"I hate these things", he said.

[Willonaboat]

This is a true story. It happened a few weeks ago...

 

So there we were. I could see the approaching narrowboat still heading up the canal some distance behind us as the second lock gate closed. A few minutes later with the water level rising towards the top I could see the narrowboat had tied up just before the lock. The first lock gate was opened and then as the second was opening a voice to my left shouted,

 

"I hate these things".

 

I turned to see an old man standing on the edge of the lock starring straight at me.

 

"What?" I said, as I gently pushed the throttle forward.

 

"Widebeams" the old man replied.

 

I just smiled back before turning away as I glided past him. My significant other closed the lock gates and lowered the paddles before joining me onboard 100 metres past the lock where I'd temporarily tied up as planned. A few minutes later the old man on his narrowboat came past, making no eye contact and not saying another word before disappearing into the distance.

 

Afterwards I pondered what had caused him to feel the need to come over and make his feelings known. Was it me/us in particular? Did I previously do something I'm not aware of that offended him? Was he annoyed that we didn't wait for him to join us in the lock that wasn't wide enough for him alongside anyway due to us being a widebeam? Did he think we were just 'rich kids' on an obviously new boat out for a jolly? Was it jealousy? Was he just a grumpy old man who moaned about anything and everything at every opportunity? All these things and more went through my head in the hours and days ahead.

 

I'm not the type to go around antagonising people. Live and let live. Another boater is a potential new friend. I don't care if you're on a rusty tub or a gin palace, on holiday or a liveaboard. If it floats then we have something in common and no doubt many stories to tell.

 

I hope this incident is not a sign of things to come.  Is it?

 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Willonaboat said:

This is a true story. It happened a few weeks ago...

 

So there we were. I could see the approaching narrowboat still heading up the canal some distance behind us as the second lock gate closed. A few minutes later with the water level rising towards the top I could see the narrowboat had tied up just before the lock. The first lock gate was opened and then as the second was opening a voice to my left shouted,

 

"I hate these things".

 

I turned to see an old man standing on the edge of the lock starring straight at me.

 

"What?" I said, as I gently pushed the throttle forward.

 

"Widebeams" the old man replied.

 

I just smiled back before turning away as I glided past him. My significant other closed the lock gates and lowered the paddles before joining me onboard 100 metres past the lock where I'd temporarily tied up as planned. A few minutes later the old man on his narrowboat came past, making no eye contact and not saying another word before disappearing into the distance.

 

Afterwards I pondered what had caused him to feel the need to come over and make his feelings known. Was it me/us in particular? Did I previously do something I'm not aware of that offended him? Was he annoyed that we didn't wait for him to join us in the lock that wasn't wide enough for him alongside anyway due to us being a widebeam? Did he think we were just 'rich kids' on an obviously new boat out for a jolly? Was it jealousy? Was he just a grumpy old man who moaned about anything and everything at every opportunity? All these things and more went through my head in the hours and days ahead.

 

I'm not the type to go around antagonising people. Live and let live. Another boater is a potential new friend. I don't care if you're on a rusty tub or a gin palace, on holiday or a liveaboard. If it floats then we have something in common and no doubt many stories to tell.

 

I hope this incident is not a sign of things to come.  Is it?

 

 

Grumpy miserable gits inhabit all walks of life.

 

My wife was once accosted in a car park sat in our diesel car in France. Banging on about hating diesel cars because they are killing the plant.

 

I doubt if I hadn't been in the shop he would have done. She politely told him to go forth and he did. 

 

Best ignored such opinionated people aren't worth the effort.

Edited December 26, 2023 by MJG

[Naughty Cal]

To come?

 

Its been like that since we started boating in 2007 and was the same when we left it in 2021!

 

Our boat to some (usually old narrowboaters) wasn't a "proper" boat despite it being more suitable for a wider range of waters than their tin tubes 🙄

Edited December 26, 2023 by Naughty Cal

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, Willonaboat said:

Was he annoyed that we didn't wait for him to join us in the lock that wasn't wide enough for him alongside anyway due to us being a widebeam?

 

I think this will have been it. He thought a narrowboat would have waited for him to arrive and share the lock. On arrival he then realised why you didn't wait hence his annoyance at you for not being a narrowboat! 

 

But a significant proportion of NBers are miserable whiney old gits for whom nothing is ever right or good enough. I think you've just met one. 

 

I don't think I've met one of this type on a fattie yet.

 

[tree monkey]

20 minutes ago, Willonaboat said:

This is a true story. It happened a few weeks ago...

 

So there we were. I could see the approaching narrowboat still heading up the canal some distance behind us as the second lock gate closed. A few minutes later with the water level rising towards the top I could see the narrowboat had tied up just before the lock. The first lock gate was opened and then as the second was opening a voice to my left shouted,

 

"I hate these things".

 

I turned to see an old man standing on the edge of the lock starring straight at me.

 

"What?" I said, as I gently pushed the throttle forward.

 

"Widebeams" the old man replied.

 

I just smiled back before turning away as I glided past him. My significant other closed the lock gates and lowered the paddles before joining me onboard 100 metres past the lock where I'd temporarily tied up as planned. A few minutes later the old man on his narrowboat came past, making no eye contact and not saying another word before disappearing into the distance.

