The Modern Boater

[David Schweizer]

4 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

Emigrating does not help. The problem follows youwent to victoria 2005 population  5m now 6.5m

used to be livable now overcrowded and full of drunken drugged gits

From the population figures you have quoted, I am assuming that you must mean Victoria State Australia, and are describing Melbourne, which is the largest city in Victoria with a population of four and a half Million. However, I do not recognise the description that you give, it is a very busy City, but the people are generally friendly and polite, and I have no recollection of drunkeness or drug addiction on the streets. There are no other really large cities in Victoria the next biggest being  Geelong, Balaratt and Bendigo, with poulations of 157k, 95k, and 92k, respectively which compares with places like Cambridge, Bath, Romford, and Chester in the UK, all of which are consdered quite small towns.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by David Schweizer

[Guest]

On 26/04/2019 at 09:50, David Schweizer said:

 

 

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "modern" it certainly wasn't commonplace when I started in the 1960's, and even 20 years ago it was a rare incident, but over the last ten years or so it seemed to become far more prevalent, rather in line with the "Me First" attitude practiced by more and more peoplethese days. It is  one of (but not the only) reasons why we decided to call it a day and sell the boat.

 

 

It is "car driver mentality" finding its way onto the cut.

[David Schweizer]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Couple of hundred years ago it was full of thieves and murderers. They went there by the ship load 

There were hardly any European people in Australia 200 years ago. Transportation had started thirty year earlier, and ended in 1867 by which time the Ausrarlian poulation was about a million, of wich only 164 thousand were convicts. We visit Australia regularly and have yet to meet anyone who wis descended from a transported convict. Now if you go the Tasmania the story is very different, as it was a Penal Colony.

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by David Schweizer

[NB Esk]

2 hours ago, Tumshie said:

Well, this is all a bit of a giggle - there comes a time for every generation, at about the time they've reached a certain age, when they start to moan and grumble about the generations younger than them. Forgetting that they themselves are the parents or grandparents of these selfish and entitled little ne'er-do-wells, that it was their job to pass on their values, so is it the selfishness of the younger generations or the parenting skills of the older ones. Of course it would never be your children who did this so it could never actually be your parenting skills, obviously. 

 

And then there are all those pesky people who keep encroaching upon the space of the grumpy old generations who then grumbles that "everybody else" had four, five, and six kids, who went on to have four, five, and six kids and now look at it, the country and canals are overrun with the grubby oiks, and "it's all their fault, innit", and "this isn't the world we created now is it". 

 

 

Just musings really......

 

 

 

Now I've read that, I'll have to go back and retrieve all the greenies I awarded earlier in the thread......? ?

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

18 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

There were hardly any European people in Australia 200 years ago. Transportation had started thirty year earlier, and ended in 1867 by which time the Ausrarlian poulation was about a million, of wich only 164 thousand were convicts. We visit Australia regularly and have yet to meet anyone who wis descended from a transported convict. Now if you go the Tasmania the story is very different, as it was a Penal Colony.

 

 

 

We were looking to emigrate to Australia, during the interview we were asked if we had a criminal record, I replied "No, sorry, I didn't realise it was still required". We were turned down.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Reading this thread, it sounds like there’s a lot of good boaters  leaving or have already left the cut because of idiots and twits. What a shame.  

 

I haven’t been boating long, so can’t compare back very far. Luckily I’ve only met a few twit boaters. 99% are alright. 

Anything/anybody  irritating I let it all go right over my head, not a lot will spoil my day. 

 

I remember upsetting someone a few years ago.  I was going slow, so, hands up, I was the annoying  twit. 

But there  was no excuse for him ramming the back of my boat, shouting extreme abuse and offering violence. So I reckon he was more of a twit. 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by Athy
To remove biological swearing.

[Arthur Marshall]

I think there's usually more than one reason for packing in boating. I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, but that's partly because I'm older and creakier, not just because there are more pillocks about. And the rest of my life's better too now they don't make me go out to work any more, so I quite like being home and enjoying that as opposed to being pleased to get away from it. 

There aren't enough idiots out there to spoil it, really. And, nine times out of ten, seeing as how you're on a boat, you can get away from them if you really want to. 

[Guest]

I think the problem is that human nature makes us notice and remember the small number of idiots and not notice the larger, more sensible group. 
I distinctly remember the arrogant idiot who nearly sunk my first narrowboat in a lock, but have no memory of the hundreds or so who have successfully helped us through locks.

[frahkn]

8 minutes ago, catweasel said:

I think the problem is that human nature makes us notice and remember the small number of idiots and not notice the larger, more sensible group. 
I distinctly remember the arrogant idiot who nearly sunk my first narrowboat in a lock, but have no memory of the hundreds or so who have successfully helped us through locks.

Very true.

 

Also there is an idea from poker (the card game) which might usefully be applied to some of these situations. "If you haven't spotted the weakest player within ten minutes of joining the game....it's probably you".

 

We often can't see the pillock in ourselves.

[mrsmelly]

54 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Reading this thread, it sounds like there’s a lot of good boaters  leaving or have already left the cut because of idiots and twits. What a shame.  

