Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/06/16 in all areas

  1. We hired boats in the old days and to get value for money we set a demanding route and timetable. Not by going 'fast' but by avoiding self imposed delays, by early starts and by late stops where necessary - whilst at the same time allowing for a change of route/destination in case something cropped up that was more interesting - but never going fast. Today, with our own boat, we have no planned route and all day to get there - but that does not mean we are happy to crawl along behind a dawdler who has an even slower timetable.
    2 points
  2. I work at Samaritans. Suicide can be a taboo subject in any country, but in my opinion is more likely to be openly discussed here in the UK than many other more conservative countries I can think of. Anyway, having spoken at length to many people with thoughts or feelings of suicide I can assure you that there are different feelings associated with suicidal individuals. It may be different for each person and we shouldn't lump them all together as thinking this way or that. Many people I've spoken to are well-aware and are not under any delusion about being the only person to ever feel that way.
    2 points
  3. How on earth can you teach someone how to deal with that?
    2 points
  4. Perhaps you need to talk to the traumatised driver of a train that has hit a suicidal person, and the railway staff who have to clean the train, and the staff who have to walk the line collecting all the body bits, the signaller who has to report it, and the passengers who have been delayed.
    2 points
  5. Not for the train driver, some of whom never recover from such an experience. Or for the people who have to collect the body parts from the track.
    2 points
  6. For cevni and ICC I can recommend Bisham Abbey sailing school at Marlow. Nice people to deal with. I did my ICC, Cevni and VHF certificate there a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have you visited French waterways? They are rather different to English waterways. I think tying two narrowboats together (ratchet straps all the way round?) Is asking for much more trouble than single boats close to each other but not in contact. Tuckeys is a good boat transporter
    1 point
  7. I've used a Dahon folding mountain bike since I've been on the boat and have found it brilliant, but then I came to it from a bit of a cycling background. The bike I've got doesn't appear to be made any more (Dahon Zero G) but the closest I can find in their range is this one http://dahon.com/bikes/ios-d9-2/ My preference is for disc brakes since on a muddy towpath in the winter rim brakes don't stop you much. Added to that I have a trailer from here http://www.carryfreedom.com/ which has carried everything, coal, gas,water,Thetford cassettes and even a couple of washing machines . I've probably saved the cost of the bike in bus fares/taxi fares (and really, how many buses/taxis are going to let you on board with a full Thetford cassette ).
    1 point
  8. I was uncertain at first about a folding bike, and so bought a cheap one to see how I got on with it. Below is a link to the one I got and, for £149 new, I can honestly say I'm very pleased with it. http://bicycles4u.com/products/monaco-explorer They have a range at various prices and sizes. I go to the shops on it most days, and I have bags front and back, so can load up with quite a bit, and have cycled along the Thames towpath from Weybridge to Hampton Court and it's a little bumpy in places, but fine. I thought the small (16") wheels would be a problem, but in reality they're not bad, and the bike folds up quite small. If, like me, you haven't ridden a bike for a while then I'd also suggest, whatever you get, that you buy a big, comfortable saddle. I got one off Amazon called a "Big Bum", that's both padded and sprung, which has made a big difference to ride comfort. Obviously a full size bike will be more comfortable, and usually faster, but then again it can't be easily stowed, and so it's swings and roundabouts.
    1 point
  9. Not much I can add to Richard's comment - it's terrible Also it's a reminder when we discuss these things that real people are involved, several devastated families Jayseaess - you're best friends are going to need a lot of love and understanding for a very long time, please be strong for them
    1 point
  10. I've used both. The folding bike is fine a well surfaced towpaths you might find in / near towns e.g. for going to the shops etc. For moving the boat and wanting to return to the car on countryside towpaths then a mountain bike is better. Both need some form of puncture resistance.
    1 point
  11. 1 point
  12. There is no 'should' and shouldn't'. Posting was fine. My deepest condolences. It doesn't help to say 'time heals', because sadly it doesn't in my experience. The passage of time often results in coping strategies emerging though.
