- published: 04 Sep 2015
- views: 240200
The English Channel (French: la Manche, "the Sleeve"; Breton: Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; Cornish: Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"), also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the southern part of the North Sea to the rest of the Atlantic Ocean. The name "English Channel" is mostly used in English.
It is about 560 km (350 mi) long and varies in width from 240 km (150 mi) at its widest to 32.3 km (20.1 mi) in the Strait of Dover. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2 (29,000 sq mi).
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows:
The IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as "a line joining the Walde Lighthouse (France, 1°55'E) and Leathercoat Point (England, 51°10'N)". The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais (50°59′06″N 1°55′00″E / 50.98500°N 1.91667°E / 50.98500; 1.91667), and Leathercoat Point is at the north end of St Margaret's Bay, Kent (51°10′00″N 1°24′00″E / 51.16667°N 1.40000°E / 51.16667; 1.40000).
We turned around, we were headin' south
We were tryin' to get off the island
Wishin' for a sky without any clouds
With a big nice bright sun shinin'
We found a spot in a soggy swamp
And set up our tiny tent
Our feet were wet again
But we were gettin' used to it
Our feet were always wet
A man drove by in a silver car
With a mean look on his face
He looked at us in the rear-view
And then he hit the breaks
We walked up to the open window
Not knowin' what to think
But he wanted to know where we were goin'
And see if it was on his way
We told him we were goin' to Dover
And hopefully over to France that night
He said, "So am I, hop in
And I'll give you a ride"
And we were on our way
He said he stopped to pick us up
Because we looked so out of luck
He was havin' a bad day too
But he thought we had him beat
It was his philosophy that if you see
Someone in a worse way than you
It's your ethical obligation
To stop and see what you can do
I wish that everyone thought that too
He asked if we had our tickets
And when our boat would leave
We confessed we didn't know that yet
And we'd get there then we'd see
He said, "You should just ride with me
Because passengers ride free
It takes a couple of hours
And I could use the company"
So could we, so could we
But he was goin' to Belgium
And we were goin' to France
But we decided to change our plans
'Cause you don't pass up a chance like that
We got there late and he was pissed
That he missed the hovercraft
If he'd have to take the slow boat
Then he would ride first class
Our bad luck was gone at last
We got to the lonely lobby
And we filled our packs with snacks
They were free, those pastries
And those drinks would weight our backs
He could see our hesitation
We were concerned about bein' rude
He said, "Take as much as you can hold, kids
I was once like you
I have been there too"
We got aboard the ferry
And they took us to our seats
Which were basically in a nice restaurant
And it looked like we were gonna get to eat
They brought us priceless menus
And they brought us more drinks
We were the only dirty kids there
With our big backpacks and stinky feet
So we ate our three-course meal
And talked to our new-found friend
We told him about the music we played
He was an electrician
He asked where we planned to sleep that night
We said we had no clue
He said, "I'll drop you off by the side of the road
That's what I used to do