I WAS delighted to see that our masters had at last acknowledged our snap poll that so censured British Waterways hierarchy.

The Liveaboard Life website's headline: '98 per cent want Hales and Evans out of Canal and River Trust' must have really hurt.  So much in fact that British Waterways made a vain attempt to nullify it by the pronouncement that 'British Waterways are confident that the result of the poll, while reflecting the opinions of narrowboatworld, is not representative of ministers, trustees or waterways stakeholders as a whole'.

Oh no! It certainly did not reflect the opinions of narrowboatworld. It reflected the opinions of 3825 people—having no connection with narrowboatworld whatsoever.  And the question was purposely not weighted in any way, and was in fact during the time Chairman Hales had written to every boater outlining his own opinions, so any influence that narrowboatworld had would surely have been negated.

As for 'not being representative of ministers, trustees or waterways stakeholders as a whole', I wouldn't think even those ministers, trustees or stakeholders would be too enamoured by the money lost on those ill thought-out schemes or colossal salaries and bonuses, would you?

Will it or won't it

But will there ever be a Canal & River Trust?  When it was first muted, I stated I had my doubts, and already it is being delayed, by we are not really sure of how many months.

The amount of money available from the government, anyone can see, will not be enough to stop the now constant deterioration of the waterways.  As our Thomas puts it, it needs a permanent income stream, and a lot less spend on inflated salaries and bonuses of those in charge.

Silly sods

Y'know, I just cannot raise any sympathy for those people who leaped from a pub balcony into the Ouse and then drowned.  What the hell did they expect, especially if they were most likely well inebriated?

Time after time we read of people in similar situations, with our Thomas getting in the neck for publishing about drunks drowning after staggering by water or jumping in.

If people leap off a balcony and drown, I would think the best thing would be to shut the balcony off from such fools.

Others too

The two fishermen attempting to fish in what looks like little more than a coracle, around Cromwell Lock, were a little short of the grey matter too.

It is stated that the Trent carries more water that any other river in this country, and the way it piles over the weir at Cromwell should be a warning to anyone—but obviously not to those fishermen, one who regrettably paid the ultimate penalty.

Silly idea

It was four months ago that I rather upset Terry Fogarty, who had the idea to revamp the narrow Camp Hill Locks in Birmingham, to 'speed up the city's canals through a diagonal lock scheme', as an alternative to spending billions on a high speed rail link connecting the city to London.

His idea of using the Grand Union Canal as a means of getting between the two cities can hardly be for passengers—it took us just under a week, which does not bode well against 40 minutes on the high speed train—so his idea must be for freight.

Perhaps he is not aware that there is little money for maintenance these days, and in fact the Grand Union Canal will be closed for a couple of month as it leaks!  Even if money was miraculously made available, who really would want to move their freight by a method that was superseded by the sheer speed and convenience of both rail and road over 100 years ago?

Forget it Terry, for the high speed rail link has been approved—and who in their right minds would prefer 4mph to 140mph—except for leisure use as the canals are now?

All gone

I really was in favour of Hargreaves moving coal from Kellingley Colliery to Ferrybridge Power Station on the Aire & Calder straight into the pans at the pit then up the lift with the coal straight into the power station.  But even that was scrapped in favour of lorries, with three Hargreaves wagons seen in the picture coming back empty for more coal. So what chance the canals?

Of course we often read of some council wanting to show its 'green' credentials by promoting freight by water to take 'thousands of lorries off the roads', but it comes to nothing.

Even supermarkets get themselves a bit of 'green' publicity by an occasional load of cardboard or waste by water, but that too is of no consequence.

It's the past—and long gone.

Victor Swift