How Busy Can It Get?

[Smoggy]

I'm not daft, I've saved a pond full.

Problem is the frogs have done naughty things in it......

(Frogspawn not angry farmers on tractors)

[MauriceMynah]

I noticed in Google, when I was searching for something else,  that the Canal and River trust is attempting to make a financial move against 'continuous cruisers', and that those cruisers are arranging a protest. This was an article in 'The Standard' newspaper.  

It was headlined "Boaters to stage protest over 'discriminatory' price rises"

It will be interesting to see if their protest is in any way fruitful and how.

I wonder if BRAG is aware of the pressure group involved, and if there is any 'cross pollination' to be considered advantageous.

I have no idea how to do linky things, nor even how best to bring this article to the attention of BRAG. Perhaps one of you clever people might oblige.

[Meantime]

I think you are conflating two issues here and I'm not sure that the protest in London, and BRAG's aims have any real overlap.

The CRT are imposing an escalating surcharge on continuous cruisers without a home mooring, which on the face of it doesn't seem unfair. If you haven't got a home mooring, then your more likely to be making use of the facilities paid for by the toll more often and therefore an increased toll to reflect that extra usage seems fair.

The protest in London was by continuous cruisers and aimed at that specific increase, rather than the overall increases for all.

Edited to add:

The CRT are not attempting to make a financial move against continuous cruisers, they already have. The surcharge starts on the 1st April and increases each year for the next 4 years. By which stage continuous cruisers, those without a home mooring will be paying 25% more for their toll than those with a home mooring.

[RS2021]

The original concept of continuous cruising on the canals was for people with no home mooring who wanted to cruise the whole system to do so. Whilst some do do this many, especially round places like London and Bath have been dubbed 'continuous moorers' and only move the bare minimum to qualify as a 'continuous cruiser'. In some cases rotas are arranged to swap mooring spots on agreed dates. Imagine the Broads with the 24 hour moorings fully occupied by boaters who swap each day leaving no space for leisure boaters. Liveaboards on the canals used to be boaters who wanted that lifestyle and accepted living 'under the radar'. Now a large proportion just see it as cheap housing and perhaps the real issue in many places is lack of affordable housing.

[NeilB]

Here’s a link. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68694486.amp
 

I also think a surcharge for continuous cruisers is not unreasonable.  Hire boats have a surcharge due to increased usage so why not liveaboards with no home mooring?

I’m sure the BA are fully aware and taking notes….  

[RS2021]

12 minutes ago, NeilB said:

Here’s a link. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68694486.amp
 

Lazy reporting. It talks about a protest in London, but the main picture is Birmingham! Might be a picture of a protest for something else entirely.

[Mouldy]

We headed for Beccles yesterday and noted that there were three yachts with a certain patina occupying the Worlingham moorings.  Interested to see that one of them had been moved this morning alongside one of the others to make space for an outboard equipped dinghy to moor there.

Its obviously not worth checking the BA webpage to ascertain whether they were tolled, as we know that it may not be up to date, but it already seems apparent that some live aboard/continuous cruisers are already doing the same thing on The Broads.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that some people can’t afford housing and have turned to the Broadland rivers as an alternative, but those of us who wish to legitimately use the rivers and moorings that we pay to use, are going to be denied the privilege if something isn’t done soon.

[dom]

2 hours ago, RS2021 said:

Imagine the Broads with the 24 hour moorings fully occupied by boaters who swap each day leaving no space for leisure boaters.

Visit certain moorings on the northern Broads at times and you needn't bother imagining.

I'm quite pro-liveaboard, having done it myself to a degree in the past, but the Broads simply don't have enough moorings to accommodate continuous cruising at scale. I think we're likely to see a large upswing in numbers in coming years, which could cause major issues, particularly when the people involved are those who've not been supported for social issues. There's only ever going to be so much social housing the state can provide and it's already excessively pressured by new demand.

[MauriceMynah]

I have noticed an annoying trend for starting anything said with the word "So", so I thought I'd just join in.

So, here I lie on my bunk listening to the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof, and find myself remembering the Flanders and Swann song of the weather which included the lines

"April brings its fresh spring showers,  that go on for hours and hours."

I had been wondering if it was actually worth getting up out of bed, when blow me down, it stopped raining.

Re-enthused with... well... enthusiasm,  I decided to arise from the pit. "Things to do, people to see" as they say. 

With an almighty flurry ... I did nothing (it was a very impressive flurry, though I say it myself). "Why this sudden surge of inactivity ?" You ask. Because its just started raining again. That's why. 

So (see, I did it again) I have to point out that I dislike eating or drinking in bed. Breakfast in bed is no luxury for me an never has been. Libations under the duvet are overrated ending up with spillage on the pillow and ice wandering towards places I wish it not to. 

Now, (seemed like an alternative to "So") I have reason to get out of bed sometime today. Libations!  Better have some breakfast first though.

And it does seem to have stopped raining again. 

[Meantime]

So, whilst I agree with you about the annoying trend for starting the sentence with the word so, there has to be an even more annoying trend, like, of finishing like every sentence with the work like and as if like that isn't bad enough, it get like thrown in all over the sentence like, along with it's cousin innit, like.

So, like, here's a warning to make the most of the rain like, cuz I'm coming to the Broads for a week tomorrow like and it's like going to be sunny every day innit, like.

