Some businesses do face the canal, and you can tell how much margin they make by the way they approach this asset. Those who make with a huge amount of money to make have huge fountains, landscaped walkways, smoking gazebos (well, you're allowed to smoke in the gazebo, it's not actually a piece of smouldering real estate) and plants that have actually been looked after.

Those who occupy those "business units" formed from the remains of larger industries who owed their living and existence to the canal years ago, have a far more pragmatic approach to the canal network, despite their industrial heritage.

Maybe it's the lower margins, maybe not, but they have areas of un-landscaped weeds, and rubbish dumped liberally about. Can you actually imagine the conversation at work that goes along the lines of: "Harry, where shall I park this old coach, you know the one that has done so many miles and is so knackered that we're not planning to make any more use of it?" "Just park it next to the other 23 such vehicles, only make sure that the end of it is teetering over the canal, will you." If it happens to you, leave.

It's not obvious what all these business have in common however, unless you see them from a canal perspective. The one thing they all like is a seat on the bank. Some of them are formal, among the landscaped trees, the fountains, the gazebos, others are more functional and opportunistic.

I have seen the most bewildering variety of seating arrangements on the canal bank. In one place, I saw a chain link fence of hundreds of yards long, broken only by a gate with an old easy chair just outside it.

People fish on them during their lunch break, they have the odd illicit drag on their fags, they eat their sandwiches, they contemplate the plucking up of the courage to ask that girl in accounts out, they fill in betting slips, they solve crosswords, they read the "Sun" for the 14th time in one day, they plan what they're going to do when they win the lottery, they…..

You get my drift. Despite the best attempts of the bosses, with their KEEP OFF, NO MOORING, PRIVATE PROPERTY, DANGER RAZOR WIRE signs, the man or woman in the factory seeks the comfort of the canal bank.

There are a wonderful variety of chairs in use. Old settees, easy chairs, plastic canteen chairs (very popular, these), anything is fair game. Anything in fact that you can plonk your bottom on to for a few stolen minutes of quiet contemplation will do. And I have the pictorial evidence to prove it…….

"Look how industry turns its back on the waterways. An attractive amenity appreciated not at all by the bosses......."

".....but concealed from sight, there is always an opportunity for someone who appreciates the view. Sit here and eat your piece. Who needs a staff restaurant, anyway?"

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