Good times, bad times, afloat

Defra cocks it up, BW and other organisations suffer. Does this mean a return to the good-old-bad-old days when boating felt adventurous? When the bottom of your craft wore thin from scraping on the mud, even in centre channel? When you needed that gangplank? When parts of the North Stratford made you think you were in mid-canal but you were actually scraping the submerged towpath? When you had to carry a spade so you could dig a hole for Elsan disposal? When water points were so far apart we all carried a spare five gallon container of water to ensure health and tea?

Sadly it won't mean a return to the good part of those times, when an outboard strapped on the back of a bathtub qualified as a powered boat and you only had to pay for a licence to enjoy the freedom. We're stuck with the "my floating cottage has more facilities than yours" boaters and senior staff aiming to squeeze every penny from waterside development at the risk of destroying the very atmosphere that attracts users in the first place.
Back then the only BW staff you were likely to encounter were dedicated craftsmen performing miracles of repair (and occasional renovation) with inadequate funding, while giving the impression - deliberately - that they spent the entire day frying sausages.