…..are definitely getting to me, and many others apparently, according to the boating media.
I was wondering, do you think that a sign like this might slow a few down? It might work with some folks, but there will always be the certifable *uckwit boater that would raz past regardless.
As for the latter, take note; I am working on a readily deployable adaptation of a police ‘stinger’!
……. can be caused by things like this, i.e. a chunk of wood that managed to find its way through the grilles on the ends of our bow thruster tube and lodge itself between the propeller and the propeller housing.
Unfortunately, no amount of rapid port-starboard thrusting was going to shift it. Within an hour though, the thruster had been removed, cleared and re-installed. This was almost as easy as exposing the main propeller via the stern weed hatch.
In our case however, the entire thruster, complete with propeller can be removed whilst afloat so there was no need for an expensive dry dock! This might serve as a timely reminder to folks having a bow thruster installed as part of a new boat build (or having one retro-fitted), i.e. they might want to quiz their boat builder about how their bow thruster will be readily cleared and/or repaired?
I thought that my eyes were deceiving me earlier today when I spotted what I thought to be a ‘bent’ boat approaching us. Most boats ‘sheer’ from bow to stern in a uniform manner, but this one had two sheer angles, giving the appearance of it being ‘bent’ part way along its length.
It was not until it was much closer did I realise that this boat; Alice was effectively two boats in one. Alice’s bow section can be separated from her main section, leaving the latter to be operated independently if so desired. The owner explained to me that the bow section could be a workshop, office, or extra berth, etc. I thought that this was an excellent innovation – allowing, for example, the shorter locks in the network to be navigated whilst still effectively providing 70′ worth of boat. Steering Alice would surely be much easier than steering a craft whilst towing in the usual manner.
I cannot recall seeing an arrangement like this before. I expect that there will be more examples to be seen on the water as the idea catches on though.
No, not the ‘Foo Fighters’; I’ve got time for them. I am referring here to the so called ‘Friends of Fradley’ and, to be totally honest with you, I am struggling to find any time for them at all. The FF have been gradually raising their profile hereabouts at Fradley Junction. Some FF members have now progressed through the ‘lower’ litter picking and wall and kerb painting ranks to the more demanding rank of ‘lock assistant’. For years boaters have navigated the locks at Fradley without any assistance, other than that casually offered to them from time to time by a crew coming in the opposite direction.
I propose that the FF intervention in this respect is actually having a detrimental effect on the waterway. For sure, the average speed of the boats that pass us has increased noticeably this weekend; this being the first weekend that the FF have been lock assisting throughout. Some boaters see the lock gates ahead of them being opened by the FF assistant - realising that there is now no need for them to pull in at the lock landing to drop their lockie off, they just gun it to the lock and to hell with the locals. Ergo, the boats moored here and the occupants are being bounced around more than they would normally be and the canal bank is seeing more erosion, etc..
It would be hard to argue that the FF lock assistants are doing the core BW workforce out of a job, because to date the BW core workforce has not assisted (and probably never will assist) boaters at the locks here. However, the other FF activities hereabouts certainly are doing the BW core workforce out of a job! I could not bear that on my conscience, so how the FF live with themselves is beyond me.
Before long, will the FF be commandeering our boats and taking them through the locks for us as well?
What do you think?
This article is not about boating as such, unless you consider that there may well be a correlation between the demise of many key British manufacturing industries and the demise of many small British boat builders. Read on only if you want to learn what I have to say about the imminent loss of the last British passenger rolling stock manufacturer – the end of yet another era.
Media coverage of the recent UK DfT decision to award the Thameslink passenger rolling stock contract to Siemens Transportation seems to be ramping up. So it bloody well should be, because this DfT decision will almost certainly be instrumental when it comes to the complete closure of the Bombardier Transportation factory in Derby – arguably our last British passenger rolling stock manufacturer! You might well argue that this Bombardier Transportation factory is actually French-Canadian. Nevertheless I would argue that it is still a factory absolutely steeped in British railway vehicle history, a railway legacy. It currently employs around 3000 workers with a very impressive collective wealth of railway engineering experience and knowledge - experience and knowledge that has has taken centuries to evolve and develop and in all probability is about to be, for the most, discarded.
Today we learned that 1500 Bombardier Transportation workers in Derby will soon be losing their jobs; about 50% of the total workforce at this factory. Be sure that the remainder of the workers at this factory will only be employed for as long as it takes to complete the current contracts and then these workers will also be down the road. Then there is the Bombardier Transportation supply chain to consider – no doubt more job losses there. If you believe the theories presented in Evan Davis’s new TV series, all of these workers will soon be ‘re-deployed’ in other thriving British industries, like those engaged in making new fighter aircraft and high-end sports cars – yeah, right, dream on Evan.
I have been around long enough now to witness the demise of principal British industries like British ship building, British motorcycle manufacturing, British truck and commercial vehicle manufacturing, British car manufacturing, the British steel industry, the British mining industry and now fear I am about to see the end of a large part of the British railway industry.
Don’t get me wrong – I am all for achieving cost-effectiveness and I acknowledge that there is a demand for getting the best deal for the tax payer wherever possible. For sure, the BT operation in Derby is not without its problems, just like the manufacturing and other medium to heavy industries I have mentioned above, they had their problems too, but closure or serious winding down is not the answer. I propose that, to succeed, British manufacturing needs more guidance and support from our government and more constructive barriers to importing, etc. put in place. We need a government with greater vision in these areas – can the one we have now possibly measure up? The Jury is out on that one!
