[A recommendation to CRT - No need to meet with boaters.]

Glad to oblige. I am proud to say I am not mug enough to fall for the rubbish gadgetry that billionaires bring out for the lemmings to buy. You will also find more like me than there are who actualy embrace the rubbish. The problem is it will gain ground as more and more gullible youngsters such as my grandkids 8 of em aged beetween 7 and 22 years of age grow up with it.

 

Tim

So how are you managing to post this if you don't have at least a computer of some sort?

[What s a boater?]

I am a navigator,

I thought it was the navigators (navies)who dug the canals.

[A recommendation to CRT - No need to meet with boaters.]

I voted No cos having worked in LG any polls that were carried out were usually filed away if they didn't get the answers they wanted. In any case Polls are just a matter of opinion and everyone has a different one

If all polls are filed away and no notice is taken of them how come we have this blank blank government?

[A recommendation to CRT - No need to meet with boaters.]

One snag I can see is that your system Dean is it would raise no funds (which are desperately needed), but a membership system would/could. Personally I think the day is fast approaching when much communication will be electronic and trying to fight it will put you on a par with King Canute.

 

Incidentally I am in my late 60s and my Mother in Law (86) is fully computer literate having her own computer and using my wife's internet when she feels the need.

[Why not join NABO?]

You are wrong! - we can't change everything, but we have certainly managed to change some things.

And for that you deserve recognition for your efforts and thanks.

[Why not join NABO?]

Yes but part of their problem is "what are NABO policies?".

 

When looking to join, I tried hard to see what they actually stand for, and (if you like) whether they had stated policies.

That I find amazing. All today's posts mentioning NABO made me decide to have alook at the website. Search box top right hand corner typed in policies and in the list of article with that word in them was at number 5 "Update on NABO policies"

 

http://nabo.org.uk/reference/nabo/486-update-of-nabo-policies

[It's nice to meet fellow forumites on the cut.]

My problem is I don't tend to look at the posters details so I am not familia with who has which boat. A list some where of name = boat is what I really need.

[What s a boater?]

 

She is represented on this forum. We have very few owners of non-clonecraft narrowboats who participate here

 

Richard

However that doesn't make the boat intrinsically different to other non narrow boats. It makes the use and the crew different perhaps. Also I seem to read quite a few post which mention their boat making it clear it isn't a narrow boat.

 

My point being, surely there isn't so much that a non narrow boat would want/need when cruising inland water ways that differs from what a narrow boat would want/need. Is there?

[Narrowboat world Poll on Visitor Mooring charges]

 

Good choice of words. "abuse VM time limits". The survey is far too simplistic. I would like people who clog up visitor moorings to be penalised but at the same time if someone genuinely has mechanical problems of a sudden temporary illness then I wouldn't want to see them fined. The trouble us anything that requires the application of judgement will be too difficult / expensive to implement.

Sally has told me when I asked about the problems created for share boaters.

 

1. Share boaters are the same asother boaters (not hirers) because at some time in the past they were allowedto change fromhaving a livence similar to a hire boat to having an "ordinary" license.

 

However in answer to my "how am I supposed to know when other owners have used the mooring" question one alternative she suggested was.

 

 

"I'd suggest that you don't do anything, and if and when the licence holder of your boat receives an invoice for an ovestay, you ask for the case to be reviewed."

 

I assume that if the person with medical/engine/other problems making moving impossible wasn't able to get in touch to notify CRT BEFORE they were ticketed then the above could always apply. It also implies to me that if you can put up a good case you might get the charge set aside just like with parking tickets.

[Why not join NABO?]

FYI

 

NABO Consitution: http://nabo.org.uk/join-us/constitution

 

This year NABO council reviewed what we have done in the past and might do in the future, taking account of the emergence of CRT with the following results: http://nabo.org.uk/reference/nabo/486-update-of-nabo-policies.

Looking at the quote of "represents over 3000 boaters" amass influx from CWDF could make a big difference to both the way they are viewed by CRT and what they do.

[CRT No Longer Wish To Meet With Boaters]

What would be better is for boaters to actively participate by volunteering, litter clearing, nor dumping large bits of you boat on rubbish collection points and vegetation control are three areas where boaters could make a real difference and save CRT tens of thousands of pounds. So how about it?

Basically I would agree with most of what you say. However to look at the part I have quoted. To me volunteering is a little like the friends v members debate. For me (and I know this is purely personal) I would give more time/effort and probably money to something I feel I "belong to" rather than just any old organisation I use. An example being the volunteering I have done with the RSPB of which I am a member.