 

Afterwards I pondered what had caused him to feel the need to come over and make his feelings known. Was it me/us in particular? Did I previously do something I'm not aware of that offended him? Was he annoyed that we didn't wait for him to join us in the lock that wasn't wide enough for him alongside anyway due to us being a widebeam? Did he think we were just 'rich kids' on an obviously new boat out for a jolly? Was it jealousy? Was he just a grumpy old man who moaned about anything and everything at every opportunity? All these things and more went through my head in the hours and days ahead.

 

I'm not the type to go around antagonising people. Live and let live. Another boater is a potential new friend. I don't care if you're on a rusty tub or a gin palace, on holiday or a liveaboard. If it floats then we have something in common and no doubt many stories to tell.

 

I hope this incident is not a sign of things to come.  Is it?

 

A grumpy sod who uses the word hate far too easily, he has probably been inconvenienced or irritated by a WB sometime in the past

 

I can guarantee you could find a wide beam owner who says similar because its easy to target an alternative group, so WB hate NB and NB hate WB, its casual thoughtless nonsense.

 

best ignored 

 

Mind you cyclists should all be hung from the highest tree by their chains 

[jonathanA]

I think you get whiney miserable gits on fatties just as much as nbs. Certainly Ive met a few who seemed to think  because they were on a wide beam or historic (especially wide and historic) they had some sort of special status. (Accepting that driving a widebeam or historic boat has its own challenges)

 

It's possible this chap had early dementia 

Or alzheimers, when quite often their behaviour begins to change. 

 

You tend to remember these incidents far more than the normal pleasant interactions which are the more numerous in our experience than the odd 'run in' 

[nicknorman]

34 minutes ago, Willonaboat said:

This is a true story. It happened a few weeks ago...

 

So there we were. I could see the approaching narrowboat still heading up the canal some distance behind us as the second lock gate closed. A few minutes later with the water level rising towards the top I could see the narrowboat had tied up just before the lock. The first lock gate was opened and then as the second was opening a voice to my left shouted,

 

"I hate these things".

 

I turned to see an old man standing on the edge of the lock starring straight at me.

 

"What?" I said, as I gently pushed the throttle forward.

 

"Widebeams" the old man replied.

 

I just smiled back before turning away as I glided past him. My significant other closed the lock gates and lowered the paddles before joining me onboard 100 metres past the lock where I'd temporarily tied up as planned. A few minutes later the old man on his narrowboat came past, making no eye contact and not saying another word before disappearing into the distance.

 

Afterwards I pondered what had caused him to feel the need to come over and make his feelings known. Was it me/us in particular? Did I previously do something I'm not aware of that offended him? Was he annoyed that we didn't wait for him to join us in the lock that wasn't wide enough for him alongside anyway due to us being a widebeam? Did he think we were just 'rich kids' on an obviously new boat out for a jolly? Was it jealousy? Was he just a grumpy old man who moaned about anything and everything at every opportunity? All these things and more went through my head in the hours and days ahead.

 

I'm not the type to go around antagonising people. Live and let live. Another boater is a potential new friend. I don't care if you're on a rusty tub or a gin palace, on holiday or a liveaboard. If it floats then we have something in common and no doubt many stories to tell.

 

I hope this incident is not a sign of things to come.  Is it?

 

Some people simply enjoy being miserable, rude and unpleasant. They have nothing else in their lives. So please consider that you did a kind and compassionate thing simply by being there so that he could vent his nastiness at you. It was probably his most enjoyable moment of his day. Or week.

 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Some people simply enjoy being miserable, rude and unpleasant. They have nothing else in their lives. So please consider that you did a kind and compassionate thing simply by being there so that he could vent his nastiness at you. It was probably his most enjoyable moment of his day. Or week.

 

 

I think you're right. Hd the OP been on a narrowboat and waited, that would have been wrong too. 

 

Especially had it been a Huddy! 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

I think you're right. Hd the OP been on a narrowboat and waited, that would have been wrong too. 

 

Especially had it been a Huddy! 

 

 

 

 

It would have been a once in a lifetime experience.

[system 4-50]

I hate widebeams.  Not because they are wide, but because I haven't got one.

[tree monkey]

6 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

I hate widebeams.  Not because they are wide, but because I haven't got one.

I hate money for similar reasons

[magnetman]

I have only ever had compliments from other people when I am doing Boating activities. 

 

It has been going on for decades and yes I have had Boats wider than narrow Boats including one bigger than most wide beams and yes it did fit on canals but was too big for my liking. 

To be fair never had one of the terribly awful horrorbox shedlike naff things referred to and never would have one jn a million months of Sundays. 

 

Its just wrong. 

 

Having said that I don't dislike anyone based on their flawed choice of Boat.

 

That would be rude. Its their problem not mine. 

 

If all canal locks were about 9ft wide people in general would be more contented. 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by magnetman
typos and removed obvious unintended mild sex reference

[Arthur Marshall]

I've had shiny narrowboaters refuse to share locks, and been sworn at for not waiting for someone to share with when they were out of sight round a corner. I've been grumbled at for being a single hander and moaned at for wasting time tying my boat up at locks by people standing and watching. And cursed for speeding past badly tied up boats at 2mph. It happens to us all, thin boats , fat boats, on canals and rivers.

