Canal Boat Diaries

[Idle Days]

He did once say that the drone operator is part of the film crew, 

[haggis]

We are enjoying watching the previous series on BBC4  but even ore interesting is the program which precedes it which is about Fred Dibnah. I could listen to him explaining how spires etc were built for hours! 

[frangar]

3 minutes ago, haggis said:

We are enjoying watching the previous series on BBC4  but even ore interesting is the program which precedes it which is about Fred Dibnah. I could listen to him explaining how spires etc were built for hours! 

Fred was one of my idols right from a child….there are very few people I want to meet…he was one and sadly it never happened. 

[ditchcrawler]

40 minutes ago, haggis said:

We are enjoying watching the previous series on BBC4  but even ore interesting is the program which precedes it which is about Fred Dibnah. I could listen to him explaining how spires etc were built for hours! 

Just found the youtube of him putting ladders up a chimney as Diana didn't know how he did it 

[Ianws]

One of Fred Dibnah's colleagues/friends lived on our street. He built a little steam powered boat, the size of a small dinghy. All nice wood and lots of brass from what I remember. 

 

I know Fred was fearless on spires but I was also in awe of the chimney sweep who also fitted our stove. He walked up the ladder without holding on with a hefty new chimney pot in one hand and a bucket of mortar in the other, and just stepped off onto the roof. 

[Stilllearning]

10 hours ago, Ianws said:

One of Fred Dibnah's colleagues/friends lived on our street. He built a little steam powered boat, the size of a small dinghy. All nice wood and lots of brass from what I remember. 

 

I know Fred was fearless on spires but I was also in awe of the chimney sweep who also fitted our stove. He walked up the ladder without holding on with a hefty new chimney pot in one hand and a bucket of mortar in the other, and just stepped off onto the roof. 

People who do that sort of work have to be fearless. Xavier, our favourite roofer was fixing a tiny leak on the roof (4 floors up) and I said could he please clear out the front gutter, as it was blocked at the downpipe by moss and feathers.

He casually walked to the front of the roof, lay down and cleaned the gutter by hand, throwing all the bits down to me in the street, then came down via the velux. All in a day’s work, and €20 please. Just don’t ever ask me to do it!

[Tim Lewis]

22 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

People who do that sort of work have to be fearless. Xavier, our favourite roofer was fixing a tiny leak on the roof (4 floors up) and I said could he please clear out the front gutter, as it was blocked at the downpipe by moss and feathers.

He casually walked to the front of the roof, lay down and cleaned the gutter by hand, throwing all the bits down to me in the street, then came down via the velux. All in a day’s work, and €20 please. Just don’t ever ask me to do it!

 

Under construction regulations not only he could be prosecuted for working in an unsafe manner so could the person who employed him

 

[Stilllearning]

1 minute ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

Under construction regulations not only he could be prosecuted for working in an unsafe manner so could the person who employed him

 

Maybe where you are, not here, they all do it. Yes, I agree, if the worst case scenario happened, but for big jobs he always uses a Manitou.

Another “safety” thing the french don’t do, ever, is use 110volt tools and transformers, I asked one artisan and he said “why”, 110v kills you just as easily. Not being an electrician, who am I to argue with an entire nation of trained artisans.

[Tim Lewis]

4 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

Maybe where you are, not here, they all do it. Yes, I agree, if the worst case scenario happened, but for big jobs he always uses a Manitou.

Another “safety” thing the french don’t do, ever, is use 110volt tools and transformers, I asked one artisan and he said “why”, 110v kills you just as easily. Not being an electrician, who am I to argue with an entire nation of trained artisans.

 

110v does not 'Kill you just as easily' I is unlikely to kill you for a number of reasons.

 

[Stilllearning]

18 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

110v does not 'Kill you just as easily' I is unlikely to kill you for a number of reasons.

 

Please explain it to the whole French nation’s artisans, who think the uk is mad to use 110v stuff.

[IanD]

32 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

110v does not 'Kill you just as easily' I is unlikely to kill you for a number of reasons.

 

Mainly the fact that with the transformers it's actually 110V centre-tapped to ground/neutral, so the hazard voltage is 55Vac compared to 230Vac.

 

Presumably the French would rather take the risk than lug a heavy transformer around, especially up onto a roof?

 

You also need "professional" (110V CT) tools which cost more money than "handyman" 230V ones...

[ditchcrawler]

13 hours ago, Ianws said:

One of Fred Dibnah's colleagues/friends lived on our street. He built a little steam powered boat, the size of a small dinghy. All nice wood and lots of brass from what I remember. 

