Carve-up of BW

[maffi mushkila]

Hi Maffi.

 

You won't get me to defend the bible or any other institution that seeks to dictate, stand in judgement or pontificate their prejudices.

 

Bible, Koran they are all the same to me.

 

(It's great this spell checker, I can now use words that were completely out of bounds before)

I wasn't acually trying to. It would appear we are like minded on that topic, John.

 

Now back to BW, eh!

 

 

PS Spellcheckers always gets that one wrong it's, Qur'aan. pronounced "kor'arn"

[maffi mushkila]

Received my licence renewal this morning, £527.  if I pay in advance I will only have to pay £474.

 

I am not one of natures wingers, but this seems excessive to me especially as they also take a substantial cut of my marina mooring fees.  Boat owners are not the only users of the canal system but we do seem to be the group which are most easily targeted.

 

It has become accepted now that the sham of profitable agriculture is being abandoned and farmers are to get paid for being the 'custodians' of the countryside which is enjoyed by the entire population.  Why can't BW and others be paid to be custodians of the waterways in the same way, the support from central government gets reduced year by year, there seems to be a policy that the system should be 'profitable'.

 

If Joe public can enjoy watching the sheep and cows free of charge, walkers and anglers can use the canals with at most a token payment, why should the entire cost of the maintenance and support fall to us.

 

 

"Hear hear", John

 

Perhaps the 'custodian' angle is something we could all raise in letters to our MP's to try and gain support for that as a "Going forward with the Waterways" campaign.

 

Although the canal system is public or taxpayers or govt property which ever way you want to look at, we must all remember (the govt included) that the canals are still there because of the efforts of small groups of people across the land who tirelessly spent their own time and energy in making it so.

 

The only personal gain they received was the pleasure of seeing once overgrown, sometimes dry or lost lengths of the canal system returned to their former glory.

 

It is no mean feat to have got the 'cut' back to the condition it is now, a monument to the history of the industrial age that spawned it.

 

It is to them that we and the Government should be eternally grateful.

Edited January 22, 2005 by maffi mushkila

[bottle]

I feel very humbled by those that have gone before, maybe in time I will able to

 

do my bit towards the canals survival.

 

bottle

 

p.s. I have joined the Cotswold Canal Trust at least its a start

[ChrisK]

Perhaps it is just a government ploy to get us all away from talking about red diesel !

[John Orentas]

Maffi.

 

Colins: lists only Koran : (Also, Alkoran ; Quran.) all under 'K'.

 

Chambers: Koran. under 'K' and under 'Q' : Quran with a thingy over the 'a'.

Edited January 23, 2005 by John Orentas

[roger]

If you look at many arabic websites, John, you will find these spellings you cite are simply anglicised. Even a cursory glance at Google shows different spellings. Looking farther afield is the best policy sir!

[maffi mushkila]

Maffi.

 

Colins:  lists only Koran : (Also, Alkoran ; Quran.) all under 'K'.

 

Chambers:  Koran. under 'K' and under 'Q' : Quran with a thingy over the 'a'.

 

I have 4 copies and three of them spell it Qur'aan or Qur'an(with a caret over the first 'a') the fourth I'm not sure about I don't read squiggle.

 

But if Collins says 'K' I shall remember that when I leave this God forsaken place.

Edited January 24, 2005 by maffi mushkila

[Jon]

Thanks to Richard for explaining that.

 

Jon

[John Orentas]

Roger.

 

All English spelling is anglicised, that's why it is called English. I think I will stick with the recognised dictionaries.