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Timothy West/Prunella Scales - Channel 4

deckhand

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nicknorman Veteran II

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Posted
Posted (edited)

I don't know these locks but is it really necessary to rope the boat up? It did seem to cause an awful lot of grief and slightly scary moments of clambering around. Seems to me it would be better to just let the water in gently! (After all, it was not as if they might have been holding anyone up). For me, roping boats in locks is an anathema so I am a bit surprised to see "veterans" doing it. (Huge river locks excepted)

Edited by nicknorman
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nb Innisfree Veteran II

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Posted
Posted

 

I don't know these locks but is it really necessary to rope the boat up? It did seem to cause an awful lot of grief and slightly scary moments of clambering around. Seems to me it would be better to just let the water in gently! (After all, it was not as if they might have been holding anyone up). For me, roping boats in locks is an anathema so I am a bit surprised to see "veterans" doing it. (Huge river locks excepted)

 

We rarely rope up, I prefer to control the boat with prop and rudder, on the odd occasion we do only watermans hitches are used. Never found a knot that that is easy to undo once it's been pulled tight, zeppelin knot excepted.

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Guest

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Posted
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Trouble does seem to follow them around - or is it Vice-versa ?

 

Last week delayed as a lock gate had come 'adrift'

This week delayed by a damaged bridge and then problems in 'the shallows'

 

Maybe they are trying to make a point about maintenance ?

Or just showing it like it is?

 

It's not perfect out there, maybe that's the message?

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mattlad Proficient

mattlad

Posted
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Trouble does seem to follow them around - or is it Vice-versa ?

 

Last week delayed as a lock gate had come 'adrift'

This week delayed by a damaged bridge and then problems in 'the shallows'

 

Maybe they are trying to make a point about maintenance ?

In both those cases it was nothing to do with maintenance it was to do with repairs after, in last week's case a Richard-head damaged a gate with his boat and this week a Richard-head smashed the bridge parapet with their car and drove off. Tim and Pru happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time......

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Keeping Up Veteran II

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The ground paddles on the Rochdale do behave rather differently from the K&A or GU, so we found that it helped to rope up until we'd got used to them.

 

When the lock is empty, a paddle will push the bows away from it, quite hard, towards the opposite side of the lock because the culverts enter quite high up. Then when the lock is about one-third full, it suddenly switches from pushing away to the "pulling-towards" effect that is normal on the locks on the K&A and GU. It is quite hard to control without a rope unless you are either extremely gentle and slow to fill the locks, or get to know to open the opposite side half-way first then cross over and open the nearside just a bit until you see the bows of the boat just starting to move whereupon you whip the paddle up to full. All this being balanced against the way the effect changes according to the length and position of the boat (further forward makes it "push" for longer, further back encourages the "pull".

 

Once you've got the knack it's not too hard, but I don't think Tim and Pru would be working it that way.

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haggis Veteran

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I enjoyed the program! Any repetition (and I wasn't aware of it) didn't bother me and the whole thing not only showed a bit of canal which we enjoyed but found jolly hard work a few years ago, but showed a lovely family who are obviously very fond of one another. I found the way they talked about Pru's memory problem very natural and if I had someone in that position, I think the way they are dealing with it would help me.

 

haggis

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Posted
Posted (edited)

I enjoyed the program! Any repetition (and I wasn't aware of it) didn't bother me and the whole thing not only showed a bit of canal which we enjoyed but found jolly hard work a few years ago, but showed a lovely family who are obviously very fond of one another. I found the way they talked about Pru's memory problem very natural and if I had someone in that position, I think the way they are dealing with it would help me.

 

haggis

I haven't watched this episode yet, but in think the appeal of this program could be it's not just about boating but also about them. Edited by The Dog House
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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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Posted

In both those cases it was nothing to do with maintenance it was to do with repairs after, in last week's case a Richard-head damaged a gate with his boat and this week a Richard-head smashed the bridge parapet with their car and drove off. Tim and Pru happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time......

