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Why the fixation with Greta? Are you so threatened that Greta is provoking people to think seriously about what changes in direction may need to be made to set our globe and its inhabitants on a viable path towards perpetual sustainability? Are you scared that some of the changes being floated are in a different direction to The Daily Telegraph orthodoxy, that maintaining our lives is totally dependant on ever growing our commercial endeavours. And look I find your way of describing her offensive, It does nothing to convince me that middle aged white englishmen should be let anywhere near positions of world influence. I await a spluttering reply.

Don't think people realise how vulnerable they might be. Think many are soldiering on, but it can be just a little 'something' that can trigger a reaction. This morning at 7:30 while walking the dog on the towpath, and thinking what to do now that only 80 items can ordered the Tesco on-line shopping cart (that's not a lot really for possibly 3 weeks). I've got a slot booked for next Thursday, having booked it 3 weeks ago, it was the first slot available. We've now got to shop savvy, eg 3 carrots count as 3 items, while 3 x 750gm bags of carrots are also 3 items. Plus you can only have 3 of a given item - so that's 3 blocks of butter to last possibly 3 weeks. All of this was going on in my head, then I saw this woman walking towards me with her dog. I nipped up the steps by a bridge to distance us. As she approached, and keeping a safe space she asked if we were OK on the boat. I just said "Yes we're fine thanks, and you? Are you on a boat?" She told she was on a permanently moored boat further on from us, and said that if we needed anything, I've to put a note in the boat's window, and she or her husband (who walk past our boat in the mornings walking their dog) will pick up the message. Obviously I thanked for her kindness..... what a star she was! On my way back to the boat I was in bits, I was trashed! Such wonderful kindness from a stranger! Many, especially men (I imagine) are putting on a brave face on things, but it really doesn't take much for life to be overwhelmed, and we might not know until someone's kind or harsh word is directed at us and puts a chink in our 'armour'. No one knows what people are going through at this time.... if we can't cut people some slack at this time, perhaps it's time to step back and consider our priorities.

Heard a Doctor on TV say to get through the bordom of self isolation we should finish things we start and thus have more calm in our lives. So I looked through the house to find all the things i've started but hadn't finished... and I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Jock Danielas, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiumun srciptuns, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how feckin fablus I feel rite now. Sned this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum.

The current issue of Waterways World can be read for free online, in recognition of the fact that most people can't get to newsagents/chandleries right now: https://reader.waterwaysworld.com Lots of good stuff in there (not just my map of the Middle Level ).

Let's keep banging those political points home folks, get the thread closed and deny everyone one of their coping mechanisms. Mods, please don't close the thread, delete the posting that confuses national emergency with an election campaign and if necessary ban the posters but leave us the mutual support.

On a happier note. My employer has spoken to each of us about our feelings. He has given us each the option to stay home on full pay. You give a man like that loyalty. All my colleagues are practicing credible isolation, there is constant cleaning of shared equipment from the glass on a blasting machine to door handles. Customers are fully cooperating, morale is high and we are keeping the wheels of transport and the screws of commercial maritime vessels turning with pride.

Because her message is SO uncomfortable and unwelcome, and recognised deep down as correct. It's the oldest and least intelligent response in the book. When you don't like the message, shoot the messenger.

Hardly devalues her point though does it, just because you find her annoying/unattractive, I've said before I find her delivery somewhat off putting but I admire her taking a stand and I generally agree what she says. The world need passion and that she has in spades

Anybody who lets their emotions affect their driving is a bad driver, in my book. IMHO.

Good grief! We are in the middle of a national crisis and you expected C&RT to respond to you apparently almost immediately at the weekend!!!! Why the need to "scream and shout" at them ? You have repeatedly complained of not getting emails etc from them but you have never acknowledged or replied to the many messages on here telling you how to register to get them . Why?? Folk on here have repeatedly given you advice and asked what questions you want answered as they might be able to help but you ignore these messages. Why?? I think it is time for us to scream and shout at you to stop being such a diva demanding attention and for you to give C&RT some slack in these difficult times for them as well as us. haggis

Found this photo of the sharp bend at Outwell. Turns out Nicholson's were right! 810 degrees by my reckoning.

No doubt this will bring out the trolls, but, assuming that the two are of the same family (not subject to the 2m rule), and have no symptoms are they not just carrying out their permitted once a day exercise?

Rather depressing to see this thread continue after this post with continued attacking the messenger. It doesn't matter what she looks like. It doesn't matter that she sometimes has difficulty constructing a perfect off-the-cuff answer in a foreign language. Given the amount of times she gets questioned, it would be flippin amazing if she didn't slip up now and then. Attacking her simply speaks volumes about her attackers. She's right, and you know it. "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you." - Nicholas Klein.

