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Post by Aloysius on Mar 17, 2023 21:00:07 GMT
Interestingly, I booked Ellis into Liverpool a couple of weeks ago for NEXT year... before this announcement was made - I'm going to see what happens and whether they honour bookings made BEFORE they implemented the charges... although to be honest, I don't mind paying for it - doing a guest change over (3/4 loads of washing and then tumble drying, the immersion on rather than engine for hot water etc) it's good value. Likewise with Llangollen - although that DOES need to increase from 6 quid a night as that has been too low for a while. Kris does make a valid point about how Much (well LITTLE when you think of all the longer term closures through in season works, water losses and over running works) you can use - last year many of my booked trips with customers were curtailed due to no notice closures... ONE Of which actually involved being trapped IN a closed section that was apparently impassable - despite the fact we'd just done the whole thing (with a little help from boots on the ground), only to get LOCKED in at kidsgrove and not allowed OUT of the heartbreak hill 'as it's closed due to water shortage' - it took a whole load of making a fuss on twitter for them to get the man out of the van with the keys who'd been paid to sit in it and wait for 4 hours for someone to say "yes"... great use of my THIS years £2300 licence fee to have a business license ... and I have to work out how to run said business around their lack of being able to provide a stable platform on which to operate it. I was once in a race to clear Napton before the flight (advertised) closed for the winter. Aware that I was very short on time I was going like the proverbial bat and to hell with the wash. At one point I saw a pair of BW chaps in green doing something maintenency and with them was a bloke in a tie and shirt. He was shouting and gesticulating but I couldn't hear him above the engine so knocked the boat out of gear. He somewhat crossly said 'the flight is closing' or summat like that but I just replied 'I'm going that way' and cracked on. The BW chaps fell about laughing. So I arrived at the flight after the deadline and the place was deserted. However there was no chain on the top lock so I started down, but when I reached the bottom lock it was chained. Being at this point low on options, I spent the night in the lock chamber. In the morning there was some activity; a BW vehicle had turned up so I went in search of the driver. I asked to go through, and when I told him the boat was in the bottom lock he just smiled and unlocked the gate. They weren't all jobsworths once. |
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Post by kris on Mar 17, 2023 21:03:55 GMT
Interestingly, I booked Ellis into Liverpool a couple of weeks ago for NEXT year... before this announcement was made - I'm going to see what happens and whether they honour bookings made BEFORE they implemented the charges... although to be honest, I don't mind paying for it - doing a guest change over (3/4 loads of washing and then tumble drying, the immersion on rather than engine for hot water etc) it's good value. Likewise with Llangollen - although that DOES need to increase from 6 quid a night as that has been too low for a while. Kris does make a valid point about how Much (well LITTLE when you think of all the longer term closures through in season works, water losses and over running works) you can use - last year many of my booked trips with customers were curtailed due to no notice closures... ONE Of which actually involved being trapped IN a closed section that was apparently impassable - despite the fact we'd just done the whole thing (with a little help from boots on the ground), only to get LOCKED in at kidsgrove and not allowed OUT of the heartbreak hill 'as it's closed due to water shortage' - it took a whole load of making a fuss on twitter for them to get the man out of the van with the keys who'd been paid to sit in it and wait for 4 hours for someone to say "yes"... great use of my THIS years £2300 licence fee to have a business license ... and I have to work out how to run said business around their lack of being able to provide a stable platform on which to operate it. I was once in a race to clear Napton before the flight (advertised) closed for the winter. Aware that I was very short on time I was going like the proverbial bat and to hell with the wash. At one point I saw a pair of BW chaps in green doing something maintenency and with them was a bloke in a tie and shirt. He was shouting and gesticulating but I couldn't hear him above the engine so knocked the boat out of gear. He somewhat crossly said 'the flight is closing' or summat like that but I just replied 'I'm going that way' and cracked on. The BW chaps fell about laughing. So I arrived at the flight after the deadline and the place was deserted. However there was no chain on the top lock so I started down, but when I reached the bottom lock it was chained. Being at this point low on options, I spent the night in the lock chamber. In the morning there was some activity; a BW vehicle had turned up so I went in search of the driver. I asked to go through, and when I told him the boat was in the bottom lock he just smiled and unlocked the gate. They weren't all jobsworths once. You rebel you. |
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Post by on Mar 17, 2023 21:05:14 GMT
This must have been quite a number of yars ago.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Mar 17, 2023 21:12:39 GMT
