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Is it just us that complains about volunteer lock keepers


nicknorman

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5 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Well as I said, I want to give my time for free to shag your wife. Or husband, I’m not fussy, or girlfriend. Or boyfriend, or mother, or father… are you still happy?

 

Stop being a Dick, Nick. An alternative opion has been posted, get over yourself.

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2 hours ago, haggis said:

 

You must be boating in the wrong places, Nick 😀

I think so too, surprises me cos he seems a well educated type! (;))

I have decided to let others take the strain, when I can, rather than risk constant frustration at broken apparatus, right handed swing bridges, slippery lock ladders, slimy lock walls, Broken rudder, broken ankle, etc etc. I'm much more relaxed, and enjoy my day out, though I usually don't go too far, and at no time has anyone been anything other than helpful. It's just so nice is to see that swing bridge silently open as I approach, makes me smile :) .all right I know it's usually other boaters, but you'd be surprised how many people, boaters or householders help out.

 

Edited by LadyG
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7 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

It would be interesting to know how many people that start their volunteering on the canals because of the 'front of shop' nature of volockies go on to do other things. I know there are some who take a wider interest and get involved in other things as they learn about canals.

 

Of all the things someone could do to help the canals in the voluntary sector it is almost certainly the least useful, so it would be instructive to know if it helps or hinders the sector overall.

 

 

Volunteer vegetation management teams ?

 

I saw a (word removed)ing volunteer painting lock balance beams all black, presumably because the white ends were a bit of an eyesore. He did the bollards in black too. 

 

OUCH!

Edited by magnetman
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Just now, PaulJ said:

Top bloke with a bloody good memory too.

Looked quite hurt when I was geeing him up about no one being there a couple of weeks ago 😀

Did see three no less on my way up Napton last time too- well at the bottom anyhow-still every bit helps.

 

He was the sort of person it's nice to encounter when you otherwise spend all day on your own. I started that morning at Slat Mill so arrived at Napton bottom after mid-afternoon. No volockies in sight coming down the last locks but it was still very busy being a Saturday.

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1 minute ago, nicknorman said:

Aha so now I have a name to a face… yes nice to say hello to you too. I don’t have a problem with volockies setting ahead … EXCEPT when they turn a lock on an oncoming boater, which reflects badly on us.

 

I’ll just pick up on your point about “worked … for five years …”. What if they have been doing it wrong for 5 years? Time served is not necessarily a marker of competence.

 

Probably the newbie who cocked it. I cant say as wasnt there.

Other chap is a boater as I remember and although Im sure hes not perfect (who is) is pretty on the ball with locks and water management. In my experience anyhow.

 

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3 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

It would be interesting to know how many people that start their volunteering on the canals because of the 'front of shop' nature of volockies go on to do other things. I know there are some who take a wider interest and get involved in other things as they learn about canals.

 

Of all the things someone could do to help the canals in the voluntary sector it is almost certainly the least useful, so it would be instructive to know if it helps or hinders the sector overall.

 A nice chap at our marina spent a couple of years volunteering on the offside vegetation clearing team and did a power of great work. Then unfortunately he “upgraded” to being a volockie. Shame! The odd thing is that he has a nice boat that rarely if ever gone beyond the Glascote locks or Fradley Jn. Instead of taking his own boat through locks, he takes other people’s, which seems a bit surprising.

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Just now, Captain Pegg said:

 

He was the sort of person it's nice to encounter when you otherwise spend all day on your own. I started that morning at Slat Mill so arrived at Napton bottom after mid-afternoon. No volockies in sight coming down the last locks but it was still very busy being a Saturday.

Exactly that 👍

I do enough locks not to worry about not doing the odd one-glad to talk to someone other than myself 😀

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6 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Stop being a Dick, Nick. An alternative opion has been posted, get over yourself.

You are an ex-nurse. You of all people should know that you do not embark on a medical procedure without obtaining explicit or presumed consent. Why should physical interventions by other people be any different?

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2 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

 A nice chap at our marina spent a couple of years volunteering on the offside vegetation clearing team and did a power of great work. Then unfortunately he “upgraded” to being a volockie. Shame! The odd thing is that he has a nice boat that rarely if ever gone beyond the Glascote locks or Fradley Jn. Instead of taking his own boat through locks, he takes other people’s, which seems a bit surprising.

Nothing stranger than folk..😀

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4 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Probably the newbie who cocked it. I cant say as wasnt there.

Other chap is a boater as I remember and although Im sure hes not perfect (who is) is pretty on the ball with locks and water management. In my experience anyhow.

 

It was the newbie who was the stroppy one, not a good reflection on the selection and training process. The first guy (Mr 5 years) was more pleasant and had clearly made a mistake, and wasn’t too defensive about it.

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A conspiracy theorist might say there are moves afoot to put off the "old school" boat users in favour of the new dumbed down variety who see locks as an obstacle. 

 

This sounds a bit rude but one wonders if the latter category of boat users are more generally meldable and therefore easier to manage as a group. 

 

 

 

 

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23 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Well as I said, I want to give my time for free to shag your wife. Or husband, I’m not fussy, or girlfriend. Or boyfriend, or mother, or father… are you still happy?

