Wow what a busy day it has been today, probably because the sun has been out to play all day which as we all know brings the folks out to enjoy the wharf, the wharf itself has been quiet but the shop and tea room have kept me, David, Charlotte and Denise busy all day long, long may it continue!
When our hire boats return we always ask our customers to fill in an end of holiday report so that we can make sure that we are getting things right and if not we can see where we need to improve, most of the time the reports are constructive and better than average and a lot of the time we obtain excellent; today however we had one back that did not look to good, upon reading it I soon realised that it was no reflection on our behalf or the boats, it was however very negative towards other canal users and their attitude towards hirer's, rude attitude, gates and paddles being left open and no help at all, I have to say that when I started boating many years ago the attitude of boaters did seem different, we couldn't all afford posh boats and often we made do with something a bit older and a bit tattier but none the less it was our pride and joy, I remember one incident in the eighties when I was asked if I would like to go to a boat rally, I didn't know what one was but I was told it involved drinking and socialising, not one to be a party pooper I agreed, the only problem was that I had no engine so a tow was in order, not a problem I was only 34ft and the two boat was 36ft so we locked together, on arrival at the rally site it was pitch black, sometime in late September in the Black country from memory, my tow boat dropped me off at the start of the long line of boats as that was their mooring and I was instructed to make my way to the other end, bear in mind I was new to this and it was dark, at that moment a headlamp loomed upon me and a 70 footer bopped past, the chap on the back asked if I was fine, I quickly told him my position and a rope was thrown to me and I had another tow to my mooring for the weekend, I became best of friends with all of the people involved with my towing that weekend and I had a whale of a time; I am not suggesting that sort of behavior has disappeared from the cut but I have noticed that it doesn't seem as evident as it was back then where there seemed a sort of 'all muck in together' attitude; The person that hired the boat off us said in his comments that he had never met such rude people and that he would never return to the canals, that is a real shame and I hate the thought that he will tell others that people on the cut are not a nice bunch, when in majority we are!
Enjoy your evening
Simon
Having been out on the cut, cruising all year, unfortunately I have to agree with your hirers. We have never come across such aggressive, rude boaters as we have this year. Turning locks is common practice, we have been hit on numerous occasions and slowing past moored boats seems to be a thing of the past and these are all private boaters. Fortunately there are still some polite, good boaters out there and they do outnumber the others!
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