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Post by Aloysius on Oct 8, 2023 13:10:00 GMT
I had a chat with my advisor about it and he pointed out certain pitfalls. It does look like the tail of the weir stream there might not be very deep because it is not actually a weir. It is just a barrier with no moving parts so may well be very shallow below. The idea was to moor the boats there but this may not be feasible. It was the Harwell outlet and they did quite a lot of experiments and assured people nothing nasty was going into the River but when they dug up the delivery pipeline all sorts of precautions were taken. I'd love it but no money. The anglers could be an issue. if there arrr some freak fish around they might be very keen to catch them over and over again. Seems to be trouble. Plus Bonham Carta is a neighbour so thats not ideal. Also it is near Didcot. Say no more.. I can't think of anybody better placed to inspect the available depth prior to the auction. But supposing the bid doesn't go crazy, as well it might, it will very likely turn out to be a most desirable chunk of real estate, mooring potential notwithstanding. But you're not interested in that sort of thing. And as you say, you are in any case impecunious.
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Post by on Oct 8, 2023 13:31:05 GMT
The simple fact is you could buy a shed boat for a grand and live on it in a high rent area for a tenth of the price of renting anything. Or just not bother licencing it. Even cheaper. After one yar you can fuck off and have saved a pretty penny. The thing to remember in all this is some people don't mind living in low quality accomodation temporarily. Always bear this in mind. Some of the time this wild assumption turns out to be true (our mutual acquaintance Paul is a good example). However I suspect that the majority of people living on, for want of a better descriptor, a slum boat, probably do not expect it to last forever due to the generally precarious nature of their existence rather than a cunning plan to exploit alternative accommodation costs. There often is a degree of desperation to the poverty-stricken. My view is that those in such a situation are a tad more enterprising than those weighing up the merits of one bridge over another, or choosing a crappy boat over life in a sink estate. I'm sure a lot of them are also rather unpleasant individuals that you wouldn't wish to be moored near to but that's beside the point. You are really quite entrenched in the imaginary back-story you almost always attribute to these things. The extraordinary must seem quite commonplace to someone like you. Always bear this in mind. I live in an odd fantasy land. For example the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, which I did read. was Very Boring.
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Post by Aloysius on Oct 8, 2023 13:38:33 GMT
Some of the time this wild assumption turns out to be true (our mutual acquaintance Paul is a good example). However I suspect that the majority of people living on, for want of a better descriptor, a slum boat, probably do not expect it to last forever due to the generally precarious nature of their existence rather than a cunning plan to exploit alternative accommodation costs. There often is a degree of desperation to the poverty-stricken. My view is that those in such a situation are a tad more enterprising than those weighing up the merits of one bridge over another, or choosing a crappy boat over life in a sink estate. I'm sure a lot of them are also rather unpleasant individuals that you wouldn't wish to be moored near to but that's beside the point. You are really quite entrenched in the imaginary back-story you almost always attribute to these things. The extraordinary must seem quite commonplace to someone like you. Always bear this in mind. I live in an odd fantasy land. For example the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, which I did read. was Very Boring. Now that you mention it, if Douglas had made your acquaintance I'm sure he would have found a great deal of new material. 😊
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Post by kris on Oct 8, 2023 15:02:56 GMT
So all widebeam owners live on £175,000 boats and and all cc’ers are scrounging layabout scum. Let’s not forget all the rich people living on “slum boats,” that are renting out their property empires. Not much presumptuous stereotyping going on in this thread then?
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Post by kris on Oct 8, 2023 15:07:35 GMT
I also find it odd that some boaters are revelling in the notion that 'a bunch of freeloading scum are getting what's coming' (I'm paraphrasing). Divide and rule really does work. I hope that the predictable mood of the Thunderboat masif isn't representative of the wider population but fear it most likely is. Oh well, something has to change. I wonder what will happen after Parry's five-year-plan expires? It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to suspect it's really about getting everyone used to the idea of sky-high annual increases in licencing costs by picking on those least able to defend themselves for starters. As usual. Sell now before the market is flooded! This is the thing that amazes me how ready people are to revel in it. Crt have certainly done a good job of divide and rule.
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Post by on Oct 8, 2023 15:19:41 GMT
I'm not sure anyone thinks other boaters are bad in this thread.
Nobody is being divided.
I hope not anyway.
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Post by on Oct 8, 2023 15:22:12 GMT
At the end of the day you have to think about what you need if you live on a boat. One of these things is water to float it.
It would be an interesting experiment to dewater a popular canal pound and see how long people take to moan.
Making canal infrastructure work is not a doddle.
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Post by kris on Oct 8, 2023 15:24:28 GMT
At the end of the day you have to think about what you need if you live on a boat. One of these things is water to float it. It would be an interesting experiment to dewater a popular canal pound and see how long people take to moan. Making canal infrastructure work is not a doddle. You think you’d be able to manage to do something if you have a budget of 400 million a year.
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Post by on Oct 8, 2023 15:26:38 GMT
There is that.
However unless you are into all that sort of thing and fully understand it you can't really know.
It could be a lot more complex than one would initially think.
To an individual 400 million quid looks handy but the reality of contractors, subcontractors. company bentleys etc could be a completely different story.
Moaning about management seems to me to be a slightly pointless activity. How in reality would you propose to sort it out if YOU had to do something ?
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Post by kris on Oct 8, 2023 15:35:24 GMT
Get rid of preferred contractors, if a contract can be sub contracted out again there’s too much money in it. Get rid of at least one tier of crt management. That would save more than these licence surcharges are going to make for a start.
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Post by fi on Oct 8, 2023 15:42:46 GMT
Contracting out and sub-contracting generally saves money in the short term. Retaining expertise costs a fair bit of money. Sometimes it is justified but mostly it is a cost cutting measure.
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Post by on Oct 8, 2023 15:43:32 GMT
Yes this is obvious but can you actually do anything about it?
It is the way large organisations operate. I don't think there is any value in moaning unless one is going to actually do something about it.
Nobody is.
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Post by dogless on Oct 9, 2023 9:52:12 GMT
I think most folks continually cruise because they enjoy the travelling, not to avoid paying mooring fees (leaving aside the London and South West issue).
I have met a few 'shufflers' who move their boats every two weeks but live elsewhere, and do this specifically to avoid mooring fees, but I don't believe there are too many of these. I guess the lack of security is an issue.
I still believe the licence fees should have been increased for every holder.
Whether we moor, cruise, or 'shuffle' is a personal choice but we all need a licence.
I hope once the dust settles the changes do not prove too divisive.
Rog
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Post by Andyberg on Oct 9, 2023 10:02:00 GMT
The ‘Us & Them’ is already alive and well, you just need to look at this threads first post!😩
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Post by Telemachus on Oct 9, 2023 10:02:29 GMT
I think most folks continually cruise because they enjoy the travelling, not to avoid paying mooring fees (leaving aside the London and South West issue). I have met a few 'shufflers' who move their boats every two weeks but live elsewhere, and do this specifically to avoid mooring fees, but I don't believe there are too many of these. I guess the lack of security is an issue. I still believe the licence fees should have been increased for every holder. Whether we moor, cruise, or 'shuffle' is a personal choice but we all need a licence. I hope once the dust settles the changes do not prove too divisive. Rog Well there seem to be quite a few around us. We often go up and down the Coventry a bit from Fazeley, up to Fradley or Atherstone. There are a significant number of the same boats that we always see moored somewhere along the way. You don’t moor your boat within say 15 miles of a location because you enjoy travelling. You do it because you want to keep your boat in a specific place, don’t want to pay for a permanent mooring but want avoid CRT’s radar.
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