Found this little video. Not necessarily my taste in music, but very listenable, and love the sentiment.
On the waterways past, present and future
Media tarts
We were on BBC Radio Berkshire again today, on a feature on the Ann Diamond show on life on the Thames. Great piece, although our bit was a bit bland compared to the water vehicle and helipad that followed us.
You can hear it now until May 10, 2012: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00r37pr
We’re the first interview after the notes, just about a minute in.
Video of boat trip
I love this time lapse video of a trip through the Midlands,
Oh that locks really filled that quickly!
Very different looking from the Thames and the K&A – much more industrial.
 
Source: Narrowboat.org
On British Waterways
I wanted to make something clear that’s been at the back of my mind, troubling me .
Earlier today I wrote a post about the consultation on the change to charity. I don’t think the consultation has been well handled, and the communications could be handled a lot better. I do acknowledge that a lot of this is down to DEFRA.
Most of it, however, is down to feeling a bit like a ping pong ball, being batted between different organizations and departments – and the recent consultation shows how and why that’s happened: our waterways were never part of a joined up plan, and have become better over the years.
And communications is close to my heart, so perhaps I’m overly critical – when was any government communication easy to understand?
So just to redress the balance, here’s a link the BW sent me this morning with some of the good stuff that they’ve been up to over the past year: http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/documents/02-chairmans-speech.pdf
The week that was
This week was madness.
The shower on the boat, which I’ve resistsed blogging about, was finally functional again. O’s done a great job. We now – again – have the one thing that I can’t survive without!
Trying - and failing - to get a decent picture to accompany an article I was writing
More on that later.
The esteemed magazine Towpath Talk has welcomed extra cash for moorings. Yippee! We’re desperate: we pay a marina to be our ‘permanent mooring’ but until we find residential moorings are continuous cruisers – the marina, won’t let us live there. But honestly. How on Earth does the government expect to put more boats on the water? Really, don’t get me started! We pay huge amounts each month for a marina space we can’t live in. The marina’s pretty good at letting us stop in and take advantage of facilities, and serves as a permanent mooring to meet BW’s continuous cruising regulations, This life is not for the fainthearted.
British Waterways is having problems. The people tweeting are fairly responsive to anything factual, but completely completely faceless and disengaged on anything of any import. The move to a charity is causing worries, especially as the people about to run that charity have identified clearly that there are no funds in the coffers. As a BW customer already paying over a a thousand pounds a year to license my boat, it strikes fear into my heart. Although we’re mostly cruising along the Thames which is EA ‘covered’, so that makes life more complex. We have seen some moorings up in Hungerford which look interesting, although for my job, it makes getting to London a little harder – and the children don’t want to leave their schools and friends. But we chose this life, and that’s, I guess, the trade off. We’d be nearer my parents as well, which is a good thing.
Scandal in the Ranks of the DBA
As a member of the Dutch Barge Association, I was blissfully unaware of the fact that scandals were brewing. An email from the stand in chair – Penny Rickard – sent me investigating, I quote ”The resignation of the past Chair was sudden and unexpected. As a result, it is understandable that many of you have expressed concerns.”
I had no idea what she was on about!
It seems newer board members are mounting a putsch on the longer standing members.A quote from ex-Chairman, Andy Soper, in the K&A Times:
”During the meeting two proposals to change our Articles were tabled that would limit Directors’ terms of office to six years and thus remove half of the existing Board. These would have been passed if I had not stood down as Chairman and regained my Director’s vote” (The Chair has only a casting vote in the event of a tie.)
All of which makes me wonder what on Earth is going on. All I can say is that I wish they’d sort it out. The Waterways need some TLC and their administration is fragmented, expensive and inefficient. In fighting won’t help resolve that. Or the fact that I am very, very confused as I had what seemed to be confirmation – via the DBA – that we’d be in the Jubilee parade. Now I’m not so sure!
On the perils of engines on the water
This morning’s best Twitter conversation just had to be recorded for posterity.
7:25pm, Sep 08
B0atG1rl: F*ing bastard, f*g c*ing, f*ing engines! (The *s are mine – I know the kids read this blog!)
7:32pm, Sep 08
B0atG1rl: @workboatpug @luggermatt overheated again, seemed fixed suspect thermostat sticking. Blowing blue smoke while doing it. $expletive
7:45pm, Sep 08
luggermatt: @B0atG1rl @workboatpug Have you been anywhere muddy, or full of plastic bags too? They can both do similar things 
9:37pm, Sep 08
rickansell: @luggermatt @B0atG1rl @workboatpug Like most nb, A’hod is Keel Cooled, not Raw Water. ALL canals are muddy AND full of plastic bags
9:42pm, Sep 08
workboatpug: @rickansell @luggermatt @B0atG1rl and rope and nets and fishing tackle and clothing, more plastic bags, weeds, bikes… pug is raw water. 
9:45pm, Sep 08
rickansell: @workboatpug @luggermatt @B0atG1rl & Barbed Wire & TVs & Tyres (bstd to remove frm prop) & mattresses & Milk Crates & bits of Armored Car
9:47pm, Sep 08
luggermatt: @rickansell @workboatpug @B0atG1rl I can see a competition coming on! What’s the strangest thing you’ve had on your prop? ;-0
9:49pm, Sep 08
rickansell: @luggermatt @workboatpug @B0atG1rl Personally, a TV in a Milk Crate. Most worrying was a Sweat Shirt that stopped prop above a Thames Weir
9:51pm, Sep 08
workboatpug: @rickansell @luggermatt @B0atG1rl most annoying was the carrier bag full of ~50m of rope during a birthday cruise, cost us about an hour. from TweetDeck
7:21am, Sep 09
B0atG1rl: @workboatpug @rickansell @luggermatt personally 2m of barbed wire @WannabeStarbuck had a bag of puppies (1st ever prop clearance)
7:22am, Sep 09
luggermatt: @B0atG1rl Up and at it today then! Barbed wire’s not good, but better than puppies!
7:28am, Sep 09
B0atG1rl: @luggermatt I think @WannabeStarbuck was around 9 when she found that one :/
7:31am, Sep 09
luggermatt: @B0atG1rl @WannabeStarbuck You’re taking the gloss off canal life now! Human remains create soooo much paperwork and awkward questions!
-ends -
That’s probably the most informative blog about canal life that this blog has ever seen!
