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I suspect several could be aghast at the thought of someone who has little knowledge of our inland waterways and their craft going to look at just a couple of boats and using that as a trigger or otherwise with regard to a possible future life on the canals. You see, there you go again. You're doing exactly what the other two posters did who assumed I was going to drag my children out of their house and onto a narrowboat with no notice, even though as no point did I say that was what I was going to do. What I said was this: At the weekend I hope to go and look at a couple of boats. That was all I said. What I didn't say was: I'm going to look at a couple of boats this weekend and I'm going to plan my whole future around just this and never ever go and see any other boats at all. Did I say that? No. This kind of response isn't useful because you're giving opinions and advice on things that I haven't even said.

I have been a single mum for a few years now and have received no benefits other than Child Benefit(which I would get even if I were still married)and which is administered via HMRC not the council as far as I'm aware. Single mum does not automatically indicate a benefit recipient.

Evening all. Thought about starting this topic a few days ago but have been more than busy trying to recover a bit. Basically this is a bit of a warning to others on here when fitting out or carrying out Improvements to your boat. As some of you know I bought a 40" boat last July and have stripped the inside and refitted it, I. More or less finished now and decided last Monday that I would strip off the old tiles surrounding my squirrell stove, and replacing the tiles with something more in keeping with the new interior. I took the squirrell out and started knocking the tiles off using a brick bolster, got down to the fire board and noticed their were some more tiles beneath it, so fire board removed carefully so i could reuse it, I proceeded to knockoff the very old tiles (floor tiles were used previously, so very big and heavy). This is where the accident occurred, as I started to chip the old tiles off one of the tiles under the gunwale cracked in half and fell off the wall. On its way down it caught my right leg/knee. Result was a huge slice in my trousers and a much bigger slice through my right leg just on the knee, to say I went a bit grey is an understatement, it was extremely deep but didn't bleed at all. I was alone on the boat and as my mooring is on the edge of a farmers field I could have been in big trouble as I couldn't walk too well, the nearest hospital is around 8 miles away. I tried to raise the alarm with a friend that was working on his boat some way down the moorings, but he had left hos phone in his van!!, In short I managed to raise the alarm with a fellow boater, finally we got hold of my friend who took me to A & E, I spent two days in hospital and had to have an operation to check i had not done any serious damage and the put it all back together again, not a very nice experience at all, I'm going to be off my feet for a few weeks and the pain is not good. I just wanted to raise this with you all and note down some lessons that I will definitely learn from this and in turn hopefully by reading this it will make others think about the hazards. 1, I should have had overalls on and not thin track suit bottoms 2, I should have been standing up and not crouching below the area whilst knocking the tiles off 3, I should have made sure I had a first aid kit available (I had to use a tea towel to scrunch the leg together whilst I tried to raise the alarm) 4, prior to carrying out DIY jobs I should have made sure I had someone around that I could call on "just in case". Their is probably lots more "if" things I could have done but these keep springing to mind, I'm a healthy 32 year old and like to think have my head screwed on properly and this was just a silly silly mistake albeit a very costly one but could have been much I'm now hobbling around on crutches with my leg strapped up, luckily the staff in our pub are really helpful and have been waiting on me hand and er foot, I'm sure lots of us have had similar accidents on board but it does bring home just how isolated we can be when on our boats carrying out DIY jobs, I was very lucky this time and I hope that by reading this it will put into reality just how wrong a simple job can go sometimes Wishing you all happy and safe boating Nik Edited for spelling

Spur of the moment decision at 10 am today we decided we would take Islonian out for a short cruise. Mainly to see if there was anything that required sorting mechanically before we set off at the end of the month. So just an hour or so out, wind at the best place for a 60 footer, moor up for a couple of hours and make our way back. There' s something very satisfying about going out knowing its your own boat. Heres a few pics:- Passing Rufford Old Hall: Snowdrops! And we didn't have to pay to go and see them! Through the swing bridge: Beautiful day! That was so enjoyable................

Save gas with a pressure cooker. Once up to pressure the cooking time for most meals is not much more than a Microwave.

She must have been free that day

By whom? How on earth can someone "shout" in print? Sounds daft to me. Block capitals are perceived as either emphasising, or as someone's finger having slipped on the capitals lock of their keyboard.

Glad you are going to be ok. A very good post. Tim

Sorry my post was a bit unclear. the boat was built with a dumpthrough, converted to portapotti and then converted back to pump out by me. I like your explanation, the crust does look like a yeast crust and the smell when pumping out was kind of eathy and only faint.

I wholeheartedly agree and believe it should be thoroughly resisted.