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Post by metanoia on Aug 21, 2019 10:02:24 GMT
Meanwhile, back to the locks …. !!
Just come down the Atherstone flight. At the top the volly lockies notice I'm single handing and one asks if I'm on my own. Whacks the paddle up in the first lock so I have to race back to stop my boat hitting the gate. Kindly opens the gate and lets me out of the first lock. There was a crewed boat following so vollies ignore me (and the single hander in front) and help the crewed boat behind down the next FOUR locks! It was them who kindly shut a couple of gates for me when they were continually catching me and had to wait so long .....
Why on EARTH did anyone ask if I was single handing if they had no intention of offering help? What WAS the point in speeding up the boat behind?!
Not a rant - just a bit of head shaking …..
Never mind, the sun is shining!
Met x
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2019 10:06:43 GMT
Atherstone is a strange flight for volockies these days. We had six operating the top lock as we came up, having seen no one at any others ... and the 6 top lock volockies are in sight of the top three or four locks. I guess the kettle is in the shed at the top Rog
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Post by Jim on Aug 21, 2019 10:32:32 GMT
Perhaps we need to talk to these groups of volockies as we go by, ask them why etc. I mean in a nice friendly way, of course, not having a hissy fit. They might engage better than if it's all out in the open on the internet. What do leyther and the WFC advise. I suspect @romans is WFC too. How would you engage with errant volockies when you are out and about? What do you think of the behaviour reported by metanoia?
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Post by metanoia on Aug 21, 2019 10:59:43 GMT
Quite agree, Jim - I smiled sweetly, confirmed I was on my own, enquired again about the lost dog, commented on their pretty garden …. thanked them for their help at the first lock. Just wondering, really, what the logic was …. Met x
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2019 11:04:33 GMT
The problem is like them or loathe them ... they're volunteers not paid staff. It's impossible to have any meaningful discussion which gets beyond 'I'm a volunteer ... I don't have to be here'. It has to be good (I hope anyway) that Joe Public is drawn to the canals enough to volunteer ... at least increases the number of pro waterways voices. I apparently have the sort of face that repels volockies mostly ... maybe metanoia has the same problem. Rog
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Post by lollygagger on Aug 21, 2019 11:16:51 GMT
Maybe they saw that Met was competent and the crewed boat were not?
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 21, 2019 11:19:33 GMT
I apparently have the sort of face that repels volockies mostly ... Probly they just seen your boxers and hairy knees on here. Shudder!
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Post by thebfg on Aug 21, 2019 11:33:12 GMT
Maybe they saw that Met was competent and the crewed boat were not? I suspect this is closer to the truth. The left us alone on Saturday coming down caen hill. But they could see we were capable, but one bloke did go and set all our locks for us which was nice. And every now and again popped up to do a paddle or shut a gate, every time looking at me or junior for approval. First class.
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Post by Jim on Aug 21, 2019 12:05:33 GMT
Maybe they saw that Met was competent and the crewed boat were not? but 6 "helping"? 2 would be ample, Shirley?
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Post by leyther on Aug 21, 2019 21:47:30 GMT
Maybe they saw that Met was competent and the crewed boat were not? I suspect this is closer to the truth. The left us alone on Saturday coming down caen hill. But they could see we were capable, but one bloke did go and set all our locks for us which was nice. And every now and again popped up to do a paddle or shut a gate, every time looking at me or junior for approval. First class. This is my preferred routine. I expect most boaters would appreciate locks being ready to enter. Although I would also expect to be castigated on here by some for that.
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 21, 2019 21:56:54 GMT
I suspect this is closer to the truth. The left us alone on Saturday coming down caen hill. But they could see we were capable, but one bloke did go and set all our locks for us which was nice. And every now and again popped up to do a paddle or shut a gate, every time looking at me or junior for approval. First class. This is my preferred routine. I expect most boaters would appreciate locks being ready to enter. Although I would also expect to be castigated on here by some for that. No, even I would always be happy for locks to be set ahead. The only exception, and this has been mentioned a few times on the other channel, is over-zealous setting ahead where volockies latch onto one boat and set several locks ahead whilst expecting boats coming the other way to wait whilst those several locks are transited. As I’ve said before, volockies on some flights seem perfectly able to get it right - Lapworth springs to mind. But on other flights they think they own the place and go around shouting at boaters who aren’t doing exactly what they want them to do. Now which flight could I be thinking of... The basic problem from the boater’s point of view is a complete absence of consistency - in other words, atrocious quality control / post training monitoring by CRT. A boater, on encountering a volockie, has no idea whether they are going to be helpful and sensible, or mad power crazed self important idiots with stupid misconceptions.
