It's holiday time and the canals have something in the air again. The kids have broken up!
I've just put down my Bill Bryson book (Notes From a Small Island) and his train of thought has sent me drifting into a pointless muse over how foreign visitors to our island might interpret the Brit phrase - "The kids have broken up".
What does that mean? Broken in most Pavlovian respects doesn't sound too good to me. Broken (by definition implies out of order), broken-down (in despair, needing fixing), broken-up (as in disintegrated, or worse, potentially ruined).
So when the kids break up, do they scatter into chaos from their safe homogenised mass? Does it scare us that they come to sunny canals all across Britain in ones and twos, with bikes, on boats, in flip flops and wide-eyed smiles on the towpaths?
Answers on a postcard.
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Thursday 27 May 2010
Can Art help get Britain's canals out of their current financial crisis?
Ignore it, adore it, spit at it or laugh out loud at it... Art always contributes to every society's consciousness. From an English village where playschool pinnies come out for paint play, to the scars of Iraqi slippers on the vandalised statue of a fallen dictator.
But what has art got to do with any campaign to save our waterways? (IWA campaign: http://www.waterways.org.uk/campaigns/campaigns/campaigns) Well, everyone knows canals have Roses & Castles – the traditional folk art of the people who worked and lived on canal boats in the Industrial Revolution. Decorated pots and pans add to the tourist attraction, and make neat souvenir trinkets. Good stuff for small craft businesses across the waterways.
But we're not silly, we know pots and pans aren't enough to get the waterways out of their financial crisis?
More public support for the waterways is what matters at the moment. More press coverage. More visitors. Every so often, British Waterways sets artists loose on the towpaths to prick public interest and hopefully prod the press into precious media coverage. Fake holes on the towpath and controversial installations of dog-poo in trees do the trick http://www.waterscape.com/features-and-articles/news/2453/for-arts-sake-slow-down. But imagine the impact of a much grander, iconic, public art project.
My point is this:
Antony Gormley sculptures. http://bit.ly/9gTsGT Take 3 of his most famous projects:
1) The Angel of The North rolls around every speeding heart on the A1.
2) Iron Man stands silently, with the audacity to rust away in Birmingham city centre.
3) Another Place, Crosby Beach, near Liverpool, where the statues of 100 iron souls gaze out to sea, with hope beyond the tides.
Mr G's sculpture and the spirit of the waterways would go together like jam and Victoria sponge cake. After all, Britain's canals were our first motorways, made for boats during the Industrial Revolution - and now they offer a vision of hope for urban regeneration, and an accessible escape to rural Britain. Right up Mr G's street!
Imagine Gormley's Iron Men of the Waterways, and where they might stand...
The Angel of the Caen Hill flight wistfully watching over travellers?
Iron Waterways Man daubed in Roses & Castles outside the waterways museum? http://bit.ly/c6lXEE (attracting visitors as the Puppy sculpture does outside the Guggenheim in Bilbao - http://bit.ly/z5os9)
Statuesque souls half-immersed in river silt at the moody brink of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal? (Crosby Beach has been inundated with visitors since Gormley's sculptures arrived there)
Or what about a solitary Iron Waterways Man on a lonely bit of the Pennine cruising ring? Or Iron Waterways Man graffiti-sprayed by Camden's community?
Imagine the monumental tourist attraction and what that could do for the canals, politically and financially. Imagine the thrill of one day meeting Iron Waterways Man on your travels.
Canals should always be about boating, but they were born and have survived through a tradition of entrepreneurialism and creativity. The real Iron men (and women) of the waterways.
Am I alone on this one?
But what has art got to do with any campaign to save our waterways? (IWA campaign: http://www.waterways.org.uk/campaigns/campaigns/campaigns) Well, everyone knows canals have Roses & Castles – the traditional folk art of the people who worked and lived on canal boats in the Industrial Revolution. Decorated pots and pans add to the tourist attraction, and make neat souvenir trinkets. Good stuff for small craft businesses across the waterways.
But we're not silly, we know pots and pans aren't enough to get the waterways out of their financial crisis?
More public support for the waterways is what matters at the moment. More press coverage. More visitors. Every so often, British Waterways sets artists loose on the towpaths to prick public interest and hopefully prod the press into precious media coverage. Fake holes on the towpath and controversial installations of dog-poo in trees do the trick http://www.waterscape.com/features-and-articles/news/2453/for-arts-sake-slow-down. But imagine the impact of a much grander, iconic, public art project.
My point is this:
Antony Gormley sculptures. http://bit.ly/9gTsGT Take 3 of his most famous projects:
1) The Angel of The North rolls around every speeding heart on the A1.
2) Iron Man stands silently, with the audacity to rust away in Birmingham city centre.
