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Anti social behaviour

Chris Pink

By Chris Pink
in General Boating

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Dominic M Influencer

Dominic M

Posted
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Again we seem to be in agreement - at least partially. Toilet, WC, Lavatory, heads and even 'the bog' are all equally acceptable but I could never understand why our American friends call it 'the John' . . .

After the War of Independence, in memory of the defeated John Bull I think.

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Radiomariner Rising Star

Radiomariner

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Again we seem to be in agreement - at least partially. Toilet, WC, Lavatory, heads and even 'the bog' are all equally acceptable but I could never understand why our American friends call it 'the John' . . .

 

 

And of course the most ridiculous Americanism of late "Comfort Room" :lol:

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carlt Veteran II

carlt

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USPSA United States Practical Shooting Association. They going to shoot people using "Comfort Rooms"? :lol:

I believe it is actually the "United States P*ssers and Sh*tters Association" a group of people who are fed up of the namby-pamby pseudonyms for natural bodily functions.

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mayalld Veteran II

mayalld

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As I cycled home I have just witnessed a liveaboard emptying his porta-potti off the back deck of his boat.

 

 

What do you think I should do about this?

 

Well, this has provoked some debate!

 

Unfortunately, much of it has surrounded the non-issue of you using the word shit.

 

Now given our long history of verbal sparring, I almost feel that it is my duty to disagree with you.

 

I'm not going to though. Emptying into the canal is just plain wrong. Arguments that "it only matters if everybody does it" are hogwash. Like most such arguments, that say that provided only a small number of people break the rules that are there for the benefit of all, it doesn't matter. All reward the rule breaker at the expense of those who play by the rules.

 

Likewise "Its what happened in the olden days". Yes, indeed it did, and back then the canals were stinking ditches that polite society ignored, and wanted to fill in as soon as their commercial use was done.

 

Whilst I can see that your chosen method of dealing with it is born out of a deeply held desire not to go running to the authorities, I will say that if it were me, I would have passed it to BW to deal with. Not because I wanted to cause maximum problems for the boater (who probably deserves all he gets), but because anonymous letters like this are too prone to accusations of harrasment.

 

One point that I would make to you is that you have often criticised me for labelling boaters, yet in this thread, you labelled the boater as a liveaboard. Whether he lives aboard or not has no particular relevance to the crime. It neither aggravates or mitigates the actions. He was a boater.

 

Likewise, the references to the "community", which presumes that a disparate group of boaters who share one particular facet to their boating will share common values and behaviours. It simply isn't the case.

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kiki Proficient

kiki

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:lol:
I would probably tell him what I saw, acknowledge the futility of reporting the incident, but say that if I ever saw him doing it again I would be emptying my cassette down his chimney.
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Keeping Up Veteran II

Keeping UpDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
Well, this has provoked some debate!

 

Unfortunately, much of it has surrounded the non-issue of you using the word shit.

 

A good demonstartion of the point that I made here:

 

I reckon it's a good letter that you have written there, but personally I would delete the sentence referring to Weils disease.

 

As topics on this forum frequently demonstrate, discussions frequently wander off-topic after being diverted by a comment which is only an auxiliary to the main arguiment. In this case, if the text of your letter were to end up being debated publicly by BW and/or the Council, the debate could be (possibly deliberately) diverted into a discussion on aspects of Weils disease. The council could issue a statement that the number of rats was being increased by the presence of boaters, the residents could respond that human faeces cannot be a source of Weils disease, BW could state that they will be introducing new mandatory requirements for boaters to wear gloves when handling ropes, NABO could respond that there cannot be a danger from Weils disease if 200 boaters have been using the canal water for washing their boats without catching it, and Charles Sterling could start selling a new range of Galvanic Isolators which are the only ones in the country to have been independently certified as able to guard against rats in the earth connection. One can only imagine how the Daily Mail would report the debate!

 

Oops, sorry, did I remember to mention how discussions have been known to wander off-topic?

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