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Using a horn at every bridge or blind bend would be, pardon me for saying it, ridiculous. The noise would be endless , and if anyone expect me to hear somebody's horn over a Lister thundering away six feet from my ears they're just daft. You just bear in mind you may meet people at these places, though you rarely do, and are prepared to whack the thing into backwards. At a sensible speed you've got all the time in the world without making a great din about it. And sometimes (usually, in fact) the correct side of the canal is in the middle, so you're bound to be fairly close to a moored boat. If you've got a problem with passing boats, you're probably moored up too close to a bridge or a bend yourself (not you personally - generic you). And sometimes, if someone is moored up in the middle of a three mile line of boats (eg Golden Nook on the Shroppie), you lose the will to live at tickover and think that anyone who is daft enough to moor in that kind of place should expect people to pass at a normal cruising speed!

I think you're being grossly unfair here. Newbie boaters tend to be very unsure of themselves, often don't know the etiquette and consequently wary of 'doing it wrong'. So in their position it seems safer to stand back and wait and observe what happens, rather than to approach an obviously experienced boater like you and try to 'help' when you obviously don't need it.

I pass moored boats on just above tickover but if they are on pins it's down to tickover. While we're on a 'grumpy' thread, something that p*ss me off are those coming from the opposite direction who when waiting on a lock landing just stand and watch instead of coming and 'mucking in'. I know they aren't obliged to, but most boaters help each other when working through a lock. Yesterday a crew of 4 on a waiting boat just stood and watched my wife struggle with some stiff paddles. So we deliberately took our time so as to keep them waiting longer.

Any oil based undercoat will serve under scumble oil. My preference is for a richer colour than the Radcliffe’s chrome buff, these days I favour a deep yellow, Albany amber U/C 10, supplied by Brewers, followed by a well thinned scumble protected when dry with Craftmaster varnish. This gives a rich tone, the impression being that the oil lamp is lit in the cabin before it is. If water based scumble is being used, I’d go for a water based undercoat too. i don’t have dates for the origins of this technique but my understanding is that it was intended to give the impression of expensive hardwood, such as oak or mahogany, actually using a much cheaper base timber such as pine. Widely used in Victorian times when humbler folk strove to emulate their wealthier masters.....or something like that. A skilled grainer can produce a panel difficult to distinguish from the real timber. The majority of graining on today’s boats is decorative but rather less accomplished, the whole thing serving as a base for the brass, plates, lace etc to be found in the cabin.

Alan! Stop now!! It will make you go blind.

It is unlikely to happen to me as I would have wandered up to the lock and chatted and offered to help if they wanted me to. I don't think on the very few occasions when I have done this I have been childish, unpleasant or petulant. One time which sticks in my mind where I feel my action may have had a positive result was at shade House lock many years ago. We were following an elderly couple up the locks and when I got to the lock the lady was struggling and her equally elderly husband was unable to get off the boat. Between us we managed to to close that heavy bottom gate and work the lock. Sitting outside was a private boat with a father and teenage son sitting in the front watching the lady struggle. When their boat was in the lock and the son and I were working it together we chatted and I mentioned (nicely) that it would have been a nice gesture to help the old lady. He agreed and it was good to see that he helped the boat coming up at the next lock. Haggis

I was also trying to avoid that ? No I'm not, and I think that some of our new women members are really adding to the forum, but women have also been driven away because they didn't write their first post in a manner the some of this Parrish would prefer and then when she stood up to their unfairness they drag out every "harpy" stereotype in the book. So YES there have been some women who could have been productive members driven away before they even got started, and in light of the conversation held with in this thread about the lack of women actively posting on this forum it is important to me that we do not just assume that any woman that doesn't fit what we think boating women should look like aren't dismissed out of hand. I had hoped with the removal of her photos the this thread would just disappear without a fuss.

A few years ago I watched incredulously as a permanent moorer kept sticking her head out of her side hatch and shout at hire boaters to slow down. Didn't seem to matter if they were on tickover or not. Passing private boaters were left alone although most were going faster than the hirers I

I got shouted at for going too slowly past a moored boat today ? I think some people just like to moan and shout no matter what

My feelings exactly. Well said.

Ps..please tell everyone...Millie is a dog !!

I agree...on several occasions I have had friends come boating for the first time, and they have just wanted to stand and watch at the first lock to see what happens. I always feel a tad awkward as I know the crew on the other boat are wondering why my friends don't just jump straight in and help...after a couple of locks when they have an idea what to do they do help and enjoy the social aspect of it too!

A personal assistant only deals with one person. Private secretary is more Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader

Normally I use DuckDuckGo as a search engine but they don't allow photo searches so the other options are Bing or google, I find that I get better results using Bing. You go to the home page of the search engine and click on the camera icon in the search bar and it offers you a drop down that you can drag and drop the photo into. The search will then bring up all the photos of the same or closest match. I really have to go out now but if you need more info I can give more later. I didn't, I was discussing sexual ones ?