    1 point
  13. Just had a lengthy conversation with Kate Langley from CRT Tamworth re the contents of the map. She has now seen for herself the massive amounts of errors it contains and is looking into having it altered. I suggested that it should be taken down as it distorts reality and facts and cannot be allowed to remain in the public domain. It appears it is the result of a number of CRT employees working with volunteers, I suggested that she made a shortlist of people with proper knowledge and worked with them as it appears the "volunteers" were not knowledgable about waterways in particular. She had not heard of the Richard Dean maps or the NLS interactive website. We will see what happens.............
    1 point
  14. Trouble is nor do ones costing more than twice that amount.
    1 point
  15. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  16. This looks like a poor copy of a a series of maps produced by the late Mike Stevens, these can be seen at: http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/history/menu-decades.htm Tim
    1 point
  17. I had been diagnosed with depression years ago. Not really severe but seems to be controlled by medication. I wish I wasn't depressed. Good days and not so good days. Years ago, I had to visit my GP as I was having really bad thoughts and I believed, sometimes still do, that I had done my bit for this life, brought up three smashing sons, all left home and have their own families now, I was thinking of giving up work soon and just felt empty. I was in a dark place. I didn't realise until my brain sorted itself out. To me, it's not a taboo subject. Difficult to understand if you're not involved or effected by this illness. Not the solution, but it has helped, I now live on a boat. Martyn
    1 point
  18. Where most people face with a difficult situation in their lives might briefly consider suicide, but only as option 25 or so, for some of us it's always about option 3, and for those folk a drug like the ones we're discussing can push it up to Option 1. I used to work for a boss who was an authority on suicide and have lost a brother and a nephew to unexpected suicide, so it's a risk I'm horribly aware of in myself.
    1 point
  19. So very sorry to hear of your sad news. I would like to add my sincere condolences. Ken
    1 point
  20. So so sorry to hear your devastating news, I cannot begin to think how you feel, I don't have any words that will help but as others have said lean on those who are willing. Phil
    1 point
  21. If everyone who walks through the doors is NOT a shoplifter, what right have the supermarket security staff got to put whoever they want under surveillance through their CCTV cameras? I think you'll find that it is another part of these Terms and Conditions malarkey. If you choose to use Tescos,Sainsburys,Morrisons et al. the conditions of being able to shop there is that you agree to be under surveillance (you'll find there are posters telling you that you are being watched). Have you given them your authorisation for them to do that? Yes, by shopping under their Terms and Conditions. So we come back to the marinas, if you don't want to pay a licence fee, put your boat in an exempt marina, simples. By mooring in a non exempt marina and signing up to their terms and conditions you are agreeing to get a licence for your boat, get over it
    1 point
  22. Getting the heating and 'lectrik right on a liveaboard boat is a complicated subject, there are different opinions and what works for some folk might not work for others. You need to rapidly learn about this to decide what You want before getting expensive professionals to get their tools out. Example, almost all liveaboards use a solid fuel stove as their main source of heat, maybe feeding a radiator or two, but for a few people this is all just too much muck and trouble and so they have to have central heating. A good well maintained stove will never let you down (as you will keep a spare glass somewhere in the boat), every other form of heat will break when you least need it to. A calorifier (boaty hot water tank) can hold a fair bit of hot water, heated by the engine, and will stay warm for a couple of days (with luck and planning) so you don't actually need to run the engine everytime you want hot water. Older boats had "instant" water heaters but these are out of fashion now, and not really up to running a good shower. Try to get rid of everything that needs 240v and work just from 12volts, with a 240v inverter for occasional use (a big mains hairdrier is probably fine when the engine is running). Its summer, can you muddle thru for a couple of months to learn about the boat then get it sorted ready for winter?? ..............Dave
    1 point
  23. The reasons are a) obvious or b ) irrelevant Fact is people do sometimes stop heavy steel canal boats with centre lines. I have done it sometimes when it makes sense but my centre lines are attached to welded handrails and I do it in a controlled manner not too suddenly. I also have undersized ropes as centre lines so the rope will break before damage to the boats hardware
    1 point
  24. (I realise this makes me as guilty of speculation as everybody else, before anybody points it out.) However it is perhaps worth pointing out that plenty of bad things have happened to youngsters of this kind of age, which have nothing to do with suicide. I can well imagine situations after a few beers involving dares about climbing over handrails or trying to walk along them. Remember the loss of life when someone was egged on to jump a narrow lock after a few drinks, and didn't make it. Until an official explanation is forthcoming, I think we can't know if this was an intended death or just somebody thinking they could do something highly ill advised.
