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Laurence, I shall probably get slapped down for being a bit controversial, but..... You have published this about Ed Rimmer. But when Gill Rimmer died earlier this year, you published a fairly glowing obituary, IIRC. Gill Rimmer was both his wife, and a co-director of Challenger, was she not ? I suspect you will not want to pass further comment, but I would be genuinely interested if it is your view that Ed Rimmer carried out this level of fraud without his wife and co-director being in any way aware of it ?

It may interest people to know that as a result of the economic climate and current lack of job opportunities, suicide rates among young men especially have risen. Depression and mental illness among young people has also risen. Many young people have little in the way of family support and places like drop in centres and charities that offer a lifeline to young people are having their budgets cut. Just a thought to bear in mind seeing as no one knows how old or young, or what frame of mind a poster may be in at the time of asking a question even if the question seems vague or unspecific.That's the problem with forums and emails. It's so easy to misinterpret the written word. To Darren or anyone trying to make ends meet, unless you own a boat, it probably isn't the cheap option that it's made to sound. I own my boat outright so I have no mortgage but I know that marine mortgages are offered at a much higher percentage rate. As I said earlier, there are other costs that you don't think of at the time. It's only after you live the boat lifestyle that you realise 6 months down the track how much it's really costing you in other things because the boat is not a convenient lifestyle especially if you have to travel to work. If you can live like a monk on a very basic level, then it can be cheaper. If you are prone to low periods or you feel depressed, life on a boat can be very isolated. It's fine if you like the hermit lifestyle but probably will have it's drawbacks if you like to be around people. If you are struggling for money and trying to find a cheaper place to live, you probably won't get much support on this kind of forum because of all the politics. Most boat loving liveaboards won't want crowds of people living in their back yard. I must be honest, I wouldn't either but I have the luxury of an apartment as well as my boat. Looking beyond this though, it sounds like Darren is doing his best to try and secure a cheaper way to live. A boat is not going to be cheaper if you have to borrow to buy it. What I would advise Darren or any other person currently struggling, is to look at the possibility of house sharing or buy half/rent half. There are a lot of hard up property developers now willing to enter into selling a portion of their properties relevant to what the bank will lend you, then you can rent the other half directly from them until such time that you can buy it outright. Read all the small print first of course and seek proper advice. Perhaps researching this market first might be your best option. Of course if you are looking to live on a boat for other reasons, escape life, go into retreat mode, etc, it won't necessarily be cheaper. A boat is a lot like a car in some ways, because it's mechanical, unexpected costs can crop up especially in winter. Do look at all options before you dive in the deep end. This goes for anyone reading this thread. I hope this helps.

Some folk get to engage in some light hearted mickey taking. Phylis is obviously unperturbed because she is responding like for like, clearly enjoying it. Lurkers get something to chuckle at. Sueb gets something to sneer at. Possibly belonging in the Pub, rather than GB but, otherwise, surely the perfect thread?

Hi all my wife and I have once again had a fab week on a hire boat, my wife has been on canal boats for about 40years (her parents lived on one ) and I have been on them for about 30. One thing that we have noticed the standard of Boatmanship and skills are very low!! The majority are the people who own their own boats, some are good and some are just so truly ignorant ,arrogant and bad mannerd they deserve all the hassle they get!!! I could give loads of examples and names of nb, but they know who they are................ So next time you give a condesending remark or are rude to someone on a hire boat, just remember, that person could of done more miles backwards on the cut than you've gone forward..... I don't expect this post to go down well, but i don't realy care, it's my cut just as much as yours and if it wasn't for the hire companies the canals would not be what they are today. Roll on 2021 when I can afford to retire to our boat and be a real grumpy old git.......I have a feeling i'll fit in very well........

Being one of the more challenging canals, I thought I would post this for future reference - based on our recent experience. Many folk we have spoken to were surprised that there is no longer any assistance offered by BW at the more difficult locks, especially those coming off the top. You are most definitely on your own these days. Moorings on the western side are sparse. We tied up at the BW san station (grove road) and opposite the one further up at dobcross. There are decent moorings at Uppermill also. It's better on the west side, though Stalybridge doesn't seem very popular these days. Slaithwaite behind the fire station is a good spot. You can go all the way up to the tunnel from either direction anytime you like if you have booked a passage. BW do not make this clear when you are making a booking, possibly because they do not want it being generally known that the locks are no longer chained up on "non passage" days. The pounds coming down the eastern side are particularly shallow. If you don't keep the boat straight in the pound it's very easy to get hung up as the lock fills and the level goes down. It's not so bad if you have more than one crew member who can control the level from the lock above. At least two boats (one last month) to my knowledge have come to grief by getting stuck on the cill entering/leaving locks when the pound level is very low. It is not unusual for the lock gates to refuse to open because the levels will not equalise. You can sometimes force them open but that means there may be insufficient depth to get over the cill. Inevitably the lock will have leaky bottom gates so the water level will drop tipping the boat forward/back. This is what happened in the two cases I've heard about. Where pounds were very low I checked the depth over the cill first to be safe. The guillotine lock on the east side currently has no instructions on how to operate it. We have reported this. There's a locked metal box on the towpath side which contains the winding gear. It's a pig by the way. There is a lot of rubbish in the canal where is passes the university buildings in Huddersfield. Apparently the students seem to like throwing their clothes in the canal, which we can verify judging by the various items removed from our prop. Aspley basin seems to have its fair share of drunks hanging around these days, though we had no trouble. The HCN is worth doing if only for the tunnel experience. The guides really know their stuff and there is nothing like Standedge anywhere on the network. I'd also recommend taking a day to walk over the top, especially if the weather's good. Only problem is the tunnel inn seems to have closed but Marsden is not short of pubs. The guys at Standedge said they were surprised by how few boats had crossed this year, especially as it's the 200th anniversary (of the official opening). We saw maybe six boats over the five/six days we were en route. Quite a contrast with the stories I read of hours long queues at locks down south.

