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It will be impossible to ban those without symptoms from going out. An 80 year old on an estate, living on their own with no local family? And thousands of people simply can't afford to get food delivered. What is sensible is to try to reduce interaction as much as possible, to try to put of getting seriously ill until there is a chance to be cured, or at least looked after. And to remember that most old people recover, too.

There are many examples of one partner wanting to live on a boat whilst the other partner doesn't have the same 'drive'. They buy a boat, try it and it doesn't work out. Advice - if you don't want to do it don't do it, it could have wider implications to your partnership.

Any (affordable) suggestions as to how/where and who to run this campaign so it will be seen (and believed) by the general public gratefully received. IMO the trade doesn't really have an effective body to represent it anymore, and there's only two big booking agents now, neither of which I suspect have the resource to spend on a big national advertising campaign. I think the greatest factor putting people off booking is that they of don't know whether or not they might be ill at the time of their holiday, plus of course we can't guarantee the person on the boat before wasn't a carrier, or that one of the staff won't get it and we'll all be quarantined etc. etc. At any point when there's a big unknown (2008 crash, Brexit vote, foot & mouth) the first thing people do is stop thinking about holidays. Everyone's cash flow will be based around "surviving the winter" and now is when things should get moving again. The firms that have other income streams (moorings, repair facilities) and who aren't covered by their business interruption insurance are probably best off just hunkering down and weathering it, anyone without those fall backs is probably already in trouble and I feel for them.

Our first full summer to go where we please and do whatever we want with Delhi! A wonderful slow paced and relaxing little meander. It all sounded so idyllic. The possibilities were endless and we have been working out a plan for the summer since last autumn. We need to get a few jobs done this summer. Dehi is booked in for a new frock in July (repainting) but before that we need to address the issue with some wooden hatches that are close to being past their sell-by date and so we booked her in at Paul Barber's in May to get the hatches replaced with steel along with what was supposed to be a couple of other little bits that would benefit from some fettlng but has ended up with a list of things we want him to have a look at while it is there. Mostly just little tweaks (we hope) but we want to make the most of the time she is in his very capable hands. Once those things were set in stone we realised we had to plan the rest of the year around them. The outline of our plan was something along these lines: Leave The Chesterfield Canal Leave the boat somewhere while we had a short family break in Snowdonia Get Delhi to The Easter Gathering at Ellesmere Port Back down the Shroppie to Paul Barber's boat yard to get some work done Meanwhile, with Paul looking after Delhi there are plans for something in May that I must not know about but it coincides with my birthday If time allows when the jobs are done head over to Bradley Basin for the BCNS Rally Move to a secret rendezvous on the BCN to take part in the BNC Challenge Head south towards Sharpness for a gentle bimble and back again Back north to Middlewich FAB Festival To the appointment with the boat painter 7 weeks to amuse ourselves without a boat that may include taking the motorbikes to Scotland Pick up the finished boat and take it to Alvecote for The Big Weekend Possibly Village at War? Consider starting the journey home to The Chessie Time to break that down into bite size chunks. Chapter 1 The Ellesmere Port Easter Gathering is something we have visited by car a couple of times and it decided it would be excellent to get there by boat this year. Of course it does mean a bit of an early season start to get there from The Chesterfield and to add to the mix we had already booked a week with family in Snowdonia. Checking Canal Plan we realised we didn't have enough time to get to Ellesmere Port after the Snowdonia trip so we needed to set off before and leave the boat in a safe harbour somewhere before continuing afterwards. We thought that we would probably leave the canal around 18th March, just after the family return from their trip to Norway. I am looking after this pair in their absense: Once the in-depth study of the tide times commenced it was very soon realised that the 18th is not suitable to navigate the tideway. But when was? As if it isn't bad enough that we have had the wettest winter in living memory and with the ground so waterlogged and the Trent running so fast it only takes someone in Burton-upon-Trent to flush the toilet and the flood gates go on again. As if it wasn't bad enough that this week has seen one of the highest tides for - I dunno - did someone say a decade or so? meaning the flood gates were going to go on anyway (let's not mention the possibility of an Aegir eh?) With short hours of daylight to contend with as well there was just one window of opportunity - TODAY! Of course there is no way I was going to be able to go with two dogs that have never set foot on this boat before let alone been in a boat with a JP2 powering it hard against a current and it is totally impractical to ask dogs to cross their legs for hours on end until you can get to a pontoon for them to empty their bladders so we roped in a victim in the form of Ian from Meadow Pipit and then realised that fellow club members Chris and Elaine were also after getting their boat to a boatyard in Nottingham where it was booked for blacking. You always feel more comfortable on the tideway with company and so the plan was coming together. This week has been about trying to ensure the boat was fully provisioned with longer life supplies to last us through the summer to the backdrop of people panic buying in the supermarkets. That's been fun! The tide was expected at West Stockwith at just after 9am today. We waited so long for it to arrive we thought it had been cancelled. With so much fresh water coming down the river it tends to cancel out the tide, making it's arrival later than expected and reducing any benefit that might be gained from it. It was a very long slog! This was the boats passing through Gainsborough: Video and this was the boats arriving at Dunham bridge where they are tied tonight: Video For those who don't want to use their data on video here is a photo of them sneaking past Torksey The river is very wide today! This is where the complications start to kick in. Remember those bullet points up there at the start where I outlined our carefully thought through plan for the year? ^ ^ ^ How many of those things might be cancelled because of Covid-19 Virus? I suspect many of the festival type events may have to be and if you bear in mind the only reason we set off this early was to try and get to Ellesemere Port for Easter which seems more likely to be cancelled as each hour passes we possibly didn't have to leave today at all BUT we know we want to go boating so we will carry on regardless. The "week in May thing" was in two parts and one has already been cancelled I am told. ..........and those gawjus dogs I am looking after? The ones who's owners are currently in Norway? Well within the last hour Norway has cancelled all flights as of 8am Monday morning. My daughter has tried to get an earlier flight out but there is nothing available. The only flight she could have got was an £800 one that would take them to Oslo - still in Norway so no help at all. So we will need to decide whether we introduce the dogs to Delhi or leave her safe in a marina for a while longer. I have no idea when they will escape or even if they will be back in time for our trip to Snowdonia - which is booked around visiting Zip World to do that scary zip wire over the quarry - which might also be cancelled! The plans for this year are looking a tad on the shakey side I am afraid but I think everyone is in the same boat, well not literally of course because it would sink! One thing we are certain of, the sooner we can get on board and go boating the better. The direction is not important. We can find an isolated spot to self isolate if we need to but nobody will stop us from boating. We will just carry on regardless amending the plan as we need to.