 

I know Fred was fearless on spires but I was also in awe of the chimney sweep who also fitted our stove. He walked up the ladder without holding on with a hefty new chimney pot in one hand and a bucket of mortar in the other, and just stepped off onto the roof. 

He said he only fell once and that was on a pair of steps in the daughters bedroom, put him to bed for a week

[Thomas C King]

15 hours ago, haggis said:

We are enjoying watching the previous series on BBC4  but even ore interesting is the program which precedes it which is about Fred Dibnah. I could listen to him explaining how spires etc were built for hours! 

 

Fred "I beat my wife and got sued for breaching health and safety" Dibnah? He never should have been placed on a pedestal.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Thomas C King

[haggis]

11 minutes ago, Thomas C King said:

 

Fred "I beat my wife and got sued for breaching health and safety" Dibnah? He never should have been placed on a pedestal.

I know nothing about his private life but I have always admired his exploits involving steam engines and high chimneys and he had the knack f being able to impart his wide knowledge of his subjects in an interesting way. 

[PD1964]

13 minutes ago, Thomas C King said:

 

Fred "I beat my wife and got sued for breaching health and safety" Dibnah? He never should have been placed on a pedestal.

I think Fred’s time of life was completely different to many wet lettuce men of today, who cry when they get a spelk in their finger and “Man” hug everyone they meet. Most would get a nose bleed and quiver in fear stepping on a pedestal, never mind climbing a 100ft steeple Jack ladder. As I say he lived in a completely different world then that of today’s men.

[David Mack]

27 minutes ago, Thomas C King said:

 

Fred "I beat my wife and got sued for breaching health and safety" Dibnah?

 

Can you substantiate either of those accusations?

[doratheexplorer]

15 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

I think Fred’s time of life was completely different to many wet lettuce men of today, who cry when they get a spelk in their finger and “Man” hug everyone they meet. Most would get a nose bleed and quiver in fear stepping on a pedestal, never mind climbing a 100ft steeple Jack ladder. As I say he lived in a completely different world then that of today’s men.

Ah, the good old days when wife beating was a much admired trait in men.

 

I'm not sure if that applies to Fred.  Maybe Thomas can enlighten us.

[robtheplod]

46 minutes ago, haggis said:

I know nothing about his private life but I have always admired his exploits involving steam engines and high chimneys and he had the knack f being able to impart his wide knowledge of his subjects in an interesting way. 

He really had no fear of heights at all did he!

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, doratheexplorer said:

Ah, the good old days when wife beating was a much admired trait in men.

 

I'm not sure if that applies to Fred.  Maybe Thomas can enlighten us.

When did I say that I admire wife beating in the good old days and it was admired then??

  I said that Fred’s time was a different time and era then today and his life was completely different to the men of today, I know very few of the todays young men that would have a clue how to do anything he did, never mind try it for a living.

 

  

Edited March 24, 2022 by PD1964

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

When did I say that I admire wife beating in the good old days and it was admired then??

  I said that Fred’s time was a different time and era then today and his life was completely different to the men of today, I know very few of the todays young men that would have a clue how to do anything he did, never mind try it for a living.

 

  

 

I'm sure they could if they put their minds to it.

Women seem to be able to make a living doing it, in todays 'equality society' anything is possible.

 

 

 

 

[IanD]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I'm sure they could if they put their minds to it.

Women seem to be able to make a living doing it, in todays 'equality society' anything is possible.

 

 

I doubt that many people nowadays of any sex would ladder a chimney, climb unroped over an overhanging parapet 200 feet up, then dismantle the chimney one brick at a time while standing on the top smoking a fag like Fred did...

[Tim Lewis]

9 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

Please explain it to the whole French nation’s artisans, who think the uk is mad to use 110v stuff.

 

[frangar]

7 hours ago, Thomas C King said:

 

Fred "I beat my wife and got sued for breaching health and safety" Dibnah? He never should have been placed on a pedestal.

Have you proof of that?? Please do enlighten us?? What an idiot you are. 

[Arthur Marshall]

7 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Ah, the good old days when wife beating was a much admired trait in men.

 

I'm not sure if that applies to Fred.  Maybe Thomas can enlighten us.

I think at least one of his wives has written about him. I don't recall wifebeating being involved, just preferring the company of steam engines, and leaving them nothing in his will. Men's attitudes to their families has improved a bit over the years, mostly because, like two of Fred's wives, the women decided not up with it to put.

Either way, you had to admire his way with a chimbley. People are complex.