3) Another Place, Crosby Beach, near Liverpool, where the statues of 100 iron souls gaze out to sea, with hope beyond the tides.
Mr G's sculpture and the spirit of the waterways would go together like jam and Victoria sponge cake. After all, Britain's canals were our first motorways, made for boats during the Industrial Revolution - and now they offer a vision of hope for urban regeneration, and an accessible escape to rural Britain. Right up Mr G's street!
Imagine Gormley's Iron Men of the Waterways, and where they might stand...
The Angel of the Caen Hill flight wistfully watching over travellers?
Iron Waterways Man daubed in Roses & Castles outside the waterways museum? http://bit.ly/c6lXEE (attracting visitors as the Puppy sculpture does outside the Guggenheim in Bilbao - http://bit.ly/z5os9)
Statuesque souls half-immersed in river silt at the moody brink of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal? (Crosby Beach has been inundated with visitors since Gormley's sculptures arrived there)
Or what about a solitary Iron Waterways Man on a lonely bit of the Pennine cruising ring? Or Iron Waterways Man graffiti-sprayed by Camden's community?
Imagine the monumental tourist attraction and what that could do for the canals, politically and financially. Imagine the thrill of one day meeting Iron Waterways Man on your travels.
Canals should always be about boating, but they were born and have survived through a tradition of entrepreneurialism and creativity. The real Iron men (and women) of the waterways.
Am I alone on this one?
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Waterways for everyone: boats, bikes and walking boots?
All ducks are equal. But are some ducks more equal than others?
"Pah!" say some boaters - but economic need and ethical responsibility is driving the mood of canal folk to properly share our secret national treasure of 2,000 miles of linear heritage. The future of Britain's canals can't be ruled by boaters alone – canals are increasingly used for waterside outdoor pursuits too. Towpaths are being improved, and sometimes even controversially hardsurfaced, to make flat cycle routes and easy canal walks.
IWA, the Inland Waterways Association, have just published a typically rational, informative and ever-so-tactfully provocative article (by Mark Bradley and Keith Goss) www.waterways.org.uk/waterways_magazine on the changing status of Britain's canals... i.e. how we can use them for everything from holiday boating to jogging along the towpath. But when pedal power, boat power and quiet people in walking boots all syphon together in one narrow zone, surely that spells conflict?
Speaking from my own canal experiences as: 1) live-aboard narrowboater 2) long distance canal walker 3) slow canal cyclist.
When I'm in a canal boat, I'm not keen on coach-loads of strolling gongoozlers getting dangerously in my way at the lock gates; when I'm on my bike, I loathe pedalling in first gear behind gaggles of walkers hogging the towpath; when I walk canals, I rage at bike-bells and lycra gusts of wind knocking me into the canal. All 3 of me want it our own way! That said, as all canal goers know, everyone meets up at the end of the day in the local canalside boozer, to share the best of canal life - a pint of mild in a good old-fashioned canal pub solves everything.
And in the same solidarity, cyclists, walkers and boaters are willing to join together on the campaign to Save Our Waterways from blunderingly short-sighted goverment funding cuts. In my bones I know it's an excitingly tough time for canals... and I am (despite selfishly wanting to keep the canal world all to myself) really glad more folk than ever are discovering the secrets of the canals. Yet, in the success of popularizing the waterways, my heart would break if every beautifully clumpy canal towpath was tarmacked so it could be described as accessible to all: canal nature, integrity, heritage and slow manners jeopardized! Off-the-beaten track adventures for canal trail walkers like me would be ruined. Imagine the outcry if Britain's other footpaths, the National Trails, the Offa's Dyke Path, the Pennine Way or the Cotswold Way were smothered in Tarmac! Horror NO!! I'm an activist to protect long-distance canal walks. "Let me smell the soil, scuff the grass, KEEP CANAL WALKS GREEN!"
It goes without saying that bringing investment to the canals is the task ahead. Yet what's special about canals to me is not what money can buy, but more pressingly what we might lose without proper funding.... irreplaceable heritage, unique landscape, slow culture, stoic solitude and a special sense of community that another Britain has lost. Balancing everyone's needs and respecting the territory is the trick. Canals can offer a perceived escape from the hierarchies of consumerism that's priceless. So when it comes to planning for our waterways future, should we be mindful of who gets the biggest say? The Mallard with the loudest voice, the fat Goose who waves the largest wad of money, the decoy Coot... or just a bunch of us daft Ducks?
"Pah!" say some boaters - but economic need and ethical responsibility is driving the mood of canal folk to properly share our secret national treasure of 2,000 miles of linear heritage. The future of Britain's canals can't be ruled by boaters alone – canals are increasingly used for waterside outdoor pursuits too. Towpaths are being improved, and sometimes even controversially hardsurfaced, to make flat cycle routes and easy canal walks.
