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If you believe everything you read in Wikipedia, you're going to be in a real mess. Also if you believe what "we're always being told". Sexual orientation isn't binary, everyone is somewhere on a random distribution curve. This means most people stick around the orientation they start off with, but some can happily switch from being apparently permanently hetero to equally permanently homosexual. Other options are available... Personally, I can't see it's ever anyone's business apart from the person concerned. I suspect those who either get hot under the collar about it, or are over interested in the subject, have psychological problems of their own they should contend with before they start pontificating about other people's lifestyles! ETA The last sentence, to revert to the rather odd post that woke this thread up again, and Alan's even odder response, applies also to those who find racism amusing.

At the risk of lowering the tone a bit, or of being flippant, on at least one occasion a butty has been powered by sail. It came about like this. We were on our way from the Stroudwater to Gloucester to do the shopping. As we approached a bend in the Ship Canal, our engine stopped. This in itself was not unusual. It was probably something stirred up by a passing barge which had got into one of the Cones and jammed it and thus the engine. We could usually fix it pretty quickly. But on this occasion it was more serious. There was a stiffish breeze coming down the cut, and this blew us right across the cut. Try as we would, by using oars and swinging the rudder about, we could not straighten our boat and this was becoming serious. Barges had already passed us, light, on the way to Sharpness and the tide. These light barges moved fast, bows high out of the water, and visibility from their deckhouse was limited. Not only were we an obstruction, we were a danger, particularly to ourselves. What we then did was to raise our dinghy's mast and sliding gunter sail, on top of the coach house, about midway. By hanging on tight to the shrouds, the sail filled and we had way, enough to turn and begin to sail back to the Stroudwater. Then a Regent tankbarge, luckily for us one of the smaller ones trading to Stourport, came up behind us, and offered us a tow. The captain said he'd been told to look out for us. We didn't dare ask how he knew. Or what he had been advised to look out for. Whatever they thought of us, they were invariably helpful. And we got a tow, at high speed. And were cast off just at the very right moment to allow us to slink back into the Stroudwater. 'Regent Linnet' the tanker was and my father sent the captain a fiver. I would not recommend sail as a principal source of propulsion. But as an emergency auxiliary it saved us. Obviously, carrying mast, rigging and sail takes up a bit of space, but it might be worth a thought.

With 10 weeks to go before the event it’s looking like there will be an increased field compared to the last two events. That’s good since it was running at a level that was borderline as to warranting an annual event. There’s also a good mix of entrants including a strong level of return of first timers from last year, regulars from the pre-Covid days returning for the first time since 2019 and of course those who are always there. There are three entrants with butties, a couple of historic boats entering for the first time, plus three entrants on hire boats. Different types of boats and entrants makes for a good event.

An interesting view of Purton:

Well, someone had to do it

Are you seriously suggesting that you cannot work out why you cannot get water into the tank?

I was only thinking yesterday how much the Ashton has changed, for the better over the 16 years since Joanie M was launched in Worsley. The extension if the tram system is, to some extent responsible for this but not solely. The Eithiad Stadium and the Sports Centre opposite, the large Asda, the Velodrome, the Man City training ground, the Police Training Centre, have all changed the canal for the better. In my opinion.

