Daily report!

As predicted- a very busy day! Polished, hoovered and shampooed the boat, topped up with diesel, did the ironing, serviced the batteries, visited the garden centre to get pots for the summer flowers and managed to clear out my roof tubs ready for the summer flowers arriving next weekend. Tomorrow is set for report writing and swatting up on the exam instruction book to make sure I administer them correctly this coming week.

Sign of the times! Just finished reading in canals and rivers magazine of the boating event that was planned to be organised when the British Waterways Health and safety expert turned up to give all the plans the final check. All was going fine until the organiser informed her of the fact that a horse drawn boat was planned to attend. A sharp intake of breath followed before she announced, "I don't think these towpaths were designed for horses back then"!! The report is headed with the strapline 'Heard it all now!' It did strike me as quite indicative of the vast numbers of people who know nothing of the heriatge and history of our waterways and who appear to not only be hoarding onto the canals in a bid to turn them into floating caravan parks or housing estates but who also appear now to be infiltrating the very management of the system. Don't get me wrong,I have nothing against new people getting into boating and enjoying the waterways but I do believe that some basic form of passion and interest in the history of the canals is part of the package, after all - you don't tour castles with no knowledge or interest in the history behind them and our canals are equally as historic. I do believe that the canals of England should be taken as a complete package by anyone getting involved, you MUST embrace the boats, the colours and art, the history, the wildlife, the geography, the workings, the etiquette and the people. To dis-regard or even object to one area is like severing a limb from a fully functioning body and before long, if left untreated the whole body will become infected and cease to function!

I end this evening by urging people to sign this petition. I think it is absolutely clear to all waterway users that the current waterways minister, Barry Gardiner, is completely innefective in his post and Richard Fairhurst, editor of Waterways World, sent an email encouraging people to sign this petition to appoint Sir Peter Soulsby as the new minister. Peter is a boat owner and clearly would be better suited for the post.