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Post by Telemachus on Aug 27, 2019 15:11:00 GMT
I think Nick has just posted that he would have no problems with vollies if they were all gay over on the other side, but I may have misunderstood what he meant. You naughty other-channel-browser you! No, that is not what I said. Although it is of course true. What I said and meant was that this guy was a cheery, non-pushy, asked-if-you-wanted help type of guy who, it transpired, had been a ship’s captain in merchant navy before he retired. That we had a bit of gay banter was not really the point, the point was that he was capable of being like that with us but also straight with the boring straight types. In other words, he could adapt to whoever he was dealing with in order to get on with them. A pretty normal attribute one might think, but not in many volockies it seems!
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 27, 2019 15:12:18 GMT
I think Nick has just posted that he would have no problems with vollies if they were all gay over on the other side, but I may have misunderstood what he meant. How would that be a guarantee of anything at all, behavior wise? We'd then have hissy fits to deal with on top of the old grumpfuttock scowls. Still, it would look pretty if lock hardware was done with rainbow paint in the spare moments. Oh so very naive! You have no idea. Fortunately, for your delicate constitution.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2019 15:22:21 GMT
So ... apart from he was grumpy (a quality I can sympathise with) there wasn't any real incident ... but you think he may have pressed a button before your rope was in place.
We just met a great young volockie on Claydon locks. Loves rugby ... sadly Welsh and a Blues supporter.
I think that, rather like people in general, we'll hit it off with some and not with others.
I like the idea of increasing the canals fan base, and the vast majority of volockies seem fine.
A pity the odd one lets the side down.
Rog
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 27, 2019 15:24:01 GMT
I think Nick has just posted that he would have no problems with vollies if they were all gay over on the other side, but I may have misunderstood what he meant. Your post reads to me as though he meant that he'd be quite happy with C&RT's volunteers provided that the entire male membership of CWDF were all shirt-lifters!
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Post by bills on Aug 27, 2019 15:32:32 GMT
I think Nick has just posted that he would have no problems with vollies if they were all gay over on the other side, but I may have misunderstood what he meant. Your post reads to me as though he meant that he'd be quite happy with C&RT's volunteers provided that the entire male membership of CWDF were all shirt-lifters! Only the male membership? My post was gender neutral.
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 27, 2019 15:33:18 GMT
So ... apart from he was grumpy (a quality I can sympathise with) there wasn't any real incident ... but you think he may have pressed a button before your rope was in place. Rog He wasn’t exactly grumpy, just entirely uncommunicative and didn’t want to engage in pleasantries. Which has to make you wonder why he wanted to be in a “customer-facing” role. As you say, it wasn’t a real (as in significant) incident. But perhaps you can see the irony of a big CRT sign telling boaters they must use ropes in the lock, on the front of the pedestal where CRT’s representative starts to operate the paddles before the boat is secured with ropes? And why is it that at the previous lock (Cranfleet) the nice volockies collected our ropes and put them over the bollards, whilst at this next lock, he made no attempt to help with the ropes and just opened the paddles. There is no consistency, and hence the boater doesn’t know what he is going to face until it happens. Which is bad IMO.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 27, 2019 15:57:04 GMT
So ... apart from he was grumpy (a quality I can sympathise with) there wasn't any real incident ... but you think he may have pressed a button before your rope was in place. Rog . . . . . . . . . But perhaps you can see the irony of a big CRT sign telling boaters they must use ropes in the lock, on the front of the pedestal where CRT’s representative starts to operate the paddles before the boat is secured with ropes? Stop ropes are in fact needed more in the house-side lock at Sawley than at any of the other remaining old Upper Trent size locks because of the stronger than normal forward draw from the top-end paddles. There is a big cast iron bollard towards the bottom gates on the house side of the lock top and in the days when commercial traffic (Nottingham Pans pushed with Bantam tugs) was still running up to Shardlow Depot they always had a good strong head spring off the pan onto that bollard made off aboard before any paddles were drawn. The paddles on the new top gates that were fitted in the 1970's were reduced in size with pleasure craft in mind, but the lock still has a very strong forward draw when being filled.
