Into the summer

Posted by Pete on 27 January 2011 | 0 Comments

The weather this summer has been strange. Incredibly warm some days; cool and wet others. Either works fine for us, because the river breeze makes hot weather bearable while the rain doesn’t bother us, because it is always warm and dry inside the boat.

The main impact the weather has had, has been to leave the normally crystal-clear waters of the Opawa, a little murky, like a giant hot-chocolate spill. Still, the water normally clears up fairly quickly.

In a few weeks we are due to have the Mayor of Marlborough (Alistair Sowman) and a group of local councillors on board. Since the river and, of course The River Queen, are important to tourism in the region, it seems sensible for the local authority to get a first-hand view of how things are. There is much to celebrate, with the river generally in great condition but, as ever, there are always things to improve.

There is oxygen weed in the river, which, I am told, is a sign a healthy river. Unfortunately the weed behaved a little like netting during the flooding over the winter, with the result that silt has been caught up along the edges of the river, rather than being flushed out to sea. A narrower channel to navigate creates challenges for a boat as large as The River Queen. Our skipper, Dylan, has certainly had to be alert this year, especially if the breeze picks up.

I’m also applying to have some road signage erected, so people passing through can see where to turn off for our cruises. The boat is moored just off (and almost under) State Highway 1, as this road runs through Blenheim. Many people spot us as they drive past, but don’t know how to find their way down to the river. This happens pretty much every day and it’s certainly a constant problem. In my previous application for signage, I asked that, as a bare minimum, could we please have some wording on the roundabout from which people will need to turn off the main road. The reply was that no, we could not. The staggering reasoning behind this refusal was that the traffic sign by that roundabout was already too cluttered. Now you can call me troublesome if you like, but I thought I would just check the facts. The traffic sign on the very next roundabout has exactly the same information on it, apart from one thing: it also features a tourist sign pointing the way to (a rather good) museum in the area. So follow the logic if you will: the sign on the roundabout 200 yards down the road can fit  directions to a tourist attraction, but the sign by The River Queen, which is exactly the same sign in all other respects, can not.

It is this kind of inconsistent, petty-bureaucratic decision-making that gets local authorities a bad name. Actually, I should tell you that, when I first thought about improving road signage, I met with the guy in charge of taking these decisions and we sat down over a cup of coffee and he seemed a most reasonable bloke. Not at all as bad as he’s painted I thought. Then I received his email explaining he was “struggling to justify” putting anything on the roundabout by the boat. That was when I went to take a look at the two signs, to see if I could understand his viewpoint. The fact that both signs are the same just stunned me. So I’ll release a sigh, have another go with my application and try not to become a whinging pom. Let’s face it,  life is pretty good really, if my biggest gripe is road signage!

Happy to summer to you all.

Pete