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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/12/12 in all areas

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  2. Sometimes it's better to leave the argument about what happened behind in order to work out how to recover from it. I cannot imagine how speculation about a situation, that next to none of us experienced, is going to benefit Tree. I know nature abhors a vacuum, but in the absence of Tree, perhaps we could follow her example and be kind and thoughtful to each other at all times. It's a very sad thing to have happened, and I bet that everyone wishes it hadn't, but for now, for us, we have to wait to see how we can help.
    4 points
  3. Well sadly you don't reap what you sow in this world. I'm a new member. Tree PM'd me for no real reason when I signed on here just to be bloody nice and wish me well. She touched my heart and I'm gutted for her whatever the in's and outs. I don't know why her boat sank, but I have a gut feeling someone could have intervened and stopped this happening. I know that's no help to anyone, but i just had to say it.
    2 points
  4. The EA gave ample warning of the likely problems and to be fair anyone who lives in the area (I do) would know what to expect. The evacuation didnt take place until at least the Wednesday by which time we had had non stop rain for days. The flood gates hadn't been fully opened earlier as I did notice the Nene White Water centre was underwater but by Thursday when the gates had been opened the level there had subsided. If people had been allowed to stay on the boats and something had happened to them you would be asking why weren't they forced to leave!!!! The emergency services were stretched to the limit - sometimes negotiation is not an option and with short daylight hours they wanted to get people off in the daylight. If something bad had happened it would have created yet more work for the emergency services - like I say anyone who lives locally knew Billing was very likely to be evacuated days before it was done. The Northampton Washlands take a huge quantity of water and make the place look like an inland sea however twice this year that limit has been reached, the defences in the town only just held and it was reported locally that the Nene through the town was less then 4 inches from going over and the flood sirens from being sounded. I'm genuinely sorry a boat sank but given the amount of water do you think it is fair to ask people to risk there lives to save a boat - first priority must always be to preserve life To be honest given the amount of water I'm slightly amazed that Billing wasn't wiped of the face of the earth so perhaps the situation was actually handled well
    2 points
  5. I think Wanted's suggestion is a good one and I would like to add that although I have never been fortunate enough to meet Tree (yet) through seeing her unique way of communicating warmth and love on this forum I think the last thing she would want at this time is anyone bickering or picking fault and pointing the finger of blame. What is done, is done. It cannot be undone and so let us all look to the future and see how we can help Tree rebuild.
    1 point
  6. Putting aside the ins and outs of fault and blame, Maybe when Tree is ready she could make a list of the things that are needed and we can all see if it is possible to help. Tree has a unique and very kind nature that manages to come across over the forum, I think many people would like to help in some way.
    1 point
  7. 70 x 14 if I remember my book right, but that did also say we could get through St. Ives lock but that proved wrong.
    1 point
  8. I know that but suggesting that charity employees should be earning less than the national average is somehow demeaning their work, in my opinion.
    1 point
  9. Why do they keep quoting Brindley can neither read or write when there is plenty of evidence in his notebooks and estimates that he could. His spelling and grammar may be different to ours but it was contemporary to the age. Certainly his peers would have understood him.
    1 point
  10. I have one that I made using an old Nokia phone and a standard household alarm... It works fine...but I prefer to leave it in 'make hell of a noise' mode..and I don't use the ..'Phone me up'..mode..unless I am a few minutes from the boat.. It only tripped once ..by accident last year (wife left a towel in front of sensor)..but I found it a pain. We often go some distance to explore local towns..on the bus.. It went off...and there wouldn't have been a thing I could do about it other than call the police. I 'listened in'..but couldn't hear anything on the boat...so I didn't want to waste police time....so didn't call them.I also realised..that if I did call them..I wouldn't really be able to describe where the boat was... It occurred to me..that if someone breaks in...they break in...and the huge noise...was the best alternative...bigger noise..the better...
    1 point
  11. A very easy one to answer. I have no idea what you consider a " PROPER " boat person. My Father was a working boatman during the 1930s on the Rivers Trent and Ouse and Goole docks and later a Bosun in the merchant Navy. I started my " Boating " in the Royal Navy and have owned/lived on the uk canal system since 1989 on mainly narrowboats. Folk music is music of the day and you will find has a massive following by other real boaters who own/liveaboard. If you call " Real boaters " people with old wooden once upon a time working narrowboats and no one else then many of us " Real " boaters do not qualify. I skipper a passenger vessel on the Trent but dont consider narrowboaters inferior or " Unreal " they are just one of the many forms of uk boaters. History naturaly changes that change then becomes part of history. Tim
    1 point
  12. Is it? I would say that it's stronger now than it was, say, 20 years ago. Then, as the WW2 generation started to fade away, it began to look almost an anachronism. Even "the silence" was cut from two minutes to one for a while. Nowadays, with British forces involved in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan etc., the plight of many former servicemen is much more obvious to the public. It is worth noting that just about everybody who appears on BBC telly programmes in early November wears a poppy, thus publicising the Appeal. I am not sure that that was the case 20 years ago.
    1 point
  13. So where does the condensation form? Clue - look in your cupboards. It's got to go somewhere. Just playing the doom monger.
    1 point
  14. I have attempted to explain the IWA and council voting elsewhere on here so won't fully go into it again. However, Lets say the numbers are correct and 4000 IWA have boats and so that was the total of votes available to influence the outcome. There were over 25,000 eligible voters. Therefore the IWA votes in in a minority (even if they all voted which I doubt) and although if (and it's a big if) they all voted to a man (or women) the same way it could become a significant minority. It is foolish to think that the IWA could have enough power over its membership to be able to tell it how to vote. I know I did not vote for only IWA candidates in my selection. In fact one of them I did vote for in my top 4 was you! Personally I think the outcome had more to do with the apathy of the non-voter. The other possibility with the RBOA is that they are ignoring you? Since I don't seem to be able to get my views heard or appreciated perhaps I should form my own splinter group? Look I have no wish to get in to a deep argument over this I mean what I say when I would like the conversation to be about positive statements rather than sweeping statements and negative half truths.
    1 point
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