Monday, September 10, 2012

Back To Reality After A Trip Along The Niagara River To Fit A Water Meter


No I have not been away again, but I have had a couple of weeks with loads happening and less time than normal to write blog-posts and visit my favourite blogs. I have returned to normality with a trip down the Niagara River on board the steamer "Chippewa", getting off at the town of Lewiston, New York. I am not sure where I acquired the postcard from, I rather think I might have bought it from an antique stall rather than acquired it as part of Fowler Beanland's collection. There is an image of a similar card on the web, but someone has decided to overprint it with copyright information. Well, this is my card and I scanned it and I hereby declare that anyone can reproduce this image without payment, without consultation and without acknowledgement.

I suspect I paid 20p for the card (I rarely pay more), but for that I have acquired a bit of history. I was also sent on a virtual digital tour, checking to discover where Lewiston was, looking to see if the landing stage is still there and to see if the opposite bank of the river is still tree-lined. I have had the pleasure of reading up on the history of the Niagara River Line, and even discovering that the ship name is derived from one of the oldest tribes of Native Americans. That is a lot of pleasure for 20p.

All that water flowing down towards the Niagara Falls reminded me that it was Monday and therefore my regular appointment with the Water Company who, for what seems like years now, have been trying to fit a water meter. A large gang of workers arrived at 8.00am this morning but then proceeded to shake their collective heads and talk about complex excavations through sand-beds (or something similar). They said it would need an even larger gang with specialist equipment: they will be back next week no doubt.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:55 PM

    That's a lot of travel and history for 20p. I visited Niagara Falls in 1976 when I was 12. The ground thumps with the weight of the water rushing over the falls - a bit like being in a disco with the bass turned right up! Hope your water meter finally gets fitted next week :-) Jo

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  2. An excellent bargain for 20p! Would that all our adventures could come at that price.

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  3. A good trip, and how generous of you to share the image copyright free.

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  4. It's a wonderful postcard, but do you think there might be a bit of visual hyperbole in the crowds jamming the decks? I would worry about the stability of the boat with that much weight gathered on top.

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  5. Nice card Alan and for just 20p! Maybe the Chippewa gave other people the idea to operate the Maiden of the Mist near the Falls.

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  6. Best of luck with that water meter.

    I also rarely pay much for a card. I never did see the point in copyrighting and watermarking cards and wondered why other people did it. Then I started seeing entire posts of mine (with image) appearing on other blogs - no attribution, of course. I would have been flattered, but they were indiscriminately looking for content, in some cases to sell various cheesy products. I also noticed that there were hundreds of image downloads from my site per day, in such a rapid fire way that there was no possibility of reading the post.

    Then I discovered that images from cards I owned and scanned were being posted with copyright protection elsewhere. Images are also compiled and sold. Some people have asked if they could use images for books or movies, and I provided them with a high-resolution image and no strings attached. Other people and organizations (even Vanity Fair) have just helped themselves.

    That's when I started adding a watermark. I was very reluctant to do it, but I was also bothered by the thought that after I spent hours scanning and researching cards, someone else would try to profit from it.

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  7. That IS a lot of fun from 20p. Just read Christine's comment above - it makes me so cross when people just nick other's folks' hard work. Very hard to police though.

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  8. Intriguing postcard, Alan. The boat looks to be an unusual shape, tending towards circular....
    As for water meters, I've always heard that they put your bills up in the long run. Although I know that sometimes there's no choice.

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  9. Brilliant post. I like it that you are so clever as to Noteshelf and Evernote! You will be making your own postcards soon?

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  10. Great story about the boat and how you related it to your meter. I have a similar story about having my gas meter moved and it isn't a funny story..

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