Am I right to be annoyed

Frenchdame said:

Stay away from the Black Country I heard

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Love it myself. Heart of the canal system. Even the hoodies are friendly and helpful.

Turboman said:

Love it myself. Heart of the canal system. Even the hoodies are friendly and helpful.

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I was born and bred in the middle of the canal systems there and I KNOW whats in the water

Frenchdame said:

I was born and bred in the middle of the canal systems there and I KNOW whats in the water

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I was born near the Grand Union, but Lunnon end, not Brum. And I know what is in the water too. I have pulled most of it out of my prop at one time or another.

The danger thing is a bit of a myth, I think. Some people won't moor on Peterborough Embankment, because there are some homeless people living in tents.
What I have found is, if you don't show off a load of expensive possessions, and the boat is secure and not ostentatious, and if you are friendly to people and don't look down on them there is no problem.
There are one or two places that are a bit grim, but I just go through those in daylight.

Turboman said:

I was born near the Grand Union, but Lunnon end, not Brum. And I know what is in the water too. I have pulled most of it out of my prop at one time or another.

The danger thing is a bit of a myth, I think. Some people won't moor on Peterborough Embankment, because there are some homeless people living in tents.
What I have found is, if you don't show off a load of expensive possessions, and the boat is secure and not ostentatious, and if you are friendly to people and don't look down on them there is no problem.
There are one or two places that are a bit grim, but I just go through those in daylight.

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The homeless are not the threat maybe. I was born and raised in Bilston and can remember the boats bringing the scrap into the steelworks and taking away the pig iron. Our barber was the hostler, if that's the right word, who owned the stables and looked after the barge horses close by the steelworks. Sunday mornings and his stone floored kitchen would have a fair crowd of workers, including my dad and his brother - and myself - getting shaved hair cuts once a month for pennies.
Looking down on people is an Brit pastime, now beloved of those who overtake an LR in a new Hyundai etc (lol)

Frenchdame said:

The homeless are not the threat maybe. I was born and raised in Bilston and can remember the boats bringing the scrap into the steelworks and taking away the pig iron. Our barber was the hostler, if that's the right word, who owned the stables and looked after the barge horses close by the steelworks. Sunday mornings and his stone floored kitchen would have a fair crowd of workers, including my dad and his brother - and myself - getting shaved hair cuts once a month for pennies.
Looking down on people is an Brit pastime, now beloved of those who overtake an LR in a new Hyundai etc (lol)

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Times have changed, and maybe not always for the better.
Almost no working boats now, no barge horses, no steelworks, and yuppie flats beside the cut in their place.
Doesn't encourage a sense of community like the old working canal did.

Sadly, I have to agree about the looking down, too much of it around.

"Sadly, I have to agree about the looking down, too much of it around."

It is such a shame people take that attitude. I'm not sure when it started but it now seems to be in every single walk of life. What's good about LZ - to me anyway and I'm still feel a newbie - is that the banter is based on character etc, not who has the biggest shiniest snazziest couple of ton of metal, or the longest boat, or the most spotlights. I found in my forty five years of work, particularly in bad places, that the people who gave us the most were those who had the least. A bed, a slice of bread, a look-out while we slept - the important things in life. Sorry for wandering on.