Pleasures of living on the River - NOT

suzanne

New member
Joined
9 Mar 2000
Messages
399
Location
Thames
Visit site
People tell me that i am extremely fortunate to live on the river, and most of the time i would agree but lately the down side of it all is turning me into a miserable moaning old woman, and no its not because i live with my Nan. Saturday night i went out and got fairly hammered, my own fault i know but no work on Sunday nice peaceful day to recover, or not. It was 8:30 on the Sunday morning and i was rudely awoken by some idiot on a bike with a load hailer screaming at his rowers. They had stoppped outside my house and were having a rather loud chat. He wasn't the only one, this continued until about mid-day. Hungover or not, its not a nice way to wake up on a Sunday morning and 8:30 for me is not a nice time to wake up on a Sunday morning. What really annoys me is that a few hundred yards up-stream is the Desborough cut where they could shout and chat all they liked and no one would know.

My next complaint has to be the fisherman who camp opposite. Would someone be allowed to camp outside a house in a street and stare all night? They chat all night, their buzzers are constantly going and i swear they could be casing the joint for all we know, seeing when the lights go out and when the cars are in the drive etc, i hate it!

Finally it has to be the wash that some boats make. The EA are trying to improve on the patrolling of this but like most authorities they're never around when it actually occurs. Its been so bad recently that a couple of weeks ago i checked my little Broom Scorpio and to my horror found it was full of water and sinking, the keel had cracked where it had been bashed on the bottom so many times, there isn't a draght problem normally but with the river lower than usual and waves high than usual, bottoms collide. This is an ongoing problem and nothing new but it does make me wonder whether speed cameras or wash monitors would be the way to go. Im several hundred pounds down and nobody to blame!
Thank you for listening to me moan, i'll go back to work now.
 

aztec

Active member
Joined
10 Oct 2001
Messages
2,522
Location
Poole Dorset
Visit site
I'd love to live on the river... might be an option once my divorce is finalised.

beats the hell out of living in the car!

steve.
 

Captain Coochie

Active member
Joined
19 Apr 2003
Messages
13,584
Location
London
Visit site
Im with you on the loud hailer thing ! They quite often stop next to my boat and shout over the top of it when im asleep inside . Im thinking of getting a hailer myself so i can reply from my bed /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

chuckaduck

Active member
Joined
1 May 2006
Messages
1,814
Location
Slowcation
www.coolphotographic.com
[ QUOTE ]
I'd rather live on the river than not. Balance the grief against all the goodies and you come out miles ahead.

[/ QUOTE ]

Byron sums it up well

as to The robos ( my fave rant ) well they seem to think they own the river they resent others being there have no manners or sensability
You could complain to the ARA
I did earlier this year about swearing and abusive behaviour from their members at twickers and richmond had a good response and since they generally have been behaving themselves.

The fishermen are in general an ok bunch and I do take your point , perhaps you might put up a polite notice where they fish from ?

Wash is a problem its not due to speeding but in the main I think ( correct me here ) that it is cruisers and boats with displacement hulls even at 4 knts they do create substantial wash mostly this is ok where there are no moorings but they should slow where there moorings but dont causing havaoc
The pleasure cruisers are bad too they whizz up and down and dont give a figs wotsit
Perhaps the equivilent of speed humps ? I dont know the soloution perhaps a large sign with

DANGER LARGE DEBRIS HERE !!
 

Andrew_Fanner

New member
Joined
13 Mar 2002
Messages
8,514
Location
ked into poverty by children
Visit site
Des cut is fine for rowing, straight and what have you, but probably not much fun to share with cruisers, hence using the reach just down from there, nice and wide, plenty of space to play etc.

The EA could help a lot if they posted their speed limit in the sort of units found on most boats, knots and not kmh. Consistency with other EA rivers may help too!
 

byron

RIP
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
9,584
Location
UK -Berks
Visit site
I brought up the question of Km & Knots with John Redmond (now retired) long before it was brought in. The reply I got was they wanted to be consistent with Europe. I pointed out that Knots are international including Europe. I also pointed out that the new speed signs proposed would be read as Knots and not Km. To this he shrugged his shoulders as if to say "well thats what we are going to do, lump it"
Sure enough the signs went up and at great expense every last one had to have the letters "Km" added because all read "8K" as 8 knots.
The Envag seem to have little or no marine knowledge. I cannot be certain but I think there is no longer one Master Mariner in the River Inspector ranks.
 

Andrew_Fanner

New member
Joined
13 Mar 2002
Messages
8,514
Location
ked into poverty by children
Visit site
Byron.

That is one of the most depressing, and unsurprising, tales I have ever heard about EA. A prime example of an organisation whose time has passed, or one that needs a serious kick in the backside. No longer motivated by what they are supposed to do, simply that they are supposed to be seen to do it.

I am very minded to send them an "innocent" letter asking about 8 kmh as opposed to posted signs on the Medway saying 5 knots, including bits where most boats can't get, above Big Bridge in Tonbridge!
 

robind

New member
Joined
23 Jul 2003
Messages
1,568
Location
sussex
Visit site
Dont the EA have a responsibility to ensure that there is sufficient water in the Thames at all times? they have sluices and can adjust the rate of atrician of their water cant they? do they do a good enough job looking after the river for its users and inhabitants. I dont understand how they can close off large sections of the river for long periods and still expect users to pay the full amount. anybody out there have other opinions? is its management adequate, it is after all government sponsored and we know just how good they are at running things.
 
Top