Derek R.

Someone been practicing cabbages on a tin plate? Good effort. A boatman's hand?

Yes, I can see the use they may have been for clearing props as George says, though as a dam to prevent rubbish - as has accumulated - from entering the paddles is also valid. Cheers Derek

Can anyone tell me the purpose of the three concrete blocks that look all the world like blocks for a boat to settle on in the bottom of one chamber? Edit to add: Water flow diverters?

It would be interesting to ascertain 'Narrowboat's' claim that BW failed at Knowle. And if they had decided to call it a day, whether it was due to possible perceived damage (unlikely), or that the crew had had enough, or simply that time was against them in an experiment that was not probable that any further confirmation was needed that such a prospect of increased traffic with wide boats would be decided through continuing to Camp Hill. Guesswork.

That wooden roller handle looks wrong. No shape to it, weren't the older cans with a shape turned on a lathe?

Thanks Mike, it was thirty years ago, and our only visit. (That's my excuse anyway!)

Is Sam Horne still at Berko Jeannette? I didn't know Gladys had passed. Nice couple, don't think they liked Berko too much from what I've read. Always felt like home to us.

Oh dear! Not too keen on the wobbly voice singing. Back on topic: I can understand why Widewater is so called, but how about Broadwater?, Taint that wide above Berko. There's one call Hellfields on the Leeds & Liverpool, and passing through today one might wonder why with wide open spaces around. But turn the clock back to a time when slag from foundries was tipped thereabouts, and the name becomes more apt.

Totally agree with your last comment 118 - sorry - 181! (Couldn't resist it I'm afraid). The vernacular and all the practices are truly something that should be recorded and used. There will be those who disagree - let them eat sawdust. I think Mr. Herman was an eighties arrival. (As was I). Don't be a number - can we have a monica? Don't worry - 'monica jane' supplied!

Still available through Amazon. That one's 1949, some late fifties copies are on sale for less than a pound. Not seen it myself.

Aah - water through the walls, a common occurrence. Widewater lock cottage had the bedrooms at towpath level and the living room and kitchen below. Both rooms would suffer from damp. The same was said to be true of many suchlike. Denham Deep lock cottage was different, Set back aways and before the 'Old Man' moved there, was occupied by Taffy. Needless to say he was Welsh, as wide as he was tall, built like a brick ***house with beer bottle glass specs. He was not averse to riding over anglers rods, and kept a plastic cruiser. Sadly passed away some time back. Sociable sort, we had a communal barbecue at which he invited us all in to cook the burgers and sausages in his Rayburn as the weather wasn't playing ball. The liquid flowed and the Rayburn was forgot. As cooking smells go up the flue and not in the kitchen, charcoal was made that night. Ray's comment sounds about right for Vic. If Waterways wouldn't let him use it for vehicular access, he was out to make no-one did.

From elsewhere: "George Smith, former working boatman and first husband of Sonia Rolt, has sadly suddenly passed away age 97. His funeral is to take place at Canley Crematorium, Coventry at 10.30 a.m. on Thurs 29th November. Family flowers only and donations are to ‘IWA’ via the Funeral Directors, J. E. Hackett & Sons Ltd, Longford, Coventry CV6 6BH" That's a good innings.

Yes, that's it. Vic Herman built his boat to his 'own' design and for a time lived aboard with Connie in Aylesbury, the boat being named VICON, painted green. Had two GSD's which weren't particularly clean about the moorings. One day I gathered the deposits and left them on his back deck. Sparks flew. He also introduced a fistful of Aylesbury Ducks to the basin. No-one was too keen on them either - noise and mess. They petered out one way or another. Most folk liked Connie, but Vic was a different kettle. They took moorings below Seabrook (Nags Head 3) and I believe Vic took on the house there too, making the towpath his driveway. Always tales to tell of folk. Some strange one's I have heard about me too. Blessed if I know where they come from!

Popcorn and tin hat at the ready . . . Ah yes: - "Don't you know there's a *** on!"

Starrupsend was the local vernacular for Startops End. That from a local man of advanced years who was Depot Inspector at Tring Garage when I was 'On The Buses' there. There were some 'characters' around Tring in the late sixties. Vic Cooper was his name, and for an old'un to wear hair half way down his back was a little 'different'. Drove a Vauxhall Viscount. Lived Buckland Common. Good sort too.

