Why the Bloke ?

My sister-in-law asked this.  She lives in America so, until now, was spared a rendition of the tale.  For you, Chris, but also because it hints at other aspects of canal living:

We had inkled that he (pre-Bloke) and I might become more than just good friends, that we might, in fact, have an interesting life together, so thought we’d cruise in tandem for a bit and see what developed.  It was all very tentative and nothing was said to any of our respective friends, we’d known each other for years, after all, so there’d be nothing unusual with us cruising in company.

We left Bulls Bridge, loitered in the Slough Arm a while, then headed north.

Coming into Berkhampstead, he went up to set the lock whilst I held the two boats and engaged in conflict with the overhanging willow.  A young British Waterways chap was working down and joined him.  He appeared to recognize me down below there (though you were not someone I remember having seen before).  He said brightly to my newly potential partner:

“Is that … ?”

“Yes.”

“I heard she’d got a bloke.”

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There’s a sticker I’ve seen in boat windows that makes me smile;  it reads:  Towpath telegraph relay station.