Grumpy old man chunters on (and not in a short way)

[Nightwatch]

If they were to become more prominent in the inland waterways trials and tribulations then I, for one, may well contribute to their cause. I'd have to interrogate prominant members before I part with my well earned.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Nightwatch
Smelling mistooks.

[mark99]

There are still some hideaways. But you do have to keep moving and can't live on them unfortunately.

 

Moving off the canals 2 years ago onto navigations has been good for us.

[Tom Morgan]

I'm new to boating so it all seems fresh and interesting to me.  But I do go back 50 years with ancient motorcycles (still ride) and 60 plus years with an interest in the First World War battlefields (which has been my job for the last 20 years) and I do notice changes there.  It doesn't matter where our enthusiasm leads us, we will, in the end, usually start to perceive a Golden Age which we were part of and which has now gone.  It's normal paranoia and everyone gets it.  Stick up for the old Golden Age and keep its values going for as long as you can.  They are still needed.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Tom Morgan

[Neil2]

3 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

We gave up in 2004 sold up and emigrated. 8 years later we bought a boat for when we retired. Started boating again and realised the later we did it the worse it would get. Hence initially 3 months on the canal and 9 working overseas. Eventually retirement happened and here we are.

But we made the big caveat we will not live on the boat nor by canalside. Now its in the house till we cant stand it then a bit of boating til we have enough of the things that upset.

we find that makes us appreciate the boat. 

Fortunately by sacrifices we can just afford a small cottage ( cheapest house in the village) and the boat. 

If it came to the crunch it would be back to let the house and live on the boat.

 

yes its not what it was in the 80s 90s etc but to be honest that was not sustainable, and there were some bad bits, homicidal fishermen, towpaths impassible and dangerous places. That seems reduced with better towpath access etc.

I was reading an account of canal boating in the 1990's recently and all the issues folk complain about today were there - overstaying, running engines, maintenance, water shortages, and in particular the problem of feral kids, which with every passing year seems to me to become less and less of an issue.

[Arthur Marshall]

7 minutes ago, Tom Morgan said:

  It doesn't matter where our enthusiasm leads us, we will, in the end, usually start to perceive a Golden Age which we were part of and which has now gone.  It's normal paranoia and everyone gets it.  Stick up for the old Golden Age and keep its values going for as long as you can.  They are still needed.

It wasn't really a golden age - in a lot of ways that was probably about fifteen years back, after most of the reconstruction had been done, it all more or less still worked and BW or whoever it as back then had enough staff on the ground to maintain it.  Once all the workboats had been flogged off and everything had to be done by private contractors (or now volunteers), the rot set in - it was obviously to the former's advantage for whatever they did to be shoddy enough so they had to do it again in a year or so, or they'd be out of a job.

As Neil says above, there were the feral kids - a friend of mine went through Manchester thirty years ago with a shotgun on the roof of his boat. You don't get that now, not on a regular basis anyway.  But I think they got sorted out by playstations and suchlike, rather than becoming more civilised.

It's the noise that gets to me mostly, possibly as a musician (I know I have played accordions in the past, but I never do it in public now) it annoys me more than it would most people, and the rapid collapsing of the system.  See the local news for the latest instalment...As the government money gets less, the latter won't improve - large swathes of it came from the EU anyway and I can't see us being a priority post any form of Brexit.

I have no regrets, and for anyone who has just discovered it, revel in it while it's there.  Life on the water is wonderful and I've loved every minute of it... until this year!

[tree monkey]

@Arthur Marshall

on a slightly happier note, top marks for the use of "chunter"

[Wanderer Vagabond]

46 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

It wasn't really a golden age - in a lot of ways that was probably about fifteen years back, after most of the reconstruction had been done, it all more or less still worked and BW or whoever it as back then had enough staff on the ground to maintain it.  Once all the workboats had been flogged off and everything had to be done by private contractors (or now volunteers), the rot set in - it was obviously to the former's advantage for whatever they did to be shoddy enough so they had to do it again in a year or so, or they'd be out of a job.

