BEAR ESSENTIALS The Newsletter of : -
IWA Warwickshire Branch Issue No. 46 – August 2016
Old Balls Please:
As part of our on-going commitment to make boating in Warwickshire easier, safer and more enjoyable for all; we have asked CRT-South East to give their blessing for us to equip the tops of the GU’s unique Ham-Baker ‘candlestick’ paddle-gear with old tennis balls. This would be a no-cost, easy-fix way to ensure that - particularly in poor light, or when viewed against dense foliage - boaters could better ascertain
The Exception That Proves The Rule. One morning in July – having ‘overnighted’ on the offside moorings at the top of the Wolverhampton ‘21’ – my wife Pam and I had just breakfasted when “curse it!” a boat came past us heading for the top lock. Ah well, no hurry now - they’ll all be ‘against’ us. Some 20 minutes or so later, as we approached the top-lock, we were surprised to see that the boat was only just leaving, and the lady of the crew was very gingerly crossing the top gate. I ‘turned the lock’ then walked down the towpath to ‘set ahead’. As lock 2 came into view I could see that they were still slowly filling it. I walked past them saying that I’d walk ahead, and set 2 or 3 more locks for them. The man on the tiller nodded his thanks. On my return he said to me “This is the first time she’s done any locks, but I’ve told her it’ll be good for her ‘cus it’ll get a bit of weight off, and make her a bit fitter” !! I returned to the top - where Pam had brought our boat into the lock, and where a whole new situation had arisen (see page 4). Some time later we resumed the main task of the morning, and by lock 4 we’d again caught up with our new found ‘friends’.
the state of a lock in advance, and whether paddles had been left up in error. At present this lack of paddle-state visibility is just one of a number of unfortunate differences between the general state of this CRT-SE section of the northern GU – compared with that managed by CRT-WM. So come on MK – as a mixed-doubles team - let’s do it !
An editorial story: We soon got into a ‘sort of’ routine – working ahead to prepare, and always trying to work their off-side gates and paddles – for which ‘the wife’ was very appreciative. We found that he had bought ‘his’ boat 3 weeks ago, and his only experience was when ‘his mate’ helped him get it up ‘the 21’ a few days earlier. On longer flights we change roles after several locks, and when Pam ‘came back’ from her first foray ahead, she reported that she’d been greeted by his comment “Oh, he’s sent the understudy has he” !! We later noticed that ‘the wife’ had taken to her cabin, but ‘himself’ attempted to plough on alone. Fortunately it soon started to rain, and he decided to moor up for a while. He waved us on and thanked us for our help and information on “the etiquette of lockworking”. I must admit that I was somewhat surprised that the word etiquette was part of his vocabulary. In 40 years of boating this was quite the most blatant example of male chauvinism we had come across – something totally unknown among all the boating couples that we’ve met along the way. It was exceptional, but surely a perfect example of an exception that proves the rule.
Ian Fletcher.