    1 point
  25. As in complaining to the Ombudsman? Good luck with that. But it is always possible, CaRT willing, to propose Alternative Dispute Resolution before, or following commencement of, court action; in fact the courts encourage this and are likely to take a dim view of parties unwilling to try that route.
    1 point
  26. They did go to a good home. The current owners have just had a severely premature baby and their priorities have changed.
    1 point
  27. Speaking as one who has approached CRT whilst in Oxford because I was going to overstay, I'm not sure where you get this thing about them 'authorising' an overstay. Basically when I arrived in Oxford the Thames was in flood so I couldn't continue up to Lechlade. I e-mailed the CRT office and told them that I was going to overstay (not ask for permission) and gave them the reason for doing so. Their reply was that they would create an Extended Stay on my boat record, all perfectly amicable, I didn't ask for permission and they didn't grant an 'authority', all they did was put something on record so that any EO or Data Checker would be aware of why I was at the location. My view was that if there had been any later differences of opinion on the subject (there weren't) I would put forward the case that if CRT were in any way concerned they should have raised their concerns at the time of initial notification. If someone chooses not to tell CRT of their reasons for their actions they are in no position to complain if CRT draw the wrong conclusions.
    1 point
  28. Surely a sensible boater realising they would need to over stay would not wait for an enforcement officer and contact CRT themselves. Everyone who has posted about overstaying (during) the few years I have been on here) who contacted CRT doesn't seem to have had a problem. Most report very sympathetic treatment and concern from CRT rather than problems.
    1 point
  29. I suspect you might have identified the problem. Zig is a young dog just coming up to full maturity. Bull terrier breeds need strong leadership. If she's not around you a lot, and she is not getting the physical activity and exercise she needs, then that might lead to unbalanced behaviour including aggression. In the short term I think you would be wise to muzzle her, either a cage muzzle or a soft fabric one, whenever she is not in the house. Its not just a matter of her being potentially dangerous to children - she has just demonstrated that she is dangerous to other dogs and that, by the new legislation (https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/overview), is an offence. In the long term you might need to consider Zig's needs for leadership, exercise, and training, against your abilty to fulfil those needs, and work out if you are the right owner for her. You might have to accept that you can't fulfil her needs and find her a new home. It will be very hard for you but for her it might be the best thing. I don't claim to be a dog expert. I base what I am saying on my own experience. I took on a very troubled, extremely aggressive rescue staffie cross. It has taken me nearly two years to train him to not be aggressive and he's almost there now. I had to do a lot of research and reading to find the answers to his problems and it has made me think a great deal about why a dog becomes aggressive and what can be done about it. For my boy Riko the biggest thing he needed from me was time. I couldn't have done it if I hadn't been retired. In the first months every waking minute was given to changing his behaviour. I learned that the training and the boundaries I give him have to be absolutely consistant. He is a happy, calm, contented dog now (though he still has his moments so has to be watched carefully), which is excellent considering he used to live in a state of permanent extreme anxiety, so bad that he was going to have to go to the vet within a week or two if he couldn't be rehomed. I'm not drawing a complete parallel between my Riko and your Zig but I think more than anything else Zig is a powerful breed that needs absolute consistency in leadership, discipline, and training.....and lots and lots of exercise. Good luck sir. The answers and guidance you need are out there and you've done the right thing by asking for advice.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.