Reasons to be not cheerful, part three......

Apologies to Chas Jankel and the late great Ian Dury, but there really isn't much to be cheerful about on The Cam at present......

Reasons to be not cheerful:

1). I got a haircut on Tuesday. This has revealed my bald spot in all its ever-increasing glory. Ah, sweet bird of youth, how swift is thy flight.....

2). The dismal weather is enough to give anyone the black dog. Wind, rain, overcast, thunder, lightning, more rain, oh, and it's raining. Tonight Jackie lit the fire.....

It's June for crying out loud!

3). The relationship between rowers and boaters has sunk (really, no pun intended, seriously....) to a new low with a boater known locally as Battleship Bob blocking the river with his 70-odd foot barge in protest at the rowers alleged mistreatment of the famously belligerent local swan, Mr Asbo.

And this with the University Bumps this weekend.....

Read all about it on Cambridge Evening News' website if you want the details.

However, the position of The Mighty Pippin is this:

Yes, the rowing lobby have an element among their number who exceed the ability of my store of superlatives to adequately describe their arrogance, rudeness, and complete and utter want of consideration for other river users.

But using the whole Mr Asbo thing as an excuse to seek confontation with rowers in general is totally wrong-headed.

The Bumps are a fact. They will, and should, go ahead. They are part of the rich heritage of life on the river.(But they are not the only part, and the rowing lobby would do well to remember this..........)

The problem with confrontation is that you will have a winner and a loser.

The winner, for all his macho posturing, both in word and deed, will not be Battleship Bob Middleton.

He will not be the only loser though.

The whole Cambridge boating community will suffer. The "Camboaters" will, at the very least, lose some of the hard-won respect and amity afforded them through such undertakings as the annual Great Cam Clean-up. It's a long way off, but they may face eventual eviction from the town moorings as the rowers lobby the City Council ever more strongly to have them removed once and for all. Middleton's actions serve only to strengthen the case for this. If I was Bill Key, the rowing lobby's titular head, I would be rubbing my hands with glee......

Any one out there have any reasons to be cheerful?

I'm afraid I don't.