smudgepuss

Can confirm that we forgot...

Oooooo, I have fimo...

Well done Indigo Dreamers! See you all next year with some actual canal action hopefully!

Chief Technical Officer @RebelMike is the master of the route, but I don't think he's up yet. There are a few versions of our route planner knocking about and I wouldn't want to end up giving you the numbers from the wrong one!

I found him! He was really enjoying exploring the old canals, and heard me talking about the old canal that used to run behind my house, so he snuck into my bag to come and see that one too!

Not me. I suspect @Amynotontheforum stole him and took him to the BBQ.

Well that's put me right off.

Minion's Log (supplemental) Other Minion has been found being a Bad Minion. I have had a promotion to Good Minion and was rewarded with chips! Turns out they weren't wrong about the orange batter!

Thanks @Indigo Dreamers!

Minion's Log (supplemental) We have just started going up Bradley Locks. No sign of Other Minion, @Amynotontheforum, I'm not impressed. Now it's just me and @HuggableHamster left to do all the hard work while @RebelMike just swans about steering the boat.

Minion's log (supplemental) Apparently I need to up my game if I want a biscuit. Luckily I've been keeping myself amused with a bit of a project to do a map of the canals of the BCN, including the old bits. Hopefully this will get me a biscuit. Possibly even one without squashed flies. I've had a lesson from the rest of the crew about posting the GPS route, so hopefully I've been a Good Minion and this link will work: My map of the BCN

Ahhh. Either way, it's all gone now. Bad Minion, no biscuit.

Minion's Log (supplemental) We're coming to the end of the trip now, so I have an Important Job, called Eating The Leftovers. Leftovers are the name for the small random bits of food the rest of the crew don't want to eat that minions are left to eat while they eat the good stuff. For example, there wasn't enough coffee for me to have a whole mug this morning, so I got the tiny Left Over bit. Barely a mouthful... At least William's galley turns out to have tiny Mickey Mouse cups to cheer me up. The others had lots of bacon for breakfast, and there wasn't enough for me apparently so I had to see what Leftovers I could find in the galley. One banana and an egg. Luckily I found someone on Twitter who had made some nice banana pancakes: https://twitter.com/smudgepuss/status/1249326933562871809?s=19 I thought I'd have pancake for breakfast. It looked a bit gloopy to start with though. But it turned out nicely in the end. I did get told off (again) for using the last of the flour. Apparently that wasn't a Leftover, but food we needed for a panda called Mick... Something like that. I'm a bit confused as I don't think pandas are native to the BCN. For lunch, I have to eat the leftover vegetables: cabbage and potatoes. I found this interesting-sounding recipe on the internet, so I thought I'd give it a go. Very handily William turns out to have a well-stocked spice rack. https://twosleevers.com/ethiopian-cabbage-and-potatoes/ It's not a looker, particularly if you overcook it a bit and the potatoes go a bit mushy (Bad Minion), but it's very tasty. The crew are sick of me trying to feed them baked oatmeal. It's very sweet, they say that baked oatmeal won't change how much they love me! So I will be having some for an afternoon snack to keep me going for the final push down and up the Bradley Marr branch. They said that after we've finished we're going to the chip shop for dinner. Apparently we're going to have battered orange chips. I think they're pulling my leg, who would batter chips and make them orange?!

Log date: 8 May 1945 We decided we couldn't turn down the chance to travel in time to actual VE Day. The atmosphere was indescribable! We just had to decorate William's roof for the occasion. There was already a lot on the roof already, so we only had room for bunting! Someone's put the fire on so there's smoke coming out of the chimney. William appears to have a lovely wooden roof and shiny blue mushroom vents, along with a very unusual cardboard hatch... Other roof essentials are our bargepole, mop and duster on their support rack, and our two centre lines. We've even gained a duck! Even my celebratory ice cream was doing a V for Victory!

Minion’s Log (Supplemental) Very pleased to report that Balls Hill Branch is as inaccurately named as Pudding Green. @Amynotontheforum was less impressed. Very disappointed. She was as it were, not “balls to the wall”.