On 24/11/06, Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > We passed > through Bourton Lock but of course there was no face at the window. I > heard that the lady who use to live there use to write to Finch while he > was inside.
Yes, Irene passed away earlier this year, a sad loss to anyone who values women of strong character, or eccentric nature. She was a testimony to plain speaking, an antithesis of the mealy-mouthed carefulness that characterizes our politically correct age. If Irene felt something, she said it; if she wanted to do something, she did it. Writing to Finch is just the sort of irksome confrontational thing she would do. She would probably feel some bizarre affinity with his anarchic lifestyle, and though she wouldn't have sympathised with his criminality she wasn't against confronting the law herself on a point of principal. Many will remember her long running battle with BW about the correct nomenclature of what they persisted in calling 'Little' Bourton lock, and what she - by consistent defacing the lock sign - insisted was just Bourton Lock. She moved into the cottage, what? - 20 years ago. It was without electricity or running water, friends helping her to create a 12v system for her house, and a plumbing system that collected and stored from the roof. Irene was an evangelical environmentalist, a woman of considerable knowledge and learning who loved the waterways deeply and resented the intrusions of contemporary life. Many will remember her 'runabout' boat moored below the lock which for many years she used to take her to Banbury for shopping. Sadly, the waterways has lost one of its great characters. The cottage will probably be sold as some London holiday home in order to allow BW to buy another foot or two which they can rent out for office space in Docklands Steve [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