Until they went quiet this thread was like watching a three headed sock puppet masterbate in public.

Alan, sometimes spouses/partners of serial criminals/fraudsters/conmen/adulterers/murderers etc have no idea that their other half is adrift. Indeed some of them shop them when they find out. However, she is gone(aware or blind), and the obit was genuine. The real criminal has been named and shamed on here many a time , and for many years. Can we not just enjoy the fact that for once, justice has been served on one whilst still breathing, and some several groups of canal lovers can have a little celebration over the event which, although not returning their money, ensures that he cannot continue to pull cons over others with their life savings or dreams.

That's not half as good as the view from inside my neighbour's wardrobe.

Well, I'm going to be the one that says it's rude, extremely rude. I get very annoyed at people doing this and will make it plain to them that I am. You are invading my privacy by doing this. If anyone asks me what my boat is like inside, if it's convenient and I like the look of them, I might show them around. My boat is my home and I'd like it to be respected as such, it's not on show to the public anymore than the house down the road is. In the days of commercial carrying, boatmen/women would never look inside another's cabin and, when tied alongside, would go to great lengths to avoid passing their neighbours doors when getting on or off. Sadly, too many modern day boaters don't demonstrate such respect. Keith

Badsey wishes his brothers/sisters and all their owners over the years all the best and many more years What is a double 75th anniversary? (and as Badsey was the Guinness boat, Double Diamond doesn't count).

You have a history of selecting evidence to suit yourself, of wilfully presenting black as white and hurling insult at anyone who comes close to exposing the flaws in your debate. You may convince yourself otherwise but the reason for your animosity to Dave Mayall is that he consistently out debates you and you are forced into non arguments like the lime green boat. In debate you are an extremely vociferous lightweight who likes to consider himself wise and insightful. In light of your total lack of credibility I couldn't give a toss about your opinion. "Bless".

I disagree. If you want it, go for it and make it work. All this pussyfooting around means so many people don't achieve their dreams.

Q.E.D. Tony

From my perspective that's exactly what she's done. I would hazard that's her opinion too. Not that it takes a huge lot of skill to get the Daily Mayall posse talking crap about nothing and making themselves look like puerile wallies in the process.

This is a perfectly acceptable description for a stove, in Yorkshire...You've just missed the apostrophe out.

My wife and I have terms we call to warn each other : BRAVO : branch SIERRA BRAVO : spiky branch DELTA PAPA : Dog poo NBF : New best friend ( anyone we talk to for more than 10 minutes) BFD : boat with fenders down ( stay clear) bob

Venetian blinds are handy, angled right you can see towpath walkers' feet and legs but they can't see you. Very empowering.

Probably not. Doesn't make you right, though. Tony

Am I the only person to find the behavior of some of the posters pathetic? I am not refering to Phylis. Sue

No, but you're probably in the minority. Watching a loud-mouth squirm can be quite entertaining. Tony

Ah...so many ways to look.... (from online Thesaurus) Main Entry: look Definition: examine visually Synonyms: admire, attend, behold, beware, consider, contemplate, eye, feast one's eyes, flash, focus, gape, gawk, gaze, get a load of, glance, glower, goggle, heed, inspect, mark, mind, note, notice, observe, ogle, peep, peer, pore over, read, regard, rubberneck, scan, scout, scrutinize, see, spot, spy, stare, study, survey, take a gander, take in the sights, tend, view, watch Antonyms: disregard, ignore, miss, overlook I reckon I start with observing, and may progress through several stages including an occasional ogle!

I believe your whingeing and carping have turned this from a thread with a mix of advice and light hearted banter into an argument. It is you who is being precious. Lighten up a bit and get back on topic.

First of all do not go on about communication skills when you have deliberately misrepresented what I said. I said his posts had the appearance of being from a troll and that is a completely different thing. Judging from some of the replies I would suggest that I am not the only one who wondered about that. Added to that is the suggestion that the MSC may be place to moor/live. I would suggest that this taken with what went before is so off the wall it would not be unreasonable to attribute a degree of trolling to that as well. "I have been doing a lot of research, internet, magazines and stuff". Well has he? If he has I am very surprised he has not already contacted me via the magazine, on the magazine forum, via Canal Junction, or directly. The fact that he has not suggest his research is somewhat lacking. If someone wants to use a public internet forum to obtain private advice that is denied to the rest of the users then I am not going to email. His conduct seems selfish and if he wants private advice he should be willing to pay for it. You do his case no good by casting aspersions about other forum members. Your efforts would be better spent trying to get him to understand why he got the answers he did and how to avoid a repeat situation. The bottom line is that his conduct leaves something to be desired and your aspersions about other forum members only made the situation worse. If you had simply explained what he wanted and confined your self to the questions I suspect the outcome would have been different. PS I also monitor the WWW forum and he does not seem to have asked on there either.

Mrs Tawny Owl for the effort she puts into the Lapworth Banter (along with several others of course).

They are fine with a normal charger. The bigger the better. I don't know if you watched the film with a certain "expert" saying AGMs are no good because you can't charge them up fast. It's bollocks. The ones I've got here will charge up faster than anything else I have ever tried. He states a maximum of 10% of the battery capacity. I've been charging these at twice the battery capacity. But yes, a normal 3 stage charger is fine.