|
Post by Clinton Cool on Oct 21, 2020 21:19:46 GMT
As my 7 and a bit years on a boat draws towards a close I've been doing a bit of thinking. Bit of reminiscing about good times I've had, interesting people I've met. I got round to thinking about the marked difference between many aspects of boating on narrowboats, compared to cruisers. This are my observations:
Cruisers always seem to travel much faster than narrowboats.
A remarkable high proportion of narrowboat owners look like Dr. Harold Shipman.
Cruiser boaters tend to be 10 or 15 years younger than your typical narrowboater. Very often, the bloke looks like a knucklehead and he's rarely on his own. Very often, he has his girl with him who is quite possibly the female version of a knucklehead but grows her hair long to disguise this. Almost always, she has dyed her hair blonde, it's quite common for her teeth to also have had the bleach treatment.
Any more observations?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2020 22:19:46 GMT
I have to agree about the shady-looking NB owners. To be fair, when they get off the boat and talk to you, the majority are perfectly decent sorts.
But when they are behind that tiller, some of them seem to get a bit of a glint in their eye, and start getting all 'master and commander'.
I'm finding so far its hard to tell the miserable bastards from the sociable ones, although the cowboy hat wearers do seem more miserable, from a very informal and unscientific first impression.
Both types are pretty impassive on the final approach, so at that point I no longer commit myself to offering a smile, just in case it's a miserable bastard. But as you draw level you will get a very slight and clearly very reluctant nod from the miserable bastards, whereas the sociable ones will give a decent attempt at a wave, and maybe even a smile if they're having a good day.
The uncertainty about what I'm going to get in return has made my greetings somewhat more circumspect, but it is hard to tell them apart. The younger folks seem far more likely to give a positive response, but there are exceptions. And there have been cowboy hat wearers on vintage boats that I would have bet a small mortgage were going to be miserable bastards, who actually turned out to be very friendly and smiley.
It's a very uncertain game, this judging by appearances malarkey.
|
|
|
Post by brummieboy on Oct 21, 2020 22:27:54 GMT
When you go shopping, do you wave and smile at everyone you meet? When driving, do you wave at everyone coming the other way? Thought not. 45 years ago when canals were more of an adventure and such acknowledgements meant something. Muted response need not be taken badly.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2020 22:49:11 GMT
When you go shopping, do you wave and smile at everyone you meet? When driving, do you wave at everyone coming the other way? Thought not. 45 years ago when canals were more of an adventure and such acknowledgements meant something. Muted response need not be taken badly. I'm not sure any comparison at all can be drawn between passing motorists and narrowboats in terms of social interactions- but I will say that I think my initially very effusive greetings were perhaps de rigueur in places like the Nene, but not so much on the canal. But there are some people whose faces are set in a grim expression throughout, and who give an impression that they would much rather the greeting thing wasn't actually a thing at all. Personally, I'm not that fussed on the practice anyway. Most of the old fogeys I pass don't seem particularly keen on it, and I certainly don't want to force any behaviours on anyone. But it is a thing to greet each other, so I prefer that it be treated as an actual greeting. Greetings are a very personal subject clearly, but I don't do the stereotypical male thing of the slight nod in greeting, without any change of expression or voice. It feels unnatural to me- not really a greeting at all, but a formality. My feeling is if you're going to do it, do it properly. In reality, I do think it is me that has it wrong, and that for most boaters it is a purely ceremonial thing, and does not reflect any actual sense of camaraderie etc, as maybe it used to do.
|
|
|
Post by Clinton Cool on Oct 21, 2020 22:58:17 GMT
Personally I reserve my brightest smiles and most enthusiastic waves for pretty maidens pottering along in the opposite direction. It's unfortunate that this is a very rare happening and the odd occasion when this does happen, the wave is rarely returned with the same vigour.
Oh well.
|
|
|
Post by thebfg on Oct 22, 2020 1:03:57 GMT
When you go shopping, do you wave and smile at everyone you meet? When driving, do you wave at everyone coming the other way? Thought not. 45 years ago when canals were more of an adventure and such acknowledgements meant something. Muted response need not be taken badly. I always wave at Eddie Stobart lorries.
|
|
|
Post by ianali on Oct 22, 2020 5:49:59 GMT
When you go shopping, do you wave and smile at everyone you meet? When driving, do you wave at everyone coming the other way? Thought not. 45 years ago when canals were more of an adventure and such acknowledgements meant something. Muted response need not be taken badly. I always wave at Eddie Stobart lorries. I always give a nod or leg when passing fellow bikers. Also wave too lotus/Abarth drivers when in same cars. Boating I am a little OTT. Wave and shout excitedly at passing boaters. Love it when they try and ignore me, makes me wave even more. Oh, and I wear a cowboy hat.
