Is Birmingham going downhill as a destination?....

[WotEver]

3 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I can see an argument for saying "on page 53 of the thread you said......." since that just gives me one page of postings to check but if for instance someone posted," in #1754 of the Brexit thread you said...." it would, I'm afraid fall into the CBA category

And for the sake of two mouse clicks (very slightly more difficult on a mobile device) how much superior a system it is to actually link to the post, avoiding the CBA problem entirely. 

[Jerra]

11 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I have to say that I'm a bit indifferent to the post numbers but I'm not quite sure how finding the post to quote it is assisted by the number. You would have to have the number in the first place wouldn't you? I can see an argument for saying "on page 53 of the thread you said......." since that just gives me one page of postings to check but if for instance someone posted," in #1754 of the Brexit thread you said...." it would, I'm afraid fall into the CBA category

It would help me if I could  easily find the post to quote for you but for at least the third time in this thread: I am able to remember roughly the range of post numbers and can go back and find the post.   As all posts now don't have numbers I can't see when reading whether the thread has reached 100 or 500 posts therefore when I try to think back to look for a post I haven't a clue which page to start on.

[Laurie Booth]

On 3/18/2017 at 22:29, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Is Birmingham becoming a less than desireable destination for boaters?

The reason I ask the question is to see whether my current experiences are becoming more common, or have I just been unlucky? The first part of the story was as I passed through Kingswood Junction on the way to Birmingham and stopped to chat with another older boater. As is common he asked me where I was going and when I told him "Birmingham" his reply was, "God, I wouldn't go anywhere near there again. I've just come from there and have stones thrown at me several times all over, even at Cambrian Wharf".

 

Sorry to hear that you have had so many problems.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Jess-- said:

an unusual one here...

No number on the house (although it is named) but to confuse things the road it is on has no name, so my address is "house name", "village name"
and of course to really confuse things the named village is 3 miles away.

generally our instructions for people trying to get here are "use satnav, then look for the aerial mast"

Much the same here, except the village is only about a mile away horizontally, and several hundred feet vertically.

Satnav will find our location from the postcode, but many systems route visitors in via an unmade private road which is in some places deeply rutted, in others extremely muddy and has a steep hairpin bend you can't get round in one, and is hard going in a 4x4 let alone the brand new mini which one of my daughter's friends once arrived in!

 

[Tonka]

Can someone remove all the posts moaning about post number's and like and let us get back to the proper topic.

Having been set adrift on a river in flood which is scary I really do wonder why people get so emotive about being set adrift on a canal. Honestly what are they on about. There are far more worse things that they could do to you or the boat.

[WotEver]

1 minute ago, Tonka said:

Can someone remove all the posts moaning about post number's and like and let us get back to the proper topic.

Why?

[Athy]

Sure thing Tonka, which numbers are they?

[WotEver]

Just now, Athy said:

Sure thing Tonka, which numbers are they?

[Wanderer Vagabond]

1 hour ago, Jerra said:

It would help me if I could  easily find the post to quote for you but for at least the third time in this thread: I am able to remember roughly the range of post numbers and can go back and find the post.   As all posts now don't have numbers I can't see when reading whether the thread has reached 100 or 500 posts therefore when I try to think back to look for a post I haven't a clue which page to start on.

At the top on the left hand side are the number of posts on a thread (this one is at 108 at the moment), divide that by 25 tells you we are on the 5th page. The inescapable fact is that someone, if they want to quote a previous post is going to have to trawl through them unless they have an amazing memory to recall the numbers of all posts.

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

Can someone remove all the posts moaning about post number's and like and let us get back to the proper topic.

Having been set adrift on a river in flood which is scary I really do wonder why people get so emotive about being set adrift on a canal. Honestly what are they on about. There are far more worse things that they could do to you or the boat.

I think that I did mention that the Windmill End incident (cast off and banging on the boat) was relatively trivial, although annoying. I don't however find having to clean spit off the cratch, being hit in the back by stones and having some oik repeatedly walk off with the boat pole (replacement cost £42 from Midland if I hadn't got it back off him) quite so trivial

[Wanderer Vagabond]

To revert back to topic, I see another thread has started concerning a damaged boat out at Star City. If the damage was other than accidental, I hope it isn't a sign of things to come.

