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Are we all going soft? Why do we put up with this crap, I for one will carry on using this mooring as I have in the past. What is this boat going to do when it see's boats doubled and trebled up on the pontoon?... untie them all? no, they will just find somewhere else to use ( the marina perhaps, plenty of parking there! ) . Don't be bullied by people like this stand up and be counted if enough people do she will be out of a job John

May I propose that we appoint you the 'Boaters Representative to the Islington Residents Assn.? With your accomplished communication skills, we'll have the residents falling over themselves to welcome boaters

Treating visibile smoke like it is sarin gas was bound to happen after the crack down on passive smoking. If burning a couple of grams of dried leaf can be banned in public places (increasingly outdoors), it's no wonder a multifuel stove causes such comic overreaction in some.

I suspect a press release of a competition for students will ultimately generate more publicity and as a result positive reaction than either a press release saying we are employing Mr/Mrs/Ms x to design a box or saying it is being announced on the forum.

I cant tell you about the area in question. But can offer this advice. The next time someone tells you a "horror story" about a particular area. Ask them if they have been. Chances are the answer will be no.

I dont often comment on these press releases put out on behalf of CRT but on this one I do have some thoughts. CRT wants volunteers or so they say. Why go to top end expensive designers for a simple collection box? Do they not consider there may be a few good designers out here on the waterways who could do this job for a fraction of the cost they will eventually part with? They havent a clue about saving cost, they are so locked in there modern box at Milton Keynes I doubt anyone thinks outside it. On the waterways there are designers, printers, website creators, PR consultants etc - indeed just about any trade you wish to find from an accountant to a barrister, many of which would be happy to get involved. But no, they cant be bothered to find them, they just carry on in the old BW way spending the money without engaging a brain cell. I thought CRT was a good idea but sadly it seems its just the latest version of the same old animal, with added powerless tiers of partnerships now being told to raise more money for the "trust" they in reality have no control over. Good old BW (Mk4)!

More posts, friday . is it really friday already , grief. up early , so i sneak off to the front of the queing place for the three rise lock , like a german putting his towel on a sunbed in spain. it began to rain as i left the last of six locks in a row, so i had a word with the weather, as you do when you have been on a boat on your own for a month , i told i that it did not matter if it soaked me again , you will do what you want , twenty minutes on, the sun comes out . i am writing this in " a pub " in audlem , my next port of call will be birmingham , a long way off yet . tip number three, dont stand over the vent hole at the sluice , it squirts water up your trousers , if your stupid enough to stand over it , i know. do i have another beer . ps, nothing really went wrong today , strange. pps, thank you to the nice young girl that put twenty pence in the bucket , probably all she had , priceless . saturday. chicken crows , church bell strikes seven, the sun is out , perfect. at the first locks i decide to wreck my boat , the bywash is heavy so decide to crank it up to compensate, i drove straight into the lock wall , but its still afloat . by this time it is raining ,piggin rain , each rain drop is designed to p**s of the human race , or me at least , nasty little things. i get to market drayton , at two oclock, time for breakfast , as i walk to morrisons , i get soaked , and i mean soaked , i fell in the canal two days ago , today i feel like jumping in. locks , locks , and more locks . as i reach norbury junction , the weather comes up with a new kid on the block, effin great hailstones, like i was bothered , snow tomorrow. this venture seems to be plagued by some dodgy force , but as my late wife used to say ," youre the most stubborn ba***rd i know ", perhaps it might do me some good for once. tip for the day. dont try to catch the windlass when you dont put the cath on, it bloody hurts. sunday. 12.5.13. norbury junction, its claim to fame to me is that it has the best shower and toilets i have seen so far , you would not mind your own house finished in such a nice way , well done the canal trust . bacon and egg butty, and off , i faffed about a bit to make sure all was right with the boat , i am now into a sort of ritual , otherwise i forget things ,as a result i am now right up the a**e of a pleasure boat , one or two mph , for bloody miles . the pleasure boat let me pass eventually , i smiled as i passed him and tried not to let him see my body language . it rained , me and rain have fallen out , i hope it never rains ever again , the world can turn into a bleedin desert , but the canals would dry up , oops. i pull up for dinner , at the bridge inn , what a find that was , best dinner yet on the canals , i dont think the yorkshire pudding was microwaved. i ignore the rain and make it to authersley junction , this place was a bit foreboding , so i move on a bit, mistake , its five oclock , a sign says, bimingham , thats where i am off to , twenty one locks , f**k!, all in a row , you cant pull up between locks for the night , so sleeves rolled up . half way up i meet sue and john on there way down , sue offers me some stew for my tea, i decline because i want to get on, i was starving again by then , a donation from them , thanks , sue is a nurse so she knows the score of macmillan. tip for the locks , dont count em. after five hours i have conquered the twenty one locks , on my own , i reach the last one just as the light is going , i am now slap in the middle of wolverhampton. i find a pub , for dinner a packet of crisps, and a pint . i dont remember going to sleep. i am now just approaching bimingham ,its ten am , i am now back up to date , with this journal, its hard plugging in to peoples electric , mostly in pubs , but no one has refused yet. i am heading for the " the basin " , i will find it somehow. what of this trip , forgive me for thinking this but its a lonely place at times , however as soon as i get a bit low some one cheers me up , complete strangers , but so what , i also try to cheer them up too. a nice guy stopped me just near norbury so that he could donate a tenner , i have been rude enough to forget his name , but he will know , he lost some one near to him, thanks

I am not a big fan of rust converters. I would quickly rub down any rusty scrapes to bare metal, though no need to be a perfectionist about this, prime with Bondaprimer (that dries in minutes), then use a semi gloss black. There is also a combined semi gloss black/primer which I think comes from Hempel. The other option is the "Gunwhale paint" from Andy Russell. Using blacking is not ideal as it does not always keep too well once the pot is opened and its messy stuff, a black enamel that approximately matches the shade of the blacking is easier. .............Dave

£3000 for a cast iron stand pipe is MoD pricing! The cast iron type could be copied or a similar item produced in self coloured resinous (probably recycled) fibrous plastic material, designed to be Regs compliant and self insulating for considerably less csot whilst being more pleasing to the eye, functional and less attractive to the scrap metal thieves. That stainless item is utter arse! Public toilet or kebab house chic, with little insulation, poor functionality and greater injury potential. Ignoring the (slightly suspect) water regs argument, surely the question should be why? Just do what one of the richest charities in the country does and ignore the situation until forced, when they get someone else to do something for them as a gift!

Then you should moan at everyone else who wants it all and wants it now. It's a finite resource for you to expect to use it in an infinite manner simply unrealistic. I don't where people get these attitudes from, 10 years ago you'd have bitten someone's hand off to have the kinds of access we have now, and what do people do? moan. Moan, moan moan. I think it's brilliant, liberating and it's revolutionised my life in a way i used to dream about. As I am fond of repeating "it's not amazing it goes wrong (slow), it's amazing it works at all"

One advantage of fibreglass, I only need to wash mine!

Grand Union, starts in London and ends in BIrmingham or the River Trent, even a fat boat can get most of the way. I see no reason why this does not fit in with the guidelines.