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stort_mark

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Everything posted by stort_mark

  1. Getting the geo-referencing right on Flickr is now driving me nuts. This has happened before where the photos have been uploaded with incorrect EXIF data and then when you change it - using the Flickr interface - it ignores it. Even after making all the changes, the photos still show as being taken in Bishop's Stortford. The actual (digital reference) is N52.26354, E0.22086. God knows what I have to do to get Flickr to accept the changes though. Photo here of the site....several others in the same set of Bottisham Lode. Chris' photo (TNC perhaps?) shows the gates facing out towards the Cam, and they work just as you suggest.
  2. I am putting some geo-referenced pictures onto Flickr today, but for some reason the key phtotos have ended up with coordinates forty miles away, so trying to work out what went wrong with the auto-referencing. (The altitude is also all over the place...unusual for such huge errors with this GPS unit). Anyway, if you search Flickr using the tags "Anglesey Abbey" and "Bottisham Lode" you can see some additional photos of Bottisham Lode on the south side of Lode (I didn't have time to walk down that way but might go back next weekend). I'm assuming that the Lode was navigable originally right into Quy Fen. Anyone know what kind of boats they used in this area?
  3. I think this is the same place, although it is 920m from the Cam. I must admit that I hadn't thought of it being a guillotine gate, and the entrance gate to Bottisham Lode from the Cam is a mitre-gate. Also, the area around Fen Farm just NW of this 'lock' site is interesting. The southern towpath opens out to be a long elongated field, and on the north side is now a small lake. 19th Century maps show this to be a series of small ponds. I did wonder what the reason for all this was. Some kind of port facility?
  4. Hmmmmm. I am really not sure if you are serious about all this, or just...errr....somewhat challenged. Consideration of "previous" is always taken into consideration at sentencing. Google "Freddie Cardoza"for more information) Your lack of knowledge of the Boston Miracle or Operation Ceasefire is quite astounding, given that you broguht the whole thing up. Try reading a bit more about it - and what it involved - before gushing (incorrect) generalisations. However, your lack of knowledge of Operation Ceasefire pales into insignificance when you compare it with your inability to actually read what others have written: "What I find the hardest to understand is why some of you guys want to pander to these thugs in anyway at all." No-one wants to pander to criminals or thugs. What I and several others are saying is that statistically, 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' tends to work and work less and less with decreasing seriousness of the crime (as explained why by someone else earlier), and in fact is usually counter-productive. Furthermore, locking people up is prohibitively expensive both in terms of the direct cost (around 25,000 per inmate per year) and the opportunity cost to society (of a person being economically active). As said before: it's expensive and it doesn't work. "Why should we waste time trying to rehabilitate them when a really long sentence (or a firing squad) solves the issue and gets them off our streets, effectively forever?" Because that's what makes us a civilized country and not an authoritarian regime. The trouble with the death penalty (presumably, by inferral, for minor crimes) is that you will rapidly breed a culture of revenge and retribution; things will escalate fast. It also means that you are likely to execute a lot of innocent people; presumably this wouldn't bother you unil it was your child, brother or mother who was shot. "If you bleeding-heart liberals want to help someone, then why not choose some underprivileged people who have not resorted to crime. There are many more such deserving cases." The trouble wth your red-tab logic is that you have a very serious difficulty with rationale. You seem to assume that people who disagree with your 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' are weak on crime. That is not the case, and it is arrogant of you to suggest so; I (we) do not believe that that strategy is successful, and believe that statistics and cost analysis shows it to be unsuccessful and probably counter-productive. When you rant about me (or other bleeding-heart liberals) helping underprivileged people, why on earth do you assume that I/we do not?
  5. I remember a boss once saying to me that if you think about the thing you love doing most of all......somewhere, someone is getting very rich making money out of doing it. He didn't intend it as a motivational speech, but it kind of worked out that way. So...whatever it is you are planning to do......if you plan on doing it better than anyone else can possibly do it (or alternatively cheaper than anyone else), then it is likely to succeed. Good luck!
  6. I have read several accounts of recent attempts to navigate some of the lodes off the Cam, including the Bottisham Lode, and then also read (in a Charles Hadfield book) that there was a flash lock on Bottisham Lode as well. I suspected that this was at the end of Lug Fen Drove, so today - using the excuse of needing to walk the dogs ("Forty miles away? Aren't there places nearer?) - we drove up to Lode to walk along the old waterway. The structure by Vicarage Farm, where Lug Fen Drove turns away from the lode, does seem to be quite substantial, but - alas - no wooden gates. There would appear to be a brick structure on the bed of the lode at this point as well. So...is this the flash lock referred to by Hadfield as "still surviving"? (If you are looking in Google Earth, unfortunately the probable lock-site and footbridge is hidden under the trees, 920m from the bridge at the entrance to the lode from the Cam. If so, does anyone know when the lock was removed? Are there other locks on the lode; we only managed to walk the stretch up to the edge of the village and didn't have time to follow it through to Quy Water and Quy Fen. It's a real pity that this - an other lodes nearby - are not fully restored to navigable status as the area has a lot to see and a lot to offer: navigable waterways would be beneficial to all concerned.