 

I haven’t been boating long, so can’t compare back very far. Luckily I’ve only met a few twit boaters. 99% are alright. 

Anything/anybody  irritating I let it all go right over my head, not a lot will spoil my day. 

 

I remember upsetting someone a few years ago.  I was going slow, so, hands up, I was the annoying  twit. 

But there  was no excuse for him ramming the back of my boat, shouting extreme abuse and offering violence. So I reckon he was more of a twat. 

 

 

Good post. Facts are its still fab. yes there are plonkers but there are plonkers everywhere. there is also plenty of space, people who moan about congestion and too many people often live in or around big cities lol. there are vast expanses of countryside to live in the UK especialy Jockland and Wales but plenty in England. In  my thirty years i think I tell  myself it was better when I started, but thats cos I was thirty years younger so stuff worked better lol. I cruised non stop again all last summer and had zero altercations apart from a few shouts from a numpty on the K and A. Its still fab out there. My worry is that either the wife or myself may become too ill to manage the boat and have to move into a house ☹️ we have chatted about getting another but its a depressing thought being stuck in one again. Still ok at the moment  posting from my fab oxfordshire mooring. 

Edited April 27, 2019 by mrsmelly

[Tumshie]

2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

there are vast expanses of countryside to live in the UK especialy Jockland

No there's not - we're all full, very very full. You don't want to live up here anyway it's all full with idiot numpty tourist. Yeah you don't want to live up here. Terrible place you're much better off down there. 

 

6 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

In  my thirty years i think I tell  yself it was better when I started, but thats cos I was thirty years younger so stuff worked better lol.

That and the world population was an eighth of the size it is now. ?

[mrsmelly]

Just now, Tumshie said:

No there's not - we're all full, very very full. You don't want to live up here anyway it's all full with idiot numpty tourist. Yeah you don't want to live up here. Terrible place you're much better off down there. 

 

? Ha ha its fab oop there innitt. My sister lives oop there as does my best mate, I am best man at his wedding in Glasgow later in the year. Loads of space, nice people and affordable. It does make me laugh when people slang the UK off and say its congested then give their postcode as somewhere in London or the south east!!

[Ray T]

1 hour ago, catweasel said:

It is "car driver mentality" finding its way onto the cut.

What I call "Motorway manners" - cupped hand gestures and V signs.

[Tumshie]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

? Ha ha its fab oop there innitt. My sister lives oop there as does my best mate, I am best man at his wedding in Glasgow later in the year. Loads of space, nice people and affordable. It does make me laugh when people slang the UK off and say its congested then give their postcode as somewhere in London or the south east!!

I used to spend quite a lot of time on the south coast and it was great for a while then it used to make my head spin and I'd have to go find a tiny island off the west cost to recover before I had to go do it all again. 

 

Inverness and the surrounding area is so full of people retiring up here that I don't even notice English accents anymore, they're just part of the norm. So it's filling up, people want out of the rat race and they are moving north to do so. Such as life this is how it works, do I wish there were less people, I'm an introvert so yes, I will always wish there were less people; People moved to the canals because it was quite and away from the "rat race" and now the rat race is catching up with them. The same is happening up here, You can only stuff so many socks in a sock drawer, so for goodness sakes people stop having buying socks. ?

 

I'm very happy to share scotland but I may yet murder an instagrammer. ? But that's a whole nother story. 

 

 

[WotEver]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

We were looking to emigrate to Australia, during the interview we were asked if we had a criminal record, I replied "No, sorry, I didn't realise it was still required". We were turned down.

Apparently giving that answer at immigration is a really good way of ensuring a good long delay with the nice officers and search of a somewhat intimate nature. 

[roland elsdon]

3 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

From the population figures you have quoted, I am assuming that you must mean Victoria State Australia, and are describing Melbourne, which is the largest city in Victoria with a population of four and a half Million. However, I do not recognise the description that you give, it is a very busy City, but the people are generally friendly and polite, and I have no recollection of drunkeness or drug addiction on the streets. There are no other really large cities in Victoria the next biggest being  Geelong, Balaratt and Bendigo, with poulations of 157k, 95k, and 92k, respectively which compares with places like Cambridge, Bath, Romford, and Chester in the UK, all of which are consdered quite small towns.

 

 

Um not my experience in rural victoria where i still have residency.

we decided to return to the uk in my case sick and tired of being abused assaulted bullied and threatened at work, and my wifes realising that for from being a vibrant multicultural place it was becoming very overcrowded and similar.

in rural areas drug use is out of control and an excuse for anything, child abuse and family violence is massive.

My wife got bullied out of her job by misogyny against well qualified female engineers a few years ago there, and retired. They dont consider phd level scientists to be worth anything if they are over 40 and female. She gave up and did voluntary work.

the suburbs are endless, the attitudes aggressive.

its a shame truely rural areas are lovely and many people lovely like anywhere in the world.

when we arrived to melbourne was 90 mins now it can be 4 hours. Corridor growth sprawling out identical houses and poor traffic management with a car is king culture.

pop of victoria is now six and a bit million. It cant cope.

