All good things have to come to an end.

Yesterday evening, Keith and I gathered up a couple of cushions, a bottle of wine and glasses and sat on the bow of Hadar to enjoy the sounds of "The Rhythm and Blues Brothers", who came to last year's Little Venice Cavalcade and were absolutely brilliant. They did not disappoint last night either, if you are a Blues Brothers fan. We sat out listening to them until 11pm and then were invited on to Paul and Eileen's boat "Destiny 2" for a coffee. The chatting went on until we realised it was 12.45am. Surprisingly none of us were that tired, we were just enjoying each others company and the chatter, which was not all about all things boating, which made a nice change.
This morning (Bank Holiday Monday) started well with some sunshine, but it soon clouded over and rain began to fall, which did not bode well for the rest of the day. Thankfully the rain was intermittent and did not stop the public coming out and enjoying the final day of the Cavalcade.
Keith and I were summoned to the Horse Bridge for 1pm in our traditional outfits. So we duly obliged and went to the bridge, where we were announced as the winners of the Vic Trott Trophy for best dressed boat people.We are now the proud owners of the Vic Trott Trophy, which we will be looking after for a year and a bottle of white white. It was quite an honour to win something as neither Keith or I are ever that lucky normally and it was not as if we knew we had been entered into this competition.
As the day wore on the few drops of rain kept subsiding and things would warm up a little, but the sun never put in an appearance all day. Events at the cavalcade carried on regardless and later in the day the Historic Boats paraded in the pool. These included the Narrow Boat Trust Boat Nuneaton, Victoria, Indus and Pictor, Fulbourne and Angel, Ara and Archimedes, Gerald No13, Bantam, Chiswick and Gemini. It was wonderful to see so many Historic Working Boats in one parade. Sadly other Historic Working Boats had left early due to other commitments.
With the event announced closed at 5pm, it really felt like an anti-climax some how after all the hustle and bustle of the past couple of days. As people left the event on their boats, others came in from the visitor moorings to take their place, helping to swell the numbers in the pool. So that has been the Little Venice Cavalcade 2009. It has been an excellent event and everyone has worked so hard. We look forward to coming to the event again over the years to come. Tomorrow we will help with the hard work to take all the banners and stalls down, someone has to be prepared to stay behind.