General Witterings -
No A&D on Rosy
Monday 31st March 2003
General Witterings -
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VNF say that the reason why they gave no re-opening date following the closure of the Rogny locks is ... that they'll be open again next week!!!! So ... cancel most of my last e-mail!!!! Fanny News: Plinkety plonkety, plinkety plonkety is instantly recognizable to most Brits as the chorus of The Archers theme tune. 'Tis recognisable to our wooffy friends too - leastways Fanny knows it. The effect on her is quite dramatic - she's up and off, standing by the back door and hassling for her lead. For her, it is her Nightly Walkies theme tune. War Reports: The following apparently appeared on Sky news, but was re-told on "Any Questions": Geoff Hoon, the UK Minister of Defence, said in the House of Commons, of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr that " ...it is a city similar to Southampton." This was put by an intrepid reporter to Brit Soldier A, on patrol in Umm Qasr, who said "He's either never been to Southampton, or he's never been to Umm Qasr". Brit Soldier B chipped in with "There's no beer here, no prostitutes and people are shooting at us." Brit Soldier C added "In fact, it's more like Portsmouth." Cheaper Boating: It has to be said that boating tends to consume large chunks of money. Buying the boat, licensing it, keeping it maintained etc. and all (for most boaters) for a few weekends and a couple or three weeks a year. The boaty magazines don't help matters, by invariably featuring luxury boats in their reviews, and ignoring budget priced boats. People who want to spread the load a bit are enticed by OwnerShips style schemes, whereby a boat is owned by a group of people, but is maintained and managed by the OwnerShips company. This system can reduce the cost of boat owner-ship considerably, but is still an expensive way of getting afloat. People prepared for a slightly greater hassle-factor can organise their own co-ownership schemes. Some years ago now, Jemima D came on the scene, not a sparkly new vessel, but a strongly built boat, co-owned by a group of people who wanted to go boating, but hoped to have some money left over for things like eating and drinking. Since then, the various boaty forums (e.g the newsgroup uk.rec.waterways) has been much enlivened by trip reports from various members of the syndicate, with the reports often ending with the words "Happy were we, on Jemima D". More information on this lively boat and her amiable co-owners, can be found on their web site: http://www.jemima-d.org.uk/ WARNING: Australians at large: I have received advance notification that a family of Malcolms from the Land of Oz will be in the Decize area of France. They have conned Crown Blue Line into hiring them a boat. They will be recognisable by the Fosters cans bobbing in their wake, and by the Oz national flag being flown AND by a yellow on gold (?) "Boxing Kangaroo" flag. I recommend approaching such a vessel with extreme caution, a ready quip, a couple of hours to spare, and a pocketful of morning-after pick-me-ups. Toodle pip!! Bill
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