[Mike Todd]

9 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

As  an aside from this excellent thread...

the overcrowding and concomitant behaviour is one of the main reasons why people leave the UK. Another reason was amply put to me by my wife yesterday tea time, who came back from the car with my car key in her hand, and said do you want your key back? Mystified, I said yes, at which point she said good, because I found it in the ignition, with the radio still on. I’d last been in the car early that day....I do have previous on this, having once leant out of an upstairs window and wondered what was sticking out of the car door, and yes it was the key, had been there all night. Middle of a small town, very safe place!

My earliest boating was in the late 80s, and it was very rare to come across gits on the canals I used (midlands mainly). Last boated about 4 years ago and have to say there are more people, and thus more gits than there used to be, and because there are more people, the gits inconvenience a lot more people.

Name and shame is good.

Cl;early there are two UK canal systems with very different populations and experiences. I'm glad I use the other one . . .

[David Schweizer]

58 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Um not my experience in rural victoria where i still have residency.

we decided to return to the uk in my case sick and tired of being abused assaulted bullied and threatened at work, and my wifes realising that for from being a vibrant multicultural place it was becoming very overcrowded and similar.

in rural areas drug use is out of control and an excuse for anything, child abuse and family violence is massive.

My wife got bullied out of her job by misogyny against well qualified female engineers a few years ago there, and retired. They dont consider phd level scientists to be worth anything if they are over 40 and female. She gave up and did voluntary work.

the suburbs are endless, the attitudes aggressive.

its a shame truely rural areas are lovely and many people lovely like anywhere in the world.

when we arrived to melbourne was 90 mins now it can be 4 hours. Corridor growth sprawling out identical houses and poor traffic management with a car is king culture.

pop of victoria is now six and a bit million. It cant cope.

When you say Rural Victoria, where are youy refering to. My son lives in Rural Australia and we have found the people to be very friendly.

[David Mack]

7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Untying the lines of a boat running its engine well into the night then giving it a gentle push off, or even bow hauling it 100 yards then just leaving it to drift, would perhaps go un-noticed by the selfish and anti-social TV-watcher inside...

Especially if the generator is on the towpath...

[roland elsdon]

The majority of people are fine, but there are a disproportionate number in the  (latrobe valley) who are not, for a variety of reasons .

demographics , government social policy, and employment issues. Intergenerational unemployment , and increasing entitlement.

Admittedly i was at the sharp end seeing all the worst, but the fact that the average length of service of the local police was under 8 years tells a lot.

 

So back to the uk and canals warts and all. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Good post. Facts are its still fab. yes there are plonkers but there are plonkers everywhere. there is also plenty of space, people who moan about congestion and too many people often live in or around big cities lol. there are vast expanses of countryside to live in the UK especialy Jockland and Wales but plenty in England. In  my thirty years i think I tell  myself it was better when I started, but thats cos I was thirty years younger so stuff worked better lol. I cruised non stop again all last summer and had zero altercations apart from a few shouts from a numpty on the K and A. Its still fab out there. My worry is that either the wife or myself may become too ill to manage the boat and have to move into a house ☹️ we have chatted about getting another but its a depressing thought being stuck in one again. Still ok at the moment  posting from my fab oxfordshire mooring. 

This was our concern last year, which most of which we spent in hospital between us! Things are looking up this year. Glad you are still OK to stay aboard. I wouldn't know what to do in a house now!

[Guest]

3 hours ago, frahkn said:

Very true.

 

Also there is an idea from poker (the card game) which might usefully be applied to some of these situations. "If you haven't spotted the weakest player within ten minutes of joining the game....it's probably you".

 

We often can't see the pillock in ourselves.

Very good, I will remember that one!

[David Schweizer]

2 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

The majority of people are fine, but there are a disproportionate number in the  (latrobe valley) who are not, for a variety of reasons .

demographics , government social policy, and employment issues. Intergenerational unemployment , and increasing entitlement.

Admittedly i was at the sharp end seeing all the worst, but the fact that the average length of service of the local police was under 8 years tells a lot.

 

So back to the uk and canals warts and all. 

I don't know that part of Victoria, so can make no observations, Our son lives on the very northern edge of Beechworth, almost in the bush, and with a population of 2,800, it is about the same size as the rural parish we live in. We have always found the local people to be very welcoming and friendly.

[roland elsdon]

Beechworth bright wangaratta mansfield high country....... gods own country the place we consider if we choose to give up in uk....

[carlt]

On 26/04/2019 at 18:16, tree monkey said:

I had a very fine time in the 90s 

Sorry but if you were born after 1960 you have no concept of true happiness. 

 

Personally the late 70s early 80s were a great time for me... Followed by a renaissance period in the early 90s when I moved to Paris and discovered MDMA. 

 

Oh and living on a boat between 97 and 2006 wasn't too shabby either. 

 

Subsequently having kids and rediscovering lumpy water has been great too. 

 

Now... When exactly was that golden age of blissful happiness again?