  7. Errrrrr.....why don't you actually read the references to which you refer us? Boston didn't introduce draconian punishments: they introduced a range of things- most of which are in the namby-pamby range that you deride so much. Funnily enough, when the programme ended (in 2005) and relied simply on old-fashioned punishment.....the crime rate escalated again. (Check any of a number of media) And Freddie Cordoza was not simply jailed for possession of a single bullet: he had a rather long history which you conveniently omit to state. So.....you choose good old-fashioned "lock 'em up and throw away the key", which costs taxpayers a fortune and which statistics show doesn't work. Ah, but it makes you feel good, eh!
  8. ...and of course, conveniently ignoring the statistical evidence (British Crime Survey historical records) that neither did National Service. Where is your evidence that what you call "namby pamby, fluffy buffy, happy clappy stuff" doesn't work? Perhaps you might want to check out crime rates in countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Countless reports have shown that your "namby pamby stuff" actually does work and costs a lot less as well, Inspector Grimm. Maybe read one of Nacro's reports (errr....probably any one of them) before automatically jumping to the "tabloid conclusion" that locking 'em up and throwing away the key has any impact on frequency or intensity of crime.
  9. I have also worked all over Asia and the Middle East...and parts of the US and Europe...and have seen plenty of lawless places. The trouble with using personal experience is that it rarely equates with the wider reality. I recently left my sat-nav in a public street in the UK all afternoon - it was there when I came back. I've had stuff nicked in different countries.....it doesn't provide empirical evidence of anything at all. Draconian punishment regimes have been shown not to work in crime reduction at all. Look at the USA, especially states like Texas and Florida which have among the most severe penalties while consistently havong high offence rates. But on the other hand, if you are happy living in authoritarian countries, be my guest. It tends to work that the draconian attitude towards citizens extends right across the board......complain about a canal being shut or about spending levels being cut...and - whoosh - bye-bye....that's you off the streets for a few years or decades. And do remember that when you live in a society with draconian punitive regimes, it's the shadowy people in the government who gets to choose what's right and wrong, not the person on the Clapham bendy-bus.
  10. Wow. You're actually being serious when you write this, aren't you? Yours is the 'crime and punishment theory' enforced in authoritarian regimes, both left and right. I wonder if, when you live in a country where throwing stones at a bus results in life imprisonment, you will be truly happy? What would more serious crimes merit? Trouble is, that after imposing the death penalty for - I dunno - loitering with intent, you run out of suitable punishments. Knee-jerk (or perhaps arm-jerk is more appropriate) solutions rarely work, no matter how much the cab driver or your mates in the pub agree with you.
  11. The whole 'resurrect National Service' stuff, much beloved by Mail readers everywhere, falls apart when you look at the crime statistics of the late 40s through the 60s. Crime (of pretty much any type) certainly did not decrease during National Service (where **do** people get that idea?) but actually dramatically increased. Indeed, 'violent crimes against the person' increased four-fold between 1949 and 1963. It is abundantly clear that National Service had no impact on crime rates then, so why should it now? It is easy to look back at earlier days with rose-tinted glasses, but it's as crass to assume that reinstating National Service would reduce crime now as it is to assume that it did then: it won't and it didn't. It's also worth remembering before advocating such sweeping, generalised 'punitive regimes' that the vast, vast majority of young people do not offend and are not involved in any criminal activity (other than the ability to completely vanish when the dishes need doing or the dogs need walking), but instead actually contribute positively to society.
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  13. Thanks for the update. The website looks good!
  14. The website for the Narrow Boat Trust (http://www.narrowboattrust.org) seems to be dead. Is the Trust still operating? Any news on it, either way?
  15. Yes this is an issue that we are trying to address. It's not easy and I suspect that the costs will add up. Agreed. Our plan is just to use the boat to see England at weekends, moving 'base' from time to time after we have explored at the weekends and the occasional week or two of holiday. We are not rushing into it. We could actually buy a boat this weekend, but we want to think through the practicalities. We may do nothing for another year or two. The canals will still be there Yes. This is an issue. The intention on any weekend would be out and back, exploring the local waterways. Then drive home afterwards. Keen to use the train as well. Cost adds up dramtically. Did wonder why there was no 'Last Minute' scheme on the internet for people to check what is available around the waterways network that weekend. However, suspect that hire boat business economics do not allow for much further discount than is already available, given the possible extra admin involved. All lots of questions to answer, and all part of the fun. In the meantime, the occasional holiday hire and plenty of dog-walking keeps us happy. It's just the strange looks I get from other towpath users when I walk past, going 'Chug Chug Chug' with my hand on an imaginary tiller.