 

I am alsonot too keen on volunteering for an organisation which I feel isn't providing the service that I want/need, so losing the chance to talk directly to CRT does rather colour my view. I may find all my volunteering benefits (insert the group of choice other than boaters).

[Can C&RT really ever have members?]

From my personal point of view there has to be membership. There are a number of reasons for this.

 

1. Being a friend doesn't for me give me the feeling of belonging it makes me feel I am on the outside looking in. Being a member makes you seem to have a much more vested interest in the success of the charity.

 

2. I don't accept you need (or should need) to gain financially/materially from membership but there are some cost effective perks which could apply. for example say an extra day a month allowed on these new restricted moorings provided your licence (which would show you were a member) was displayed prominently in a window. It could even be a set window like car tax has to be displayed at a set point.

 

3. Membership could be in sections e.g.a cyclists section, angler section etc. I admit I can't think of a perk for these groups but then I am not one so don' tknow what they would need or want. Voting could then be related to the section you belonged to so what each group of users wanted would become clearer.

 

3. I am convinced the amount of money raised by membership would be more (probably considerably more) than that raised by a friends system.

 

4. The CRT would have a ready made way of consulting and listening to the worries hopes desires etc of each type of canal environment user.

 

5. I think publicity for being a say cycling member would be easier targeted and understood by "the man on the Clapham omnibus" (Oh hang on a cyclist wouldn't be on a bus but you know what I mean - I hope)

 

6. Members would feel that they were getting the chance to influence the thinking of CRT about their particular use of the canals.

 

I am sure there are more advantages but those will do for a start.

[What s a boater?]

 

No, they wouldn't. Naughty Cal is a very different boat to Tawny Owl

 

Richard

What makes Naughty Cal so different from the other non narrow boats which spend all their time on CRT waters?

[CRT No Longer Wish To Meet With Boaters]

Annoying smiley isn't it. every time we print a) bee) it pops up instead of the b - use roman numerals.

Or use A, B. rather than A)

[What s a boater?]

 

For the context of what I'm trying to get my head around, you're included as a valuable representative of a different group of boaters that can easily get forgotten

 

Richard

Surely for the purposes of talking to CRT they are boaters, would CRT actually be interested in what they do when not on their water?

[What s a boater?]

It's the 'small' bit I was wondering about. Is there a defined point where a boat becomes a ship?

How long is a piece of string?

 

Again the dictionary says

 

Noun

A vessel larger than a boat for transporting people or goods by sea.

Verb

Transport (goods or people) on a ship: "the soldiers were shipped home".

 

So sea seems to be the operative word.

[CRT No Longer Wish To Meet With Boaters]

Oh yeah, of course we'd have to agree what we wanted to do next...

I thought the general consensus was talk to CRT as what needed to be done.

[Stoke Bruerne Visitor Moorings]

is that calendar month or four weeks?

The website says

 

you spend more than 10 days between Blisworth Tunnel and Lock 20 during any calendar month

 

when mentioning when charges apply.

[What s a boater?]

To try to start off the "what is a boat" line the dictionary says

 

Noun

A small vessel propelled on water by oars, sails, or an engine.

Verb

Travel or go in a boat for pleasure: "they boated through fjords"; "she likes to go boating.".

[What s a boater?]

I am afraid it may be simplistic but the dictionary definition I gave earlier ticks all the boxes for me. It includes the whole spectrum from those who have a boat and sit on it and never move (are there really such people) through to the continuous cruiser and live aboard. They all either use or travel in boats.

[What s a boater?]

 

Isn't it one of these:

 

The dictionary gives the above as the first definition and "one who uses or travels in a boat for pleasure".

[discrimination against boaters by vet]

It may be due to the rural area I have grown up in but I wouldn't have thought a spot on a towpath would be any harder to find than a field or for that matter a horse being used for timber extraction in a forest. (OK maybe not done now but I have seen it not too many years ago).

[discrimination against boaters by vet]

How sad for all concerned.

 

Can i just point out though that the OP doesn't state that the vet refused to come out as he/she believed they had no money. This bit is added on in the OP's own words as the moral of the story.

 

I urge caution before this thread develops with lot's of replies based on people thinking the vet said something they probably didn't.

I never suggested it was to do with money I just said I thought they weren't allowed to refuse treatment for any reason.

[Stoke Bruerne Visitor Moorings]

How will the crew of a hire boat cope? Will hirers have to hand in a list of where they moored so others can be informed to avoid them?

 

EDIT: To insert a missed space between words.

[discrimination against boaters by vet]

I am sorry to hear this and find it interesting as I was under the impression a Vet wasn't allowed by the rules of their profession to refuse to treat an animal in need. I was told that some years ago by the father of a vet so things may have changed.

 

Could it have been blue green algae poisoning?