Shopping Trolley!

[Salty Sealine]

On a wet miserable day we all need a laugh....

A week ago last Friday had a good run down to Teddington with a view to going to London and back on the Saturday afternoon. I thought high tide was at 13:30 at Teddington.

Went to pay my mooring fee and discovered that high tide was either 4.30 and 17.30, oops. Then found out that the strech between Tedders and Richmond was 3 foot lower at all states of the tide.

Decided to go through Tedders at about midday, even though the lock keeper advised against it. Just past Richmond I hit the bottom, lift the legs, drifted a bit, dropped the legs, hit the bottom and so on for about 50 meters.

I was getting closer to the Richmond gates/bridge and decided that I had better drop the anchor and wait for the tide to rise. So hit the button on the flybridge and anchor drops with a load of chain. Boat swings round, holds for a second and then I realise I am drifting backwards towards the bridge. Oh feck! At this momenet the anchor pops out of the water and is firmly attached to a shopping trolley.

So wind in the anchor and drift through the bridge. Luckily on the other side there is enough water for to drop the legs and motor across to the lock. Hauling anchor, chain and shopping trolley to the stern and hauling on board to disassemble was hard work.

Morale of the story - should have waited at Tedders for another hour.

 

[Richard Shead]

Yes

On a wet miserable day we all need a laugh....

A week ago last Friday had a good run down to Teddington with a view to going to London and back on the Saturday afternoon. I thought high tide was at 13:30 at Teddington.

Went to pay my mooring fee and discovered that high tide was either 4.30 and 17.30, oops. Then found out that the strech between Tedders and Richmond was 3 foot lower at all states of the tide.

Decided to go through Tedders at about midday, even though the lock keeper advised against it. Just past Richmond I hit the bottom, lift the legs, drifted a bit, dropped the legs, hit the bottom and so on for about 50 meters.

I was getting closer to the Richmond gates/bridge and decided that I had better drop the anchor and wait for the tide to rise. So hit the button on the flybridge and anchor drops with a load of chain. Boat swings round, holds for a second and then I realise I am drifting backwards towards the bridge. Oh feck! At this momenet the anchor pops out of the water and is firmly attached to a shopping trolley.

So wind in the anchor and drift through the bridge. Luckily on the other side there is enough water for to drop the legs and motor across to the lock. Hauling anchor, chain and shopping trolley to the stern and hauling on board to disassemble was hard work.

Morale of the story - should have waited at Tedders for another hour.

Doing that stretch during the draw off is never a good idea.....

Good job you did not go round the back of eel pie! to give you an idea I walked across from Twick without using the bridge and without getting my feet wet!

 

[teddington_lock]

Wish more people would listen to us .... we are only trying to help.

The amount of people that seem to think that they know best and that we are trying to ruin their day is unbeleiveable sometimes.

( Not for a minute suggesting that you thought this way , but the way we are spoken to sometimes beggars belief ) ...

I had someone phone me up the other day when the level from Molesey to Sunbury got a bit low , and the first thing they insisted on telling me was ' I've been on the river for twenty years ..... blah blah blah '

Then later on in the conversation they asked me for the umpteenth time why it was low ( i tried to explain that it wasn't my reach so didn't know ) they then asked me whether it was because ' someone has left both ends of the lock open ' ...

Surely if you were that knowledgable about the river , and have been on it for so long , you would have known that that can't happen ...

Or am i missing something ...

 

[oldgit]

"At this momenet the anchor pops out of the water and is firmly attached to a shopping trolley.


Most certainly hope it was from one of the better emporiums and not from rough places such as Lidle or Aldi,both of which are strangers to my custom, although have heard a rumour that their smoked salmon and white wine selection is very acceptable.

 

[Richard Shead]

Hmm

"At this momenet the anchor pops out of the water and is firmly attached to a shopping trolley.


Most certainly hope it was from one of the better emporiums and not from rough places such as Lidle or Aldi,both of which are strangers to my custom, although have heard a rumour that their smoked salmon and white wine selection is very acceptable.

We don't have those sort of stores in and around Richmond......

 

[rr_123]

Then later on in the conversation they asked me for the umpteenth time why it was low ( i tried to explain that it wasn't my reach so didn't know ) they then asked me whether it was because ' someone has left both ends of the lock open ' ...

Surely if you were that knowledgable about the river , and have been on it for so long , you would have known that that can't happen ...

Or am i missing something ...

seen it done with the sluices... also had bow on one side of the lock, and stern on the other... great crew otherwise.

I only went for a pee

 

[teddington_lock]

I do it at least once a year in the summer ....

Someone will start talking to you as you are at the tail pedestal and you forget to shut the sluices , you go up to the head pedestal and open the head sluices ....

5 minutes later you think ' Why isn't it filling up ? ........... AH !!! '

Schoolboy error , very embarrasing.

The conversation i had with whoever it was didn't refer to the sluices ..... you could leave them running full all day and all night and it would have virtually no effect .

 

[Chris_d]

Wish more people would listen to us .... we are only trying to help.

The amount of people that seem to think that they know best and that we are trying to ruin their day is unbeleiveable sometimes.

( Not for a minute suggesting that you thought this way , but the way we are spoken to sometimes beggars belief ) ...

I had someone phone me up the other day when the level from Molesey to Sunbury got a bit low , and the first thing they insisted on telling me was ' I've been on the river for twenty years ..... blah blah blah '

Then later on in the conversation they asked me for the umpteenth time why it was low ( i tried to explain that it wasn't my reach so didn't know ) they then asked me whether it was because ' someone has left both ends of the lock open ' ...

Surely if you were that knowledgable about the river , and have been on it for so long , you would have known that that can't happen ...

Or am i missing something ...

Twenty years is nothing on the river, i've been on forty and i'm still learning, swmbo has done twenty years and I still have to tell her if we are going up or down

 

[Gavi]

I do it at least once a year in the summer ....

Someone will start talking to you as you are at the tail pedestal and you forget to shut the sluices , you go up to the head pedestal and open the head sluices ....

5 minutes later you think ' Why isn't it filling up ? ........... AH !!! '

Schoolboy error , very embarrasing.

The conversation i had with whoever it was didn't refer to the sluices ..... you could leave them running full all day and all night and it would have virtually no effect .

I love and appreciate the honesty A pint to your health.

 

[TrueBlue]

Wish more people would listen to us .... we are only trying to help.
... because ' someone has left both ends of the lock open ' ...

Surely if you were that knowledgeable about the river , and have been on it for so long , you would have known that that can't happen ...

Or am i missing something ...

Possibly a new member of your management team????

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Seriously, I am continually amazed by the total lack of knowledge or understanding of many (most) boaters on the River.
I'm sure the vast majority use it as a means of getting from one pub/eatery to another, rather than enjoying the ancient infrastructure, the scenery and the attendants with phones clamped to their ears who may / may not be at each lock.
OK, it doesn't really matter - my amazement that is, but I find it sad that such folks miss so much by not connecting with the environment.

Perhaps it's because my helming position is so much nearer the water than others' that I connect.

I think folks are afraid to ask; a sign of the times, don't make eye contact, don't ask a question (or even think "why is that?") in case you night be made to feel a fool?

For instance:-
Why switch off engines in the lock?
Why shouldn't you start engines before the gates open?
Why turn off the cooker when in a lock?
Why turn off the radio / MP3 player?
Why is there no one on duty?
What is the yellow ball?
Does the river stop for lunch, and why shouldn't I stop in the middle of the layby to have mine....

Why,
why,
why

I do and have and as a consequence my knowledge and incidentally my enjoyment of the Thames has increased in leaps and bounds.