IWA, the Inland Waterways Association, have just published a typically rational, informative and ever-so-tactfully provocative article (by Mark Bradley and Keith Goss) www.waterways.org.uk/waterways_magazine on the changing status of Britain's canals... i.e. how we can use them for everything from holiday boating to jogging along the towpath. But when pedal power, boat power and quiet people in walking boots all syphon together in one narrow zone, surely that spells conflict?
Speaking from my own canal experiences as: 1) live-aboard narrowboater 2) long distance canal walker 3) slow canal cyclist.
When I'm in a canal boat, I'm not keen on coach-loads of strolling gongoozlers getting dangerously in my way at the lock gates; when I'm on my bike, I loathe pedalling in first gear behind gaggles of walkers hogging the towpath; when I walk canals, I rage at bike-bells and lycra gusts of wind knocking me into the canal. All 3 of me want it our own way! That said, as all canal goers know, everyone meets up at the end of the day in the local canalside boozer, to share the best of canal life - a pint of mild in a good old-fashioned canal pub solves everything.
And in the same solidarity, cyclists, walkers and boaters are willing to join together on the campaign to Save Our Waterways from blunderingly short-sighted goverment funding cuts. In my bones I know it's an excitingly tough time for canals... and I am (despite selfishly wanting to keep the canal world all to myself) really glad more folk than ever are discovering the secrets of the canals. Yet, in the success of popularizing the waterways, my heart would break if every beautifully clumpy canal towpath was tarmacked so it could be described as accessible to all: canal nature, integrity, heritage and slow manners jeopardized! Off-the-beaten track adventures for canal trail walkers like me would be ruined. Imagine the outcry if Britain's other footpaths, the National Trails, the Offa's Dyke Path, the Pennine Way or the Cotswold Way were smothered in Tarmac! Horror NO!! I'm an activist to protect long-distance canal walks. "Let me smell the soil, scuff the grass, KEEP CANAL WALKS GREEN!"
It goes without saying that bringing investment to the canals is the task ahead. Yet what's special about canals to me is not what money can buy, but more pressingly what we might lose without proper funding.... irreplaceable heritage, unique landscape, slow culture, stoic solitude and a special sense of community that another Britain has lost. Balancing everyone's needs and respecting the territory is the trick. Canals can offer a perceived escape from the hierarchies of consumerism that's priceless. So when it comes to planning for our waterways future, should we be mindful of who gets the biggest say? The Mallard with the loudest voice, the fat Goose who waves the largest wad of money, the decoy Coot... or just a bunch of us daft Ducks?
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Canals - ignored or hot news in the broadsheets?
As I'm doing my unhurried 2,000-mile canal walk across Britain, the question I get asked most is "Who would even want to walk every canal in Britain?" CANALS... shopping trollies and knifings. No, start again. CANALS... the immeasurable slow pleasures of Britain's historic waterways rambling idyllically coast to coast and end to end. Under-valued, under-used and under-funded.
The great British 'staycation' continually bulks the travel section of the national newspapers, so why are my goosebumps rotting in the wait for canals to get proper, enthusiastic coverage? "The canal boat is right up there with the postbox as one of the iconic images of British life." says Tony Hales, British Waterways' chairman http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/08/british-canals-aquatic-national-trust. His words alone punch the point that canals are a red-hot tourist attraction and Britain's travel media should break its veto.
....But I smell a trend revving up. Even if canals were made for narrowboaters, they are perfect trails for cyclists and walkers too. The Telegraph are covering our coolcanals mission to change the way people see canals http://www.tinyurls.co.uk/U2159 (and our guidebooks shot to the no 1 spot with the helpful coverage!) And now, even eclectic outdoor-type Guardian Travel readers who like to climb Himalayan mountains and follow Mauritian rainbows are being asked to send in their tips on the best canal walks http://ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/jessops.jsp.
Hoorah! The canal walker's message is getting out there. Canals... priceless, slow adventures. The great British walk. So the next bod who asks me "Who would even want to walk every canal in Britain?", I'll say, "Why would I risk ankle-cracking moors and skin-twisting crags, or getting lost, being eyeballed by a cow, or chased by a farmer - when I could simply follow the water all summer." http://www.coolcanalsguides.com/what-to-do/on-foot.php
PS Maybe, just maybe, hope is on the horizon for the world of canals and the unsung canal volunteer, bastion of a stalwart fight against political indifference and Britain's outrageous neglect of its waterways' heritage http://www.waterways.org.uk/campaigns/campaigns/sos2010/sos2010
The great British 'staycation' continually bulks the travel section of the national newspapers, so why are my goosebumps rotting in the wait for canals to get proper, enthusiastic coverage? "The canal boat is right up there with the postbox as one of the iconic images of British life." says Tony Hales, British Waterways' chairman http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/08/british-canals-aquatic-national-trust. His words alone punch the point that canals are a red-hot tourist attraction and Britain's travel media should break its veto.