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Post by thebfg on Aug 27, 2019 22:11:33 GMT
Your post reads to me as though he meant that he'd be quite happy with C&RT's volunteers provided that the entire male membership of CWDF were all shirt-lifters! Only the male membership? My post was gender neutral. Gender neutral? I though they identified as fluffy bunnies😉
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Post by Telemachus on Aug 27, 2019 22:33:24 GMT
. . . . . . . . . But perhaps you can see the irony of a big CRT sign telling boaters they must use ropes in the lock, on the front of the pedestal where CRT’s representative starts to operate the paddles before the boat is secured with ropes? Stop ropes are in fact needed more in the house-side lock at Sawley than at any of the other remaining old Upper Trent size locks because of the stronger than normal forward draw from the top-end paddles. There is a big cast iron bollard towards the bottom gates on the house side of the lock top and in the days when commercial traffic (Nottingham Pans pushed with Bantam tugs) was still running up to Shardlow Depot they always had a good strong head spring off the pan onto that bollard made off aboard before any paddles were drawn. The paddles on the new top gates that were fitted in the 1970's were reduced in size with pleasure craft in mind, but the lock still has a very strong forward draw when being filled. I’m not sure which is the house-side lock, but presumably the north lock? We were in the south lock. As I’ve mentioned, it wasn’t in itself dangerous nor did it result in any difficulty controlling the boat, but it did seem ironic bearing in mind the sign and the supposed point of the volockies. We always try to position at the rear of these locks when going up hill, as that tends to reduce the pull and general turbulence.
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Post by metanoia on Aug 29, 2019 18:47:50 GMT
Thank you very much to some of them on the Fradley flight today - but certainly not the one that gave me rope burns!!
Thanks mainly to the kind man moored nearby on an unmanned one for coming back to shut the gate for me - only to be told by someone two locks up not to - despite a queue of three behind. Apparently, the volockie was "managing the water" up ahead. Last one seemed to be doubling as a vollie number taker with a clipboard marking off "licences unseen".
Roll on October ….
Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.
Met x
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Post by ianali on Aug 29, 2019 20:02:19 GMT
Thank you very much to some of them on the Fradley flight today - but certainly not the one that gave me rope burns!! Thanks mainly to the kind man moored nearby on an unmanned one for coming back to shut the gate for me - only to be told by someone two locks up not to - despite a queue of three behind. Apparently, the volockie was "managing the water" up ahead. Last one seemed to be doubling as a vollie number taker with a clipboard marking off "licences unseen". Roll on October …. Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Met x What’s happening in October?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2019 20:14:53 GMT
Volunteers can't be arsed because of the weather ?
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Post by patty on Aug 30, 2019 6:59:09 GMT
Thank you very much to some of them on the Fradley flight today - but certainly not the one that gave me rope burns!! Thanks mainly to the kind man moored nearby on an unmanned one for coming back to shut the gate for me - only to be told by someone two locks up not to - despite a queue of three behind. Apparently, the volockie was "managing the water" up ahead. Last one seemed to be doubling as a vollie number taker with a clipboard marking off "licences unseen". Roll on October …. Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Met x What’s happening in October? Winter stoppages?
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Post by naughtyfox on Aug 30, 2019 7:02:29 GMT
Thank you very much to some of them on the Fradley flight today - but certainly not the one that gave me rope burns!! Thanks mainly to the kind man moored nearby on an unmanned one for coming back to shut the gate for me - only to be told by someone two locks up not to - despite a queue of three behind. Apparently, the volockie was "managing the water" up ahead. Last one seemed to be doubling as a vollie number taker with a clipboard marking off "licences unseen". Roll on October …. Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Met x What’s happening in October? 1. My birthday. 2. We're on holiday for 2 weeks. 3. Fri 18th Oct sunrise Newbury 0733, sunset 1806. Our plane leaves LHR at 0655 so we should see the sun rise that morning!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2019 7:05:04 GMT
Between October and Easter the canals revert to peaceful idylls with little boat traffic, fewer gongoozlers and less volockies around.
Rog
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