Canal & River Trust publishes 'Boater Report'

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

10 hours ago, matty40s said:

I used to love watching the cormorants in Paddington Basin, Central London go up and down, at that time, the basin was crystal clear and also warmer so it stayed ice free. Several of the buildings there use the basin water as part of their eco system.

Yesterday, boating down to Portland Basin, I saw my first cormorant close up, inches away. It didn’t appear nervous or frightened. 

The bird was an odd sight because it’d just got dark and was lit up by the glow from Asda and it’s tunnel lights.  

 

[doratheexplorer]

23 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Dave Mayall of this parish did.......

 

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/costs_of_rebranding

Interesting, but nothing since last June.  I wonder what the outcome was? 

 

(I commend the correct use of 'Yours Faithfully')

[alan_fincher]

7 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Interesting, but nothing since last June.  I wonder what the outcome was? 

 

(I commend the correct use of 'Yours Faithfully')

Well my take on it is that they were never going to give him an honest answer, unfortunately.

I don't think any of us who saw the effort and expense that went into new signage could possibly believe those numbers.

 

The disappointing thing to me is that perfectly good signs were replace in large numbers for things that were in no way public facing, and really only of interest to boaters, (mooring restrictions, sanitary stations, etc), so the argument about increasing public awareness f the CRT brand seemed very dubious for much of what was done.  Those mooring boats, emptying cassettes or filling up with water already know about CRT. (Even more disappointing is that when CRT were awre the wording on some existing signs was incorrect, the replacements were manufactured with identical incorrect wording).

 

I can't recall ever seeing why Dave Mayall didn't try and take this further.  Perhaps he did, but not via the FOIA request that really told us nothing. Maybe he will see this and comment?

 

I no longer have much faith in the FOIA request system, but to some extent that can be laid at the door of those who consistently over-used it for their own self indulgence.  CRT seem to now take it far less seriously for those using it in a more restrained way.

[LadyG]

If I were an organisation dealing with the public, I would be wary of "transparency", and try to work "around" the FOI Act, it's always going to be a brickbat.

I wonder who is this

Alex Czabaniuk

Student Placement – Legal & Governance Services

Does he work for the CRT  or does he work for the  UK Government, or MI5?, or is he just a random sixth former on work placement? It's not an English surname, he might be on a de-radicalisatin program. 

Edited February 20, 2019 by LadyG

[doratheexplorer]

7 minutes ago, LadyG said:

If I were an organisation dealing with the public, I would be wary of "transparency", and try to work "around" the FOI Act, it's always going to be a brickbat.

I wonder who is this

Alex Czabaniuk

Student Placement – Legal & Governance Services

Does he work for the CRT  or does he work for the  UK Government, or MI5?, or is he just a random sixth former on work placement? It's not an English surname, he might be on a de-radicalisatin program. 

I imagine he's on an internship for a legal degree.  I do find it concerning that someone so junior is dealing with enquiries like this.  When I've worked for organisations which are subject to FOIA requests, it tends to be escalated to senior staff.  Junior staff may do the research but it is checked off and sent out by someone senior.  In this case, I would expect the response to come from someone at least at solicitor / legal exec level.

[Alan de Enfield]

15 minutes ago, LadyG said:

It's not an English surname, he might be on a de-radicalisatin program. 

Tolerance dear lady, tolerance, (or you'll be incorrectly accused of slander).

1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

Even more disappointing is that when CRT were awre the wording on some existing signs was incorrect, the replacements were manufactured with identical incorrect wording

I did report a slight error to C&RT.

 

A 'huge' sign (25 yards long) at Newark Dry Dock explaining the long and involved history of boat maintenance at Newark - including (I assume) much drinking of wine, as the sign explained that the boats were regularly 'corked'.

 

Many months later the sign remains unchanged.

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I did report a slight error to C&RT.

 

A 'huge' sign (25 yards long) at Newark Dry Dock explaining the long and involved history of boat maintenance at Newark - including (I assume) much drinking of wine, as the sign explained that the boats were regularly 'corked'.

 

Many months later the sign remains unchanged.

As does the sign in my local Tesco's promising wines for "every palette", despite my complaint via Tesco's web site. One can only assume that Tesco view wine drinkers as a bunch of artists - I wonder what kind?

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Tolerance dear lady, tolerance, (or you'll be incorrectly accused of slander).

 

[dor]

42 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

I imagine he's on an internship for a legal degree.  I do find it concerning that someone so junior is dealing with enquiries like this.  When I've worked for organisations which are subject to FOIA requests, it tends to be escalated to senior staff.  Junior staff may do the research but it is checked off and sent out by someone senior.  In this case, I would expect the response to come from someone at least at solicitor / legal exec level.