....But I smell a trend revving up. Even if canals were made for narrowboaters, they are perfect trails for cyclists and walkers too. The Telegraph are covering our coolcanals mission to change the way people see canals http://www.tinyurls.co.uk/U2159 (and our guidebooks shot to the no 1 spot with the helpful coverage!) And now, even eclectic outdoor-type Guardian Travel readers who like to climb Himalayan mountains and follow Mauritian rainbows are being asked to send in their tips on the best canal walks http://ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/jessops.jsp.
Hoorah! The canal walker's message is getting out there. Canals... priceless, slow adventures. The great British walk. So the next bod who asks me "Who would even want to walk every canal in Britain?", I'll say, "Why would I risk ankle-cracking moors and skin-twisting crags, or getting lost, being eyeballed by a cow, or chased by a farmer - when I could simply follow the water all summer." http://www.coolcanalsguides.com/what-to-do/on-foot.php
PS Maybe, just maybe, hope is on the horizon for the world of canals and the unsung canal volunteer, bastion of a stalwart fight against political indifference and Britain's outrageous neglect of its waterways' heritage http://www.waterways.org.uk/campaigns/campaigns/sos2010/sos2010
Thursday 15 April 2010
Girls and beer
Is it just me, or is everyone talking about women trying to like beer these days? Supping a pint of mild has never been so girlie-cool. Can't see what all the sudden fuss is about myself, but I was one of the lucky ones...I had a mother who weaned me to beer. A family generation later, in the maternity ward when my son was born, the nurses encouraged us new mums to sip small amounts of Guinness to help the milk. And my son, too, makes his own CAMRA banners now he's old enough.
Dea Latis is punting the pleasures of ale to women. This feisty lipstick-beer movement drives new ideas such as fancy glasses with stems, paler golden ales and seductively named brews specially marketed at women. We're told ale is nutritious and beneficial. We're comforted that it's not a sealed contract for a rotund figure and unwanted hair growth around the chin.
But why so defensive? Is the beer and gender debate really more about a stale mandate of femininity than actually how masculine a drink is! Come on girls, let's not apologise for ourselves... if we don't like beer, don't drink it... and if we do - then let's embrace those white frothy moustaches and hoppy bellifuls of wholesome fart-inducing ale.
Wednesday 14 April 2010
The SLIBA awards (Stolen Library book Awards)
Hmmm, so you don't have to be a goody-two-shoes to want to read books these days. Ok, I confess we just made SLIBA awards title up in the coolcanals office, but it's true that there really are charts for the top 10 most stolen books from libraries.
How fierce is the competition in this field? An article published in The Scotsman last week by Michael MacLeod said, Roll over JK Rowling – library thieves want rival author's books. http://tiny.cc/ui5ti Apparently Jacqueline Wilson has overtaken Harry Potter author JK Rowling as the writer whose books are most stolen from Scotland's libraries.
Top 10 in the 'stolen' chart
Jacqueline Wilson
SQA school books
James Patterson
Francesca Simon
Nora Roberts
JK Rowling
Enid Blyton
Julia Donaldson
Matt Groening
Jodi Picoult
(Crickey! Enid Blyton readers in there too!!)
Titter or tight-lipped tut?
Amusing, yes, a bit disturbing, yes.
And will I secretly be peeping to see if any of our Coolcanals books reach these charts ;) ?
Sunday 4 April 2010
Should we put the Government in the Dragon's Den?
I'm no Deborah Meaden, but it doesn't take a Dragon's brain to work out this financial clanger for Britain’s crucially needed tourist industry...Stratford, birthplace of Shakespeare, the most visited place in Britain (after London), a tourist hotspot of diamond proportions.... Yes, it beggars belief, but it's true, this Easter the tourist office in Stratford is shut! Not open for business. Why? Because Stratford-on-Avon District Council decided to withdraw funding. Stratford's four million or so tourists each year are currently being directed to an alternative information desk at the town's leisure centre. Mmmm. Reminds me of the equally daft decision to cut grant funding to British Waterways. Isn't Britain's tourist industry an economic asset, not a ham to cut funding from? Deborah, I'd love your comment!
Friday 2 April 2010
Am I talking to myself?
Here goes.. first time for me - I'm a blogger now! Phonetically speaking, b-l-o-g-g-e-r doesn't sound that glam, but I'm assured it's an inocuous space for a good old monologue. Perfect.
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