I went sailing off Harwich this weekend. Harwich is a small town in the mouth of the Thames, on the northern side. The boat which I sailed on is a 45' Barracuda - generally known due to its appearance in the british TV soap "Howards Way". We had a great time and managed to deal with the other boats in a reasonable convincing manner taking line honours on Saturday in 30 knots of breeze, and just losing by 10 seconds on Sunday (still 2nd from about 80 boats). After each race there was a mad dash up the river so as to find a TV where the rugger could be watched. Saturday's game was delayed, so we managed to watch all of it. On Sunday we unfortunately missed the first half. I guess I should mention the marina pub - The Schooner - for completeness. If you are not sailing from Woolverstone Marina I wouldn't recommend a special trip!
There is a house in the marina which faces the river called the Cat House. Apparently in the old days this part of the coast was ideal smuggling territory. The incumbent of the house was a Ms Catchpole who fell in love with a smuggler and used to keep an eye out for the Revenue Inspectors (Customs). If the coast was clear she would place a large china cat in her bay window where it was visible from the water. The smugglers knew if the cat was absent not to land with their goods.
Eventually the men from the Revenue department twigged on to this scheme and Ms Catchpole was send to Australia (as was the fashion in those days). She subsequently married the British Governor-General in Australia!
While you're in British mode why not take a look at the Trooping the Colour article and also the Royal Tournament.
If you fancy yourself as a columnist, look at this.
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