An Horse

[TheBiscuits]

26 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

But the snag that immediately sprang to mind and foiled my dastardly plan was that of getting the tow rope over the moored boats as I passed.

Some of these chaps have external aerials that are 10 feet high, but even a few roof boxes with plants in them could spell disaster for my plucky labrador team. 

 

Train a giraffe ...

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

This reminds me of a discussion I was having with a colleague a few months ago. We were musing about riding a bicycle down a road and the number of cars that have to slow down, then accelerate to overtake you. Obviously this increases the emissions of vehicles that are required to do this, and we were wondering if anyone made an attempt to calculate the figure. Per car it wouldn't be much, but what about if 100 cars or more have to do this on your bike ride? 

Not just cars either,

lorries, buses and ice cream vans

 

I used to drive me ice cream van over Cragg Vale and them cyclist riding two abreast

Soon shifted when I played me jingle tunes

 

[springy]

An 'oss on the towpath is very effective at clearing the anglers.

 

springy 

[Ronaldo47]

A book on the early railways notes that the two earliest steam-powered railways, predating Stephenson's Stockton & Darlington by more than a decade, and using relatively inefficient steam engines, were complete commercial succeses as they were cheaper than horse power.

 

Vets fees are not exactly cheap these days!

Edited March 15, 2022 by Ronaldo47

[Tony1]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Train a giraffe ...

 

OMG, this is genius. 

 

This is the sort of inspirational English thinking that vanquished the Hun, by God. 

 

I must confess that I was starting to lean toward's Mr Goliath's crocodile-based towing solution.

But I'd need to motivate the crocodile somehow.

I'm not prepared to walk the length of the T+M dangling my very tempting ankles into the cut- like a sort of modern day Mr Smee- in order to encourage the pursuing crocodile in its forward motion. 

There are some significant H+S challenges to address in introducing a giraffe to the towpath, but I'll get the team on it immediately. I think we have a winner. 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

How many boats can an horse pull ?

We could go shares. 
 

Or donkeys

They used donkeys

they must be cheaper to maintain, 

 

[dmr]

I believe a while ago a CRT H&S person pointed out that the towpaths were not designed for horses, though  think she is no longer employed by CRT????

I think the real issue for you is that the canalside pubs no longer have stables. I take the dog into the pub with me and keep a little dog bed in my man bag that I put down on the floor, ideally in front of a fire. You just can't do that sort of thing with an 'orse.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Goliath said:

How many boats can an horse pull ?

 

 

I guess it depends on how attractive they view him to be.

[Rincewind]

10 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

I must confess that I was starting to lean toward's Mr Goliath's crocodile-based towing solution.

But I'd need to motivate the crocodile somehow.

Train them to hunt fishermen, plenty of em about

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

5 minutes ago, dmr said:

I believe a while ago a CRT H&S person pointed out that the towpaths were not designed for horses, though  think she is no longer employed by CRT????

I think the real issue for you is that the canalside pubs no longer have stables. I take the dog into the pub with me and keep a little dog bed in my man bag that I put down on the floor, ideally in front of a fire. You just can't do that sort of thing with an 'orse.

I could with a donkey.

 

[BilgePump]

55 minutes ago, Balloon said:

Genuinely, I bet if you looked at capital costs, food, and healthcare, it’d be way more expensive than diesel per mile. 

My friend has three horses and they consume most of her teacher's wages. Lovely animals but not cheap to run! They make boats look relatively tame by comparison.

Edited March 15, 2022 by BilgePump

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, dmr said:

I believe a while ago a CRT H&S person pointed out that the towpaths were not designed for horses, though  think she is no longer employed by CRT????

I think the real issue for you is that the canalside pubs no longer have stables. I take the dog into the pub with me and keep a little dog bed in my man bag that I put down on the floor, ideally in front of a fire. You just can't do that sort of thing with an 'orse.

 

Falabellas are quite small - 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Falabellas are quite small - 

 

No thanks, I think people would mock me.

I want one of these;

 

[TheBiscuits]

15 minutes ago, dmr said:

I believe a while ago a CRT H&S person pointed out that the towpaths were not designed for horses,

 

One pointed out that towpaths were not generally suitable for horse-riding.  The horse would fit under bridge arches but the rider wouldn't.

