Victor: Don't shoot the the messenger

OR PERHAPS the heading should be 'Carrying the can', referring to Canal & River Trust (CaRT) Trustee John Dodwell's efforts to portray that all in the garden is lovely.

I found John to be a rather decent fella, who I firmly believe is used by CaRT to further its propaganda—and I use the word purposely—as time and time again he is 'fed' misinformation in an attempt to portray to his audiences that all is well, when we all know it certainly is not.

Admitting to a colossal '45,000 defects that need tackling' rather proves that.

The latest of course was John being told  the dilapidated Lapworth Flight on the Stratford Canal was having a cool million quid spend on it, so he spread the word to all and sundry, little knowing that there was little chance of it happing, as time has proved, with it now down to just £9,000 on the solitary top lock before it gives up the ghost altogether, as our Allan Richards told.

Safe subjects

With John's remit of giving speeches to various waterway organisations, he should perhaps stick to safe subjects like nature and volunteers, so beloved by CaRT at the moment.

I think his statement that the money spent on dredging is going to be more than doubled for 2015/16 will come back and haunt him though—sounds very much like another slice of propaganda to me.  Perhaps with CaRT believing by then we will all have forgotten anyway...

Where were they?

On our cruise down the Trent and the Chesterfield Canal and back, we saw just one solitary volunteer lock keeper, notwithstanding that all the Trent locks were manned.

The solitary one was at the last lock at Sawley, who insisted that every lock on the Trent now had volunteer lock keepers, even the tidal at Cromwell, and just would not accept that we, who had passed through every one—twice—told him there were none.  After all they are easily recognised by their distinctive 'volunteer' armbands.

Found the fella a bit hard to understand.

Fence it off

A couple of people—one staggering about in the early hours—fall into the Kennet & Avon at Reading and drown, so once again comes the call to fence it off.

On our cruise through Reading I found the town itself well secured from the waterway, and only the area around County Lock obviously unfenced but this is where campaigners want it fenced-off.

As I have mentioned before, people must take responsibility for their own safety.

Victor Swift