I'm not seeing discontent about to boil over into unrest. I'm seeing people doing what they are told is their civic duty. If there is a focus for anger it's not the authorities, it's the minority flouting the social distancing rules or treating the whole thing as a holiday, a minority which seems to be getting smaller under the pressure of public disapproval and robust police action.

No! "No fishing" means not dangling maggots in the canal and drowning them. The instruction is clear and succinct. Who is any one of us to determine why any notice is posted: it isn't always obvious. This endless stream of self-exception by people bleating about their "rights" is starting to get on my proverbials.

Direct anger where you like, that's all fine and understandable -- lots of governments are to blame here, ours and China included. Misinterpreting reports and making it sound like Chinese test kits are going to be responsible for huge numbers of deaths when this is clearly not the case, that's not fine. Keep on doing it after facts have been produced showing it's not true and people may suspect what the real motive is... I'm going to keep on saying Fox News is a reprehensible factory of lies biased against people of other races, countries and religions and stirring up prejudices against them -- the definition of racism -- until they stop doing it.

I am in the same marina, as pictured. At a guess there must be about 200 boats of all descriptions and maybe about 20/25 liveaboard boats scattered around. I know LadyG and almost every other liveaboard. This is the best marina i have ever moored in and I've been in a few. Of course as in all marinas there can be strife between neighbours but things have got pretty bad in that particular corner of the yard. It seems to me they never really hit it off from the start, and has continued to deteriorate. It could have been so different. Yes there are one or two rough diamonds as in any yard but believe me they would do anything for you if in a fix, if approached in the right way. I personally haven't seen any particular contravention of the social distancing rules but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened, and in fact I did notice how they were ' socializing at a distance' in the sunshine yesterday. Narrowboats moored stern to bank and only 2ft between means that things could be awkward at times especially at this time. The owner of the Marina would I'm certain step in if approached and try and move you to another berth, perhaps at the office end of the yard. I'm sure someone would do a swap, you've got a good mooring there. As for leaving the yard due to all this, wouldn't you be acting a little prematurely. Are you ready to go "self sufficient" ? Anyway I've rambled on long enough. My advice, chill, at least for now. If you don't you will go bananas in a marina surrounded by people you're not getting on with.

Nice to see something positive about him at last.

People who are bored are lacking in imagination... come on, there're lots of things you can do. I'm doing things that're proving to be so fascinating, for instance yesterday I counted 380 perforation strips on a bog roll, while another one, packaged in the same bundle had 374. Try it, it's a fascinating hobby. If only I could get hold of two packets of rice crispies to audit 😌 BTW before anyone reports me to the PBP [Panic Buying Police] the bog rolls were a Christmas present, and grumpy people should wind their necks in!

The UK government plans to repatriate up to 1m British nationals still abroad, according to the BBC tonight. I sure hope they will all be quarantined for 14 days when they get here. I have a horrible feeling there are no such plans though. The FIRST RULE in containing a pandemic is seal off your borders against incoming infection. I find myself marvelling that SO MANY people chose to go abroad in the first place when all this was developing, or at best chose not to run for home ten days ago when it really started kicking off. Leave 'em where there are is my knee-jerk reaction! Huh. And so much for everyone here being told to stay at home and not go out or travel anywhere. It's not a good message.

Mrs Mac came to her computer this morning to find this. It was a complete success, even to her moaning about the inconvenience of the allocated hours. I had turned off the wifi, of course.

With very little real effect. Granted Attenborough has lately managed to swing the tide against plastic bags. The difference between them and Thunberg, is her calling out the lack of action, and ability to mobilise more concrete action. Upthread some dimwit suggests 'if she had her own ideas she'd get more respect' which is nonsense. The point about Thunberg is that she deliberately always points people to the science not her own opinion. People fear the message and cast about to find ways to discredit the messenger - it's pathetic. Covid is giving a glimpse of the kind of issues we are going to have to confront as climate chaos bites. But it is merely a taster.

Seen somewhere near Dudley; THERE AIN'T NO BLACK IN THE UNION JACK with the reply underneath "And where's all the red and blue people you thick white bastard"

VID-20200330-WA0011.mp4

Really? I live in a Victorian terraced house - front door direct on to footway, The footway is JUST wide enough for a wheelchair; provided someone hasn't bumped their vehicle onto the kerb The road is one way, because it's so narrow that if it was two way there would be no on street parking. On street parking rammed to capacity at present (no one going to work) I don't demand that people cease walking past my house. I open the door, if someone's walking nearby I step back until the path is clear If need be (and if I can fit between the parked cars) I'll move over to give adequate isolation distance. I could (of course) demand they walk on the opposite footway but that simply means they are risking the odd numbered houses instead of mine.

Must watch this decontamination process.....

If you value it when boating, then renew it, if people don’t then they will not be around when you get back on the boat.

Presumably it'll pick up again now you have left.

