cotswoldsman

I have no problem with Ivor Caplan and yes he does have a good record but I would not vote for him as I still do not think as a high profile member of IWA he would be that independent.

alan I am sure you know that I think you would make a very good Council Member. Just now and again I do have to pick you up when I do not agree with what you say, and when you get elected (as I am sure you will) I will continue to point out when I think you are wrong, that does not mean you have to agree with me, as most people don't.

Oh no.....david you found me out!!!

Now alan I know you like historical boats etc. so maybe technology has passed you bye!!! Let me explain how easy it is for us people that move over large distance. 1. We have this thing called a computer (com-pu-ter) via this thing we connect to a thing called Internet (in-ter-net) this then allows us to send emails (E-mails) these are like electronic letters. 2. Mobile phone. This is a gadget that allows us to talk to other people without having a fixed land line. Now these things can be a bit confusing as some people think that they are a camera that you can use as a phone - this is incorrect. 3. Now comes the real modern invention that will help us get to 2 meetings a year. It is called a train, now these have been about for a few years and tend to be fairly close to canals. It can be a bit confusing because one of the main long distance train companies can be confused for a person that has never had sex. Should you require any more information on modern ways to comunicate I am sure there people on here with far greater knowledge than me.

Mike Not sure how long it has been since you moored by German Lock but I did weeks at the beginning of December and the moorings were very good. The local farmer even arranged some diesel for me 0.75ppl I am of to Solom for a couple of weeks on Saturday, my favourite moorings on the arm.

Then do not join....same as I do not have RCR as I pay for things to be done as I go along and as I have so far never had to call anyone out in 5 years to do any emergency work I figure I am £625 in credit and have subsidised no one except myself.......

But surely that is how all these things work, AA,RAC Insurance etc. Now for myself in the 5 years I have had my boat I have never been inside the engine thingy, would not even know how to check the oil, (well maybe if I was pushed) I have no desire to do anything mechanical and will always pay someone to do it.

I am presently moored on The Rufford Arm and we were out a couple of Saturdays ago doing work on the branch. That Saturday we were clearing the area round the swing bridge near Rufford to make it easier for single handed boaters to moor on bridge side in order to operate the bridge if that makes sense!!!

I am not sure what your point is Chris as I never had a problem with her mooring there in the first place. The only contributions I made to that thread were to ask if they were the same moorings that would cost £150 w during the Olympics. The other contributions I made were in a discussion with Guitar Doctor (remember him) on the difference between a CCer and a Genuine CCer. So I guess what I am saying is that her behaviour did not bother me on the original thread and still does not bother me.

Think you are right and fair enough that she has now joined the forum.

Now I find myself not sure what to do............mrsmelly is certainly someone I respect on matters boating (will not do politics with him!!!) My boat is now 5 years old so should I join? had I joined when I bought the boat and renewed every year I would have spent £625 so far for no return! Now I have never had a major break down and have the engine serviced and checked every 250 hours. Maybe after 5 years I should join as this might well be when things start to go wrong!!!

The clue is in the name these are BOATER representative and their interest should solely be on what is best for the boater, nothing else.

That is certainly not my experience............in fact the complete opposite most boaters I meet say things along the lines of "How lucky you are, I could CC" I always worry about CCers that have to state the are Genuine CCers Me I am just a CCer and proud.

Laurence I think you will find that at this stage CaRT have decided not to go down the membership route. They are saying that the membership scheme works for organisations such as NT because membership includes free entry to properties, whereas canals are free to all users. It would appear again that they have forgotten the boaters who pay to use the canals so does this make us the only members of CaRT Quote from waterscape Now should a membership scheme come up for debate by the council in the future I wonder what the views would be of IWA council members, would they see this as a threat to IWA membership? Whereas an independent boater would support anything that brings more revenue to CaRT alan you might well be playing devils advocate, but as far as I am concerned you are sitting on some sort of fence, you have put yourself up for election and this post is very wishy washy and that disappoints me!! Are you saying you are happy for them to get 3 council members and yourself as the other one? you do say they should not have all 4 but still leave the appearance that you would have no problem with them getting 1, 2 or 3 council members as sponsored nominations by IWA.

Wild speculation there is no evidence it will not be part of CaRT infact the quote from defra seems to state that it will be part of CaRT I agree 100% with this.

As far as I am aware all the assets of BW are being transferred to CaRT have not seen anything that says this does not include BWML except speculation on here. Our posts crossed

Just change places with him then you would only be effected 20% of the time.........

Go on can it get any worse???Does not sound like very good value for money what ever way you look at it.

lol very close

I reckon it is the Caledonian Canal myself.