 

There are a few sections of towpath that are bridleways, but they don't have low bridges on them.

[Laurie Booth]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

an orse

an 'orse 

26 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Or donkeys

They used donkeys

they must be cheaper to maintain, 

 

Now you're making an ass of yourself

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

4 minutes ago, Laurie Booth said:

an 'orse 

Now you're making an ass of yourself

I’m gonna go crowd fund for a donkey

[Rincewind]

46 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Train a giraffe ...

 

OMG, this is genius. 

 

This is the sort of inspirational English thinking that vanquished the Hun, by God. 

 

I must confess that I was starting to lean toward's Mr Goliath's crocodile-based towing solution.

But I'd need to motivate the crocodile somehow.

I'm not prepared to walk the length of the T+M dangling my very tempting ankles into the cut- like a sort of modern day Mr Smee- in order to encourage the pursuing crocodile in its forward motion. 

There are some significant H+S challenges to address in introducing a giraffe to the towpath, but I'll get the team on it immediately. I think we have a winner. 

 

 

They tried that idea in Brum, mate including elf & Safety face mask- but it kept wandering off the towpath!

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Rincewind

[TheBiscuits]

22 minutes ago, Rincewind said:

They tried that idea in Brum, mate including elf & Safety face mask- but it kept wandering off the towpath!

 

I knew it was a mistake to Lego of the rope! 

 

[Beo]

Overheard on a bus in this locality

‘Look mummy, it’s a bobbo’

‘It’s not a bobbo, it’s a norse!’

[Tony1]

29 minutes ago, Rincewind said:

They tried that idea in Brum, mate including elf & Safety face mask- but it kept wandering off the towpath!

 

 

I'm amazed at how there is a photo of a lego giraffe next to a canal. That's such a random scenario.

 

Is there a photo of every conceivable event somewhere on the internet...

 

 

 

 

[BilgePump]

10 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

I'm amazed at how there is a photo of a lego giraffe next to a canal. That's such a random scenario.

 

Is there a photo of every conceivable event somewhere on the internet...

 

 

 

 

Probably. Twenty years ago, trying to explain to a friend about t'internet, he said there was nothing on here that he would be interested in. Said to him, think of the most random thing. Response was, Jesus with a baseball bat. Yep, someone was selling little figures of JC with a baseball bat in his hand (in addition to the ones where he was toting a machine gun with kids around him, because you know he was a NRA advocate).

[Rincewind]

21 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

I'm amazed at how there is a photo of a lego giraffe next to a canal. That's such a random scenario.

 

Is there a photo of every conceivable event somewhere on the internet...

 

wernt on tinternet, twas taken last July at Gas St  where we stopped off at waterin ole! 

[BilgePump]

1 minute ago, Rincewind said:

 

wernt on tinternet, twas taken last July at Gas St  where we stopped off at waterin ole! 

but it were on t'internet as of an oor ago afta ye posted it 😁

[Ronaldo47]

Something I have been unable to find, other than as an artists' impression in a sales brochure (I last looked around 3 years ago), is a photo of State House,  the horrendous 1960's office block in Holborn, London where I used to work in the 1970's and 80's. It had a foundation stone proclaiming that it had been designed by the xxxxxx and yyyyyyy  architects, and someone had added in felt tip pen "and they should be ashamed of themselves". It was a real-life example of the type of office block mentioned in an episode of "Yes Minister" that could only be legally occupied by civil servants because it did not comply with building regulations. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Ronaldo47

[MtB]

9 hours ago, Tony1 said:

 

I'm starting to see the flaw in my dietary strategy.

When I go shopping, I'm using the titanic 250watt motor on my ebike, but I'm eating as if I were cycling au naturale.

The decadence of it all is frankly appalling.

 

 

 

It's also reminding me of the effect I noticed many years ago when I started going to the gym, regular like, hoping to get fitter. 

 

No such luck. The extra activity made me starving hungry and eat like a horse, with no net effect other than my bank account getting slimmer.