Friday, August 20, 2004
Adrift in the sea of blogging again...
...as it seems that blogging is now not the next new thing but could be the next old thing or perhaps for those of us who don't really care if it's the next anything it just seems to be the thing. Or the althing. No, that's from people who boated off to somewhere else.
As it is, I've found the time to try and rejuvenate this blog. A mild flirtation with Movable Type found me spending much time trying to tinker with that which should have remained untinkerable. Never mind. It's alright.
So, here I sit, on the Rochdale Canal, wondering if we're next for a landslip or if the canal gates I've complained about are ever going to be in a state of use that will keep small children from wanting to never see a canal again.
I'm astounded that the lock gates on the Rochdale are still in such a parlous state of existence. Surely all those stoppages last year were for something other than just annoying the locals? You might think so, but it seems that they're still a struggle to operate. Why? Locks 17 and 16 have some of the worst paddle gear on the canal and certainly the worst on this side of the summit. It's not from lack of use as they are the final locks before Todmorden and are used daily by both private boats and hireboats making passage up to the summit before deciding if it's worth going downhill to Manchester (that is, when the canal's actually open) or if they should just say ******it all and head back downhill to the safety and allure of Hebden Bridge where food is to be had in many forms, most of them delectable.
Come on, BW, get a move on.
I still believe that if the BW management for each section had to travel the canals under their control once a year, without any more help than the average hireboater does (if they need kids for the boat I can lend mine, he's small enough to be an impediment without being able to help at locks, which would help replicate the 'canal experience' as enjoyed by most holiday boaters). Let them head out with inadequate windlasses, tuition not exceeding that given by the hire bases and NO outside assistance from BW ground staff other than what they can get by using the emergency numbers. And it had better be an emergency, bucky!
No takers? Thought not.
As it is, I've found the time to try and rejuvenate this blog. A mild flirtation with Movable Type found me spending much time trying to tinker with that which should have remained untinkerable. Never mind. It's alright.
So, here I sit, on the Rochdale Canal, wondering if we're next for a landslip or if the canal gates I've complained about are ever going to be in a state of use that will keep small children from wanting to never see a canal again.
I'm astounded that the lock gates on the Rochdale are still in such a parlous state of existence. Surely all those stoppages last year were for something other than just annoying the locals? You might think so, but it seems that they're still a struggle to operate. Why? Locks 17 and 16 have some of the worst paddle gear on the canal and certainly the worst on this side of the summit. It's not from lack of use as they are the final locks before Todmorden and are used daily by both private boats and hireboats making passage up to the summit before deciding if it's worth going downhill to Manchester (that is, when the canal's actually open) or if they should just say ******it all and head back downhill to the safety and allure of Hebden Bridge where food is to be had in many forms, most of them delectable.
Come on, BW, get a move on.
I still believe that if the BW management for each section had to travel the canals under their control once a year, without any more help than the average hireboater does (if they need kids for the boat I can lend mine, he's small enough to be an impediment without being able to help at locks, which would help replicate the 'canal experience' as enjoyed by most holiday boaters). Let them head out with inadequate windlasses, tuition not exceeding that given by the hire bases and NO outside assistance from BW ground staff other than what they can get by using the emergency numbers. And it had better be an emergency, bucky!
No takers? Thought not.
Messing about
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing-- absolutely nothing--
half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
-- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
-- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
