So when were the 'good old days'?

[Athy]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Even Yous ?

I've seen that written as "youse", though that may be an Irish spelling.

[WotEver]

23 minutes ago, Athy said:

I've seen that written as "youse", though that may be an Irish spelling.

Yooz guyz would be Bronx. 

[magictime]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

The saucisson-shaped tube, actually called a "perche", hangs from a cable which stretches from poles on the canal banks. When your boat approaches, you grab it (it always seems to swing away from you at the critical moment), give it a quarter turn until it clicks and then let go. This sets the lock in operation, and a traffic-light system lets you know when you can enter (the gates opening is a clue too). Here we see a saucisson-grabber in action; if their bum wasn't in the way you could see th elock in the distance too.

Oh... I'd rather hoped The Swinging Saucissons were some sort of light jazz ensemble who dropped their clarinets and picked up windlasses at the sound of a boat approaching.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, BWM said:

Aside from the rights and wrongs of maintenance and the behaviour of some, I miss the feeling that you had dropped into an underworld when leaving the streets behind and joining the canal. 

  There definitely appeared to be something of an exodus in the early 2000s of many of the canals characters, with several going to France and the like, followed by a large in rush of new people in the mid/late 2000s. I think with so many new folks arriving at the same time, this inevitably changed the way things were.

Sorry I came and spoilt it all for you

[system 4-50]

5 hours ago, Athy said:

The saucisson-shaped tube, actually called a "perche", hangs from a cable which stretches from poles on the canal banks. When your boat approaches, you grab it (it always seems to swing away from you at the critical moment), give it a quarter turn until it clicks and then let go. This sets the lock in operation, and a traffic-light system lets you know when you can enter (the gates opening is a clue too). Here we see a saucisson-grabber in action; if their bum wasn't in the way you could see th elock in the distance too.

Sounds good. Can we have a sample one over here?  Do they supply grabbers for single handers?

[ditchcrawler]

54 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Sounds good. Can we have a sample one over here?  Do they supply grabbers for single handers?

Just lean out of the wheelhouse door

 

[BWM]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

Sorry I came and spoilt it all for you

Just an observation on change, not a judgement.