Mouse on board!

In mid August on a balmy morning walk with the dog, a small person (aged 3) picked up a number of pink granite stones from a path.

The stones are quarried nearby to where we were then moored and where we used to live, in the pleasant riverside Leicestershire village of Mountsorrel. We used the 12.30 quarry blast every weekday as our lunchtime indicator. At the start of the first lockdown the regular rumbling blast caused severe concerns among those normal commuters who had never been at home on a weekday. Local police even had to allay concerns of a regular 12.30 terrorist blast or a plane crash!

We are now currently moored near Market Harborough which is coincidentally of historic commercial significance to Mountsorrel. In 1758 Mountsorrel’s quarry won the contract from the Harborough to Loughborough Turnpike road company to surface all the roads in the area – a massive undertaking. The first quarry in the village was on the hill where we lived. The granite from Mountsorrel formed the cobblestone setts, kerbs and chippings that in turn created roads that revolutionised transport and business as well as catapulting the small quarry into the huge commercial enterprise it is today. It also led to development of the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal as carrying granite by barge proved much more economical.

Back then to the little piece of Mountsorrel’s distinctive pink granite which was firmly clutched in a small sweaty hand, and carried across the fields that run alongside the Soar to Sileby. The stone was a gift from the small person to Angel, the inspirational boat dweller and sculptor who works and lives from Sileby Island. The stone and two others entrusted to my pocket were intended for a peace cairn she is planning. They discussed the stones as they were handed over and agreed one looked like….you’ve guessed it, a mouse.

Later that day we returned home to find Harry (as small person named him) brought to life by Angel’s vision and skill. From his delicate ears to his luxuriously curving tail, he is exquisitely subtle in shape and creation.

…stones leaped to form, and rocks began to live.

Alexander Pope discussing the power of sculpture and other art forms in “The Works: Including Several Hundred Unpublished Letters, and Other New Materials” 1871.

Harry was patiently waiting for us by the tiller, safely ensconsed in the curve of the stern ropes. He’s joined us living aboard and we are documenting his adventures for small person’s delight (as well as ours). So today – meet Harry and experience our world through his eyes.

From the swirling waters of the canalised Soar with its weirs and waterfalls to the calm of the canals, Harry has begun to make his way to London, probably not to see the Queen or hide under her chair, but certainly to experience the London Marathon and see the sights.

His first destination en route was one of the oldest cities in England, Leicester. He braved Castle Gardens avoiding the dangers of the rat traps, and by only emerging from the boat accompanied, stayed safe from the glittery-eyed cats that stalk the gardens at night.

From Leicester he journeyed through locks and ran the risks of running aground in low waters to reach safe moorings at Kilby Bridge and then to Saddington. For security he travels firmly attached by bluetack (like most precious things on this boat!). Like most most he can’t always be easily seen!

Our little murine friend has since seen to playgrounds, been introduced to statuesque nobility, and we even smuggled him on board the highly recommended and absolutely delicious floating cafe Boat Street at Mercia Marina – don’t tell the authorities!

He has come with us into the very heart of Market Harborough, the town which brought about the revival of the inland waterways for leisure use (and where Steve ran his 100th parkrun last weekend!) Originally the canal was going to link Market Harborough to Northampton but as ever, funds ran out, and the Market Harborough Arm stopped abruptly at just 5.4 miles in 1809. It runs from Foxton Locks to the market town’s Union Wharf, without a single lock along its length, but with two swing bridges, one by Foxton Locks and one in Foxton village.

In 1950 Union Wharf was the site of the Inland Waterways Association‘s first boat rally, Festival of Boats. It must have been an amazing site with over 100 boats gathering to showcase the canals, and the boats as a fantastic leisure option. The charity is still vibrant today, campaigning for the waterways, supporting development and protecting the existing network.

The IWA was formed by people with vision, people who could see the need to create a new purpose for our inland waterways, people who could see opportunities. That insight and perspective is something which has enhanced our own lives afloat, just as the insight and vision of our artist friend has changed our perspective. All of us now, young and old have a changed view of the world around us. We see differently, view stones and trees, driftwood and rocks with new eyes – see possibilities where once we would have seen nothing. As Henry Moore the famed Yorkshire sculptor once said:

Painting and sculpture help other people to see what a wonderful world we live in.

Henry Moore

This humble, beautiful little mouse is giving us a new view of the life we are leading, a chance to look for the hidden, the often overlooked, and it is a delight. It’s fun looking for and through the mouse eye view at the world around us, and sharing that with our small person remotely. It helps keep us in touch and connected in a new way.

As we all head back to school, to work, to pick up lives so interrupted as much as we can, it can do us good to change our perspectives, to see our world and our work our lives and eyes of others. Step back, step forward, look differently.

The way I view the world now is very different to the way I viewed it some years ago, we have moved away from the material by living afloat, and stepping back from slavishly working. Alexander Pope knew a thing or two centuries ago which we have only just discovered:

“When we are young, we are slavishly employed in procuring something whereby we may live comfortably when we grow old; and when we are old, we perceive it is too late to live as we proposed.“

I am grateful every day, dozens of times a day in fact, to have discovered this truth and to have taken action to live life to the full as a result. Now I have the additional delight of this cleverly wrought scrap of pink granite which warms in my hand as I walk around with him, is helping us see things differently. Harry inspires us to view our new world differently and also constantly connects us to the past. Through the skill and artistry of an amazing sculptor he has brought us a new lens to the past, present and future.

There is one wee downside to this new perspective on life – a certain small person is avidly collecting stones on every walk and exclaiming look I can see  a squirrel or a crocodile or a dinosaur with each, and each (of course) has to be kept! Hopefully we can find them new homes before we sink our boat with their weight…