interrupted, putting her finger to her lips, 'breakages.'
We had expected to see some element of generosity from the small independent estab-
lishments that we asked for favours at, but we had anticipated the opposite from the big
corporations. We had assumed that the amount of bureaucracy involved in the larger su-
permarkets would restrict their ability to show generosity. However, we had been proven
wrongonseveraloccasions.Itseemsthatevenworkingforalargecorporationallowssome
element of free will. And if rules can't be bent, then there will always be 'breakages'.
If, like me, you were curious about the origin of the word 'ketchup' (No? Just me?), I
will fill you in. It is thought that the word comes from the Malay word kēchap, which was
also a sauce. But rather than being tomato based, it was made from fish brine, herbs, and
spices (not so great in a chip butty). In the 18th and 19th centuries the word was used as a
generic term for all vinegar based sauces and it was not until the 20 th century that the word
became synonymous with the tomato sauce that we know today. Thank you, Wikipedia.
Back on the boat we each assembled two huge chip butties, and opened the wine. It was
a lovely warm evening so we sat on the small deck at the back of the boat.
Before our trip started I imagined all sorts of possible scenarios of where we might
spend each night and what sort of food we would eat. Sitting on the deck of a luxury nar-
rowboat with two chip butties and a bottle of wine had never even entered my thought pro-
cess. Sitting there with the bright, starry Shropshire sky and the gentle lapping of the water
on the side of the boat, was the most content I had felt in a long time.
The boat felt like it was swaying a lot, but when I stepped briefly onto the land to check
on the bikes the ground continued to sway. We moved inside at about midnight and made
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