In truth - I'm not sure. Rare to have heard them called anything but Albert's so it could well have been Sarah's. Bad memory on that one I'm afraid.

I don't know Gregory's though for some reason it sounds sort of familiar - only from passing conversation most like. Albert's two in the park I've also heard call Mary's two, though only from one source. Personal names might well have come from the families and characters living alongside. I wonder if Albert and Mary were a couple and the women chose 'Mary' over Albert! Just a passing fancy.

Lovely list - pure vernacular. I know another who calls the lock below Cow Roast exactly that - 'The lock below Cow Roast'. You sure that's lock 57 you speak of Tuscan? The 'White House' by Bottomside I understood was a Thames Water property. I could name a 'Herman', but that's North of Maffers.

I'm sure they must have done, but what would they have learnt? Maybe they liked the music. Edited to add: I doubt they would have understood the comedy!

Yet you pointed me to the Guardian. I fear the list would take up too much space, and is more than a little 'off topic' for this thread. But referring to the media at large will only lead to information designed to sell papers and log all those 'tuning in' to raise 'ratings'. Nothing like a good bit of 'Attenborough' with a few squillion pounds put into the production to raise temperatures. Despite so called 'science correspondents', they work for the media, most of which is the mouthpiece of government, the BBC being the most prolific. It was not always so, but the second World War saw J.B. Priestley installed at the BBC at the behest of Churchill to make sure the great British public were not demoralised by news of actual events as were coming in, and there was some value in that. But it did not stop there. I can PM you many links but you must consider that all science begins as a thesis. It is the media that conspire to produce a scenario that will get cash in the bank, and the media hungry clamouring for 'action' based on a version of science that fits a current agenda, much of which is purposely designed to make the general public believe there is such a 'scare' on (if it's global all the better) that action needs to be taken, most of which ultimately is to relieve you and I of more of our hard earned wonga under the cloak of 'the great protectors'. That's not a conspiracy - it's a fact of life in society as we know it. I care about the environment, but not what the 'papers' say.

Aah! In which case a compromise might be to take a decent photo of it.

If your image is a print, or slide, it needs to be scanned into the computer to become preferably a jpeg file. Once that is done, the following link should explain the rest. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1633

Study the science, not the newspapers.

CO2 being seen as a "problem" is a red herring. There is no problem with current CO2 levels despite what certain scientists, politicians and 'Green' agenda pursuers will claim. On that score, everyone has been 'had' to promote rafts of taxation strategies and restrictions regarding emmissions - a 'Cash Cow'. Control freakery. More CO2 in the atmosphere will increase plant growth and make more foodstuffs available. Commercial nurseries increase their greenhouse atmosphere volume of CO2 to around 1,200 - 1,500ppmv for that very reason. No deaths have been recorded amongst the workers therein nor detrimental health problems, and there has been in excess of 3,000ppmv in the Earths past. In fact, less than 290ppmv and plant life begins to shut down. Now THAT would be a problem. CO2 is a gas of life, we need it's trace element without which the planet would be much colder than it is and we would not be able to breathe. The heating effect of CO2 reduces exponentially as the volume increases, until beyond a point that it becomes negligible. But I digress.

Too many people, not enough work, and old property that has been eclipsed by pallet and container. The parallel existence of homes and freight evaporate when noise, dust and maybe smells enter the new 'loft livers' environment. Classic examples are boat chimney smoke in historically established basins, and in 1983 when we came down river to enter Brentford, Joe couldn't operate the lock due to a power outage caused by adjacent workmen outside the new flats. An emergency call brought a gang out with road drills for repairs, only to be stopped by complaints from the flats over noise. Joe lost a freezer of food, and we sat on the river tied to a rubbish lighter (good firewood!). Imagine a conversion to ornate status of a gas works storage tank, recommissioned for its original use beside yuppie flats! But there must be some places where such commercial enterprises could flourish. Just not where they once did. I suppose Canvey Island might be an anomaly. Seaside plots joined by monster gas storage plant. No thanks! Edited to add: Those Kings Cross gasometers had tenements alongside as did many a factory, and work was a short walk away for many. How easy we forget and revile that which at one time was desirable.