[marshman]

It might not rain, and indeed, I hope not, but if Norfolk remains true to form, the area is likely to remain blanketed with cloud!

[ExSurveyor]

I hate so to start a sentence, it used to be the preserve of academics.

My other pet hate is official spokespersons saying " you know" every sentence, No, we don't know that is why we are being forced to listen to you.

And my final hate, well for this morning, Really really. Stop it, using it twice doesn't double its power.

So, you know, it is really really annoying.

[marshman]

Ooops - the sun has just popped out!!!!!!

[Smoggy]

So I guess you'll be getting out your pit after all like.

[floydraser]

"So, have some Madeira M'dear!"

You can't express in writing but going up at the end of a sentence as if asking a question? Annoying.

Ever heard anyone finishing a phone call these days? Bye, bye, bye, bye,bye, bye, bye, bye.

[Meantime]

17 minutes ago, marshman said:

It might not rain, and indeed, I hope not, but if Norfolk remains true to form, the area is likely to remain blanketed with cloud!

Stop being such a doom monger, the forecast is actually looking pretty good for next week. 

[Mouldy]

37 minutes ago, ExSurveyor said:

I hate so to start a sentence, it used to be the preserve of academics.

My other pet hate is official spokespersons saying " you know" every sentence, No, we don't know that is why we are being forced to listen to you.

And my final hate, well for this morning, Really really. Stop it, using it twice doesn't double its power.

So, you know, it is really really annoying.

Don't start me . . . . . . . . . no, really, please don’t start me.  The soapbox will be out!

Noooooooo! Too late.  If we’re on about pet hates, where has this habit of making a statement, but emphasising the end of a sentence to make it sound like a question come from?  Grinds my gears.

And when written, the use of ‘of’ instead of have - he shouldn’t of done, for example  Just wrong.  It doesn’t make grammatical sense.  Another one that I see more of now is the use of the word ‘are’ instead of our - that’s are house, for example.  What is being taught at school these days?

We say we’re proud to be British, but have no pride of our language.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

Don't start me . . . . . . . . . no, really, please don’t start me.  The soapbox will be out!

Noooooooo! Too late.  If we’re on about pet hates, where has this habit of making a statement, but emphasising the end of a sentence to make it sound like a question come from?  Grinds my gears.

And when written, the use of ‘of’ instead of have - he shouldn’t of done, for example  Just wrong.  It doesn’t make grammatical sense.  Another one that I see more of now is the use of the word ‘are’ instead of our - that’s are house, for example.  What is being taught at school these days?

We say we’re proud to be British, but have no pride of our language.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Yeh, like wot he sed! OMG! Totes amazeballs!

[dom]

I always interpret so at the start of a spoken sentence as indicative that the person thinks they're superior, and they're pausing to decide whether to dumb down what they want to say. There's obviously a close correlation between this and ExSurveyor's view that it stems from academia.

The new one I'm starting to notice now, is people from the US either using words in the wrong context, or omitting words, depending on how you view things, ie.

UK: "The dog needs feeding" or "the dog needs to be fed"

US: "The dog needs fed"

It seems to have started in the last year or so.

So, no doubt we'll start to hear it here soon

 

[MauriceMynah]

So, like, what an amazeballs hornets nest I seem to have poked. I really really hope we don't drift off of (another hate for me) it too soon. 

The upward emphasis at like the end of a sentence is, I believe an antipodean habit innit.

"You know" has been ending sentences for many years now,  but has now frequently grown to "you know what I mean". Whilst this is grammatically an improvement it is still a rhetorical nonsense.

I remember my father once complaining about, as he called it, this verbal diarrhoea. He objected to it so strongly he came up with his own nonsense. If someone stated the obvious, made a totally unnecessary point or in any other way made some meaningless comment, my father would reply "Well there you are, where are you"

 

[Regulo]

So, it is what it is, know what I mean, and lately everythink is incredible. Do you know what, I should of got over myself by now, worrying about grammar, but my bugbear is apostrophe misuse. So, whatever, chillax, dudes. Or is it guys? 

[dom]

6 minutes ago, Regulo said:

but my bugbear is apostrophe misuse.

The fact people use possessive apostophes incorrectly is something I've got over now from a grammatical perspective - but it now tends to annoy me because "why the *@%! are you typing an extra character which isn't needed"? My brain can't grasp why people who don't understand how to use something don't just omit it, as it's less work and it'd make them look less illiterate.

I used to test customer service staff during interviews to see if they could type "its" twice in the same sentence, once possessive, once abbreviated. People these days don't even know what the two words mean 

[Regulo]

The liberal use of the f word is another measure of our declining use of vocabulary. To be fair, it's nothing new. Dave and I asked his pal what was wrong with his car, and got, "F***, the f***ing f***er won't f***ing start, f*** it, for f***ing f***s sake". He'd managed to get 7 swear words in one sentence! 

[dom]

There are times when, despite the richness and complexity of the English language, only an F word can convey the true nature of the situation. Cars (and boats) are often involved in those situations

[kpnut]

So now I’m going to have be really, really, really careful about typing about are (my and Finlays) jollies. And just when I was thinking ‘you no what, its like getting real boring to read all this f* stuff from that dog and it’s owner.’

 

Mind you, while typing those its and it’s, the predictive text kept putting in the apostrophe before I had written the rest of the sentence. Therein lies part of the problem!