Interestingly, I booked Ellis into Liverpool a couple of weeks ago for NEXT year... before this announcement was made - I'm going to see what happens and whether they honour bookings made BEFORE they implemented the charges... although to be honest, I don't mind paying for it - doing a guest change over (3/4 loads of washing and then tumble drying, the immersion on rather than engine for hot water etc) it's good value. Likewise with Llangollen - although that DOES need to increase from 6 quid a night as that has been too low for a while. Kris does make a valid point about how Much (well LITTLE when you think of all the longer term closures through in season works, water losses and over running works) you can use - last year many of my booked trips with customers were curtailed due to no notice closures... ONE Of which actually involved being trapped IN a closed section that was apparently impassable - despite the fact we'd just done the whole thing (with a little help from boots on the ground), only to get LOCKED in at kidsgrove and not allowed OUT of the heartbreak hill 'as it's closed due to water shortage' - it took a whole load of making a fuss on twitter for them to get the man out of the van with the keys who'd been paid to sit in it and wait for 4 hours for someone to say "yes"... great use of my THIS years £2300 licence fee to have a business license ... and I have to work out how to run said business around their lack of being able to provide a stable platform on which to operate it. when I reached the bottom lock it was chained. Being at this point low on options, I spent the night in the lock chamber. In the morning there was some activity; a BW vehicle had turned up so I went in search of the driver. I asked to go through, and when I told him the boat was in the bottom lock he just smiled and unlocked the gate. They weren't all jobsworths once. Buy a lock pick set for £10 on ebay and watch a few instructional videos on YouTube and you'll be able to open any CRT padlock in 30 seconds. |
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Post by on Mar 17, 2023 21:15:41 GMT
Indeed they are pretty easy to pick. I doubt there are any complex security pins on a normal CRT (Yale?) padlock. I learned to pick locks using a padlock from the Environment Agency which was a Yale lock. Took a while to get the tension right but once you get it you have got it. It is slightly illegal to pick locks though.
I like the lock picking lawyer on youtube. Good at killing high security locks with things like powder actuated nail guns. Nice work.
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Post by Aloysius on Mar 17, 2023 21:15:48 GMT
This must have been quite a number of yars ago. '96 I think. |
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Post by metanoia on Mar 17, 2023 21:17:53 GMT
Had a very similar experience at Penkridge only last spring. The lads on the boat waiting for the crane to offload the new gates said "It's closed, been closed for a week and shut until ...."
I explained all the misinformation from the Stupid Stoppages Dept saying it was closed/wasn't closed/might be closed/wasn't officially closed and the fact that I'd therefore booked my BSS the "wrong" side of a stoppage that wasn't now shown for another week or more. So they shrugged and said we're still waiting for the gates so if you get there before us we'll tell the guvnor to put the old gates back to let you through - "you can't come back for a couple of months, mind". Good on them all.
It was a long, hard locking day but I made it and when I got there even the man with the tie leaned on the old beam while they got me down that lock beneath their scaffold.
Yes, there are still some decent people out there.
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Post by on Mar 17, 2023 21:18:22 GMT
I was on the Thames but 94 and 95 spent the winters around Braun St On and general area including time spent on the Ashby picking lumps of coal out of the dredgings used to backfill the towpath piling works.
This was yars ago when coal meant coal and one could find really big pieces which would barely fit in the fire.
Happy days !
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Post by Aloysius on Mar 17, 2023 21:25:13 GMT
The used to be a coal yard that backed onto the Castle Mill Stream; several times I went over to it in a dinghy and filled it up. One dark night I was startled by someone else there, but it turned out he was doing the same thing. 🤣
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Post by Mr Stabby on Mar 17, 2023 21:36:17 GMT
It is slightly illegal to pick locks though.
I don't think it would be illegal to pick a lock that was securing some type of canal infrastructure unless it was done in the furtherance of theft or some other criminal offence. At most it could be seen as attempted trespass, which is a civil matter. |
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Post by metanoia on Mar 17, 2023 21:37:48 GMT
It is slightly illegal to pick locks though.
I don't think it would be illegal to pick a lock that was securing some type of canal infrastructure unless it was done in the furtherance of theft or some other criminal offence. At most it could be seen as attempted trespass, which is a civil matter. So do you get 14 days before you have to move on - or 30 days like the Pikeys? |
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Post by Mr Stabby on Mar 17, 2023 21:40:27 GMT
So they shrugged and said we're still waiting for the gates so if you get there before us we'll tell the guvnor to put the old gates back to let you through - Blokes will always go the extra mile for a tasty looking bird.  |
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Post by kris on Mar 17, 2023 21:43:41 GMT
The used to be a coal yard that backed onto the Castle Mill Stream; several times I went over to it in a dinghy and filled it up. One dark night I was startled by someone else there, but it turned out he was doing the same thing. 🤣 I know of a few places like this where you can still go and dig real coal. |
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Post by on Mar 17, 2023 21:46:50 GMT
Columbian doubles are my favourite illegal burny burny things.
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Post by on Mar 17, 2023 21:47:46 GMT
Columbians arrr great as long as you avoid the single ones !
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