Reading

The mooring situation in Reading is deplorable. On our way down from Beale Park, I noticed dozens of new "No Mooring" signs had popped up on the Caversham meadows. The shiny new pedestrian bridgework has gone into overtime, and all of the continuous moorers on the park have been shooed off. Result: They've relocated themselves outside Tesco for most of this year, inconveniencing boaters who just want to do a quick shop and be on their way again.  Today, we were very very lucky. I managed to squeeze our 53ft boat into a 54ft slot. The last space in town.

By Caversham bridge, the iron mooring rings outside of the EA building have also been removed. I guess the local people's objection on the grounds of "historical mooring" have been overruled, or more likely, just simply ignored.  There is nowhere else for 'people who don't want to move' to go. I doubt there will be any official 'mooring allowed' places anymore in town (or the immediate vicinity). It's not looking good. A couple of years ago, Sonning was similarly swept clean of it's free short stay boat moorings (looking at you, Uri Geller), and now it seems that boats are not welcome in Reading either.  It's all tremendously sad. Every year there seems to be some other place that you cannot use.... or must pay an excessive price for.

What people who post "it's lovely here" on their blogs neglect to tell you, is that as soon as you put your pins in, somebody pops up and demands money from you. Or wakes you up at 'stupid 'o' clock' in the morning to do the same. To tell the truth, I am pretty annoyed with boaters being seen as "wehey....free money". We're not all millionaires.

There are exceptions, of course. There are still *some* lovely lovely places, where you can stop and NOT be hassled by another soul (greedy or otherwise). The tragedy, for me, is that such places are continually shrinking year on year. Whether there have been overstayers there or not. A general mean streak and nastiness seems to be on the increase, which is the very worst of British. It's not "live and let live" anymore, it's "they're getting some thing for nothing. I'm not. I shall complain."

Pfft....