Can anyone advise how easy it is to repair/replace broken narrow boat windows? I have every possible sympathy both with the boater at Star City and also for the owner of the boat in front of me in Merry Hill with the broken windows, but if it should happen to me (and I sincerely hope that it doesn't) I think it is essential to get the damage fixed as soon as possible. I think Local Authorities call it the 'broken window effect' whereby if damage (or graffiti) isn't dealt with swiftly it attracts even more.

[bizzard]

4 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

To revert back to topic, I see another thread has started concerning a damaged boat out at Star City. If the damage was other than accidental, I hope it isn't a sign of things to come.

Can anyone advise how easy it is to repair/replace broken narrow boat windows? I have every possible sympathy both with the boater at Star City and also for the owner of the boat in front of me in Merry Hill with the broken windows, but if it should happen to me (and I sincerely hope that it doesn't) I think it is essential to get the damage fixed as soon as possible. I think Local Authorities call it the 'broken window effect' whereby if damage (or graffiti) isn't dealt with swiftly it attracts even more.

The glass in full hopper type windows can usually be simply lifted out of the frame and new glass lifted in. Almost all other types would need the whole unit unscrewing from the boat and taken to bits to renew the glass.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

9 minutes ago, bizzard said:

The glass in full hopper type windows can usually be simply lifted out of the frame and new glass lifted in. Almost all other types would need the whole unit unscrewing from the boat and taken to bits to renew the glass.

Not good news really then, mine are portholes all around so a smaller target, but not a lot of fun to replace by the sound of it

[bizzard]

10 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Not good news really then, mine are portholes all around so a smaller target, but not a lot of fun to replace by the sound of it

I remember seeing it when you came up the Stort last summer.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

27 minutes ago, bizzard said:

I remember seeing it when you came up the Stort last summer.

Ah, I should have looked out for you when we moored in Bishop Stortford!

[Boat&Bikes]

Whilst I realise you can have hassles anywhere it seems Birmingham is not good right now. We were going this way in April, maybe we will bypass it. Shame.

Ian.

[nicknorman]

8 hours ago, ianali said:

Whilst I realise you can have hassles anywhere it seems Birmingham is not good right now. We were going this way in April, maybe we will bypass it. Shame.

Ian.

That might be an over-reaction! We've just come up the B&F, nightstopped in central brum - no problems. Along the old mainline and down Wolverhampton 21. No problems. Back up Stourbridge 16 / Delph, shopping stop Merry Hill, nightstopped Windmill end. No problems. New mainline to central brum for nightstop. No problems. Down Farmers bridge and Aston, nightstopped Star City, no problems. I'll have to eat my words if we fail to get back to Fazeley with no problems, but otherwise - no problems!

Weve never had a problem at Star City but personally I wouldn't leave a boat here unattended for long periods (days/weeks). The boat with the broken windows has been left unattended - no sign of the owner yet.

i also think things can be worse in winter due to a lack of boats - what boats there are stand out. In the summer, seeing boats is the norm.

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

8 hours ago, ianali said:

Whilst I realise you can have hassles anywhere it seems Birmingham is not good right now. We were going this way in April, maybe we will bypass it. Shame.

Ian.

These are random acts of anti-social behaviour and as such they will happen in fits and starts so you can't draw any firm conclusions that it has got worse on the evidence of this thread. Wanderer Vagabond had a bad experience and Nick didn't. Thousands of boats will pass through Brum this year with no problems but some will get set adrift, some will get missiles thrown at them and some will get spat at. Since when hasn't that happened in urban areas?

In summarising my own experiences I forgot about an incident of being bombarded with apples thrown from out of view while waiting below Factory locks on the BCNS/CCT boat Malus last August. It wasn't memorable enough to stop me from just getting on with enjoying my day on the canal. I mostly remember the families with kids that seem delighted by seeing a boat when on one of the lesser used parts of the BCN. It's still entirely possible that in 10 years time those same young kids will be the ones behaving anti-socially and in another 10 they will themselves be the parents of small kids delighted to see a boat. ''tis the way of the world.

