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Happy Ending, just arriving at Marple we found the owner's boat and was able to return said hat to his neighbour(s). First proper sun today so I hope he hasn't already bought a replacement. Probably not, being they ain't cheap!

I've not re-watched an episode in a while, but I disagree about the program making frequent reference to Pru's dementia. Anybody who has had to live with the consequences of somebody getting dementia, will be well aware just how difficult is is to get the subject openly discussed, and to understand it better. In fact there often seems to be some kind of taboo that it should not be discussed. I think the Wests and their family have taken an incredibly brave decision to openly discuss exactly what it mauns in practice, and the fact that Pru is clearly a very intelligent and erudite person but no more exempt from the diagnosis than anybody else to me sends a powerful message. As we bet better at keeping the physical body alive for more and more years it is inevitable that this is an issue that will face more and more families. In fact, when you have been involved i it, and get talking to people, itis staggering how many people have had experience of it. It's just many make a point of not talking about it. I heartily applaud what Tim and Pru have done, and other TV canal programs are available for those who would rather not have this kind of content.

There are two separate issues being conflated here. 1) Identifying the GSR geezer 2) Incompetence/unprofessionalism Sadly the general public and possibly the OP expect GSR registration to imply some sort of overall professionalism, and this impression is reinforced by GSR marketing. Sadly nothing of the sort is the case. The best a member of the public is entitled to expect from a GSR bod is that s/he will not kill them by gassing them or exploding them. GSR registration implies NO guarantee of overall competence in plumbing, heating, boiler fault diagnosis or ethical business practice. The ONLY thing you can be sure of with a GSR bod is they have been coached through a training skool and passed a series of 'open book' (i.e. access to all the docs that allow you to look up the answers in the exam room) time limited multi-choice paper examinations after THREE attempts. The general stupidity of many of my peers is breathtaking and how they ever ticked all the right boxes in those exams beggars belief. It is so disappointing.

I tend to find that, more and more lately, it's "bollocks".

Agleed.

Just returned to the boat today after its week in Stafford Boat Club wet dock, where Robert Naghi has been painting it. 'Ferndale' is now 'Forever Changes'. Very pleased with the results, although it certainly won't be to everyone's taste! Wouldn't hesitate to recommend Robert as a painter. We tried to be realistic about what we could reasonably expect him to do in a week, but when he came to start work he was volunteering all sorts of little and not-so-little touches like bits of paisley, a design on the roof hatch, painting the poles & gangplank, to make sure we really got the look we wanted - all within the basic price he'd quoted to paint our 55ft boat, which was a little under £3000.

We often accompanied the William to IWA Rallies. In 1971 on the last day of the Northampton rally we received a message that the river was in flood, and we needed to make a swift escape. Here are a couple of photos of the William being coaxed under a sluice lock gate after we had helped them remove roof top equipment (including the water tank!!)

yes I see what you mean but I get the impression they want a CRT guy there when we try again but I have advised that flushing water and even using the paddles to lift the boat up and forward dosnt work. when I tried last time the level was right up and I had nearly drain the short pound above lock 5 trying, the simple solution would be to fix the lock overflow at lock 4, again I have advised this as it's only a few bits of wood missing but they seem reluctant to do this (prob as it means actually fixing something they haven't planned for) but given there is ment to be a boat rally there this year it would prob be better to get it done. anyways I'll keep you updated to the response but so far there idea seems to be well meet you there and flush you threw, until they see the boat, then decide that wont work, either that or I'll get the CRT person to unload and reload all the ballast! they will love that job!

Whilst I'd agree that a lot of judicious editing takes place, I'm not so sure how easy it would be to choreograph the script for a dementia sufferer. Having said that, they have done a massive amount to increase the profile of our canals and whatever the pro's and con's of the actual programme making, they are certainly to be lauded for that. How many times when in conversation with a non-boater at a lock or on the towpath do they say,"Oh, I've seen that series with Tim and Pru", I enjoy it for what it is.

I tend to fill close to the top and the excess (as it warms up) gets expelled down a bit of pipe pushed on to the overflow spigot by the rad cap in to an old 5 litre coolant container. This can then be used from topping up if ever required. As an aside I used to loose a bit of coolant, could never work out where from so I put some (about half a teaspoon) Drain Tracing Dye Fluorescein into the coolant when I mixed it with DI water and poured it all in. After a couple of short trips a bit had leaked out and using my uv torch (few quid from ebay) in the dark (it needs to be pretty dark as it is a dim glow) I found the source of the leak.

We went to Shetland, well twice actually, and that seemed like the kind of place to go wild camping, safe, sparsely populated, and very very friendly.

Sounds reasonable to me. CRT: Are you stuck? Do you need help? You: No, I'm not stuck at the moment. CRT: OK. If you do get stuck we will help you.

I've just serviced my boatman and Eddie was very helpful getting the right bits out to me in double quick time. My stove came with the boat and I think has been going ten years plus. Having serviced it today it looks good as new and ready to go another ten. Stays in fine overnight and I'd happily buy another but doesn't look like I'll need too

Update: I got some more antifreeze this morning. Put about 3 litres more in and filled the coolant reservoir almost to the top, squeezed a few hoses but didn't notice any air coming out, put the pressure cap back on and ran the engine for about 20 mins in gear to get the temp up. It sat on about 80C and didn't go any higher so all is well. Although I'd already put 40 litres of antifreeze in before I guess it hadn't got to the level of the pump, even though I could see coolant at the bottom of the reservoir. I've never had to fill the reservoir all the way to the top before, but anyway it's working fine now. The pipes to/from the calorifier are hot and the first skin tank is getting warm. The second skin tank is still cold. It takes a good long run to warm that one up. Thanks everyone for the help

And people buying this cheap stuff from China Aldi, ebay etc is a significant contributor to global warming, to cross-reference the other thread.

Sunblest was first produced at the Tip Top bakery in Orpington. http://orpington-history.org/articles_all/article_2.htm

Does the Jobsworth endorsement cost much as an addition?

Picked one up a couple of weeks ago from Aldi, considerably cheaper, reduced to £6.99 and very robust.

It’s half redundant. It’s essentially two bridges. The lower plate girders - a later addition - do all the work and the upper cast iron structure is probably only there as a facade these days. JP

The British Waterways Board index number for SUNBLEST was 62223, and my records indicate it still had a Hire and Reward licence at the end of 1985. This index number appears to have fallen out of use some time between 1985 and 2005, but what happened to SUNBLEST and whether it was renamed and a new index number issued I can not answer

Was that the bondage one in Stourbridge?

Well today we have made the trip back to Tarleton in absolutely brilliant weather conditions, sunny, not much wind, excellent. As I'd been advised by others, the trip back to Tarleton is easier than the trip up since there is more time to complete it as the tide takes longer to ebb that it does to flood. Although the boat isn't fast we managed to get up to about 4.5 mph on slack water (not the 6mph demanded by CRT) and made the trip from Savick to Tarleton in 2hrs 15minutes (it's about 8 miles). Arrived at Tarleton 2nd in the queue to go up but there was plenty of time and no real rush to get through the lock, and no real difficulty holding position against the ebbing tide outside of the lock to wait. So with a 60' boat that measures 2'8" on the skeg and can just about do 5 mph if I'm lucky, it has been possible to do the Ribble Link. The only thing to watch out for is not to miss the mark to turn into the Douglas

Came home to an inpatient duck, seems he is done with his wanderings and is all packed and ready to be back with Bob