Friday, August 6

We decided that we should act like proper tourists and go on a river cruise. The river does not appear to have a name. People simply refer to it as “the river”.

We get on a boat parked at the riverbank to discover a slightly smaller, much shabbier, boat hiding on the other side of it. We get led onto the first boat and off the other side onto HMS Shabby. It seems delightfully under-equipped for a cruise boat intended to show tourists the sights. It has windows too dirty to see through and no commentary in any language at all.

We sit and watch as we go one way for thirty minutes, turn round, go back the other way, turn round again, and return to hide behind the smart-looking boat.

We climb out the way we climbed in.

Somewhere during all this we pass under a railway bridge where I photograph a train hurtling across.