JP

[tree monkey]

Just now, Captain Pegg said:

These are random acts of anti-social behaviour and as such they will happen in fits and starts so you can't draw any firm conclusions that it has got worse on the evidence of this thread. Wanderer Vagabond had a bad experience and Nick didn't. Thousands of boats will pass through Brum this year with no problems but some will get set adrift, some will get missiles thrown at them and some will get spat at. Since when hasn't that happened in urban areas?

In summarising my own experiences I forgot about an incident of being bombarded with apples thrown from out of view while waiting below Factory locks on the BCNS/CCT boat Malus last August. It wasn't memorable enough to stop me from just getting on with enjoying my day on the canal. I mostly remember the families with kids that seem delighted by seeing a boat when on one of the lesser used parts of the BCN. It's still entirely possible that in 10 years time those same young kids will be the ones behaving anti-socially and in another 10 they will themselves be the parents of small kids delighted to see a boat. ''tis the way of the world.

JP

Being bombarded  by apples whilst on a boat called Malus just shows how good the education system is in Brum, if you ask me

[Neil2]

Just now, Captain Pegg said:

These are random acts of anti-social behaviour and as such they will happen in fits and starts so you can't draw any firm conclusions that it has got worse on the evidence of this thread. Wanderer Vagabond had a bad experience and Nick didn't. Thousands of boats will pass through Brum this year with no problems but some will get set adrift, some will get missiles thrown at them and some will get spat at. Since when hasn't that happened in urban areas?

In summarising my own experiences I forgot about an incident of being bombarded with apples thrown from out of view while waiting below Factory locks on the BCNS/CCT boat Malus last August. It wasn't memorable enough to stop me from just getting on with enjoying my day on the canal. I mostly remember the families with kids that seem delighted by seeing a boat when on one of the lesser used parts of the BCN. It's still entirely possible that in 10 years time those same young kids will be the ones behaving anti-socially and in another 10 they will themselves be the parents of small kids delighted to see a boat. ''tis the way of the world.

JP

I agree it's important to keep things in proper perspective.  I'm ashamed to admit that as a small child I was led astray to spit at passing cars which were something of a novelty in those days, had we lived near a canal it might well have been passing boats.  I suppose I deserve to be on the receiving end one day. 

[MtB]

Getting back off topic, the reason I like post numbers stated when someone quotes the post is so I can easily go back and read the quotation in context.

When I see a post quoted I don't know if it is the whole post or a just a gobbet selected.

Or worse, the actual content of the quote have been edited (as I'm prone to doing mischievously from time to time). The post number is far easier to find than a date and time. In addition, if the post quoted is less than 24 hours old, you don't even get the date and time, just " 'x' hours ago".

 

 

(Edit to fiddle with the detail.)

Edited March 21, 2017 by Mike the Boilerman

[Dave_P]

Just now, tree monkey said:

Being bombarded  by apples whilst on a boat called Malus just shows how good the education system is in Brum, if you ask me

Did they throw maps at the people on the motor?

[mrsmelly]

Just now, Mike the Boilerman said:

Getting back off topic, the reason I like post numbers stated when someone quotes the post is so I can easily go back and read the quotation in context.

When I see a snippet quoted I don't know if it is the whole post or a tiny gobbet selected.

Or worse, the actual content of the quote have been edited (as I'm prone to doing mischievously from time to time). The post number is far easier to find than a date and time. In addition, if the post quoted is less than 24 hours old, you don't even get the date and time, just " 'x' hours ago"

Stop talking sense you will be banned.

[MtB]

22 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Your post is a GREAT example of how being forced to use only quotations can be manipulated. 

 

Excellent point, well made. Thank you!

[mrsmelly]

Just now, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Excellent point, well made. Thank you!

Luv it.

[mross]

Just now, mrsmelly said:

Stop talking sense you will be banned.

To see the context of this quote (I picked one at random) you can click on the arrow to the right of title.

Edited March 21, 2017 by mross