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Say what you like about CRT, but name one other large, national organisation you could expect to phone up and have a customer service experience like the one I had yesterday: "Hello, Canal & River Trust, how can I help?" "Is there any chance you could get hold of somebody at your Etruria yard? I think I might have left a set of keys in the shower at the service block before we left this morning." "Hmm... hold on and I'll see if I can get hold of the Area Supervisor, Alan Whitehouse, for you" [Brr brr… brr brr…] "Hello, Alan Whitehouse speaking." "Oh hi, I was just explaining that [bla bla bla]…" "I'm just at Etruria now actually... Hang on... I'm just walking round... in the shower? Yes I've got them. Where are you now?" "Barlaston, but we've only stopped for lunch really, we were hoping to head towards Stone." "That's okay, we can bridge hop. Just give me your number and I'll phone and check where you are when somebody's able to set off." Half an hour later Alan quite cheerfully hands the keys to me by my boat at Barlaston after all, explaining that he was planning to do a job down that way on Friday anyway and decided he might as well just do it then instead. Top marks I'd say. And they were already in my good books for offering to dispose of all my contaminated bilge water from Monday for me (see my earlier post) if I just left the containers out by the skip.

You never own the boat... It owns you.

HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well: Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order, for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore is extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God." THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A

Nooo, it was about his female deer called Eric, see below. ?

And not all irresponsible people are dog owners - fact.

I'm not sure what the aim is for these idiots, I suspect they're probably anti dog poop crusaders, but their tactic would definitely claim the life of my well behaved, gentle, super-friendly, Labrador who is always cleaned up after... and it still won't make a blind bit of difference to the numbers of inconsiderate or uncaring dog owners.

I had exactly the same experience on the BCN about seven years ago. Rang CaRT ( or more likely its predecessor) late in the afternoon, and within 15 mins a handcuff key was delivered. Wonderful service and no money accepted although offered. We have experienced nothing but superb assistance and service over the years from so many waterways personnel. We may have been lucky, but I prefer to think that it is the norm.

Oh I'm fed up of you always reading things properly! Crikey though, even when you'd pointed that out and I knew where to look it took some finding! Anyway, it's all bullocks - the laptop has a battery, so charge it when cruising or whilst the inverter is on for other things and quiescent current is immaterial.

I get the feeling he already lives abroad, as he is flying to get here.

I agree! I think Lady G is again showing us that everyone is out of step but her ? haggis

Gambling addiction by the masses must be a Scottish thing. May explain why no one can buy your flat.

The bit I have put in bold made me laugh! You don't really believe that what is said on here by what is a very small proportion of all boaters represents the view of the majority of boaters, do you? You really need to get out more ? haggis

I also do not and never have charged a fellow boater for any work i have done on their boats just as many on here dont, and over the 12 years i have been on the site i am sure the advice and knowledge i have shared has helped many folk just as i hope this thead will! Rick

Hi Rach Yes but plans have changed, not to bad though . As you may know i was expected an operation later in the year but it has been brought forward and will in May now so that has put plans to launch in May to June as i will struggle with one arm to get it done for May. So plan is in the next few weeks i am going to get done the BSS work and get it in when i am off in May. There is little to do and i got the worst or biggest job done now. That was the locker seat tops. If you remember it was made from the same ply as the deck was originally used and crap ply from Wicks, which should of been hardwood WBP but it just delaminated a the rear deck did.. I made them from 7-8mm thick GRP sheet that i made. Alll sorted now Now other things were to slide flex pipe over the gas pipe thats goes under the rear deck as the batteries are below that and if forgot to do that when i done the gas work. Thats done anyway. Then a few vents around where the charger is. Made a gas cylinder bracket/steady. Just to seal where pipe work and cables goes through the lower bulkhead. So where am i now. Before Op ( 30th April ) BSS work to be done, then when i am off sick i will do what i can with the one arm i have use of, sanding the top deck if i can etc hull work is still to be done. biggest job.. I will be making the canopy after a few weeks resting and had the cast off. Then in hope the canopy is done then first three weeks in June will be sanding and painting the boat. I have bought the fenders, ropes,, new bilge pump to fit when launched as i dont know the low point in the bilge. Oh how can i forget i have got a good price for the cushions which i really want to be done as when launched i want it to be cosy for the first few days cruising. I an going to book the crane in for the 24th June for my birthday well day after. We have the week off to cruise around for a bit. So it all go from now on with this and work.

I did hear the apocryphal tale of a freestanding tap at Gargrave which had to be disconnected when the local resident got the bill for her recently installed meter and found she had been supplying passing boaters as well as her own bath.

The Flight is now open for navigation

Good luck.

Actually no it's not obvious, it seem very much like it was meant for @Lizzy Lou in this thread here.

The whole point of bootlace ferrules is to "convert" a multi-stranded cable core into a solid core and thus ensure a better electrical connection with no stray strands. Heat shrink cable is used to cover exposed conductive parts and to provide cable identication.

Well, if you read my post, you'd remember I said that my dog is always cleaned up after. I also said "... and it still won't make a blind bit of difference to the numbers of inconsiderate or uncaring dog owners." referring to the indiscriminate poisoning of dogs, including those being properly controlled, cared for and cleaned up after. It surprises me if you read that as support for offending dog owners, just as it would surprise me if I thought you were supporting the idiot crusaders who were poisoning dogs dogs at random.

It is a real and worrying point. A whole programme on the BBC the other day about how FaceBook, Twitter etc do everything they can to stoke up anger, outrage, irritation on their platforms. Apparently these companies realise of you are not cross about something, you don't bother posting. And participation is their lifeblood as they sell your data to make their income. The public at large barely register this fact, YET. But it is coming.

I refer the honourable gentleman back to post #8

Only £295,000...I'm not greedy

I should be so lucky. I'm "up there" planning to head out.................Today! ? George

So, whether or not we sort out the great CRT water tap scandal, have we at least recognised the folly in ditching all of our fresh water before finding a proven source to replace it?

careful not to spill too much diesel......it will kill the grass growing in the bilge.

Fridge on my hobby boat runs for all of summer on one 80W panel.

the sun is recharging over winter dats why we dun get no solar till spring innit

I find it a bit sad all this C &RT bashing. Like all organisations, there are good and bad bits and I don't blame them for trying to find out what they are doing well and where they could do better. As far as I am concerned, they are maintaining 200 + year old structures which sometimes fail because of age and sometimes because of damage by boats and although they could probably sometimes do things better, they get very little thanks or praise when they do fix things quickly and allow us boaters to continue our trips with little disruption. But no, the anti C & RT brigade (some who don't even have a C & RT licence) pile in with their negative comments. It is so nice to read the occasional post in praise or C & RT but they are far outweighed by negative comments. It makes me wonder sometimes why some folk on here continue to boat if it as bad as they say. Haggis

Just like when you voted for or against Brixit or vote in a council or general election

I whole heartedly agree....... There are an awful lot of chores and task involved in owning and living on a narrowboat that you just don't have to think about if you are living in a house, if you really love your boat and the lifestyle then those chores might be the little things that make your day awesome but if you are living on a boat because it's a compromise, a means to an ends to get you out of a no longer tolerable situation those tasks might become the thing that make you really unhappy with your lot. From my experience it's the repeated little things that can be the straw that breaks the camel's back. That was a generalisation and not aimed at LG.