Alan Q

This is a section of the Leeds Liverpool canal, just north of Chorley. This evening, I had dinner here with two of my daughters and a couple of friends. I love being near water and eating by the canal was lovely.

This canal always reminds me of a chap, Alan, with whom I worked in my first contracting job. I was 25 and he was 40, which seemed rather old (although significantly younger than I am now) yet he was full of life and fun. He was always up for anything.

I remember that during that contract, a bunch of the guys I worked with decided to cycle the length of the canal, which I think is around 115 miles. Inevitably fairly flat, this is still some distance, probably equivalent to running a marathon. The night before the event, Alan was out clubbing, getting to bed at 3am, yet still making the start in time to set off with everyone else.

It would be lovely to tell you that this character pulled it off, that he managed to do the whole distance, with his hangover on his back. But he didn't: he managed about fifteen miles.