The Great Punting Disaster

After we had all been on the guided punting tours and spent several evenings at pubs along the river making fun of (studying!) the self-hire punts, three of us decided that we'd like to have a go at it ourselves.

All of our studying paid off, and we punted around for almost an hour, making pretty good progress for our first time. We were all pretty good at it for our first go, compared to some of the other self-hires we'd seen over the weeks of watching. We went along the backs of the colleges in the late afternoon, getting back just as it was starting to hint at getting dark. Quite an enjoyable Sunday afternoon activity, really. Once I get the pictures off of Liz's camera, I'll post some here or on Facebook.

When our time was almost up, I was nominated to steer the punt back into the dock area (apparently some canoe skills transfer). There was a bit of a current in the way, so I aimed upstream of where I wanted to be in hopes of using that to help me steer in. Good idea, right? Apparently not. We weren't moving as fast as we appeared to be, unfortunately, and one of the professional punters/tour guides ran into our boat, knocking me into the water, coat and all. According to Liz, who was the only real witness, I mostly jumped, but I defend myself with the fact that his boat was on top of ours where I had been standing, so jumping was probably a good idea, even if it was a reflex. Liz and Hilary were both doubled up in our boat laughing. The professional tried to "help" me out of the water into his boat, then retrieved our pole for us and took me to shore.

Now, did we get a discount, or even an apology? Nope. We had to pay more, actually. I think we would have been on time to get back within our allotted hour if it had not been for the collision, but we didn't make it with the delay, so we were charged for going over the time limit. How silly.

So as to not end there, here's a few other things that have happened:

1) My mentor teacher had us over for a delicious Sunday roast at her house and I learned that I quite like fresh roasted parsnips. I'm glad I tasted them before I knew what they were.

2) I've started taking over the class- I had them for almost the entire day today, just not literacy.

3) I was teaching phonics on Friday, and the sound was l. The first picture I pulled out was a popsicle. Huh? It was a lolly. The dump truck I pulled out next was a lorry. Next were ladder and leg. Those I knew.

We'll be home in less than a month- hard to believe!