I was doom scrolling through things on my I pad today when I saw a notification on one of the canal boat groups I belong to. Sad news as it turned out as an owner of one of the ‘Fuel Boats’ that deliver coal, gas and sometimes diesel had sadly been found dead in the canal.
As I read the post I recognized the name of the boat ‘ Auriga’ and remembered that this was the guy we bought our very first gas cylinder replacement from on the canal back in April 2021.
I remember being so excited about this simple transaction as I thought it was so cool that people still operated these working boats for the benefit of those of us that lived on the canal.
I could sense that the guy knew it was probably the first time I’d used one of the working boats and he was super friendly and calm as he pulled up alongside our Narrowboat’Badger’ dwarfing us with the presence of the huge cargo carrying working boat.
He tied up to us and we went about the transaction in a calm chilled fashion, as you would expect on the canals as there shouldn’t be any need to rush.
And then he chugged off into the distance to no doubt be a welcome sight to another boater in need of gas for cooking or coal for the heater. Even though I only met ‘Rick’ the once but he left a very positive impression and I can only hope he’s chugging along somewhere in whatever existence there is after. Judging by the hundreds of comments left on the post reporting his passing I can see ne was highly thought of by the boating community and will be greatly missed.