We had you down as a cornflakes and lager type

There's irony there considering their obsession with separating state from religion. Edited to add : A very healthy obsession in my opinion.

I can only speak as I find. When the roving winter moorings were in place we chose Trentham for two winters with our car parked in the lay-by nearby. We had zero incidents over quite a few months, absolutely zilch. We took a mooring at the Black Prince marina one summer when I needed to work, not being over keen on marina life but constrained by my job to staying in a small area we spent a lot of time moored in various locations in and around the marina. Again no incidents. We also took a winter mooring at Westport Lake once they'd done away with the roving winter moorings - absolutely no problems at all. I'm very surprised to hear about two incidents, one serious here. It's outside Stoke in an affluent newbuild area. Are these first hand reports? Selfish cycling - endemic over the whole system - Birmingham was probably the scariest place for risking being mown down by the lycra brigade but the Leeds and Liverpool near Chorley was pretty grim as well. Same with motorcycles on the towpath. Trouble is if a motorcycle makes a nuisance of itself on the towpath in Braunston (where Carlt had his boat set on fire) they think lordy what an anomaly. If it happens in Stoke the think bloody Stoke - should have known not to moor here. Must tell everyone I know how horrible it is. My point being that I am very familiar with the area - after we sold the boat we bought a house in Burslem which we lived in for two years. It was my health and the need for family support that brought us back to Kent - I miss our Stokie friends. I'm sure people do have problems in Stoke, just as they do in many built up areas and occasionally in rural places but Stoke doesn't deserve it's dreadful reputation. Too much credence is given to second, third or more hand stories that have a huge element of Chinese whispers.

You can make Pot Noodles with beer??? Why did nobody tell me this...?

Your spell-checker has politely changed the last sentence to say "thigh deep in silt"

Except for Jessop the dog, who takes his duties very seriously when we're out, to lie spread out on the duvet to make sure nobody steals the bedding. He cunningly camouflages himself on the bed by pretending to be asleep!

Cause? Act of god? Lightening? Or the devil's fork? If its let, it should be insured. Why should the public of all faiths in the European Union pay for a French vanity project?

I followed a hire boat up the Macc this morning. I stopped at the boatyard for supplies and filled up with water (leaving about twenty minutes after they passed me) and caught them up two bridges later. I gave up as was closing on them on tickover, tied up at a VM, made a cup of tea and hung about for half an hour and caught them up two miles further up just before my mooring. Flat out, my boat can go at 3mph and less than that on the Macc. Slow I can understand, but sometimes it's farcical, especially if there's no way you can get past someone. However, it was a nice day...

I must start playing this game too. Also always go at tick over these days as am never in a hurry (if I was I would have bought a motorbike instead)?. Must confess to not always being in tick over before becoming a liveaboard when boating was just a holiday thing and had a strict itinerary to stick too...but efficiency at locks saves far more time!

SO: the system for reporting the canal 'now open' depends on a single individual who is under pressure to meets targets and thus finds himself in a position that he embroiders the truth, no doubt hoping that he would be able to make it true by the time anyone tested out the updated stoppage notice. A pastorally-aware organisation would not only not put such pressure on under-qualified and under-resourced individuals at the bottom of the food chain but would treat them better and respect their specific skills. A fully resourced organisation would not rely on single-point failure procedures and would have someone checking that the original report was accurate - we used to call them foremen or overseers. A better resourced organisation with boaters as a sole focus would have afforded to put a boater-liaison person (aka lengthsman) on duty for the first day to make sure everything went smoothly and in contact with those who can correct the glitches. Since none of this happens today, where to lay the blame, if we insist on playing the blame game? Obviously, it is necessary to ensure that such resources as are available are used as effectively as possible - although in a world of competing demands, it may not always be possible to satisfy everyone equally. priorities have to be set. But beyond that? Who sets the resource level? Who demands that public and quasi public bodies, such as CaRT, run on a shoestring (aka 'austerity')? WE DO -the Great British Public. We elect governments time and again on the basis of least cost rather than best value (ie lowest taxes). It is our fault and let's not forget that. Put it to the fore in our minds and we might just get a different way of running things.

How else would you be able to look into the windows of the boats as you pass

Yup they started a few weeks ago, people are aware they are too fast but dont care, no consideration for anyone but themselves, also WHY do some have to pass so close and not on the correct side of the canal when you are moored, some are so close they could clean our windows even on a clear straight section, i have trouble understanding their mentality or ignorance. Just as bad is not using a horn at bridges or blind bends. Rant over ??

Quite nice inside

Eastenders? Now if it was 'The Archers'..........