Canal Boat — November 2017

canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat November 2017 27

Facebook? Just chill out a bit

KEVIN BLICK

From car journalism to the canals was a change of pace, but living on board tug Harry is a constant eye-opener

‘However bad it seems, it will probably

be better tomorrow. And it sure beats

working. So have a beer and chill out’

H

ow on earth did we

go boating before

Facebook? For that

matter, how did

some people ever live their

lives without Facebook to

guide, advise, comfort or

chastise them?

Don’t get me wrong; I’m as

regular a user of the social

media giant as anyone else.

I post and comment with the

best of them. Lately, though,

I have done the daily scroll of

my ‘newsfeed’ with increasing

feelings of amusement,

frustration and plain old

grumpy old git-style

annoyance.

In Facebook speak I would

probably be posting ‘FB

grrrh!’ or ‘so fed up :- ( and

waiting for my ‘Friends’ (most

of whom I have never, of

course, met) to reassure me

that the world was still okay.

Anyway, back to my original

point. However did we manage

in the days when the net was

something used to land a fish?

I started to count how many

Facebook groups there are

devoted to narrowboating and

stopped when I reached 30.

(I’m a member of six, before

you ask.)

Some are extremely useful

• like the 12v boating group
  whose members offer sound,
  expert advice to the many of
  us who are electrically
  illiterate.
  Others are more general
  chit-chat zones, which is great.
  Except that, in among the
  chat, the pictures, the sensible
  queries and the jolly tales are
  questions that can be
  breathtakingly naive (‘is it
  hard to get a boat from Spain
  to England?’) or that reveal a
  sad lack of self-reliance and
  sense of adventure.
  Does one really need to ask
  for encouragement and ‘tips’
  before setting off down the
  Oxford Canal or venturing
  along the Market Harborough
  Arm? Come on; we are not
  talking crossing the Atlantic.
  Canal travel is not simply
  about the destination, it’s
  about the journey. Your
  journey, not the one someone
  else has advised you to have.
  We are simply talking about
  exploring a little part of rural
  England: if you don’t like it,
  don’t go there again.
  Inevitably, Facebook canal
  groups do get a lot of
  questions from people
  thinking about buying a boat.
  Some want views on specifics


• toilets, solar, engines, that
  sort of stuff; some are idly
  dreaming about possibilities
  and the questions posed often
  so infuriatingly vague. ‘What

size boat is best?’ ‘Why are

some sailaways much more

expensive than others?’

Ask a question like that and

you’ll get 100 different

answers. What I fear is that

Facebook is slowly strangling

the ability of people to do their

own research, seek out expert

advice and form judgments –

or raise questions.

Instead of expert wisdom,

the noisiest opinions of

Facebookers seems too often

to hold sway.

And dare anyone suggest

that rather than expect FB to

sort them out, someone

should do their own research

by reading, visiting boat-

builders, even Googling, then

they will, likely, get shot down

in flames by outraged

Groupies. I’ve read it and it’s

sometimes shocking.

The nastiness directed at

individuals who step out of

line in some Facebook boating

groups is horrible. Ask

yourself before you join in:

would you really say this to

their face down the pub?

Sadly, Facebook does seem

to have become a licence to be

nasty, to moan and grumble.

There’s even a group called

‘Narrowboat Moaners and

Ranters’ (which I’m in,

incidentally) for that express

purpose. Fortunately it doesn’t

take itself too seriously.

But some moaners and

ranters do. They spend so

much time grousing, I wonder

whether they shouldn’t be

thinking about an alternative

lifestyle.

Would I take the trouble to

rage about a hireboater

moored for the night on a

water point, or stop to

photograph people who’ve set

up a picnic table and chairs on

the towpath so I can post a

Facebook rant about it?

I’m no saint; as Mrs B will

testify I regularly grump and

grouse but, come on, before

you post your feelings to the

world, just think: have you

never made a mistake; were

you never a struggling newbie

or in a bit too much of a

hurry?

And remember, however

bad it seems today, it will

probably be better tomorrow.

And it sure beats working.

So have a beer and chill out.

Well that’s quite enough

grumbling and grousing from

me. I’m signing off from this

column now so, to paraphrase

the words of the unforgettable

Dave Allen, if you have been,

thanks for reading.

Get a hand on the tiller to learn the ropes

Sage advice, cheers

CB