It's great being a spectator on this watery highway

Over a period of seven days on this canal we have had any number of opportunities to take in what's going down on other boats. 
Yesterday was pretty interesting. We had overnighted in the middle of nowhere next to a drinking tap suitable for filling small water containers or whatever. 
Anyway, no sooner had John C, Sue and Julia strolled off to the local village to nail bread , when up motors a huge boat manned by a French middle aged couple and their three kids. The wife spotted the water tap and frantically indicated to her husband that he should pull over to fill their tanks. No problem..Once moored up in front of our bow the father spoke directly to his kids giving them the obvious message that as they were responsible for the boats water shortages it was up to them to rectify the problem . And with that the father sauntered  off to the village . Then the problems began in earnest. It a nutshell, the kids don't have the appropriate hose connections to join the boats hose with the tap. They tried all manner of means to force water down that hose but it just wasn't going to be a happening thing. I had give it to these kids, they weren't about to give up. Now bear in mind at this juncture that the boat their father had hired probably contained a water tank that would accommodate at least 1,600 litres. So what solution did these children come ups with. Well, they started filling this tank with a 1.5 litre water bottle. The whole thing was a disaster, high on energy and low on positive outcome.
My fellow crew return and John C immediately fired up our engine in preparation  for departure. The father had by this time returned to his boat, realised we were about to cast off ,immediacy figured out  that we would reach the next lock first, and without further ado ordered his children to quit the water filling thing and immediately cast off. Whooom, off he motored at full,speed , leaving me thinking to myself, " I wonder how that guys going to feel when it dawns on him that all these locks hold three boats at once and on  that basis we will be meeting up with him again in about fifteen minutes"
When we finally arrived at said lock the father , having realised he'd made a bit of an arse of himself, then proceeded to avoid all eye contact with our crew whilst we went through the usual lock routine.
As the lock master opened the outgoing lock gates the father pressed his throttle to the max and fairly flew off down the canal.
We slowly motored off and as it was near noon ( the lock keeper closes the locks for lunch between 1230-1330)  I started talking to John C about a subject dear to my heart , the French habit of discussing food at every turn , and as I started speculating that he French family in front of it would be dong it hard eating their lunch "on the run" , blow me down if we aren't confronted by the sight of their boat careening over to the right had bank. The kids the proceeded to  leap off the boat onto the canal bank and had secured their vessel to a couple of trees all within the space of twenty seconds.
We quietly  motored  past  their boat maybe a minute later and as we drew level with their dining area I looked over and you guessed it, all the family were heavily chowing down into the ritual they called lunch.
I looked over to Julia, tapped by watch with a knowing look and mouthed the words "it's Manger O'Clock" . Julia returned with a wink .
I love the French , they are my kind of people. They know what they want, when they want it, and aren't about to let something as trivial a motoring a boat get in the way of their objective
Classic stuff.
Cheers
PS. I should also mention that the wife and all three children were decked out in normal gear whilst the father was attired in a very smart blue and yellow " designer canal boat skippers jacket " in combo with a most stylish cap. All very nice.