Saturday, 27 September 2014

September means the Great River Race

Conveniently timed for my ride up to the supermarket this morning, the crews were beginning to launch and line up for the start of the race, all the way from Greenwich to Richmond under their own power (by oar or paddle, I think - no sign of a pedalo class yet).

As ever, the launch site looked like a colourful confusion of boats, flags and costumes whose practicability for 20-odd miles of effort looked rather doubtful.

And what better excuse justification for lunch at the Grapes than to get a grandstand view of the procession of Santas, Smurfs, sailor costumes, Dutch Marines - and someone catching a crab?
 
 




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4 comments:

  1. Ur-spo28 September 2014 at 01:34

    I first heard the expression 'catching a crab' reading Alice in Wonderland. I have not thought of it until now. Is it a popular/common expression?

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  2. wcs28 September 2014 at 06:14

    Keep calm and float along.

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  3. Autolycus28 September 2014 at 08:36

    Ur-Spo: it's the term for what the surprised-looking lady in sunglasses (in the photo linked to from there) has just done: getting your oar caught under the water so that it knocks you off balance, slips out of your hand and generally does its own thing. Embarrassing in that sort of event and context, disastrous in Olympic-style rowing.

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