June 6th – Heading into Darlaston on the canal near Bentley Bridge, I saw these guys (there are actually two on the boat) doing sterling work fishing litter and junk from the waterway. People don’t realise there are regular rubbish sweeps like this going on, and the guys doing this work – hard, messy, often rather unpleasant – deserve much more credit than they get.

The whole waterway from Walsall to Darlaston is currently alive and dense with water lillies. This is clearly due to careful care from guys like these. Gentlemen, I salute you.