Gigs

The three rivers race is the official marker for the arrival of spring. The start of spring might be measured by other means elsewhere in the country, but that’s how it is around here. The three rivers are the Tamar, Tavy and Lynher. The Tamar Valley is an area of outstanding natural beauty to be found to the north of Plymouth.

Gig rowing is a traditional Cornish sport. It differs from other forms of rowing and if you want to know the difference then feel free to go look it up. That stuff doesn't interest me. But every year in the middle of March, on a Saturday somewhere around the time of St Patrick’s Day, teams of rowers turn up from across Cornwall, Devon and a few other places in the west country for this race.

This is one of the few days in the year when the town I live in gets busy. Although I guess if you don’t go down by the river you might not notice – aside from all the extra cars in the local car parks. Unlike Penzance, where I used to live, we don’t have tourist seasons. Winters here aren’t bleak and deserted. Summers don’t fill up with tourists, adding a buzz and a vibrancy to the daily pace of life. Changing seasons are important. Life lived at one pace lacks something.

Although I live near the water and spend a lot of my time by the water, I am not of the water in the traditional sense. I don’t own a boat. I’m not a member of the local yacht club – and I have at least two of them to choose from. So it follows that I also have no connection to the gig rowers. I am not of their class.

Each year they descend upon the neighbourhood and I walk among them invisibly. I observe, but I do not participate. I welcome them because they are the bearers of spring. Their oars cutting through the water are the sound of winter being banished for another year.

There are other signs of spring. The swans have disappeared for the mating season. The daffodils are out. Birds are singing in profusion. When you wake in the morning there is daylight again. The world turns. The clocks will move forward again. This is how we measure our lives.

 


 

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