Travelling slowly is best
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Boat on a canal near Worcester. Picture by juggzy_malone/flickr.
We have more about canal boats in today’s podcast.
It was late afternoon when we arrived at the boatyard to find our canal boat. One of the staff took us round the boat, to show us how things worked. Then he gave me the keys. The boat was ours, for the next week, at least.
The first thing you learn about an English canal boat is that it is slow. It is, in fact, almost the slowest form of transport you can think of. Small children riding bicycles overtake you. People walking their dogs on the towpath overtake you.
Perhaps you think that sailing a canal boat is easy. It must be easier than a car, you think, because it goes so slowly. Wrong. Sailing a canal boat is difficult.
To start with, there are no brakes. “If you want to stop,” the man in the boatyard told us, “you put the engine in reverse.” OK – I put the engine in reverse. The boat takes no notice. It keeps going forward. In a panic, I increase the engine revs [ie I made the engine go faster]. Gradually, the boat slows down, and eventually stops. It takes me about 50 meters to stop a canal boat travelling at walking pace. Amazing.
Then the trouble starts. You can only steer a canal boat if it is going forwards. If the canal boat stops or goes backwards, it goes where it wants to go, not where you want to go. Generally, the canal boat wants to drift in front of a boat coming the other way. If there is no boat coming the other way, the canal boat will probably want to drift to the side of the canal where it will run aground in the mud. You then have to spend several minutes pushing the boat off the mud.
Now, suppose you want to turn the boat round, to go the other way. Turning round is no problem in a car. However, the canal boat is 15 meters long, while the canal is only 10 meters wide. You need a special wide bit of canal, called a “winding hole”, to turn the boat round. You look at the map. No problem, there is a winding hole only 5 kilometers down the canal. Then you remember. The canal boat will take an hour to travel 5 kilometers.
You sometimes hear car drivers say that “parking is a nightmare”. They know nothing. They should try mooring a canal boat. (“Mooring” is the proper word for parking a boat). First you have to stop the boat. Then you have to persuade it to move towards the bank and not towards the middle of the canal. Everyone on the canal boat, except you, the driver, has to jump onto the canal bank. You throw them ropes to tie the boat to the bank. The ropes fall in the canal. You pull them out of the water and throw them again. A group of people watch with interest as your helpers make the boat fast. (The word “fast” has two completely different meanings in English – generally, it is the opposite of “slow”; but sometimes it means “cannot move”. So, if I “make a boat fast”, I mean that I tie it to the bank with ropes so that it cannot move. English is a crazy language!)
The people who built the canals liked to play tricks on canal users. A favourite trick is to put a canal bridge just before a bend in the canal. That makes it impossible to see whether another boat is coming the other way. Another trick is to make some bits of canal so narrow that two boats cannot pass each other. When you find a narrow section, you have to stop (if the boat is in a good mood), and send someone to walk along the towpath with a mobile phone, to phone you when they can see that there is no boat coming the other way.
But at least there are no traffic jams on the canal, you say. Wrong. At busy times, you may have to wait an hour or more to take your boat through a set of locks. But it is not like a traffic jam on a motorway. On a motorway, you sit in your car getting more and more tense and angry. You look out of the window at other drivers who are also getting tense and angry. But on a canal, when you find a traffic jam, you park – sorry, “moor” – your boat and go and talk to the people in the other boats. You swap stories about your adventures on the canal, and then help each other take the boats through the locks.
In a week on the canal, I think we travelled 60 kilometers. It is good to travel slowly. You relax and notice things which otherwise you might not see, like the wild flowers on the towpath and a heron standing completely still in a field. At night, we moored in peaceful quiet places, and in the morning the singing of the birds woke us up. We met several people who live on the canal permanently. They call themselves “live-aboards”, because they live aboard their boats. They have a simple life, because there is no room in a canal boat for many possessions. Some of them make souvenirs which they sell to other people on the canal. Some of them stay in one place for most of the time. Others move their boat to somewhere new every day. The “live-aboards” think they are the luckiest people in the world. What do you think?
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Comments (23)
This file has been downloaded 68435 times
25 August 2009
Hi, peter. I'm from vietnam. Thanks for everything. take care
11 August 2009
Hola Peter!
Me gustó mucho tu sitio, trataré de usarlo con mis alumnos y te enviaremos mas comentarios, gracias por el tiempo que dedicas.
Saludos desde Chile
4 August 2009
dear teacher
your way is intersting and attractive indeed and your topics are full of life and in my view and my experience(about10years navigating) I have never found a website like yours.
I find from my first visit that I get a treasur who is you.
other websites take a topics from TVs and RADIOS AND SO ON and get very boring.
Believe me your way is sole by its means and goals.
finally I wish to you and your family good health and happy life.
yours faithfully sidi mohamed
31 July 2009
I´m reading your articles with a lot of interesting I need practice my English, and I think you are having a good work!!!!
