Locks - not the Yale kind!

One of my earliest memories is of being taken on a boat - I'm assuming it was on the Thames - when I was about three or four.  We came to a lock, and I was rather frightened as the boat began to go down into the dark depths with slimy green walls pressing in on us.  My father's explanation of water finding its own level didn't assuage my sense of panic as we went lower and lower.

Cassiobury Lock on the Grand Union Canal

This fear obviously subsided as the years went by and one of the family treats when I was about seven was to walk the mile or so on a Sunday afternoon to watch the barges passing through Cassiobury Lock.  It was one of the many steps in the Grand Union Canal which had been built about 200 years earlier.  Canals in the UK had a brief fling until the railways rather made them obsolete.  However by act of parliament The Cross as it is known is made to stay open, and back in the forties, coal was still transported this way on "narrow  boats," just narrow enough to allow two to fit into each lock like the one here.  The Grand Union now is used for leisure activities although not here as it's mid-winter.

The bargees were known for their colorful language and they used to live on their boats while chugging up and down the country; they often had little dogs with them and all their washing was hung out on lines.  We would always wave to them but be watchful not to upset them for fear of their tempers.

Passing through the last lock, passengers wave back at spectators.

Recently, traversing the Panama Canal, which I've shown here a week or so back, we came to the last lock before entering the Pacific Ocean.  It is the Miraflores Lock and is the closest to Panama City.  As we went through we were met by shouting and cheering crowds on bleachers.  Like my family, they were out on a Sunday to watch the traffic.  There were about 2,000 passengers on our ship and several hundred in the stands.  A bit more impressive than all those years ago in Watford.  But the Grand Union is still in my heart. And the technology is much the same, although the Panama's is much larger.