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Horseboat Hampton on its way back from the rally. ?

Not a very clear pic. Taken on a cold ( very ) day in January iirc 76 in the good old arctic off Iceland North Atlantic. The moment of impact as Thor or Tyr rammed us on the quarterdeck/flight deck. They had lots of bottle those chaps. Their vessels however were massively built and we sustained a fair bit of damage and had to be welded up as we went along over a couple of days. We were rammed twice and I don't recall which this was, the second ramming we sustained more severe damage and we were replaced after a few days by another frigate. Now that's what I call fun days in boating ? Sea dog and Nightwatch amongst others will fully understand. A bit of history anyway.

43 locks done today, including the Hatton flight solo. By 'eck those paddles need a lot of winding! I ache, and i doubt i will ever beat that personal best. Good day though!

Several flights padlocked from 6PM to 10AM https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/13376/leeds-and-liverpool-canal-barrowford-greenberfield-bank-newton-and-gargrave This is all of course due to the boating and other travel jinx I have been carrying for the past few months, which has so far caused the Marple Locks closure, the Maghull breach, two West Coast Main Line stoppages, two bus accidents/breakdowns, and yesterday a broken gear cable 2/3 of the way up the Wigan flight. As the chap on the other boat said as we tied the boats together: "Just let me know if you book a flight anytime, will you?"

Boaters Reps Meeting - 28 June 2018 - Birmingham, Aqua House Yesterday was a long day - out at 6am for dialysis, did exactly 4 hours 12 minutes as I needed to be on the train to Birmingham at 12.30pm. I arrived after the meeting started, so the first item agenda the Trust’s New Structure I missed - the rest if my report are from my sketchy notes and recollections - I make no apologies, I was a bit shattered (I got home at 8pm, had tea and slept a solid 15 hours); therefore, these are not minutes, nor should be regarded as such. We did emphasise that they inform boaters about all problems they are experiencing and best practice should be followed. Peter Birch came in to talk about offside vegetation - reiterated the need for our help in reporting areas - there is a backlog of offside vegetation cutback, but they are committed to doing 200km per annum to catch up. They also reassign some offside vegetation cutback budget to the dredging team for them to complete whilst dredging. The dredging backlog is being cleared, but bearing in mind, budgets are pushed to the utmost with the breaches at Middlewich, Liverpool and closures of the flight at Marple (and now Bosley) the dredging schedule may be severely cut back. However, if you find yourself aground, please phone or use the online form to let them know. Also, they are taking the best practice of the Summit Pound Vegetation clearance in the use of volunteers in offside vegetation clearance and the fact that both the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals are now on a three year rolling off side vegetation clearance using volunteers - this is what they would like to achieve nationwide. There was talk about the emissions; boats are exempt, but localised issues mean the Trust “has to be seen to be pulling their weight” Persuading boaters to use right types of wood, smokeless coal in built up areas, not burning plastic etc all help - they put advice out every autumn regarding this. We briefly talked about facilities and Marple in particular - the contractors rebuilding Lock 15 blocked access to the bins for emptying for virtually eight months - My suggestion that they must put the need for permanent access for emptying the bins into any design and engineering brief was noted; also the use of rubbish boats as well. Again, they rely on boaters letting them know of problems via Customer Service or website form (Link below) The BWML sale has had significant interest and an announcement will probably be made in the autumn Wide Beam Boats - canal width designation will be available in September Boaters Handbook - a new copy is due shortly - they will probably only make available online, section for new boaters. Cyclists on Towpaths - various initiatives - painted sleeping policemen, towpath rangers - they are running the “Share the Space, Drop the Pace” again - I highlighted a particular problem in Victoria Park for Roving Traders and the London Team are actioning this. They use Towpath Rangers to stop and speak to cyclists. Please use the online form to report all incidents. Limehouse Basin - proposal from BWML to put extra pontoons to charge bookable spaces in at the Tidal Lock landings, this is where boats moor awaiting to go onto the Thames - not before the Planning Committee yet - sill keep you updated - asked CRT to look at this as the Landowner.

Oh what a cheerful outlook. Once again damned if they do, damned if they don't.

That is the pump out boat behind. Come to pump out smellys poop.

That must be photoshopped. Everyone knows that in order to tow a caravan successfully, you need one of these MG-J:-

A guy approached me in the Pub car park the other night ……"pssst, you wanna buy 8 legs of venison ?", I replied "that's too dear"

Well there wouldn't be would there

I don't condone the use of drones, unless in the hands of competent and insured individuals. As this pilot appears to be. This video has nothing to do with me, nor do I know the person who made it. I offer it for interest to those who may have never seen Hawkesbury Jtcn (Suttons Stop). My other point of interest is that I'm in it. I'm not the pleasant looking 60' coming down The Coventry towards the junction. I'm the rather scruffy 34' heading to the lock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__5ys60lkkc

Not long after the Cod Wars I joined United Towing in Hull, running the deep sea tugs, including Lloydsman and Statesman. I am sure you may remember both of them as they too had similar ramming incidents while acting as guardships. Hull Maritime Museum has some terrific footage of Cod War activity including some of the ramming and net cutting incidents which they showed at public viewings last year. Howard

Was MtB and Alan Fincher steering the ships? ?

Which toilet to get? Definitely get a cassette or, if you do get a pump out, keep it a secret unless you want to lose friends. The potties are like the (insert name of evangelical organisation here) and they won't rest until you agree with them! Me? I've had my alimentary canal sewn up.

That's nothing but fake news.

Bought a Miele 240v recently from Currys. £129 plus £30 cash back if claimed by end Sept I think it was. My wife says it`s a massive improvement on her old dustpan and brush. I said just thought the old one was cheaper. Does`nt need much of an imagination to "interpret" her response!?

Only because the Middle Level have remembered to stick a quid in the meter at Mullicourt Aqueduct for the pump.

I only popped in there to empty the bog and fill the tank, and I was treated as if I were the highest spending customer. Excellent customer care.

We left our boat there for a few days last summer. Very helpful staff. Nice walk up to the village with I think 3 pubs, an Indian and a few small shops.

I wasn't sure but I have been using the small version of this on our 54footer to moor in the marina for over a year with no issues. It is mounted on the gunnels about about 35 ft

Looks Good Mike , can I also thank you for both yours and others advice regarding my Starter Battery , you were all correct as it turned out to be corroded fuse holder , apologies for the derailment as it was so long ago I couldn't find the Thread .

Its no coincidence that this and the fake CO alarm threads are running together. Sorry to repeat myself but when will governments get a grip on these "shopping" sites and ensure they are responsible for ensuring the products they facilitate the sale of meet national standards AND face very stiff penalties if they do not.

I saw this on offer the other day - must spend more time resolving the Dyslexia.

Of course the ultimate boat vac has got to be one that, considering space restraints, can perform more than one duty. Therefore I recommend....The Tablevac!!

Thanks for visibility of the EA/TVM contract. When I first became aware of TVM I (naively) thought that their income would be from mooring fees and I could never see how they could collect enough to run their service and pay some over to EA. Seems I was correct on that score in that EA are actually paying TVM! So the arrangement is even worse than I originally thought. It looks like the EA moorings are actually costing money to run, rather than contributing anything to EA coffers. I'd love to see the figures for the 12 month trial period.