As Neil says above, there were the feral kids - a friend of mine went through Manchester thirty years ago with a shotgun on the roof of his boat. You don't get that now, not on a regular basis anyway.  But I think they got sorted out by playstations and suchlike, rather than becoming more civilised.

It's the noise that gets to me mostly, possibly as a musician (I know I have played accordions in the past, but I never do it in public now) it annoys me more than it would most people, and the rapid collapsing of the system.  See the local news for the latest instalment...As the government money gets less, the latter won't improve - large swathes of it came from the EU anyway and I can't see us being a priority post any form of Brexit.

I have no regrets, and for anyone who has just discovered it, revel in it while it's there.  Life on the water is wonderful and I've loved every minute of it... until this year!

I wonder how much of your current disappointment is a result of the engine problem(s)? When all is running well we can usually ignore minor irritations, but when things start breaking down it tends to colour our thoughts on other aspects. Over the years there have been a variety of things that have reduced people's enjoyment of boating, the mention was made of feral kids. Well it wasn't that long ago that a trip into Liverpool was definitely into  'bandit country' and if you got out undamaged and still with all your kit it was a definite 'win'. Those days are gone and a trip into Liverpool now comes highly recommended.

 

I suppose the secret is to concentrate more on the stuff you enjoy about boat life, and try to overlook what irritates you. I know it is an old 'argument' but a lot of profoundly deaf people would love to find noise irritating, but they don't have the option. A lot of stuff about life these days is irritating, but the worst for me is the pace, why is everyone and everything in such a rush? That for me is where boating wins hands down, everything is (or should be) slow, and for those who don't like 'slow' they can either wait, or go and do something else. I was doing the domestic stuff at a water point/sanitary station the other day that was particularly busy and the grumbles I heard from 'some' people having to wait (not for me). That is the nature of boating, they could very easily rush through whatever they are trying to do and then chug a couple of miles up the canal to find a tree down blocking it and instead of a 30 minute wait to fill their water tank they could find themselves with an 8 hour wait for someone to come out with a chain saw, stuff happens.

 

Hope when your engine is fixed, things will look brighter

25 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

@Arthur Marshall

on a slightly happier note, top marks for the use of "chunter"

Where half of my family come from a 'chunter' is what results in a 'pavement pizza'

[Midnight]

4 hours ago, carlt said:

Many of them are paying visitors as they are tax payers. 

All five of them!

[carlt]

3 minutes ago, Midnight said:

All five of them!

They don't have to visit to contribute. 

[Arthur Marshall]

19 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I wonder how much of your current disappointment is a result of the engine problem(s)? 

 

I suppose the secret is to concentrate more on the stuff you enjoy about boat life, and try to overlook what irritates you. 

Look, this is an internet forum, and the introduction of common sense is ridiculous. You are of course right, and the plight of those affected by the current problem rather puts my whinging into the shade. Although it does of course mean I probably can't get the boat to Bollington for fixing, but I'm not risking my home or my life. The engine problems were the final straw on  a particularly grotty cruise  and probably did colour my whole outlook. Maybe next year wll be better. I've appreciated all the points made, by those who agreed and those who didn't. I shall now cease to chunter. 

[tree monkey]

32 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

 

Where half of my family come from a 'chunter' is what results in a 'pavement pizza'

That's chunder, chunter is what my mum used to tell me off for

[Victor Vectis]

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

@Arthur Marshall

on a slightly happier note, top marks for the use of "chunter"

From the ancient Anglo Saxon verb to chunt, perhaps?

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

That's chunder,

Which derives from the old Navy saying (when throwing up over the side on the upper-deck with others on a lower deck) "watch under"...…………..barf...……………..barf

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Which derives from the old Navy saying (when throwing up over the side on the upper-deck with others on a lower deck) "watch under"...…………..barf...……………..barf

I never knew that. Every day’s a school day