  16. SWMBO seems to approve of the general concept (The precise words were "Will it shut you up? Will you stop driving 60 miles to 'walk the dogs' and...ohhhhh...what a surprise....there's a canal here!") and agreed to get a boat. It's actually something we've been considering for a long time. The 'problem' is that we live at a far-flung, remote end of the waterways network. There are marinas and moorings in the area, but we want to spend our weekends travelling further afield, to see such mystic and exotic places as Uxbridge, Slough, Tring and then into all kinds of wonderful lands that lie around places like Walsall and Leicester. Now the question I have is how does it work with temporary moorings. We want to move the boat from a mooring to another one every couple of months and spend the intervening weekends and occasional weeks exploring the area. How easy is that to do, in terms of arranging the mooring at secure places? What can we expect to pay for a few weeks moorings at a marina? Is there a "mooring swap" scheme, maybe like a time-share scheme? Much as we love the Stort and the Lea, we do want to see the rest of the oyster. Any advice would be gratefully received. On a related note, we are interested in boat-sharing with another one or two families for a narrow-boat of around 45-55 feet. However, as our objective here is to get out and about' we are happy with a boat that "does the business". We are two 40-somethings with two petulant teens and two petulant Spaniels who will be joined occasionally by two ridiculously gregarious in-laws; so we need a boat with 6 berths. And somewhere for the in-laws to sleep. We are thinking, as I say, of sharing the boat with similar-natured family or families who don't mind their boat running aground in the depths of Birmingham or shooting the rapids at Salters Lode at some stage. The intended boat will have character (translation- fairly old..built maybe 1980s), one bow-thruster (father-in-law with pole) and probably rather too much formica and curtains that were probably never in fashion. It will probably be the kind of boat you see at the very, very, very furthest moorings from President, etc at waterways festivals. The idea is to get out, see the countryside, enjoy our heritage, spend occasional time updating the boat.
  17. Keep the memories coming! It's all interesting stuff. After all, an inability to get the facts exactly right has never stopped a journalist!
  18. Great photographs...but such a sad end to all the boats. Anyone know how many were rescued. Presumably these are all undergound now. When you say that it was to the NW of Norton Canes...where is that? The area now covered by new housing? Or in the countryside before Rumer Hill? If so, would that be in the 'completely destroyed part' where the mine was, or in the section that can still be traced on the ground? ...Just curious!
  19. The photos on JC are interesting. The link to the Francis Frith site was also valuable!
  20. You have the same book! Gilbey was from the family that owned the gin company. I'm trying to get more information than on the (excellent) Stortford history website. Unfortunately, the Stort is not covered in Hadfield's Canals of South and South East England nor the Canals of the East Midlands. I've had to order a copy of the Canals of Eastern England (from a bookshop in Australia). Hope that will provide more bakground. There was a Lea and Stort Rivers Society but can't find any trace of it now, and the Stort Boat Club doesn't have a web-site. Would be nice to create a Stort Navigation website...maybe a project for 2009....
  21. That's the one. I wandered down again today to have another look at it now. The 'gap' would seem to have been filled in with concrete. Same at Pig Lane as well. Would be nice to see one or two restored. I note that the entire canal was shut for a while in 1924...to upgrade all the locks perhaps. Any idea about the last commercial usage. 1950s? 1960s?
  22. And given that a fair amount seems to be shallow, it will be a feather boa.
  23. Thanks for this; you obviously have great local knowledge! I think there were around 4 pits in the area and the old maps (one is the 1889 1:10,000 but I have seen others online through to around the 1920s) show the Conduit Colliery up at the A5, Cathedral Pit just to the SE of it, Wyrley Common Pit a few hundred metres south, and Coppice Colliery to the north of Coppice Lane (served by the Slough Arm?). And, of course, Grove Pit. There was a second Conduit Colliery in Norton Canes (or it extended a long way) - to the east of Walsall Road - as well as Norton Green Colliery, and I assume that they were both served by the wharfs (one of which now lies directly underneath Conduit Road off Betty's Lane there and the other longer one just to the east (with a big basin just to the south of the old railway line). Thanks also for the tips on moorings. I am hoping to rent a boa to see the area, but my family are still needing some persuading that Walsall, Tipton and Ocker Hill are a better holiday destination than Stratford, Oxford or Tenerife. I have also managed to trace the line (using old maps overlaid onto Google Earth) right the way up to Hednesford: so much gone, but so much to see. My next question is that in July 1960, the canal sank 20 feet and the banks had to be constantly shored up: where exactly was this?
  24. I see fairly frequent mention - in different contexts - of the parlous state of a number of boats at the NWM at Ellesmere Port, but does anyone have a list or more information on them? I understand from another thread that an audit has been done (or is being done). In any crisis these days, it is essential that the first thing to do is call in the auditors. As Churchill famously said "We shall audit them on the beaches" and "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to auditors". So....in the absence of real information from official sources...best to ask the towpath internet....
  25. I have seen a photograph in a book of Spellbrook Lock on the Stort in which the lock walls were sloping banks (aren't there some locks like that on the K&A?) with vertical wooden posts along the lock. How many other locks on the Stort had this arrangement? When were they changed to the conventional style? Also, the locks on the Stort are basically 86'6" X 13'6" (or thereabouts) but one - Parndon Mill Lock - is 94'6" long.....anyone know why? Apart from the obvious answer to allow longer boats through, that is
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