Bridge strikes where the person doing the damage does a bunk actually cost the trust some very significant sum of money. It is apparently a very common happening - I attended a meeting a few months back where the South East waterways manager had just come from inspecting a bridge on the Aylesbury Arm where the parapet had been knocked off. God knows what state the car must have been in, but it managed to drive off unnoticed, and CRT had to foot the full bill.
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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think it is a very 'pleasant' programme to watch on a Monday evening, it conveys the pace of life on the canals, the beauty and some of the history - like any programme or film a small number of 'anoraks' will notice faults and innacuracies but it does not - or should not - detract from the overall pleasure in watching.

 

I was recently watching the film 'The Somme' - the soldiers were using rifles that were not manufactured prior to 1942

 

I was watching a 'historic farming' reenactment and they featured Charollais cows that were not imported into this country until 30 years later.

 

On some of the old 'cowboy' flms you can see the Indians wearing black plimsolls and rifing riding with saddles under their blanket

 

Just sit back and enjoy the entertainment - thats what it is.

 

Edit - this puter is still doing it

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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churchward Veteran II

churchward

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Posted

It's had good reviews on here so far,

 

What went wrong with this episode I wonder?

Very little I enjoyed the programme.

 

It may be a days joint for some but with a TV programme to make and a pair over 80 what do people expect? In any case it is just a leisurely pace I think designed to convey their love of the canal system.

 

Watch with an open mind and enjoy.

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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Well I enjoyed, it, and I can often be hyper-critical of this kind of program.

Prunella Scales is a quite diminutive lady, in her 80s, and whilst we have seen her largely coping with the locks on the Southern Oxford, where they keep their own boat, I can well imagine that unassisted she finds some of the locks she is tackling in this series fairly overwhelming.

I think the whole thing is lovely - they clearly have a great love of the canals, but realise that it is never going to get easier, and that it is probably the last (and sometimes also the first!) time they will tackle any of what they are doing for this series.

I think the decision to talk so openly about Pru's dementia is a very brave one, particularly as they are prepared to say how it inevitably brings changes to what is clearly a very close and loving relationship.

By far the best of the "celeb" ambassadors for the canals in my view, because you know they are not just doing it to make a program - they go and do it anyway, when they are not making a program!

(However...... I do think though that if Tim is working the boat, and Pre the gates and paddles, then responsibility for making sure the boat is not tied up when you leave the lock should firmly be with the steerer, particularly if he is not the one who has the memory problems!)

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Daiboy Community Regular

Daiboy

Posted
Posted

Watched and quite enjoyed it. The tunnel sequence was great as I've never done that "yet". Did anyone notice a half sunken boat on the left of the screen during one of the shots, or was I dreaming it.......

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PhilR Experienced

PhilR

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Posted

Very cleverly filmed in the tunnel.

 

One of the camera locations for the *side on* shot was taken from one of the inter-connections with the railway tunnel. They probably spent somewhat more than 1½ hours for the passage whilst waiting for the camera crew to get set up for some of the filming? And maybe did a bit of reversing to get a few good shots.

 

A very good program IMHO. We can read between the lines about how everything was set up, and the help they got from the presentation team and support crew. But that doesn't detract from a very well presented program. I'm looking forward to next week!

 

I'm reminded of the series that sparked my own interest in the UK waterways............. did any of you see Macdonald Hastings' journey on the Llangollen in the early 60's?

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted (edited)
Daiboy, on 17 Mar 2014 - 11:29 PM, said:

Watched and quite enjoyed it. The tunnel sequence was great as I've never done that "yet". Did anyone notice a half sunken boat on the left of the screen during one of the shots, or was I dreaming it.......

 

I think if you could see it, then it hadn't sunk

 

Sunk is a simple past tense and past participle of sink

Sunk - "fall or descend into or below the surface or to the bottom (often followed by in or into )" Examples : The battleship sank within two hours. His foot sank in the mud.

 

However the contra argument could be that if it was resting on the bottom it had 'sunk' as far as it could even if it had not totally gone below the surface.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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