It seems to me that CRT don't trouble senior management with anything.

 

Remember the "No public rightaway" songs?

(Thanks for pointing that out Bruce...)

Edited February 20, 2019 by dor

[BruceinSanity]

3 minutes ago, dor said:

Remember the "No public rightaway" sings?

No, but if you start, I’ll sing along or just go la-la-la...

 

?

[Athy]

23 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

No, but if you start, I’ll sing along or just go la-la-la...

 

?

[Athy]

2 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

 

 

(I commend the correct use of 'Yours Faithfully')

I wondered about that and I am still unsure.

 

"Yours faithfully" is used when the salutation has been by title, e.g. "Dear Sir".

"Yours sincerely " is used when the salutation has been by personal name, e.g. "Dear Mr. Bloggins".

 

Is "Canal & River Trust" a title? No, it is a name. But is it a person's name? No, it is not.

 

I suppose that one could get round it by using "Yours truly" but I find that rather stuffy.

 

I conclude that, to avoid all ambiguity, we follow the lead of the late, great Cilla Black and write "Tara".

[Boater Sam]

But you would start "Dear Sir or Madam" or "Dear Sirs"  so its Yours faithfully.

How long before we have to start "Dear Mesdames"? Or worse "Dear Mistress"?

[Athy]

3 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

But you would start "Dear Sir or Madam" or "Dear Sirs"  so its Yours faithfully.

 

But it doesn't say that - it says "Dear Canal & River Trust". I would concur, though, that "Yours faithfully would be correct.

4 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

 

How long before we have to start "Dear Mesdames"? Or worse "Dear Mistress"?

\i can imagine John Major using the latter to start a letter to his hot Currie.

[doratheexplorer]

45 minutes ago, Athy said:

I wondered about that and I am still unsure.

 

"Yours faithfully" is used when the salutation has been by title, e.g. "Dear Sir".

"Yours sincerely " is used when the salutation has been by personal name, e.g. "Dear Mr. Bloggins".

 

Is "Canal & River Trust" a title? No, it is a name. But is it a person's name? No, it is not.

 

I suppose that one could get round it by using "Yours truly" but I find that rather stuffy.

 

I conclude that, to avoid all ambiguity, we follow the lead of the late, great Cilla Black and write "Tara".

Yours faithfully is where you aren't addressing a specific named person.

[Athy]

Just now, doratheexplorer said:

Yours faithfully is where you aren't addressing a specific named person.

I know. I said so.

 

[doratheexplorer]

54 minutes ago, Athy said:

I wondered about that and I am still unsure.

 

"Yours faithfully" is used when the salutation has been by title, e.g. "Dear Sir".

"Yours sincerely " is used when the salutation has been by personal name, e.g. "Dear Mr. Bloggins".

 

Is "Canal & River Trust" a title? No, it is a name. But is it a person's name? No, it is not.

 

I suppose that one could get round it by using "Yours truly" but I find that rather stuffy.

 

I conclude that, to avoid all ambiguity, we follow the lead of the late, great Cilla Black and write "Tara".

Not exactly.  You seemed a bit confused.

[Athy]

Just now, doratheexplorer said:

Not exactly.  You seemed a bit confused.

...as are you, as you have almost certainly quoted the wrong post.

I was not "confused", I was examining the possibilities. But thank you for your concern.

[doratheexplorer]

Which post should I have quoted?

[Athy]

42 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Which post should I have quoted?

Don't fret about it, being a bit confused ain't no sin.

[Tim Lewis]

3 hours ago, Athy said:

As does the sign in my local Tesco's promising wines for "every palette", despite my complaint via Tesco's web site. One can only assume that Tesco view wine drinkers as a bunch of artists - I wonder what kind?

I was going to point this sign out to the Co-op manager but then I couldn't be bothered ?

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2019 by Tim Lewis

[Athy]

10 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

I was going to point this sign out to the Co-op manager but then I couldn't be bothered ?

 

 

 

Tee-hee.

I often look in the "reduced to clear" sections of our local supermarkets, and a little while ago I spotted a nice piece of meat which would normally be sold at a high price. When I examined the yellow sticker, they had revised the price upwards to £2 more than it was before. I pointed this out to customer services who were so embarrassed that they slashed the price right down. We enjoyed our half-price ribeye steak that evening.

[doratheexplorer]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

Don't fret about it, being a bit confused ain't no sin.

?‍♀️