Wednesday 25 November 2009

Grand Union Canal, 21st November 2009


These two look allied here, but they behaved very differently. The white one idled despite the gale, staying stationary relative to the leaves, while the blue scudded one way and another, away with the wind then against it as fast. Baffled by this behaviour we watched a while longer, curiosity piqued.

The only explanation we could think of was that the blue balloon's dangling underwater string was caught in the mouth of a canal-dwelling fish, whose erratic movements dragged it about like a diver drags a marker buoy. To test this theory we scrabbled around the pavements and verges of the canalside path looking for pebbles to throw into the water. The first was encouraging - it landed by the balloon, which then sped away as a spooked fish would do. Fired with enthusiasm we threw more, but the second was less convincing - the balloon didn't rush off at all. The third was the same, and both balloons were then whipped along by the wild wind alone. Pleasantly baffled I captured the scene, before we left for the shelter of a nearby pub.
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