"Mabel, quick, cover up the budgie, Nick is coming round."

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11 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

You are an ex-nurse. You of all people should know that you do not embark on a medical procedure without obtaining explicit or presumed consent. Why should physical interventions by other people be any different?

 

Im not sure 'shagging' someone comes within the generally accepted definition of a medical or nursing procedure.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

Volockies are very welcome to set up locks for me as I approach, and before I get there move on to the next lock.

I'm working the locks, which I enjoy ... so can't be washing-up, which I don't.  ... Assistance with the latter gratefully accepted ...

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2 hours ago, nicknorman said:

As a matter of interest Jeff researched the training material and one thing that came up was that volockies are only insured if they are acting with the agreement and permission of the boater. If they act against boaters’ wishes, they are not insured if anything bad happens.

And in that event, who is liable to cover any damage costs, or even compensation for injury or death? I could see the boat owner's insurers going after CRT as the organisation which has recruited and trained the vollies and allocated them to their specific roles and locations. I would be surprised if CRT is not insured against that possibility.

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Nick, I think you're just unlucky (or perhaps its just a coincidence that you are boating in the same places that there's a few bad volockies). I've never had a bad experience with one; a few times they've been useless (ie they're no quicker). 

 

Some of the time, when people moan about them, they don't realise they've ALREADY helped them by not causing a queue of clueless boaters to build up ahead. Also I've known hire firms not bother with a proper handover because they know (or think) the first lock they encounter will have volockies. All positives......

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2 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

I'm working the locks, which I enjoy ... so can't be washing-up, which I don't.  ... Assistance with the latter gratefully accepted ...

 

Convert to a diet of Oat of Simple and Pot Noodles and just lick the spoon clean in between.

 

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4 minutes ago, Paul C said:

Nick, I think you're just unlucky (or perhaps its just a coincidence that you are boating in the same places that there's a few bad volockies). I've never had a bad experience with one; a few times they've been useless (ie they're no quicker). 

 

Some of the time, when people moan about them, they don't realise they've ALREADY helped them by not causing a queue of clueless boaters to build up ahead. Also I've known hire firms not bother with a proper handover because they know (or think) the first lock they encounter will have volockies. All positives......

But as I’ve already said, I don’t have a problem with the principle of volockies available to help people who want help or don’t know what they are doing. I only have a problem when some person who happens to be wearing a blue t shirt and life jacket wants to take control of our passage through a lock and generally causes resentment and ill-feeling when it’s pointed out that they are not in charge. The solution is simply that they should follow their training and ask boaters if they would like assistance. You wouldn’t think it would be too difficult!

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1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

Would you like them to drive your boat for you too?

 

Or would you tell them to butt out if they tried? 

 

 

That's just silly. I presume if you're in a queue for locks, you just sit there on your boat and watch, rather than walking up and helping anyone else?

I have noticed that attitude is a lot more prevalent than it used to be.

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Anyway to sum up our experiences of the Claydon locks today, we met a lot of lovely people having a great time, no boaters did anything stupid, things progressed quite satisfactorily. The only negative influence was from the volockies both of whom turned, or tried to turn, locks in the face of oncoming boaters. In each case the “turning” was in our favour but nevertheless it was the wrong thing to do and they didn’t like it when this was pointed out.

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2 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

But as I’ve already said, I don’t have a problem with the principle of volockies available to help people who want help or don’t know what they are doing. I only have a problem when some person who happens to be wearing a blue t shirt and life jacket wants to take control of our passage through a lock and generally causes resentment and ill-feeling when it’s pointed out that they are not in charge. The solution is simply that they should follow their training and ask boaters if they would like assistance. You wouldn’t think it would be too difficult!

Am I right in thinking your boat is a cruiser rather than a narrowboat? If so I wonder if they have a different attitude to them for some reason, which might explain why you seem to meet this hassle more often?

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2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

Quite. They do it for their own personal enjoyment, not out of a sense of service to random boaters.

 

If they were doing it to help out boaters they would turn out on flights on freezing cold days in the slashing rain, when I'd actually appreciate some 'help'. 

 

 

Like the ones on Wigan 

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3 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

That's just silly. I presume if you're in a queue for locks, you just sit there on your boat and watch, rather than walking up and helping anyone else?

I have noticed that attitude is a lot more prevalent than it used to be.

Yes it is more prevalent than it used to be, but we don’t subscribe to it. Today, everyone was helping everyone else and it was no problem. The only problem arose when the volockies tried to go “against the flow” and make their mark by disrupting the natural flow of traffic through the locks.

1 minute ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Am I right in thinking your boat is a cruiser rather than a narrowboat? If so I wonder if they have a different attitude to them for some reason, which might explain why you seem to meet this hassle more often?

No it’s a trad stern narrowboat. I think we seem to meet this hassle more often (than?)  simply because we have hit boiling point with it.  I fully accept that today’s shenanigans were not particularly awful, but on the other hand, tacitly ignoring behaviours leads to them being reinforced and becoming the norm, and this is what we are riling against.

 

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