Chill
Well-Known Member
Think he must of Beeen referring to Hire boats! Most motor boat owners are rather clever!!
The Question that no one wants to ask...
- Thread starter oldgit
- Start date
oldgit
Well-Known Member
The point of this question was that from the point of view of those of us who boat elsewhere,it appears that some Thames boaters who have grown up with the concept of a lockeeper at every lock,appear to believe that it will continue as some sort of divine right.
No matter about protestations that the sheer amount of traffic on the Thames demands the present staffing levels ,suspect that owners of leisure boats who actually use the locks do not pay enough to fund the present levels of lock manning (no howls of protest this early in the morning please.
)
Kayakers and canoists can use the portage,rowers mainly only use the pound they launch in only motorboats travel long distances requiring multiple lock transits.Fishermen probably prefer the gates never to open and walkers care little for anything other than no ropes across the tow path to trip them up.
Suspect you are going to have to pay more even to keep what you have at present.
Unless of course a minor miricle happens and the powers that be decide to turn the Thames into some sort of national park and get everyone financially benefitting from the Thames singing from the same hymn sheet and contributing towards its up keep.
That will need legislation.
Perhaps it could be first on Jeremy Corbens nationalisation list.
No matter about protestations that the sheer amount of traffic on the Thames demands the present staffing levels ,suspect that owners of leisure boats who actually use the locks do not pay enough to fund the present levels of lock manning (no howls of protest this early in the morning please.
) Kayakers and canoists can use the portage,rowers mainly only use the pound they launch in only motorboats travel long distances requiring multiple lock transits.Fishermen probably prefer the gates never to open and walkers care little for anything other than no ropes across the tow path to trip them up.
Suspect you are going to have to pay more even to keep what you have at present.
Unless of course a minor miricle happens and the powers that be decide to turn the Thames into some sort of national park and get everyone financially benefitting from the Thames singing from the same hymn sheet and contributing towards its up keep.
That will need legislation.
Perhaps it could be first on Jeremy Corbens nationalisation list.
Last edited:
TrueBlue
Well-Known Member
The point of this question was that from the point of view of those of us who boat elsewhere,it appears that some Thames boaters who have grown up with the concept of a lockeeper at every lock,appear to believe that it will continue as some sort of divine right.
No matter about protestations that the sheer amount of traffic on the Thames demands the present staffing levels ,suspect that owners of leisure boats who actually use the locks do not pay enough to fund the present levels of lock manning (no howls of protest this early in the morning please.
Kayakers and canoists can use the portage,rowers mainly only use the pound they launch in only motorboats travel long distances requiring multiple lock transits.Fishermen probably prefer the gates never to open and walkers care little for anything other than no ropes across the tow path to trip them up.
Suspect you are going to have to pay more even to keep what you have at present.
Unless of course a minor miricle happens and the powers that be decide to turn the Thames into some sort of national park and get everyone financially benefitting from the Thames singing from the same hymn sheet and contributing towards its up keep.
That will need legislation.
Perhaps it could be first on Jeremy Corbens nationalisation list.
Surprisingly (IMO) the lockies are not primarily there as paid flunkies for the boating population. They are there to maintain the River level within quite fine limits.
When the flows are reasonable - it is said that function could be done by men in a van - however when the '.. hits the fan' or more likely 'the flood hits the weir', I don't think the van analogy would work.
What infuriates me is that the direct cost of the lockies is probably met by our registration fees and the balance of the costs is lost in office staff, not to mention the amount that's filtered off for other purposes. Either way it's really a spit in the ocean.
If the vast amount of boaters who don't use the river can be persuaded to do so, then the government funding could be seen as good value.
