The Ranting Room

    I don't disagree. There are far too many lorries going from one end of the country to the other and that freight could be on the railways or the canals. It's interesting to note that Eddie Stobart is actually a campaigner for getting freight off the roads and has recently started a railfreight business.

I was just defending the lorry drivers who have to work with what exists in the way of traffic and roads.
    

Edited by Heavyfreight - November 21 2006 at 06:42

    Why can't everyone except me be banned from the roads

Jim Garten wrote: NutterAlert wrote: We need to start using the canals again. Oh great! I can just imagine the scene, trying to get up the 30+ locks at Tardebigge & Stoke Prior, stuck behind three car transporters, an oil tanker and two Tesco boats... And another thing! Why can't tractors & other assorted farm/agricultural machinery be banned from public roads during rush hour, eh? Bloody farmers, grumble, mutter, gripe, rant, whinge...

I've been up Tardebigge's 30 locks.  Very impressive, but I can admit it would get tedious after a while.  Devizes has 29, but they're double-gate locks, rather than Tardebigge's single-gate locks.  Much easier and you can fit more boats in.

I bet you didn't know I was a closet Canal fan?

In the past, when I was a teenager, my parents used to go on boating holidays.  We've been on the Grand Union in Birmingham (Farmer's Bridge, Gas Street, Edgbaston, The Black Country and the rest), the Grand Union in Northampton (Blisworth, Braunston, Weedon and the rest) and even down the River Severn one time.  Then there the was the time we went to Aylesbury (via the Aylesbury Arm).  We've pretty much always stuck to The Grand Union.

Good fun is boating, but it's only really good fun for a week at a time.


Edited by Geck0 - November 26 2006 at 03:09

Jim Garten wrote: Why can't tractors & other assorted farm/agricultural machinery be banned from public roads during rush hour, eh? Bloody farmers, grumble, mutter, gripe, rant, whinge...

^^^ except that Dr Beeching cut the lines out here in 1963, and our nearest station is now 15 miles away...

Glad I found this thread.  I have two daughters 7 and 5.  I am inundated with thoughts of everything that they are going to navigate when they become teenagers due to this world being the sewage hole that most of it is.  Let me count the ways:

1. Eating disorders-if anyone has seen the new special on HBO called Thin, it will seriously screw with you.  The women in this treatment center are absolutely insane.
2. Crystal Meth-it is everywhere in the states and even in the middle of the country where I live.  How right thinking people can get involved with this stuff is unbelievable.
3. Internet predators - These people who pray on underage people are the scum of the earth.  NBC here in the states seems to be running a undercover sting continually and putting these freaks right on TV caught red handed all the time.  Yet does it abate?  No.
4. Bullying
5. Teenage pregnancy.
6. Identity theft.

I could go on but just thinking about this is enough to put me over the edge.  Why is there a never ending string of landmines that people have to negotiate just to survive in this so-called civilization.  People's greed, animal instincts and lack of intelligence is all a part of it and young minds are so suceptible that I just want to go live in a cave.


Edited by johnobvious - November 27 2006 at 19:03

John / James - well said

James - I never went to university, but when I left school in 1979, those who did go had to work bloody hard to get there & even harder to stay there; nowadays, it seems that universities are full of those who see the institutions as a natural extension of school and/or a way of avoiding 'real life' for another few years (evidenced by the huge numbers of people taking "nothing" subjects like media studies or sociology) - many universities are now having to offer remedial reading/writing courses for those who go on to higher education without basic literacy skills.

Whilst I'm in full ranting mode I have to get off my chest something which has been bothering me for some time - am I alone in thinking there is now a new (and I hate to use the expression) "underclass" developing...? Don't get me wrong, I am not putting down the working classes, far from it (it's where I was born, for God's sake), the working class has always had its share of low-lifes (as have all classes in society), but there was always a strong sense of moral value and a strong work ethic. There now seems to be a new class of those who see the state as a parental substitute, drifting from school to benefit state with no effort on their part to improve their lot; the scary part of this is their children are brought up to believe this is the norm and perfectly acceptable - growing up without discipline, direction or any sense of purpose...

These are the adults of tomorrow!

Now that's scary...
    
    

Edited by Jim Garten - November 28 2006 at 03:38

Perhaps if the wearing of football shirts were to be made a capital offense unless worn on the field of play (or being worn whilst reading a copy of The Sun), such problems would eventually go away...

...just a thought

johnobvious wrote: Glad I found this thread.  I have two daughters 7 and 5.  I am inundated with thoughts of everything that they are going to navigate when they become teenagers due to this world being the sewage hole that most of it is.  Let me count the ways: 1. Eating disorders-if anyone has seen the new special on HBO called Thin, it will seriously screw with you.  The women in this treatment center are absolutely insane. 2. Crystal Meth-it is everywhere in the states and even in the middle of the country where I live.  How right thinking people can get involved with this stuff is unbelievable. 3. Internet predators - These people who pray on underage people are the scum of the earth.  NBC here in the states seems to be running a undercover sting continually and putting these freaks right on TV caught red handed all the time.  Yet does it abate?  No. 4. Bullying 5. Teenage pregnancy. 6. Identity theft. I could go on but just thinking about this is enough to put me over the edge.  Why is there a never ending string of landmines that people have to negotiate just to survive in this so-called civilization.  People's greed, animal instincts and lack of intelligence is all a part of it and young minds are so suceptible that I just want to go live in a cave.

mystic fred wrote: Heavyfreight wrote: [QUOTE=mystic fred] the answer to the movement of "heavy freight" is indeed the railways       That's fine. I quite like railways as you may have guessed.     [COLOR=#000000">Heavyfreight[/COLOR"> Senior Member

Don't laugh. I was driving Thomas the other day at our Thomas and friends weekend.

Please hurry up and sort the IE7 issues.
    
     

Edited by Heavyfreight - November 28 2006 at 05:07