Graeme Wall wrote:
> Why let the facts spoil the fun :-)
>
Indeed.
>> You're right about the leisure interests in canals now, & the leisure
>> boaters would be *most* upset at commercial carriers claiming priority
>> through the locks, as used to be their right when I was floating about.
>
> Is there any commercial traffic on the canal system these days, MSC
> excepted?
>
There was still a guy with a boat selling coal along the Oxford & Grand
Union canals to places without road access as of last year. There's
still the touring theatre boat, (
http://www.mikron.org.uk/ )and BWB are
pushing for growth, according to their website:-
http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/london/freight
I vaguely remember some timber being carried on the River Lee until
fairly recently too, but that was a dying trade.
>> (Jason & his pair on the Grand Union delivering lime juice from the
>> docks to Roses at Hemel Hempstead in the 70s & early 80s. *Never* get in
>> his way, his boats were *heavy* & made of thick steel & they'd got no
>> brakes.)
>>
>
> I've heard of him I'm sure, something of a character IIRC.
>
Oh, yessss...... :-)
He ran Jason's trip out of Little Venice for a while after the lime
juice run stopped, & I'm racking my brains now trying to remember his
surname. Murrell, that's it. He's from at least the third generation of
a boating family. I'd not want to swear he was born on a boat, but I'm
pretty sure his Mum was. T & D Murrell on the sides of the boats, from
Tam & Di, his parents.
It's all coming back now.....
--
Tciao for Now!
John.
