Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 21st March, 2025)

There's nowt i'theer, lad!

How many old bikes and shopping trolleys do they find when they empty these pounds?

I've had it on good authority that some of this mud is very old and could possibly date back to the 1800s.

Thats a very interesting photo Colin. I have never seen an empty canal !

remember them doing the next lock up about 5 years ago the canal un river trust left thousands off fish in tiny pools to die and they still expect to pay your fishing permit if any body up there take a look to see if it is empty

I’ve often wondered …
Why , when the pounds are empty , as in this shot , the opportunity isn’t taken to remove several hundred tons of the mud and silt that’s accumulated over the decades .

During the rare dry periods , when water levels are low , or when the lock gates are leaking badly , I’ve often seen larger vessels bellied down on those mudbanks .

Presumably funding is the problem , but I reckon it’s do-able , with an old 18 RB dragline and a couple of 4 wheeled tippers … plus it would only need doing every 50 years or so .

The farmers would be queueing up for the rich slurry … and Big H would be at the front of the queue , just behind me , rooting amongst the scrap metal .

But it’ll never happen of course , ‘ cos in common with most things here on Plague Island , nobody’s that bothered .

Or they could give some of these irregular immigrants a shovel apiece and let them get on with it .
I mean … shovels were all the paddies used after all .

Mick I also have it on good authority that most of the fish were of the Flying variety, whole shoals of them could be seen flying through the sky down to Wigan Pier.
Others were of the Frying variety and finished up in local chip shops.

I remember seeing parts of the canal in Ince being drained when I was growing up there. I dropped a pair of socks in around that spot when I was 14!

It’s amazing to me how boats sail along these canals in parts…..they’re nothing but ditches. Is this anywhere near what we kids called ‘’Sandy Bottoms”…more like ‘slutchy bottoms’ ! We used to pretend we were on holiday…actually we were ‘cos it was school holidays. I loved jumping the by- wash. I wonder if I still could.;o))

Teasing me Colin with these great canal photos can’t wait to get out on the bikes.

Walked pass there the other day, I'd have thought there would be old bikes and trolley and other junk in there, but was relatively clean.
Thanks Colin.

Good to be back to see your good w0rk C0linHad a stroke last June and pleased to be back

Good ideas there Ozy.

Ozy, about 10 years ago, they dredged it in Appley Bridge when it was empty, some of the silt went onto the Appley Bridge allotments.
Maybe the Ince allotment society could organise a dredg.

Hope you're okay now, Peter, (Walsh).

Them shoals of flying fish that WN6 speaks of would more than likely have been making their way over to Martin Mere to spend the winter there , rather than Wiggin pier .

Oh ! and if I should happen to come across a pair of socks as I’m rummaging through the old bike frames , Tesco trolleys and abandoned rusty guzunders , I’ll post a message on here Irene .

Btw , just for ease of identification , what colour were the socks ?
Can you remember ?

Ozy , they would bite your arm off for the job ! Our lot are on a permanent sick note or living off their parents .
In my view those who come over here are receiving a bad press as they do the jobs we won’t do , farm work at crop time being an example . I’ve heard farmers saying they would love to offer British workers a job but they don’t turn up yet foreign workers do .
It’s far easier and much more profitable for a street hood to be running a drug line than picking fruit and veg !
All the ones driving an Amazon or delivering fast food on bikes are of foreign descent. British workers can’t be ars???
to do that job , they think they are above that !
My apologies Colin for going off script.

Yes Peter it seems you can’t keep a good man down. Keep well.

Found that comical Veronica …
“ We used to pretend we were on holiday … “
Oh! Hang on a bit … we were weren’t we ?

And I’d pay good money to see you jump the by-wash .

Peter ((Walsh) I am sure we all wish you the very best for a recovery.
In the meantime we will do our best to keep your spirits up with our photos and comments. Colin.

I would like to think I could jump it as well Oz. My legs are a tad bit longer but I could see a bit of dithering before I launched miself!

Yes, Ozy, the socks were white, as they were my school socks. I doubt they'd have stayed white for long in the cut! If I could have retrieved them,they would have been a test for the advert "Omo washes whiter" that was on the telly at the time.....oh for those jolly jingles on tv adverts now, that we used to sing along to, instead of the funeral plans we have now!

Flying fish . That's what they do down the Golden Dragon ain't it ?

Fantastic photo of one of our earliest modes of transport.

They shouldn't pour cold water on OZY's suggestion, it's o belter.

I once spoke to a Romanian chap who was picking berries on the canal bank and eating them. I'm sure he wouldn't turn his nose up at 10lb of lovely new spuds, home grown in Irene's owd rotted socks... either.

Good photo Colin.

Have to admit , I’d have difficulty arguing with you there Dave .

But we’re all aware that there are a class of fit , healthy , British born people across the length and breadth of this land that have never worked and have no intention of even thinking of getting into productive employment .

It’s been that way as long as I can remember .

In fact , on previous posts , I’ve actually labelled them “ The no intention of working class “ .

Now it’s going to be an uphill struggle , but I understand that our illustrious leader Herr Starmer has a cunning plan up his sleeve to get them all into work and off benefits .

Well best of luck with that one Keir .
If you’re as successful at getting that shower of deadlegs working as you have been at smashing the people smuggling gangs then we may see a reduction in the unemployment rate by the end of this century .

Until then , I’ll just continue quietly paying my taxes and allowing myself to be shafted by these unscrupulous utility companies .

Flying Fish takes me back to when I was working in the Middle East. We had to move a jack-up oil rig from the north of the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. We were low in the water with only about 4 feet of freeboard, so on some mornings, we would find flying fish all over the deck.

Yep good to see your back young Peter (Walsh) even though my comments are scarce as of late.

Had that experience too, Mick.

Was solo in a rowing boat crossing a body of water in Spain, when flying fish began landing in the boat faster than I could chuck them out!

Slowly and horrified saw the freeboard shrink and disappear: the boat sank under their weight.

Forget your flying fish “Call me Ishmael”.