We hear of Hitachi and their plans to build a new factory near Darlington and that this factory will employ around 500 workers. To my mind this is not a positive step by any stretch of the imagination. I propose that this will only lead to greater dependence upon Japan and a diversion of the bulk of the wealth generated back to Japan. This approach to manufacture and distribution of wealth is just like that resulting from having cars made at Toyota, Nissan and Honda, etc. in the UK. The first such example for this Hitachi factory will be the wealth derived from manufacturing the new IEP trains for the ECML (another DfT decision!). No doubt this will be followed by the wealth gained at some later date by manufacturing trains that are destined for use elsewhere in the EU – that is unless our EU partners manage to apply the EU rules differently and in so doing keep Hitachi out!
I heard this morning that “Mr Hammond said it was not possible to review the bidding process. His only option would be to cancel the whole Thameslink project, which was already 16 years behind schedule.”
Well cancel it then! Then set about doing your job along with your department colleagues and the other government departments involved, i.e. actually deal with the underlying issues rather than just talking about dealing with them and in so doing depend much less on imported goods. Stop blaming Labour. Currently, as I see things, our leaders are effectively opting for an importation policy with short term gain and long term pain.
Sufficient pressure must be swiftly brought to bear on the UK DfT and the other governmental departments involved and our political ‘leaders’. They must all be compelled to take the steps required to halt and hopefully reverse this trend for placing too much dependence in imported goods, call it another ConDem U-Turn if you like.
Nuff said – for now.
Whilst on a recent trip to Berlin we spotted several ’Bierbikes’ whizzing around the city centre area – this particular model has seating capacity for up to 12 pedalling customers and 2 non-pedalling customers. Of course, there is also ample space for the bartender, who steers the Bierbike when he or she is not pissed or too busy serving the beer and/or serving other refreshments to the on-board customers. All of the occupants we saw out and about on one of these Bierbikes were having a pretty good time, especially the ones that did not have to pedal!
Who knows; the way things are going, maybe it’s just a matter of time before we get one or more of these Bierbikes whizzing up and down the towpath in the vicinity of Fradley Junction – can’t wait!
PS. Before anybody asks - I don’t know whether there was a cassette toilet or a pump-out fitted.
On the negative side – I have moaned about the trees on our mooring shading our our solar panels. They also facilitate the deposition of vast quantities of bird shite on our cabin roof. However, these negatives are off-set to some extent when you get to see bird species like the Greater Spotted Woodpecker out of your porthole. The first image below shows Mum or Dad training Junior #1 how to prize peanuts out of a bird feeder following re-filling this afternoon.
This second image shows Mum or Dad and the peanut prizing of both Junior #1 and Junior #2 this morning before re-filling.
I have never seen two woodpeckers together in the same place before, let alone three. I must remember this as the ‘positive side’ to the trees on our mooring whilst on my hands and knees scrubbing all of the bird shite off the cabin roof!
Visitors to Fradley will no doubt be pleased to learn that there has been a new bench seat installed at Junction Lock. Ergo, there is now no need for these visitors to perch on the nearby fence whilst observing the goings on at this lock, which can be a bit tricky, especially if balancing a pint of Marstons Pedigree, etc. in one hand and a camera in the other.
In fact, if they time their visit well enough, the said visitors will also be able to observe the thoroughly rotten lock beam opposite snapping off completely and the boater using it at the time smashing their head against the nearby wall or bollard.
100/10 to the BW Head of Waterways Maintenance Visitor Entertainment!
Update 29 August 2011 – Thankfully, the BW Head of Waterways Maintenance won in the end because the rotten lock beam has been repaired within the last few weeks:
…, well there would be some sun worship going on if the trees were not in the way!
Spotted this row of boats in the Fradley linear the other day, all of which were seeking some bright sunshine for their solar panels. Unfortunately, like our solar panels for most of the time, theirs were being denied access by the row of trees to the left of the picture. Whilst out and about in BELLE we have actually encountered periods where our panels are stuffing out 15 amps, but this requires that they be bathed in full sunlight. This is not possible on our mooring though because of the trees here too. So, if you are contemplating fitting one or more solar panels to your boat, you might want to bear this sort of thing in mind. A quick check on the Internet today has highlighted to me that the price of our solar panels is more or less the same as it was a couple of years ago (~expensive!) - my hope was that the price per panel would have significantly reduced by now. They must still represent an attractive proposition though because we are seeing many more boats with solar panels on them.
One other observation hereabouts is that the repair of the wall alongside the water point has commenced - you can see the progress highlighted in bright sunshine to the right of the picture.
Whilst out and about walking ourselves and our dog the other day we noticed that a petition against the HS2 has been set up adjacent to Woodend Lock on the Trent & Mersey, so we both signed it. If, like us, you disagree with HS2 and / or you are concerned about the interactions between HS2 and the waterway, then;
Sign this petition – do it – do it now!
En route, why not call into the BW information office / shop at Fradley and offer them your support against the closure?
Finally, have you written to Simon Salem at British Waterways about this closure yet?