|
|
|
Post by JohnV on Oct 22, 2020 6:36:06 GMT
I always wave at Eddie Stobart lorries. I always give a nod or leg when passing fellow bikers. Also wave too lotus/Abarth drivers when in same cars. Boating I am a little OTT. Wave and shout excitedly at passing boaters. Love it when they try and ignore me, makes me wave even more. Oh, and I wear a cowboy hat.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2020 6:37:45 GMT
I always wave at Eddie Stobart lorries. I always give a nod or leg when passing fellow bikers. Also wave too lotus/Abarth drivers when in same cars. Boating I am a little OTT. Wave and shout excitedly at passing boaters. Love it when they try and ignore me, makes me wave even more. Oh, and I wear a cowboy hat. As a fellow 'performance waver', I feel your pain bruh. I've cooled off my greetings a tad after finding that my initial enthusiasm is being reciprocated less often than it was. I did go through a phase of greeting escalation- broadening my smile to a huge grin, raising my arm higher, waving frantically, and bellowing 'good morning!' directly into their faces as we passed, at such a volume that it could not feasibly be ignored. But however extreme my greetings got, there were still a minority of male boaters who still gave only the teeniest nod in reply, with no change whatsoever in their grim expression, and sometimes without even looking in my direction. This kind of grudging and minimalist response was devastating to the artiste within me, who had committed so much to the performance of the greeting, and ultimately felt rejected by his audience. This was not good enough. My wonderful and often comedic greetings deserved better a reception from these Philistines, I felt. How could they treat me this way? The problem is I can't change the audience, so I have to work with them, by toning things down a tad, and by being more sophisticated in the tactics used to achieve my ultimate goal of squeezing a wave out of them. Because I will get my wave. Oh yes. Anyway, I wouldnt want to give the impression I'm getting obsessive about it, or anything like that. Btw, good to hear that some of the cowboys have fully functioning emotions, and you don't all do the macho 'canal master' thing- may you and your magnificent hat live long and prosper.
|
|
|
Post by JohnV on Oct 22, 2020 6:49:57 GMT
I always give a nod or leg when passing fellow bikers. Also wave too lotus/Abarth drivers when in same cars. Boating I am a little OTT. Wave and shout excitedly at passing boaters. Love it when they try and ignore me, makes me wave even more. Oh, and I wear a cowboy hat. As a fellow 'performance waver', I feel your pain bruh. I've cooled off my greetings a tad after finding that my initial enthusiasm is being reciprocated less often than it was. I did go through a phase of greeting escalation- broadening my smile to a huge grin, raising my arm higher, waving frantically, and bellowing 'good morning!' directly into their faces as we passed, at such a volume that it could not feasibly be ignored. But however extreme my greetings got, there were still a minority of male boaters who still gave only the teeniest nod in reply, with no change whatsoever in their grim expression, and sometimes without even looking in my direction. This kind of grudging and minimalist response was devastating to the artiste within me, who had committed so much to the performance of the greeting, and ultimately felt rejected by his audience. This was not good enough. My wonderful and often comedic greetings deserved better a reception from these Philistines, I felt. How could they treat me this way? The problem is I can't change the audience, so I have to work with them, by toning things down a tad, and by being more sophisticated in the tactics used to achieve my ultimate goal of squeezing a wave out of them. Because I will get my wave. Oh yes. Anyway, I wouldnt want to give the impression I'm getting obsessive about it, or anything like that. Btw, good to hear that some of the cowboys have fully functioning emotions, and you don't all do the macho 'canal master' thing- may you and your magnificent hat live long and prosper. This is my favoured method of greeting when on the narrow canals, I delight in the obvious distress that some have in acknowledging the greetings coming from
.......................................................... A Yoghurt pot
On the big canals I'm normally in something much more substantial and then I only acknowledge Pilots or skippers of tugs or other commercial vessels
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2020 6:57:47 GMT
When my sainted old Mum was alive, I used to spend time 'baby-sitting' her in St Neots, in Cambridgeshire. It was common for me to cause chaos by walking around the town greeting everyone I passed ... many were startled by the occurence and reacted as though I'd said "Give us your wallet" rather than the actual "Morning" or "How do". Exchanging a polite greeting or salutation is common in the north I find ... it gives one a boost and lifts ones day a little. I also greet fellow boaters in a similar way ... however I do it because it makes my day feel better ... if I am ignored (a not uncommon experience) I consider it their loss and in no way dissuades me from greeting the next stranger. It's really (for me) about choosing to live in a bright, happy bubble, rather than a miserable, gloomy cloud ... but each to their own. Morning ... glorious day Rog
|
|
|
Post by JohnV on Oct 22, 2020 7:00:55 GMT
Morning ... glorious day Rog Morning ... grey and misog day
John
|
|
|
Post by phil70 on Oct 22, 2020 7:04:44 GMT
When you go shopping, do you wave and smile at everyone you meet? When driving, do you wave at everyone coming the other way? Thought not. 45 years ago when canals were more of an adventure and such acknowledgements meant something. Muted response need not be taken badly. I always wave at Eddie Stobart lorries. When travelling on the River Great Ouse it runs parallel to the A10 for a while and often get tooted by passing lorries, my response is a toot on my mega horn and a wave. Result is a broad grin by both parties. As for at passing boats, that for me is reserved for only when moving, but it depends where you are, on the Broads for example a boat passes every 30 seconds so waving is a no-no for obvious reasons Phil
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2020 7:04:55 GMT
I've always been into waving at other boaters who, one must assume, are boating in order to have a generally good time.
I don't fully understand why people would be boating in order to not have a good time because boating is so enjoyable.
However over the years things have changed. this could be to do with the increase in people occupying boats and viewing the moving of the boat as a seriously irritating bi-weekly chore.
A lot of younger boat owners seem to just do a little nod where waving was more common in days gone by.
That's my observation anyway.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2020 7:23:03 GMT
When you go shopping, do you wave and smile at everyone you meet? When driving, do you wave at everyone coming the other way? Thought not. 45 years ago when canals were more of an adventure and such acknowledgements meant something. Muted response need not be taken badly. Hello Harold..
|
|