Onionman

Sent last week on the Caldon. Met some egregious people. The people who helped my wife (and me!) with a stiff paddle on the staircase. Horrible. The people who found us a table in their pub despite it being clearly rammed to the gills with prebooked tables. Awful. The people who warned us of a hidden underwater obstacle at Cheddleton Flint mill. Vile. The dozen or so CRT volunteers doing a fabulous job clearing the towpath. Terrible people. Dreadful canal as well. All the locks working (bar the one stiff paddle), everything well maintained. I trust that fits in with the style of posting people like to read on here. I'd hate anyone to imagine we had a good time on a nice canal with some lovely people.

All so desperate to be unhappy. Desperate enough for someone to claim that the NHS saying you'll need to stop smoking to have a lung transplant equals, and I quote, "The NHS have said they will not treat fat people or smokers". And instead of ridiculing it, you act as though it's true. Pitiful. Cheer up. Life's good. People on the canals are decent and kind. The NHS will treat you if you're obese or a smoker. Get out of your rotten bubble. What a miserable place this is. And I wonder why I come here so rarely.

Can you tell the difference between "we won't treat smokers" and "We require you to stop smoking before we operate"? Cf "We won't operate on your knee unless you stop your marathon running" and "we don't operate on marathon runners"

Have they? I'm sure you'll have a credible link to back up that claim. And, as I've said before, why are so many people on here so keen to make up problems to keep themselves unhappy? People on boats seem the most chilled group I can imagine yet this thread wants us to believe things are awful. Get a sense of proportion.

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I'm satisfied. Not had a maintenance problem so far after about 20 or so weeks over the past few years on a share boat in autumn and winter. But then I have the attitude that life's pretty good all round and that it tends to improve over time. And on pretty much all rational measures it does. Life's far better for me than it was for my parents. My kids will have better lives than I do. Stop reading the news. Stop using Farcebook and Twotter. Visit forums infrequently and laugh at the frothing rather than joining in. Think about all the people you meet and how almost everyone of them would drop everything to help you if you were in need. Stop moaning. That's how you end up in the 46%. Cue loads of people in the 56% telling me I'm wrong. And I probably won't see it because I follow my own advice.

I believe it was Francis Wheen who said (I paraphrase) that the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the British public is the widespread belief that you can have both better public services and lower taxes.

I can see what you mean and I might have been more forgiving in summer but both the bad ones' rudeness was astounding (and it was midweek on a deathly quiet canal). Unfortunately the diesel pump at the marina on the Prees branch was out of order (but the owner managed to discuss that quite civilly, with a sense of humour and a suggestion for the next available fill - I'd have no qualms about using them in future).

Just back from a two week cruise up the (marvellously quiet) Llangollen. No names, no pack drill but the startling variety of service in marinas astounded me. Two were rude to the point where we just passed them by after phoning one and walking in to check the other before entering. Brusque and unpleasant and made it clear that our custom (and money) were just an inconvenience to them. Lucky for them we moved on, I guess. Three others were fabulous. Couldn't help enough, keen to make our brief stops as easy as possible. Seemed very much like one extreme or the other. How do the former ones stay in business? Do they truly have a captive market so they don't need to care?

Apologies, posted then caught covid and didn't check in as I was feeling a tad miserable. Thanks for all the suggestions; we were at the bottom and I think it was just a night's leakage. We did manage OK but I will definitely bear in mind the half open sluices to avoid moving too much silt. Thanks all!

Arrived at Stockton flight the other morning and the flight was pretty much empty. Someone was having a go ahead of us but it all looked a bit slapdash and they were clearly making it up as they went along. What's the correct way to fill a flight?

As I've grown older I've come, more and more, to realise that irritation comes from within me, not from the situation.

Oh my word. I'm so tense after just reading that!