narrowboatworld

BOTH Tony and Richard have I think hit the nail on the head again with their summing up of British Waterways ‘management' or from where I'm standing rather the lack of it.

Whilst we wouldn't wish to return to the bad old days when the safety of its workers was the last thing on an employers' mind, the cost of such over the top Health & Safety as practised by British Waterways surely has to be one of the major contributory factors to the lack of cash for maintenance in its ‘pot(s)', with often ‘name your own price outsourcing' with many of the jobs outsourced being individual and difficult to set a fixed price for, another factor.

It isn't so long ago £38K was said to have been paid for the rubbish bins enclosure now to be found at the side of the A38 plus a further £10K for dog bins on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The corporate ‘0' (rubber stamping of cheques) was it seems alive and well at this point and given the lack of necessary maintenance and the cuts in its staff we continue to see, it seems it may still be so if only for other than the navigation.

Better the devil you know

However, whilst I agree with Tony that change is required at the top, the old adage ‘better the devil you know' comes to mind and I would personally be very sad to see British Waterways in its entirety replaced by any other organisation regardless of whether it was expected to have learned from British Waterways' mistakes. In my opinion there are those who continue to be employed by British Waterways that are absolutely more than capable of running our waterways efficiently, whilst I truly don't believe there is any other organisation in any position to do so.

Nailing my colours to the mast here even if I thought the IWA was, and I certainly don't, I personally think it could only make bad worse. Perhaps best to be careful what we wish for!

Public opinion—what opinion?

Also reading of the British Waterways meeting with regard to statues and to public opinion then being ignored, hasn't this also been a factor in some of those British Waterways ‘Meet the Boaters' road shows hosted in the main by the previously ‘visionary' Robin Evans, and the needless expense of bollards has to come to mind here, though I do exempt Caroline Killeavy from this comment, she did listen.

However the road shows have been far from cheap to run, and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong but weren't these brought on board from NA.AFI by Tony Hales in a largely abortive I think attempt to soften up we boaters after he moved over to British Waterways? Regardless, given the amount of justifiable complaint with regard to the state of our waterways and their stewardship, surely even British Waterways' ‘top two' must now be wondering if it's time to jump ship, lest they be pushed?

Looking back

It isn't the first time in the history of the Trent that a locking problem has been experienced.

Whilst faulty electrics may have recently rendered the Gunthorpe lock temporarily unusable it at least posed no risk to life and limb, as did another lock in the vicinity some years ago. It was in 1956 I'm told that just as Stoke Lock was about to receive new gates a ‘blow-out' occurred.

Coming without any warning that water now bursting up from beneath the lock could so easily have cost the lives of those men about to fit the new gates. ‘Lady Luck' indeed smiled on those men on that day. Locks can be a dangerous place and from a personal point of view, I have to say I now have a great deal more respect for any that repair them!

Not a good idea

Placing a cruiser in a lock ahead of two steel boats and then jumping up and fully opening both paddles to fill a deep lock before those steel boats are roped off would for most of us I think be considered daring, if not somewhat dangerous.

This is however what happened last Sunday. New to the waterways, and having just picked up a cruiser this man obviously believed in ‘first come first served', and thought those suggesting he bring in the cruiser at the back of the lock only to be ‘queue-jumping'.

This brave (or perhaps foolhardy) individual also made it clear that if any damage were to be caused to his cruiser he'd know who to blame'. This time he was lucky!

Speed limit—what speed limit?

Two weeks ago the Trent between Sawley and Trent Lock was particularly busy with young paddlers, sailing dinghies and other river craft.

With obviously scant respect for their fellow users these two young boys in a dinghy had not only been breaking a wake when they raced past other users, they'd been breaking the speed limit, too.

Parental supervision called for perhaps?

Staying safe

When moored on the towpath as some I'm told recently were on the Grand Union Canal it pays to be using a generator correctly (as some seemingly were not) as you never know who it is could be passing!

Whilst the BSS information available both online and in printed form specifies the correct use of generators, the growing number of recorded incidents would appear to show that the information given hasn't always been read, or has been disregarded.

Exhaust fumes can kill

It goes without saying that generators (and the petrol that fuels them) can be dangerous unless correctly maintained and used, the more so on a boat. Exhaust fumes can kill. Using a generator within one metre of any access point to a boat, those access points being inclusive of air vents is therefore not to be recommended.

Stay safe. Fill using a suitable funnel, refill only when the generator is cold and always fill a safe distance away from the boat. Petrol spilt into a boat can vaporise in still air with the fumes then sinking into the lowest part of the boat. Fumes together with air meeting with a spark as has too often happened in the past, is surely something we all would wish to avoid.

Given the undoubted dangers posed by a petrol driven generator I wonder if affordable lidded metal boxes, correctly sized for the purpose and allowing for fumes to be vented out of the boat would enable a well-maintained generator to be safely stored safely out of sight, under the deck? I have to ask if this could be safer than placing a generator only where it fits when for some issues of space are allowed to take priority over matters of safety?

Filling up

With fuel in mind, both petrol and diesel, I was surprised to find the two pumps at Sawley Marin, one for petrol the other for diesel to have now been joined by a third ‘pump'. This ‘pump' though not to give but to take from either debit or credit card.

Automation is indeed wonderful, when it works that is. However from what I'm hearing this particular ‘automated idea' coined by the powers that be at BWML to save the time of its staff, and provide convenience for boaters can not only be a little disobedient at times, and refuse to play ball, it can also be somewhat inflexible where the diesel pump is concerned, dispensing only a 60/40 split when the marina is closed.

Looking around however it seems to me the 60/40 split on a take it or leave it basis is rapidly becoming the ‘norm' for some providers no doubt saving them paperwork and possible questions when that paperwork is submitted to HMRC in November.

I however ‘squeak' here. Work commitments have left me little time for cruising so when I take my boat across the river, and moor up virtually opposite my mooring Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, I maintain I'm using only 1% for propulsion, 99% for power and heating, so if the 60/40 split is to become universal, as I see it I will for the majority of the time be paying HMRC for fuel tax I don't owe, as will many residential moorers whose boats move only for essential services, and to fill up.

However others I've spoken to seem happy to accept a 60/40 split as being ‘fair' though if they have only a solid fuel fire, yet can claim the same split as those also cruising with diesel fired central heating, for them I suppose it could be!

Too often it seems to me the rights of the individual can be overtaken by the rights of the majority. With the spelling of argument so easily becoming ‘acceptance' this quite wrongly in my opinion leaves us with no alternative other than to accept that one size does indeed fit all!

Dog bins

Having recently in narrowboatworld noted comment with regard to monies better used for maintenance than for providing statues and dog bins, I wonder if it is a good time for me to congratulate whoever it is has supplied dog bins on the Grantham Canal towpath?

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that statues are not only a waste of money but definitely extra to requirement, provided the inordinate sums shelled out by British Waterways for those dog bins on the Leeds & Liverpool has not been replicated on the Grantham, then from the point of view of those of us who walk our dogs on the towpath of the Grantham Canal, thank you, those bins are a blessing!