For a moment I thought you meant that us oldies would only be allowed out after dark.

As a start I would contact those with bookings, reassuring them that there is no need to cancel, as they will effectively be in isolation from the world at large, and as The Happy Nomad says, reassuring them about boats being deep cleaned between hires etc. You could also contact previous hirers, who may have had to cancel non-boating holidays. CRT have a lot of "followers" and could put positive messages out regarding boating holidays to reinforce anything your trade body issues.

Not me - I love cruising in winter and really miss the dreary dismal rainy days. My last trip back was unfortunately beset with almost entirely sunny days

So we're being asked (not compelled) to isolate as much as we can, for our own good. Fair enough. Penalties are for those (of any age) who refuse a test if it's considered necessary or who, knowing they are infected, put others at risk. While I'd obviously much rather damn the Tories for incompetence and uncaringness, I think they've got this right so far and unlike other countries have resisted the urge to panic and make things worse.

Damn! I knew I had missed a bit ...

There will be a shortage of hair dye next

There have been a number of very valid points raised... my (much) better half and I have had a number of conversations over the last few days regarding our June vacation. At present, we plan on going. We are both hopeful that in the little over two months to go before we leave here, that the situation will have stabilized. We're going to delay paying the final balance for a bit, but if it turns out that we have paid the balance and for some reason we have to cancel our flights... we'll deal with that if the time comes. Having said that, if I were in the UK I would not be overly concerned about taking a vacation in the UK... much like the extra long weekend trip we have booked at a cabin about 90 minutes from here.

Who won't in the future be "legally" allowed to use it. Who does what will of course be open to discussion but I very much doubt the "live and let live" attitude being currently applied by HMRC to boaters, will be extended to cover ALL former users of red in the future.

Again, depends what's on the prescription. Some medicines are much more tightly controlled than others. It also depends on your GP - some surgeries are better than others at doing the whole electronic prescriptions thing.

There is nothing ‘allowed’ about the over 70’s suggestion- if there is no alternative, if you do not have friends and / or family to help, then you go out and do what is necessary, the important thing is to be sensible - avoid crowds, keep hygiene at the top of the list etc etc. You will not be arrested for going out - if anybody suggests you will be, they are talking bollox.

This is what is happening to my mates bookings. No one is paying the final balance. If it continues and is nationwide it will be catastrophic for many holiday firms and hotels etc.

Thank you all for the "knowledgeable" responses. We were concerned about the tank size. Good to check with people more knowledgeable. And, it seems, engine size is fine. Thank you.

I don't think you can compare a cassette to a pump out loo, as the latter tend to use far more flush water than the very minimal amounts you tend to use with the former. Trust me, you will eventually, if you do. Do you have a good supply of strong rubber gloves?

Yes and even more poignantly, the posters you refer to actually have no idea what you are talking about.

^^^THIS^^^ But its too late in the season now to experience the impact of it getting dark at 4.30pm AND having a 1/4 mile tramp through slippery mud in the dark by torchlight after work back to the boat. You'll be able at any time to experience at any time however, the effect where anywhere near the cut with car parking will alos be rammed full of boats and no space to moor! Unless you elect to live in a marina of course....

Hiring will give you an idea of the confines of a boat, and the necessity to charge batteries and fill up with water, but the other variables re toilets and similar will not be totally apparent. over a week, you may not need pumping out, but full time, this is something you will need to plan. On a hire boat, you will take a couple of weeks clothes, but you will live with a lot more. Look at your You Tubes, and look beyond the narrator. Many are quite bohemian; are you? They live quite sparsely (and often untidily); can you? Also study the problems weather can cause*. There is little you can do but endure it, and this goes for other problems of maintenance of engines and equipment. If you are not adaptable, you will need deep pockets. * Just read the next post; you need to be able to understand a lot.

Summer and winter

And no known vaccine... (yet) Probably - but not (personally) convinced it's nonsense. ^^^ this I have a season ticket for a reasonable sized football team who are at home this afternoon. Am I going to join ~10,000 people in a crowded venue, questionable washing facilities (at least for the spectators)? possibly not - nobody will be hurt if I don't go. Will I then squeeze onto a packed commuter train on Monday morning? very probably; Same risk - different outcome from avoiding it.

All fatal accidents at work are tragedies - that's why we have health and safety legislation. Interesting how the false information becomes obvious when you know something about the subject. But just stop to think - is this the standard of accuracy in all newspaper reporting?