Barge skippers

fredrussell

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A cautionary tale: My friend crews on various barges. Before she got into barges she would occasionally have a lager tops on a night out. Now she is almost always sozzled on ale. More worrying than that, she has even started dabbling in folk music, and has been reported on more than one occasion for torturing an accordion.
 

Bristolfashion

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A cautionary tale: My friend crews on various barges. Before she got into barges she would occasionally have a lager tops on a night out. Now she is almost always sozzled on ale. More worrying than that, she has even started dabbling in folk music, and has been reported on more than one occasion for torturing an accordion.
I hope she can be saved before the worst befalls her .......... Morris dancing!
 

Daydream believer

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A cautionary tale: My friend crews on various barges. Before she got into barges she would occasionally have a lager tops on a night out. Now she is almost always sozzled on ale. More worrying than that, she has even started dabbling in folk music, and has been reported on more than one occasion for torturing an accordion.
Starts with being drawn in to the smell of tar, then goes on to baggy wrinkle & beards. No turning back once they grow a beard. :rolleyes:
 

RivalRedwing

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A cautionary tale: My friend crews on various barges. Before she got into barges she would occasionally have a lager tops on a night out. Now she is almost always sozzled on ale. More worrying than that, she has even started dabbling in folk music, and has been reported on more than one occasion for torturing an accordion.
reminded me of:
 

MikeBz

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A cautionary tale: My friend crews on various barges. Before she got into barges she would occasionally have a lager tops on a night out. Now she is almost always sozzled on ale. More worrying than that, she has even started dabbling in folk music, and has been reported on more than one occasion for torturing an accordion.

Don't you mean "torturing with an accordion"?
 

johnalison

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Don't you mean "torturing with an accordion"?
According to a chap on TV who is so well known that I've forgotten his name, it was the spread of the accordion that was responsible for changing folk music for the worse. Prior to the accordion tuning would have been to the needs of the piece played but the accordion's equal temperament forced the music into having the same tuning. I have no special dislike of the accordion, rating it just below the kazoo and above most things that go twang.
 

Jon4468

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I see that the A mark is now on the hard, did the tackle get recovered?
The same barge nearly hit it again yesterday on it’s way back in🤣
 

fredrussell

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I hope she can be saved before the worst befalls her .......... Morris dancing!
Your warning comes too late! The bells on her knees are a bit of a blessing though as her fellow residents get vital warning of the approach of (yet another) ale-crazed harridan stalking the narrow lanes of old Harwich town.
 
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Bristolfashion

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According to a chap on TV who is so well known that I've forgotten his name, it was the spread of the accordion that was responsible for changing folk music for the worse. Prior to the accordion tuning would have been to the needs of the piece played but the accordion's equal temperament forced the music into having the same tuning. I have no special dislike of the accordion, rating it just below the kazoo and above most things that go twang.
A trombone "choir" of alto, two tenors & bass can produce some really heavenly music - partly because the players tune to each other, rather than some equally tempered instrument - similar to a string quartet.
 

johnalison

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A trombone "choir" of alto, two tenors & bass can produce some really heavenly music - partly because the players tune to each other, rather than some equally tempered instrument - similar to a string quartet.
Years ago I made a slightly disparaging remark to a young trombone player, a friend of our son who plays the horn, about the volume of noise trombonists can make. He made the interesting point to me that what trombonists actually enjoy most was playing very softly, which he demonstrated, and preferably the kind of chordal music you refer to.
 

Bristolfashion

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Years ago I made a slightly disparaging remark to a young trombone player, a friend of our son who plays the horn, about the volume of noise trombonists can make. He made the interesting point to me that what trombonists actually enjoy most was playing very softly, which he demonstrated, and preferably the kind of chordal music you refer to.
Yes, it certainly has a has dynamic range - from whisper quiet to being the loudest in the orchestra - my brass teacher way back when called the trombone "the king of the orchestra", but, as a rather fine professional bass trombonist, he was biased!

The ability to pitch precisely gives the instrument another interesting side - after a forty year layoff, I'm thinking of taking it up again as insurance for when the fingers become less flexible. This pitching may be the reason that the double bass was my instrument of choice later in life.
 

Slowboat35

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I wonder if I am the only one here who also thinks that skippers who run down bouys (let alone ones who run them down, drag them out of place and don't make strenuous efforts to contact the owners and arrange restitution`) are indeed brian-dead - or worse?

That is an appalling lack of seamanship, morality and not least simple manners.

To all the critical begrudgers above, what if that bouy had been your anchored yacht, or your tender with your kids in it fishing? You'd all be singing a completely different tune, wouldn't you?
I fnd it simply astonishing that on a yottie forum that people have the nerve to criticise an objection to reckless aka dangerous navigation without proper lookout. Twice. What's the matter with you all?

ffs.
 

Major_Clanger

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I wonder if I am the only one here who also thinks that skippers who run down bouys (let alone ones who run them down, drag them out of place and don't make strenuous efforts to contact the owners and arrange restitution`) are indeed brian-dead - or worse?

That is an appalling lack of seamanship, morality and not least simple manners.

To all the critical begrudgers above, what if that bouy had been your anchored yacht, or your tender with your kids in it fishing? You'd all be singing a completely different tune, wouldn't you?

ffs.
Another overly-dramatic response, FFS! ;)

How do you know the skipper didn't try to make contact?

The barge hit a mark which got 'hooked' on one of the anchor flukes and so was pulled out of position. If you believe that amounts to "an appalling lack of seamanship" then I'd hate to see your reaction to a genuine crisis.

Rather than drift into the realms of fantasy and supposition, let's remember that it wasn't a yacht.... It wasn't a tender with children in it..... It was a small mark with no navigational significance.

I'm not blindly defending the barge crew, it was a cock-up and cock-ups happen. Everyone makes them - heaven knows I've seen enough fellow yachtsmen making monumental, and potentially dangerous, mistakes while they're still tied-up in the marina!

I race semi-regularly with the OGA, so you're welcome to find me at the bar of the SSC and we can put the world to rights.
 

Bristolfashion

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I wonder if I am the only one here who also thinks that skippers who run down bouys (let alone ones who run them down, drag them out of place and don't make strenuous efforts to contact the owners and arrange restitution`) are indeed brian-dead - or worse?
Oh no - is Brian dead?😊
 
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