Peculiar narrowboaters

[Willber G]

Doh, and I was thinking of getting some perspex for my engine room doors....

Gary

Me too - there must be some BMC fans out there!

[alan_fincher]

Me too - there must be some BMC fans out there!

No don't do it!

 

They would probably only get spattered with the engine oil being thrown from the crankshaft bearing!

[nicknorman]

Oi - as a born and bred south easterner I take exception to such stereotyping!!

 

Sorry, is it alright if its ridiculous stereotyping?

 

Nick

[Willber G]

No don't do it!

 

They would probably only get spattered with the engine oil being thrown from the crankshaft bearing!

Oh, is that all? I wondered what all the fuss was about!

 

PS - I drive an Alfa so know all about using (losing?) oil.

[Radiomariner]

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif[/img]timestamp='1301515649' post='672587']

They weren't in a cruiser stern named Que Sera Sera were they.....?

 

 

That was my first thought when I read the OP!

 

I still keep a look out for QSS, perhaps I should give it up, but it has become a habit!

[Ange]

Sorry, is it alright if its ridiculous stereotyping?

 

Nick

 

The smiley should have shown I was joking!!!!

 

Edited March 31, 2011 by Ange

[Tam & Di]

I was trying to be a bit tongue in cheek, and did acknowledge that it was by no means a stereotype, as an awful lot of SMH owners are very friendly.

 

 

What about the good lot though?

[Kiwipeter]

I seem to have stirred it up again

 

We have a 17m Sagar - hardly intimidating and we are not talking M25 rush hour like a lot of the English canals! I am talking French villages - 60m pontoon- two boats, both English flagged no obvious communication problems. English reserve gone mad - quite sad - I will have to stick to the more outgoing French(better wine) and Belgians(better beer)

[Albion]

I seem to have stirred it up again

 

We have a 17m Sagar - hardly intimidating and we are not talking M25 rush hour like a lot of the English canals! I am talking French villages - 60m pontoon- two boats, both English flagged no obvious communication problems. English reserve gone mad - quite sad - I will have to stick to the more outgoing French(better wine) and Belgians(better beer)

 

Your observations aren't necessarily incorrect. Some (and I do emphasise some) Brit boaters that we've come across in France on nbs and cruisers are 'of a type'. They tend to be solo boaters and seem to have chosen French boating and its relative isolation due to their 'character' . These are the ones who seem to us to be less communicative than others. So far I've only seen one French nb owner and he doesn't seem to cruise; just remains tied up at his small port.

I'm surprised that, coming from the antipodes, you rate a lot of French wine better than your own because that isn't our experience, unless you are talking expensive stuff such as Sancerrre, the Pouillys etc.

Belgian beer is good but is matched, for my palate, by northern Brit beers.......you need to get around more

Roger

[HelenF]

But sometimes, just sometimes, whether it's SMH, RWD, Barry Hawkins, or whatever, we do encounter a certain type that looks so unhappy, despite their posh "riveted" boat, you really do wonder why they are bothering to be on the cut at all.

 

However, I'm confident if I meet you, you will prove not to be one, though!

 

Should we meet, I will prove not to be one for you!

However, it does all depend on what I'm doing when you wave cheerily to me. I may well have an unhappy face if you happen to interrupt me counting my fake rivets and making me lose the tally.

[alan_fincher]

However, it does all depend on what I'm doing when you wave cheerily to me. I may well have an unhappy face if you happen to interrupt me counting my fake rivets and making me lose the tally.

Ah!, but have you never counted them all at least the once ?

 

If you ever have, why would you need to repeat the process ?

 

Are they so poorly glued on that you need to check that none have ever fallen off ?

[fuzzyduck]

No, to make sure no oik like you nicks them to install on your own boat.

 

On a related note. Should I have a perspex cowling made for my Mercury outboard????????

[alan_fincher]

On a related note. Should I have a perspex cowling made for my Mercury outboard????????

I don't know how desirable your Mercury outboard is.....

 

Does it have any fake rivets on it, for example ?

[stewey]

Personally I find its more to do with proximity to the South-East of England. Once you get the wrong side of Milton Keynes there is a noticable decline in friendliness.

 

Nick

Yes, it's due to all those miserable gits from "up north" who have moved down here.

 

Stewey

[Tiny]

It has been like that for a long time here. I don't know why, it just changed from people being friendly to being standoffish.

