Athy

'OW MOOCH? Either they're having a larf or prices have gone up more than I realised.

Ummm, yes, but thanks to you I didn';t need to.

Has the O.P. found a boat yet?

Ah, I see, its a foreign canal.

800 miles? I bet they're exaggerating. More like half a mile, I reckon.

I hope they're insured.

Thanks for pointing that out, I'll lock this one.

That's appalling - and surprising, as the area is not exactly a hotbed of crime.

No, no, no. The "submit reply" feature did not appear to be working, so I pressed it thrice. Looks as if it was working after all.

This brings back another French memory, from when I lived down in Rodez, The local aniseed spirit, Ricard, should be drunk diluted five-to-one wityh water. I noticed that the local chaps drank it considerably stronger than that, and mentioned this one day. "Ah oui, five to one" came the reply, "Five measures of Ricard to one measure of water". This concoction was known as a "flan".

Some years ago I received this wisdom: Aperitifs are like breasts: one is insufficient, three are excessive. It won't surprise you to learn that it was a Frenchman who told ne this.

A fine example of the diversity of opinions within the forum! Incidentally, I've corrected my typo in the post which you quoted.

Didn't know about those; who are they?

Tee hee (or perhaps gee tee). One would probably be sufficient to send me hurtling to the nvomitarium. The only spiritous bevvy I touch is cognac or armagnac at Christmas. By prescribing whatever Northern Soul fans used to take to keep them going through all-nighters?

I make that three: Magpie Patrick, Buccaneer 66 and A.N. Other. A couple of others have dropped in from time to time to say hello and collect their post, but of late their visits could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand by a three-toed sloth. I haven't noticed any of us being deliberately provocative, though of course provocation can often be accidental. It's hard to prove, but there could be a correlation, yes. I make it a rule not to undertake any moderation duties before the end of my first mug of coffee in the morning or after the end of my first pint of beer in the evening, so I'm strictly diurnal.

That doesn't, of course, preclude their coming from all walks of life. To my knowledge, we have a schoolmaster, a nurse, a waterways professional, a tree surgeon and a boiler engineer in our ranks, and no doubt people from other jobs too - I recall a member a few years ago who was a bus driver. We certainly have females in our ranks: at a quick mental countbI can think of at least four who are regular contributors. There may well be more, as some members do not divulge their gender As far as age goes, you may be right, as boats are expensive and it tales people a while to save up the money to buy one. I was in my forties before we could afford to get a second-hand boat without being saddled with an overdraft. But we are a heterogeneous group; I reckon that the only thing that boaters have in common apart from boats is that they're all different. Have a look in the Politics section and you'll see a wide spread of opinions being expressed. So yes, there's plenty of diversity on here.

...who, I was surprised to find, is not such s "newbie" as some of us thought, having joined in May last year.

How's it progressing? How many applications have we received? What does this mean? What does this mean?

Offending posts were removed (as you pointed out earlier, we tend not to remove those which don't breach the rules. Dictatorial management might have acted more severely- if you think back a few years, there was some of it about, and it wasn't pleasant (I was not yet a moddy then,)). I don't think that's what most members want. Light moderation, which allows topics to flow and members to express themselves, is surely what most people want. Oh, and while the "we" as in "you" may report only extreme breaches, there are plenty of "wes" who bring lesser ones to our attention, for which we are grateful. These are assessed on their merits, with some being acted upon and others not.

Could you expand on that allegation, please?

I do't think so.. Certainly I make a pointb of welcoming a new member if I spot one, as much because I'm a long-standing member as because I'm a moddy; but I'm by no means unique in doing so: a number of established membera extend a similar courtesy, which is pleasant to see. Aggressive responses don't come until a bit later, when there's something to respond to - which, lest we forget, may occasionally include aggressive posting by the new member.

What might that be? All of us who read the topic? New members are always welcomed. Some fit in well and become long-term contributors, others fall by the wayside for a variety of reasons. Remember, we were all new members once.

Now that's an interesting, and perhaps startling, concept. What, in your view, makes a post "low quality"> - Poor use of English? - Paucity of ideas? - Disagreeing with another member? - claiming that Doombar is a delicious and characterful beer? ...and who shall be their arbiter? I for one don't want to spend my time giving each post marks out of ten.