Saludos desde España.
25 July 2009
Hi everybody this is my first time that I visit this website,and I think that is fabulous I like this and I need to lisent English , and in the other hand , the real reason by wich I visit this is because I'm looking for a page or whatever, where I can write my own stories and I can get the perfect grammar correction so you know, anyways thanks for this now on I'll hear your stories
18 July 2009
Hello all,
I want to improve my level english but i don't know what i do?
13 July 2009
Hi Sr.
I am very glad to be part of your learners, I enjoy every podcast you have sent me. The canals are a very nice curiosity for me. Thank you for your help.
11 July 2009
Hello piter :
This is shahrair from iran .thank you very much for your beautiful podcasts.i downloaded more of your podcasts .but most of them are downloaded with your voice and text of podcast and most of them are only with your voice .
you think that i can resolve this problem ?
Best Regards
shahriar dezhban
8 July 2009
Hello:
I will try to write in English.
My wife visited London on june. Beatiful city.
I only know UK from photos of my wife and your interesting histories.
Thank you
1 July 2009
Hi Piter,
I am one of the regular listener of your podcast from India. I have found it not only the simplest way to learn english but also more imformative.
had you visited India any time,sure you will get more intresting stuff to wirte. thank you for everything.I will follow you everytime.
thanks and Kind regards
29 June 2009
Hello!
I like very much your podcasts and this one is very funny. It calls to me the "Tree men in a boat" adventures, one of my first books in english. Thank you for all.
29 June 2009
Hello.
It seems a very peaceful way of live. If they don't need many material possessions I think they will probably be one of the luckiest people in the wordl. Why not?
28 June 2009
hi Mr peter
I very much like your pod cast. thank u for eveything.I ll follow u everytime.
22 June 2009
Hello,Mr Peter:
Canal boats are real trouble for those who want to control one,aren't they?. But you had a great trip to come back to nature and steered away from London centre with many people, things, visitors…Have a nice week, Mr Peter.
21 June 2009
I liked your adventure, thanks!
18 June 2009
As u know I am an old listener. of course all the podcasts are good and didactic. but the Naked Godave, Bigger Robbery in England and the last one are fantastic.ı think they represent your sipirit and creativnes than the others. Whenever U visit Turkey please let me know. I want to accompany U.
I have question. Do u work to make english language more popular? or do u challange to the course which teach english for money? or do u have love for humanity? Can u explain your aim briefly? Please.
I have some idea about u. the first one U are not capitalist, money is not to important for u. U have took off all the prejudices from your mind. and u bleive humanity can live in peace. U like trikcs and fun. and U are so CREATÄ°VE. with your sensibility. thank u for everthing.
18 June 2009
When you find a narrow section, you have to stop (if the boat is in a good mood) = that's brilliant sentence :D
18 June 2009
Like very much your podcasts and will definitely follow your for long. Thank you very much for your kind, if you come around Sukhothai Thailand, we take care of you.
Toh
17 June 2009
Hi,Peter,
You got a new fan from Taiwan.
Yes, it's me.
You may have heard this thouands time, "Your procast is wonderful", or "You are so great"...
I just can't help saying them again:
"You are amazing!"
"I like your procast!"
Your beautiful accent (though most Taiwanese people learn American accent anyway) and interesting stories telling are attractive to me.
Therefore,I will be keeping listening to your procast.
Also, thanks for your time and heart to make this good procast. Really thanks.
Take care.
17 June 2009
Hi Peter . ! I'm from Brazil. Man, when I first listened to one of your podcasts I just found it awesome! You're really funny, especially when you are ironic. I just loved it. Don't you ever stop podcasting. I'm writing just for you to know that even here in Brazil you have a fan!
Bye bye ..17 June 2009
I suppose it is more safe than plane.
But I've never taken a boat for long journey. anyway I liked your adventure. Bye
17 June 2009
Great adventure Mr Carter… And as always very nice podcast to take our vocabulary up. Even outstanding I'd say. Till next time. Thank you very much.
17 June 2009
Hi Peter!
i'm sure that you spent an awesome time with your family on the boat,
i just wanted to tell you that i love all your podcasts and when i'm at home bored of everything i come here and i listen to your podcasts =)
i really enjoy listening to your voice it's so relaxing and beautiful…
and i like when you teach me new words.. like "drift" or "mooring"...
and the another meaning of fast.. i didn't know that .. so thank you..
and you're right English is a crazy language !!
i'm from argentina so i speak spanish but i love the british accent so i always try to speak like you …. and you help me a lot !
have you ever tried to speak spanish?
i think it will be funny to hear you talking in ESPAÑOL ! =)
well i gotta go….
see you peter!
thanks for everthing
take care!
Daia