Unusualy for me after over 30 years living aboard I find myself in a house a few days before the lockdown. I will probably stay here for the forseeable future. Its a proper detached house as in nearest house on this side of the road is 500 yards one direction and 2 miles in the other direction. I could self isolate no problem if I didnt need to go shopping lol but still would prefer to be on mi boat at my secure offside mooring. I just am so thankful i dont live in a flat or one of those housing estates with dozens of others who are all going stir crazy locked up with their kids. In fairness though I reckon many parents are doing a great job at present, like two of my daughters doing the home schooling thing whilst still doing their NHS jobs. They are not heroes and would hate anyone saying they were but isnt it nice to see them getting recognition for once instead of calling footballers hero's

I saw this on facebook today and it made me smile.

HS2 cancelled because video conferencing is reconised as being less expensive.

Just to lighten the mood a little...

I am very far from any sort of hero worship, I do many of the things you describe, the difference is I admire her drive and passion whilst accepting there will always be hypocrisy of some type. There are many people who have taken her message and are trying in some way however small to do the right things and that is a good thing. The world needs people of passion

This post perfectly demonstrates why this virus will remain a problem for far longer than it needs to, and will kill far more people. Tens of thousands of people dying isn't great for promoting good mental health either. If people carry on stretching their own interpretation of the law to allow them to continue doing all the things they WANT to do, then we're all buggered.

a/ because events like this can't be predicted. Why 10,000, why not 250,000? Should the NHS keep 10,000 or 250,000 of everything it might need should a long list of possibilities actually occur? Now we're on he subject, why not make it 1,000,000 of each, just in case? Perhaps an extra 500,000 troops should be trained and ready, just in case there's civil war in Britain? Perhaps Britain should build a special storage facility for 10 billion barrels of oil, in case war breaks out between 2 major oil producing nations leading to shortage of supply, you know? Maybe a special facility should be built to store up to 100,000,000 doses of insulin in case we go to war with France, France being the major producer of this. b/because when any political party proposes the tax increases that would be needed to fund contingencies of everything, they get a sound beating on election day. That's it, the British get what they vote for. No more, no less. If you wish to change this you need to convince the British public that they should all pay higher taxes. Good luck to you with that.

Not my work but it made me laugh The first patient to be treated with the new Dyson ventilator is responding well Dr's say he's picking up nicely

I don't suppose Joan of Arc was a master military strategist but she motivated a nation to rebel against the status quo. Perhaps anyone who gets picky about Thurnberg's knowledge, appearance and manner should show her how to do it better - if they believe in the message that is. If they don't believe in the message then come clean and say so.

Having just been shopping the absence of brats in the supermarket was almost worth the queue outside....hopefully when this is over we can continue to ensure they are left at home and not cluttering up the aisles....and totally agree that not having the whining swede is a massive plus point too....maybe she can use the time to grow up.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device Haven't laughed so much for ages. (I love the bit about his partner taking him to the hospital where she works "because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me") 😀

I say chaps and chapesses, cut her a bit of slack eh, you are in fairness ganging up on her and like a pack of dogs over a bone. Just sayin like

I vote for putting the clocks forward 6 months.

The comment wasn't aimed at you, it was aimed at the poster (his own words, no wriggling out of that) of this : "The Spanish have found that only 30% are giving correct results - this could mean that a huge number of people who believe they are negative are actually a huge health risk to the rest of the population. " To put some real numbers in, 5.5M "good" kits with 80% success rate (20% error rate) would give 1.1M wrong results, but this is normal and acceptable. 9000 "bad" kits with 30% success rate (70% error rate) would give 6300 wrong results, which is 175x fewer than the "good" kits, but this is terrible and unacceptable? Please, *please*, stop posting panic-inducing clickbait headlines or "facts" which are not backed up by the facts -- there are a lot of older and vulnerable people on this forum who are maybe not quite so savvy about "fake news" and the way it spreads, and the last thing they need is to be worried about things like how reliable "Chinese test kits" are, or that quack remedies will protect them. Actually *anybody* fearmongering should consider that if their posts convince anybody to either give up taking notice of genuine medical advice or think that doing something makes/proves them immune to Covid-19 or to refuse/ignore tests or that they might as well go out and mix with people because we're all going to get infected anyway, any resulting deaths are *their* fault -- saying "fake news never hurt anybody" is dissembling bullsh*t. It's disgusting behaviour. Stop it. Now.

There was a very good comment in that newspaper article from a local boater, something like "we don't mind walkers but object to runners panting and spitting and not keeping their distance". From my own observations this is very true. ..................Dave

At the expense of the most vulnerable. It's ironic that many of the lowest paid are holding this country together right now.

What a great video! Brilliant editing too. No-one ever notices the editing. I thought you had noticed that our lovely LG has a long history of asking for advice on here, then totally ignoring it!

Can't feed the ducks in the park anymore...😪

Not much going on here....