A Visit from Ray-J

Monday 29th July 2019 in Nottingham.
We were pleased and relieved when the day dawned fair, as we are expecting a visit from Ray-J today.

Ray-J is the son of an old family friend from Boston USA; he is visiting Theresa in Brighton for two weeks and he is on his way up here by train. We are so pleased that he has taken the time to come and visit us as we have not seen him since we were in Boston in 2012.
The morning was taken up washing down MM's roof and windows to remove the effects of three days of going through muddy locks and mooring under trees in the rain.
Ray-J was due to arrive at nearby Long Eaton station at 11:57, so R set off in good time to get a "few bits" and to be there to met him.
Unfortunately, it seems that he was deep in conversation when the train arrived - and so went on to Derby! Luckily there are frequent trains back from Derby to Long Eaton, so he soon returned and he and R walked back to MM.

It was marvellous to see him again. M swears that he has grown even taller but he certainly looked very well. Surprisingly, he was just able to stand upright in MM despite being 6ft 5in tall! After a cool drink, a tour of MM and a quick catch-up, we set off through Trent Lock and on to the River Trent.
Ray-J said that the only locks he had ever seen were on the Panama Canal - and those only in photographs - so we had to point out the slight difference in scale and the need to rely on muscle power rather than hydraulics. R showed him how to operate the paddles and he picked it up very quickly.

Out on the River Trent, the sunny day really was a blessing and the river looked lovely.

He took the tiller for much of the time and handled MM very competently.

Our objective was Nottingham because Ray-Jay had a rail ticket from there to his next destination in Bristol, leaving just after 6:00pm - so we had lunch on the move and arrived in the centre of Nottingham in time for dessert and a relaxed chat before he had to leave.
We said goodbye to him on the quayside and, despite bending his knees, he still dwarfed R!

R walked him to the station. We were so touched that he had taken the time to come so far to see us. Hopefully, he will have fond memories of his first narrowboating experience.
Today: 9 miles, 4 locks and 3.3 hours.
Trip: 207 miles, 123 locks and 127.3 hours.