Sue

 

To me they are not standoffish so much as I start talking and talk and talk and they stand their with their mouths open not saying a word. Usually the wife comes and finds me and says the lunch/dinner/tea is ready.

 

The above ones tend to be on boats that I have not seen before and often never see again.

On the other hand there are some who I know even if they change boats who you can have a conversation with each time you meet them and who can tell you lots of stuff about what is happening in their area or further afield. Mind you they seem to be a dieing breed.

 

Meanwhile at locks the wife often chats but some are in such a hurry, some start talking down to her and only about half are good for the odd few sentences or more. Of course as the wife likes to control our lockkings some, especially men but also a class of very pushy women tend to take umbridge however the wife doesn't tell me which at the time in case I say something rude to them.

 

Personally I find its more to do with proximity to the South-East of England. Once you get the wrong side of Milton Keynes there is a noticable decline in friendliness.

 

Nick

 

Yes, SMH, fake rivets, proud of it and not normally prone to ridiculous stereotyping!

 

I understand that heaven and hell both think the other one owns Milton Keynes.

 

But I agree with the sentiment though we always reckon civilization as we know it ends somewhere south of a line between Banbury and Oxford. Below there is the first circle of hell. Of course even down there are brave and honest boaters who suffer for their art in a land of rush and hurry and often bad manners.

Edited March 31, 2011 by Tiny

[sueb]

You keep repeating this mantra on the forum, Sue, but in our experience it is simply not true.

 

I'm actually not the most outgoing of people in the flesh, but I'd say at least 80% of the people we meet on the cut are friendly, (except those involved in angling matches, possibly!), and it is very unusual to share locks with people and not end up having a fair amount of chat with them. Often people seem happy to tell huge amounts of their life history to total strangers, which is not something I tend to come across in other environments.

 

I'd certainly not say it has got worse than many years back, in fact I now find the whole thing a much bigger social occasion than I ever tended to in the past.

 

Of course some people are just reserved, or simply having a day where they don't feel like chatting, and as long as they are not outwardly rude, that's their prerogative in my view.

 

Even the people who have just taken delivery of their shiny new gin palaces seem to be talking to us mostly, although I have to admit this may be a bit more commonplace since we have managed to paint our own boat!

We could be talking about different things. Boaters certainly chat at locks but when we started boating the social scene was quite different.

On coming in to moor the occupants of an adjacent boat would come out to say hello and help you moor. Depending of the time of day the next comment would be - the kettles on come and have a cup of tea. I would then grab some homemade buns or biscuits and spend a pleasant hour on another boat. If the timing was nearer to a meal, it was come and have a glass of wine and we would spend the evening together. This hasn't happened for years.

Maybe it is because boaters watch TV. I have noticed full moorings adjacent to pubs yet the pub is empty of boaters. This didn't used to happen either.

Getting old and things are changing

Sue

[boatyboy]

Personally I find its more to do with proximity to the South-East of England. Once you get the wrong side of Milton Keynes there is a noticable decline in friendliness.

 

Nick

 

Yes, SMH, fake rivets, proud of it and not normally prone to ridiculous stereotyping!

Oi matey!!We are from the south east.And we are very friendly

 

But they're such fun!

 

I once met a Seamaster 27 owner, who was all "harruph who is that oik??" when i said to him "nice boat" as I walked by, funny thing is... he was nice as pie a few minutes later when he saw mine. So it does happen at the other end of the scale too.

Nothing wrong with Seamasters. I built them for 18 years.Nowadays they ain't snobs boats

[sociable_hermit]

Oh, is that all? I wondered what all the fuss was about!

 

PS - I drive an Alfa so know all about using (losing?) oil.

Eh?

 

I've owned four Alfas, and none of them have burnt oil.

 

Suspension bushes and wheel bearings, on the other hand....

 

Maybe it is because boaters watch TV. I have noticed full moorings adjacent to pubs yet the pub is empty of boaters. This didn't used to happen either.

Getting old and things are changing

Sue

I don't have a TV.

 

If there's a pub, we'll be in it.

[fuzzyduck]

Nothing wrong with Seamasters. I built them for 18 years.Nowadays they ain't snobs boats

 

I know, I own one.

 

you sir, are a mightily skilled man.

 

My boat is the same age as me, and it's probably in better nick.

Edited March 31, 2011 by fuzzyduck