inlandnewbie
regular
Reged: 30/01/2006
Posts: 263
Loc: hertfordshire
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is there anywhere online that you can look to get up to date info on what boards are out on the river at various locations?
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JECuk
regular
Reged: 22/01/2008
Posts: 254
Loc: Mid-Thames
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teddington lock website is helpful at least for there.
-------------------- Lady Gay
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teddington_lock
regular
Reged: 23/10/2007
Posts: 317
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Ummm ...
Not online , but you can get warning board info by calling :-
0845 988 1188 and when prompted, press 1 immediately followed by the quickdial number :-
011131
Although , checking it now , it was last updated on Tuesday 25th and it is saying that the only red boards out are at Marlow. Not sure what the lag on this service is ...
If you are interested in the reach from Teddington to Molesey , we have a 'River Status' page on our website www.teddington-lock.co.uk
We try to update it in real time , certainly within 12 hours of a board change.
Teddington is on Yellows at the moment.
H
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boatone
regular
Reged: 29/07/2001
Posts: 6862
Loc: Surrey uk
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Quote:
Ummm ...
Not online , but you can get warning board info by calling :-
0845 988 1188 and when prompted, press 1 immediately followed by the quickdial number :-
011131
Although , checking it now , it was last updated on Tuesday 25th and it is saying that the only red boards out are at Marlow. Not sure what the lag on this service is ...
It really is time the EA got up to date and put this info on an easily accessed webpage. And I mean an easily accessible webpage - something like www.visitthames.co.uk/thamesriverstatus or similar.
£500 for a licence and even the product accessibility info is out of date !!!
-------------------- "Don't tell me why not, tell me how..."
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teddington_lock
regular
Reged: 23/10/2007
Posts: 317
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I'm just a lowly lock-keeper
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boatone
regular
Reged: 29/07/2001
Posts: 6862
Loc: Surrey uk
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Quote:
I'm just a lowly lock-keeper
And probably as frustrated as we are with some of these issues!
Go on guys - click on www.visitthames.co.uk/thamesriverstatus - it will tell you the page is not available so click on 'Give Us Feedback' and tell 'em we want better info. They did set up a mobile message list last summer but havent received any info via that route for months.
-------------------- "Don't tell me why not, tell me how..."
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apollo
regular
Reged: 12/09/2003
Posts: 1222
Loc: Thames
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Done
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teddington_lock
regular
Reged: 23/10/2007
Posts: 317
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I have had a chat with one of the other lockies at Teddington about this, and it's easily do-able with a bit of co-operation.
It would need each of the three nav offices on the river to fax down to Tedders after they have done the morning levels which lock is showing which board ( if any ) on their head gates. You could make up a chart to be faxed so that all you would have to do would be to indicate either 'N' for none 'Y' or 'R' ..
Using basically the same software that i run the teddington lock site with , it could be updated ( 99% of the time ) before 12 midday.
The problem with having it part of visit-thames is that it isn't updated every day by the EA web designers ( as far as i know ) , so there would be a lag as i don't think the designers would agree to update every day before 12.
You would need to register a site ( www.thameswarningboards.co.uk for example ) with a company like 123-reg.co.uk , would cost £2.50 a year , and with that you get one free page and a content creator ( this is how i do the teddington lock site ) . Any fool can use it , and no knowledge of HTML or anything is neccessary.
Set up a template on it , and just cut and paste the letters as we would need to . Would take about 10 minutes a day. Winter would be easier to update as it is a bit quieter lock-wise , but flows are up , but then in the summer ( barring weather like last year ) the site wouldn't be needed , so we could get on with our normal lock-keeping duties.
I'm not volunteering though
Edited by teddington_lock (28/03/2008 10:51)
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TrueBlue
regular
Reged: 30/04/2004
Posts: 1251
Loc: Sussex
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Well said "One".
Hopefully AQ will pick this up - if she still exists, or is allowed to talk to us.
VisitThames is / was a brave effort to spread information about the River. It started off badly, but there have been slow but steady improvements. I suspect through lack of funds.
Time maybe to start juggling the bars politely, so I'll take action as you suggest.
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TrueBlue
regular
Reged: 30/04/2004
Posts: 1251
Loc: Sussex
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a very nice lady in Reading (10:40 ack emma) who said Caversham was on Yellows; couldn't give any more info as everyone was in a meeting...
Floodline is an attempt to centralise emergency information, but is totally impenetrable if you don't know the codes. A result of trying to have one point of contact for such a huge organization.
Be that as it may, it is rarely up to date; their week seems to end on Thursday afternoons and starts on Tuesdays, so not a whole lot of use of you need to know whether there's too much or too little water at the weekend.
Seems daft to me to have to ring up the local lock - who have better things to do (?), nice though it might be.
As to being a lowly lock keeper, the latter, yes, the former, definitely No, the only web enabled chaps on this ditch!
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