Not so silent Saturday night

Not every Sunday's going to be a Silent Sunday; not when I have something to say...

I have stayed away from the CanalWorld Forum for a long time. I know lots ofpeople who say that they read it every day but rarely if ever post, and I simply do not know how they do it. As soon as I log in, I read something that demands a response - whether praise, derision or reasoned argument - and I can not leave it alone. Even if I determine not to respond, the arguments are forming themselves in my head, demanding an outlet. Which only makes things worse of course as trying to engage in reasoned argument with the internet is a mug's game in 97.6% of cases (spurious statistic I just made up). So the only course of action to spare my time and my sanity is to go cold turkey; log out, wipe it from the computer's memory and stay away until the craving finally abates. And I have done this quite successfully.

Jim on the other hand still indulges occasionally, which is how we knew that a big banter was planned for last night in the Navigation, Gnosall. As this is only a few miles away (one of those rarer cases of it being further bybroad than by canal) it would have seemed churlish in the extreme not to put in an appearance, so we did, renewing our acquaintance with a great many very sound, sensible and likeable people, including (but not limited to, because someone, no matter how worthy, is bound to have slipped my mind amongst all the Sunbeam), Smelly, Lonewolf, Victor Vectis, Little Else, Cheshire Rose, Postcode, Blue String Pudding, Tree Frog, Purple Fairie, Smudge, Alan Fincher, Catrin, Dyad, Alan [forgotten initial], Bazza, Madcat, the boater formerly known as Baldock and Lise, RWLP and Mrs Tawny Owl, and many, many more. Pleasingly, many of the more irritating forumites were not in attendance.

All in all it was a splendid social event and a most enjoyable evening, including a music quiz with no music, which was novel. I did find myself promising that I would go back to the forum again... We shall see.