The Toad in the Hole
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Posts posted by The Toad in the Hole
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Think I've had a notice that they're repairing the railings on the aqueduct soon as well, but I've deleted the email!
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Thank you for that clarification. I'm pleased that you were O.K.
The way some people drive on them, I think you've got it right calling them "duel" carriageways.
How?
Surely these lorries carry registration numbers, unless they work exclusively off-road?
woosh! They are, it doesn't stop them killing cyclists on an almost weekly basis.
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I think it's important that all these construction industry trucks operating in central London are clearly marked with some sort of registration number and insured. If only they were, I'm sure that many cyclist deaths and severe injuries could be halted overnight.
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Yes, that's pretty much how things work in a tax-paying democracy.
There are several parallels. Take the Arts for example. Ballet & opera are subsidised through taxation, but if you actually want to attend, you pay again by buying a ticket.
We all contribute to the Highways whether we drive or not, nobody has to pay to walk down the pavement or use a Pelican crossing but if you wish to use a car, you pay extra.
Here's another one (you'll like this), supermarkets. If you use a supermarket, you pay for the goods, but you pay again, through tax, for the transport infrastructure that enables the supermarkets to function, and again (through taxation) for the tax-credits which enable the supermarkets to employ workers on low wages. Even if you never use a supermarket, you still pay the last two.
Good isn't it.
magnificent explanation. I might nick this
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ahhh I see. A bit like the cyclists in lycra that tear up the towpath they do not help to maintain then?
Tim
oh, hasn't this been done to death? Apart from the old cliches about lycra, there's the difficult bit about them actually paying as much as any other non-boater. Given there are apparently so many boaters searching for the ever elusive free lunch (or mooring), why does this hoary old trope keep getting brought up?
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Other than one occasion when I'd stuffed my back up, it's always been the case that my wife steers and I do the locks. There's no real reason for it other than I've a slight physical advantage in manual activity. Anecdotally, this arrangement does seem to attract a number of sexist comments - there do seem to be a number of boaters who believe a womans place is on the lockside.
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Ive done it, but as I mentioned in the comments, I think there is some (unconscious?) bias in your questions. I say this as someone who has supervised undergrad geography dissertations and worked with Phd students on research design. Again, as I suggest , you may want to run this by your supervisor to ensure your data is more robust
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dead straightforward, I often do this with my wife, and yes it's easier from the Trevor/ northern entrance
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I'm not a big fan of speculating without the facts, but I notice that the article included a request from the police not to reveal the boat identity before next of kin are informed.
And then a helpful photo of the boat concerned...
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By "playing around", do you mean "searching for mentions of me"?
Ed Balls!
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mine do, but then they drink canal/ river/ puddle water as well*
* I am careful with algal bloom in lakes etc, mind
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Over the years, I've had a few problems with the convoy of day boats that come out of Trevor, heading en mass for the Poachers Pocket, including one unlit one in Chirk tunnel, however today they seemed to be family days out and impeccably behaved, so no complaints. The only real problem was an overly cautious shiny private boat who was probably more at home on a broad, straight canal, like the shroppy. Poor boaters come in all shapes, I suppose, and it isn't all about inexperience, drink and excess speed.
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If the long shaft is too ornately painted, you'll be disinclined to use it!
I've always been convinced that these poles should come in a "in an emergency, break glass to open" type case on the roof of the boat - this would stop the hapless numpties balancing on the roof of their boat like The Great Valerio as their boat digs itself ever deeper into the mud whilst their engine threshes what little water is left under their transom like a piranha feeding frenzy
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I have met some proper idiots on the Llangollen. The majority of them were on hireboats. Therefore most hireboaters are idiots.
Except of course they aren't. The majority of boats moving on the Llangollen in Summer are hire boats, therefore the boats you are going to meet are hirers. A proportion of these are first timers and most of them meet their first lock at New Marton. So at New Marton you have a stressful busy section of canal, with a number of inexperienced boaters. The idiot count therefore seems quite high, but in reality it's just busy and sometimes a bit slower than it might be.
