Thursday 15 November 2012

Goodbye Narrowboat World

I've finally decided to delete on-line "news" magazine Narrowboat World from my list of Waterways Links on this blog. I've been getting increasingly fed up with its constant carping and negative attitude towards the Canal and River Trust, who I think ought to be given a fair chance to prove themselves as suitable guardians of the waterways as successors to British Waterways (who I didn't think were actually all that bad, considering.)

The final straw was a stupid post by contributor Allan Richards accusing the Inland Waterways Association of hypocrisy for encouraging the Trust to enforce the rules on continuous cruising (under which boats without a home mooring must move on at least every fourteen days as part of a progressive journey around the network) on the basis that the IWA's founder, Tom Rolt, moored his boat at Tardebigge for an alleged 1800 days.

The "continuous cruising" rules were introduced in an Act of Parliament in 1995. Tom Rolt was at Tardebigge exactly 50 years before: the 1995 legislation was not retrospective!

There is a need for an on-line "newspaper" covering the waterways, but I can't put up with Narrowboat World's drivel any longer.

8 comments:

Amy said...

Well said! I have long ago given up reading their website unless I want a laugh!

Anonymous said...

Yes - you have hit the nail right on the head!
They come over as a bunch of petty whingers and moaners - nothing is ever good enough.
My sub to their RSS feed was deleted because their output was constantly irritating me.

Andy Tidy said...

Jim - I concluded that life is too short for all the moaning. Hey, I love the canals and whilst they are not perfect there is more to be gained by enthusing and adopting a can do attitude than constantly sniping at the powers that be.

Nick Holt said...

Jim, I agree with you, I've deleted the link from my site as they simply seem unable to enjoy the joys of our wonderful waterways...

Too Eeyore for my liking!

Neil Corbett said...

Like everybody else here, I gave up reading it ages ago. It's good to know there are others who feel the same.

Mike and Poppy said...

There is of course an opposite side to the coin, or viewpoint. If you were ever in the military you would know that a soldier that isn't complaining is an unhappy soldier. Complaining is part of human nature – so, don’t feel it is unusual or a questionable practice. In my experience the people that complain about what they see as "bad practices" are usually the ones that actually care.

I don't always agree with items in NBW - but I am prepared to accept their viewpoint and agree to disagree.


Mick n Mags

Jim said...

Mike, Mags, Poppy and Abbey,

I used to work in the public transport business, so I've had my fair share of complaints! I also accept NBW's right to say whatever they wish - I just don't want to read it anymore.

Andrew Denny said...

The argument that Tom Rolt 'squatted for 1800 days' is simply nonsense. In those days there was rarely a charge for mooring up; instead, you paid the toll for *moving*.

A better analogy would be if they found evidence Cressy had moved during that time without paying tolls.

Which it didn't. I have read the original Cressy log.

But Rolt also had a reserved occupation during the war, and it's likely he would have had dispensation to stay there. His place of residence would have been key to his work.