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Post by Trina on Aug 22, 2019 10:21:13 GMT
Have to agree about Lapworth volockies.There were 2 on at the top when we went down a few years ago & 2 boats going down.Setting ahead & re-setting locks meant that both boats 'flew' down.
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Post by thebfg on Aug 22, 2019 12:53:52 GMT
They were good at lapworth when we went down too.
Never saw any at hatton either time but we shared locks both ways and were done in two hours anyway.
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 23, 2019 17:11:46 GMT
"Arrived at Stoke Bruerne top lock this afternoon, going up. These are our local locks, and we do them many times a year. We know that with a single boat going up, the calmest way is to open the ground paddle on the same side as the boat, and the gate paddle on the opposite side. That keeps the boat into the side of the lock. There was a volunteer lock keeper at the lock. As soon as the gate was shut, he lifted the paddle. He didn’t ask if we wanted help, and he didn’t check with me at the helm if I was ready. My crew went to the other side of the lock and lifted the gate paddle. He ordered him to close the paddle, pointing at the little sign which warns of turbulence. My crew said we knew what we were doing, and this would be fine. The volunteer became somewhat apoplectic, and eventually called my crew a stupid a***hole. My crew asked him to step away from the lock and leave us to it. He said he was in charge and it was his responsibility to make sure we used the locks properly, as he worked there. My crew pointed out that as it was our boat, it was our responsibility to work the lock, and he didn’t work there, he volunteered there. Eventually he did step away, but only to tell gongoozlers everything we were doing wrong. And he couldn’t resist repeatedly coming back to pick holes in each action. Apparently the paddles were even wound down incorrectly. He’s going to report us to CRT for using the lock incorrectly. An email of complaint has been sent to CRT, pointing out that he didn’t follow volunteer procedure, and that he was a really bad representative of the Trust. This was by far the worst example of a volunteer lock keeper we’ve ever encountered. He was in great contrast to the very nice volunteer who was helping a novice down the locks, that we’d met just an hour earlier." www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/100391-first-volockie-irritation-of-the-year/page/20/
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 23, 2019 17:38:29 GMT
"Arrived at Stoke Bruerne top lock this afternoon, going up. These are our local locks, and we do them many times a year. We know that with a single boat going up, the calmest way is to open the ground paddle on the same side as the boat, and the gate paddle on the opposite side. That keeps the boat into the side of the lock. There was a volunteer lock keeper at the lock. As soon as the gate was shut, he lifted the paddle. He didn’t ask if we wanted help, and he didn’t check with me at the helm if I was ready. My crew went to the other side of the lock and lifted the gate paddle. He ordered him to close the paddle, pointing at the little sign which warns of turbulence. My crew said we knew what we were doing, and this would be fine. The volunteer became somewhat apoplectic, and eventually called my crew a stupid a***hole. My crew asked him to step away from the lock and leave us to it. He said he was in charge and it was his responsibility to make sure we used the locks properly, as he worked there. My crew pointed out that as it was our boat, it was our responsibility to work the lock, and he didn’t work there, he volunteered there. Eventually he did step away, but only to tell gongoozlers everything we were doing wrong. And he couldn’t resist repeatedly coming back to pick holes in each action. Apparently the paddles were even wound down incorrectly. He’s going to report us to CRT for using the lock incorrectly. An email of complaint has been sent to CRT, pointing out that he didn’t follow volunteer procedure, and that he was a really bad representative of the Trust. This was by far the worst example of a volunteer lock keeper we’ve ever encountered. He was in great contrast to the very nice volunteer who was helping a novice down the locks, that we’d met just an hour earlier." www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/100391-first-volockie-irritation-of-the-year/page/20/As well as reading the radio 2 news, the author of that post also contributes to one of the magazines (waterways world, or canalboat, I can’t remember). So one would like to think that his view carries a little more weight than your average Joe (such as me).
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