The real idiots are a very small proportion - all the cliches - the drunks, the speeders, the arrogant tosspots, and because of the sample at New Marton being mostly hirers, it would appear that the population of hireboaters has a high proportion of buffoons.
So lets look at a different set of locks - Hurleston has a number of hire boats, but because of the big marina at the top, and the logistics of a weeks holiday, the sample of boats here is usually much more diverse. The proportion of idiots is probably the same, but the number of hiring idiots is smaller.
tl;dr There are idiots on boats. How many of them are hirers is a matter of perception, based on location, time of the year, day of the week, time of day even. Oh, and personal prejudice.
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A lot of this is flood debris - remember the Soar is a river and we've had some very high flows. The trash lines are rubbish that has been flushed off surrounding land, out of storm drains, even out of flooded bins or places it's been stored legitimately and left behind as the levels drop again, rather than material specifically dropped in the river.
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Inspired by this topic, I made a rare visit up to central London today and bought The Awful Green Things from Outer Space as a present to take for my grandson when I go to Canada next week (£19.99 from the Orcs' Nest). It is of course also partly a present for me because I look forward to many confrontations between the Znutar's crew and the Green Things while I'm there. A measure of the game's popularity is that second hand sets on eBay are about the same price.
My granddaughters have not been forgotten; at Wallington Asda I got cbeebies magazine (unobtainable in Canada I gather), a Frozen jigsaw and (very appropriately) Grandpa Pig's Boat Construction Set. I'm going to be Cool Grandad.
splendid! Hope you enjoy it
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sooner or later someone (Severn Trent, I guess) will have to cut the locks that are gradually accreting on the Nottingham suspension bridge.
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in all seriousness....
Awful Green Things From Outer Space. It's funny, relatively compact, you can play with 2 people and it doesn't last forever
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You will have to store them in the dry to season until next year.
Neil
Not that I want to encourage anyone to nick logs that are obviously mine, but the big stack of logs I appropriated were obviously all standing dead wood, as it was really well seasoned, absolutely bone dry. Split and burned a treat, just wish I'd picked up more.
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Whilst they will try and big themselves up, ultimately swans are vegetarian birds and will back off in the face of humans. We are a big potentially hostile predator, when all is said and done. It's been a long time, but I did help with some swan ringing once. At no point was my arm in danger of breaking
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mine is 35'. On the Llangollen it is very manoeuvrable, which is an enormous advantage, but has much more of a mind of its own, compared to my inlaws old full length boat. In the locks, it's fine - I've single handed through broad locks with no problems, but it does tend to bob around rather more, I guess just because it's half the length. It reverses like a pig, but that's probably as much down to design (or absence thereof!) as length. They can get very, erm, cosy and I wouldn't recommend for very long trips/ liveaboard, but apart from that, there are only really advantages - Mooring is much easier, you fit into those awkward spaces, although ring spacing isn't always in your favour, license is cheaper and it's easier to dodge round obstructions - ours is also quite shallow drafted
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Some wont pump out on turn round days, normally the weekend
Chirk can't offer services on Saturday, when they are mad busy, but are ok otherwise
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The Ranchers just outside the Park boundaries would not agree. The proliferation of wolves has cost them a fortune in lost stock.
No, not a fortune. Thee have been some losses, but well within acceptable limits (compared to other sources of attrition, such as disease, neglect etc). There is a tendency to blame any stock loss on predation as it can often be used either directly for compensation or to strengthen an argument for predator control, whereas often it's just poor husbandry. This is true in pretty much any country where there has been reintroduction or enhanced protection of predators
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I saw the email this morning, deleted without opening and headed over here expecting to find the forum had been hacked
What distances from your boat?
in General Boating
Posted
Oddly enough I live in Nottingham and my boat's in Wales. We probably pass on the A38