You just have to live with it. Most of us are quite pleasant most of the time.

[pearley]

Over here on the Great Ouse it is steel boats v GRP, but only in print. They're all ok when you're sharing a lock.

[DShK]

I've been shouted at for daring to enter a 2000 yard, two way tunnel at the same time as another boat.

 

"What if you were a widebeam!!!" I was in fact, not a widebeam. As many grumpy idiots as the rest of the world🤣

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, DShK said:

I've been shouted at for daring to enter a 2000 yard, two way tunnel at the same time as another boat.

 

"What if you were a widebeam!!!" I was in fact, not a widebeam. As many grumpy idiots as the rest of the world🤣

 

Or more pertinently, with logic like that what if HE was a widbeam!!! 

 

 

[magnetman]

I used to get shouted at occasionally by people on Boats behind due to slowing down past moored Boats.

 

Quite amusing in a way. I signed the petitions for the bypass. 

 

 

 

 

One can never be sure who the enemy is. The human unit on the moored Boat obviously wants a bypass and the human unit on the racy Boat doing the motorway madness thing also wants a bypass. 

 

Who is right ? 

 

 

 

 

[MtB]

18 minutes ago, magnetman said:

used to get shouted at occasionally by people on Boats behind due to slowing down past moored Boats.

 

 

Was this on The Thames?

 

Nobody slows down for anything on the Thames!!! 

 

 

 

[___]

If the chap had any sense he would have remarked that he had intended to ask if the crew ahead would be prepared to wait for him to join them in the next lock but seeing as that wasn’t possible would they kindly wind a bottom paddle back for him at subsequent locks.

 

That’s something to consider anyway if boats are following you.

[magnetman]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

Was this on The Thames?

 

Nobody slows down for anything on the Thames!!! 

 

 

 

Canals especially the narrow ones.

[Ange]

I've no idea whether this is the right thread but here we are 

My favourite memory when we were cruising was when we did the Droitwich canal. When we reached the town centre there were a few lift bridges where I had to stop pedestrian passage to let boats go by.

Our past experience of stopping people or cars wasn't good, we were used to being a nuisance.

But, the good people of Droitwich welcomed us, they'd lived with a stagnant ditch for many years and rejoiced in boats

Edited December 27, 2023 by Ange

[blackrose]

11 hours ago, Willonaboat said:

I hope this incident is not a sign of things to come.  Is it?

 

No it's not a sign of things to come, it's a sign of things that are already here. Just take a look at any number of threads on this forum. There are plenty of grumpy old gits here.

11 hours ago, MJG said:

 

Grumpy miserable gits inhabit all walks of life.

 

My wife was once accosted in a car park sat in our diesel car in France. Banging on about hating diesel cars because they are killing the plant.

 

I doubt if I hadn't been in the shop he would have done. She politely told him to go forth and he did. 

 

Best ignored such opinionated people aren't worth the effort.

 

Indeed. About 25 years ago a hippy woman with a dog on the towpath started talking to me about my narrowboat. She was keen on the whole lifestyle. I made her a cup of tea and invited her in to have a look around. As soon as she saw my little honda generator she started slagging me off saying it was bad for the environment. Later I saw her drive off in a big Toyota 4 x 4.

[Stroudwater1]

These sort of folk are so silly not thinking ahead. They look so foolish when they breakdown, or have some other problem and need help from the person they’ve insulted 200 yards further up the canal/road.

It seems worse than it used to be, various reasons I suspect, overcrowding among them. Two years of relative isolation with little socialising during the pandemic hasn’t helped. 

 

[magpie patrick]

I think most boat types have been rhe subject of vitriol at some point. I had a snobbish lady tell me I couldn't fit Juno in Bradford Lock - Juno is a yoghurt pot, it would fit but SL felt I shouldn't be on the canal (there were two short narrow boats in the lock already, neither of them hers) - I've also had envy on occasion as when I've find a space on "full" moorings 

 

In "Three Men on a Boat" Jerome K Jerome complains about the steam driven launches as he and his friends row up the river. When offered a ride in a steam launch he comments on the idiots in rowing boats who won't get out of the way...

[blackrose]

17 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

I think most boat types have been rhe subject of vitriol at some point. 

 

Nevertheless there is a particular contempt for widebeams amongst many narrowboat owners and contrary to what most of them will tell you, in my experience it started long before overcrowding on the canals became a real issue. Nearly 20 years ago I was told that my boat wasn't a boat and was just a floating flat and on another occasion told that I couldn't go anywhere on it. I've taken my boat on more of waterways than most narrow boat owners I meet including tideways - so I guess it is a boat after all.

 

The odd thing is that so many narrowboaters talk as if the proportions of their boats are somehow "normal". Well yes that's true on canals with narrow locks but in the wider world of boats it's narrowboats that are the oddities. So when I hear people slagging off other types of craft, to me it just confirms the parochial mindset of some narrow boaters.