I would suggest that one of the pluses of this group is that while it is open
to all it does seem to attract a number of that sort of boater (but not
necessarily boat owner) who knows a good bit about the canals, BW and a lot of
other stuff that seems to have passed the majority of boaters we meet on the
cut and try to talk to by!
The comment about boat owner above is a perfect illustration of what I mean.
We used to hire and found hire bases all over the place so we travelled a lot
of the system - including bits too far even for us now - before ever owning a
boat. Now as owners we notice that for a vast majority of boat owners - most of
who are not retired - said ownership tends to pin them to a very small area
around their mooring. For example we were talking to a lady recently who really
used her boat and one day expected (with her husband) to get beyond Grindley
Brook (from Ellesmere). At some point in the conversation we realized that GB
was the edge of the world to her and she had no interest in even getting a map
to find what was beyond! Such experiences are not rare and this lack of
knowledge from people who have been boat owners for years can mean we get more
canal sense out of a first time hirer (with map) than from some of the one
canal only people we meet.
But on this site if I say Wigrams then a lot of people will know what I am
talking about and if someone say Wigrams what a lot of people will tell them.
This means I am not alone in actually knowing a bit!
Changing subject did not a certain D. Blagrove have something to do with
many of the verses of the Bolinder song? If so why not phone him and ask him to
sing it - as I understand he used to. Personally my canal singing favorite is
the Wode song (to men of Harleck) or the odd chorus of Mud in your eye.
David Cragg
Steve Haywood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 01/05/07, Ken Hornstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A lot of good stuff about the attitude of long term existing members of the
list to newbies, especially hirers.
I think we should do well to take notice of what he says. Sometimes on this
list there's a sort of 'clubiness' which is off-putting even for those of us
who have been posting for a long time. I don't know about newbies - but
frankly, I don't understand the half of the comments that pass between
certain people at various times. They're obviously based on some shared
night in the Swan or the Boat or whatever, but the overall effect is to make
the rest of us feel we're outsiders to an internal core membership which are
actually the people the group is for. The reason for this, I think, is
because newcomers, arriving on the canals for the first time, find it has a
very strong real-life community which has been around for decades; and they
feel themselves excluded, a climate which they themselves reflect when they
feel confident enough after a year or two in the cyber community. I hope
no-one takes offence at this thread, but we are seeing ourselves as other
see us, and we would be unwise to not to try and learn from the perspective
it brings. No Ken, it's NOT just about boat owning and the minute it is, I'm
outta here too.
Incidentally, like Ken, I don't, and I have never, seen the funny side of
publicaly correcting people for trivial mistakes of grammar or spelling; or
worse making a big deal of matters of factual knowledge, when that knowledge
isn't based on any real experience but a couple of clicks of Google.
Steve
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