Lock gates are a real problem because when they get manufactured incorrectly for what ever reason, the new design "feature" then stays for the next however long, till the gates have to be replaced, then there can be an argument about what is historic! This has been happening since the canals were built, and has created all sort of anomalies, all over the places. In recent times this has been exasperated by the closure of lock gate workshops, we now only have two left, most canals had at least one workshop if not more, and they built the gates, as they saw fit, with rules caulked on the walls in some cases. This has lead to all sorts of messes with look and feel of a canal. For a classic example of how it can go wrong, take a look at the Rochdale canal, which has Northwich style gates as per the Chester canal, L&L style gates as per the Appleby, LL style Northwich gates. Carris Mill style gates, and others! There are no Rochdale gates left as I remember them, however when I started to attempt to justify returning to that design I discovered they where not the original design either. This raises the question of just what is right historically. Should the Ashton gates still be painted Brown & White as I remember them from when I was a kid, or was there another colour scheme before that?. On top of that the listing of the Manchester locks on the Ashton happened so late - 1997 that the listing says they should have steel balance beams, hydraulic paddle gearing and black and white colour scheme. It will take a major shift to get the listing change and the new gate had to have its steel beam repaired and refitted, even though historically its totally wrong in my book. In an attempt to stop this C&RT are attempting to capture what a canals standard gate should be and record it in their CAD system. I am attempting to get these drawing made public. They require this given that they are moving to CNC manufacture of lock gates. The new head gate which have just been install this winter on 'hampton were machined in 47 minutes on a CNC machine, rather than taking 3days to do on the machines currently installed at Bradley. It then took the same 2 days to assemble the gate. Given this the BCNS and the NAG have agreed with C&RT what a standard BCN gate should be, and a set of drawing have been produced. If you would like a copy I will attempt to procure you a set. The best place I think to go for a set of drawing for a new lock chamber would be Tameside Planning Department. They specified what the new locks on the HVNC should be. In particular lock 4W & 6W which are totally new locks built in 1999. They were responsible for specifying the new chambers and having a contractor build them. being a council these drawing will still exist somewhere! They are not as clever as the Perry Bar locks or the original locks on the Droitwich Junction canal which were probably the peak of narrow lock design. Followed by the new locks on the Warwick canals when the GU modernised, however they are broad locks and have some significant differences. I attach a few images of Lock4W Not both top paddle are lineside. The next thing you will need to wrestle with, is from what are you going to make your lock gates. Follow current C&RT convention and build them of crappy French Oak with a life expectancy of about 25 years plus or minus 5 years. Or do as the River Avon Trust had done and make them of steel with a life expectancy of 50 years followed by a refurbish and then another 50 years. C&RT also have steel gates made in the late 1960's / early seventies which are currently being refurbished. There is a pilot project underway within C&RT to investigate swapping to all(well mostly all) steel gates, two locks have already been done one set on the K&A and another set on the River Lee. Even after having people sit by the gates on the K&A there has been very little negative feedback other than the balancing is incorrect, which is due to the wrong Balance beams being fitted ie the old one rather than having new ones which were made to go with the gates, a cost/time decision taken when the two sides of the coin forgot they are connected, a problem all organisations have. Marple locks were originally a great piece of design. When the weir crests were set correctly the locks would self fill before the bywashes kicked in. They had spill weirs for both top and bottom gates, All the gearing was ergonomically laid out, one top ground paddle , which was bigger than those now fitted and then two danny paddles driven off one spindle in the top gate. At the bottom end were a highly gear ground paddle attached to a very small paddle, then a large ground paddle, and lastly a large gate paddle on the far gate. The bottom ground paddles were removed during and post restoration in the mid 70's, the culverts bricked up and two gate paddles installed, made the locks a lot slower. I attach a few images of Marple as it was in the late sixties. The last image 7775 you can just see the three paddle posts at the bottom end right at the bottom of the image.

Sadly for conspiracy speculators, it pre-dates Brexit - see here from 2016 and a less clear one from 2008 when it seems that central Brum had yet to de-metricate whilst the rest had returned to the main stream!

Tony Jones told me that he once rigged up a sail on Betelgeuse and untied from the motor when on the River Severn just for fun.

The Chesterfield Canal Trust's cuckoo boat, Dawn Rose, is equipped to sail, although I don't know whether it has ever done so.

"Remember, you are all individuals" (crowd, all together) "WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS!!!" Good old Monty Python... 😉

I must keep reminding myself that I am unique, just like everyone else.

o n the BCN there are very few places where I could not moor - in Manchester there are similarly few places where I can moor.

I used a Jerry can. Now I’m using a Jiggle Hose and water is still overflowing. True.

Actually *you're* now the one misrepresenting what the LGBTQ+ community think -- which is that for *some* people sexual orientation/gender isn't really a conscious choice, it's basically the way they are, and is difficult/impossible to change by "re-education" which is why they push back against this. However for others it can change during their lifetime, in either direction -- or back and forth. It's like all the nature/nurture discussions, it turns out that there isn't one single explanation. As so often this is a complex situation to which the answer is "it depends" -- as in all the discussions about sex/gender, about which much what is said is also misinformed or just plain wrong... 😞 P.S. This isn't just another "I know all about this, I read it on the Internet" polemic, it's an opinion founded on several long face-to-face discussions with various non-cis people who actually know what they're talking about -- and I certainly didn't understand the situation before doing this, a lot of what I thought I knew turned out to be wrong -- or at least, not entirely correct... 😉

Green bulb perhaps? BAY15D 18 LED GREEN Tower bulbs for (Starboard) Navigation lights (bedazzledledlighting.co.uk)

Not a butty it was a horse Boat but this is a craft I once owned. Apparently one of the first conversions. https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/2087/orianne There was an anti ventilation plate kindly provided with a 'less likely to cut you in half if you fall in' flanged edge. I made that back cabin and under cloths conversion with my own hands. Never was a craftsman

You are supposed to get the boat repainted after the challenge, not before! Anyway our entry is also in 🙂

We did a couple of retail coal trips to Cadbury's Wharf in Frampton early '70s, loading at Gopsall on the Moira. Coal boats to Cadburys were still in people's memories and we had no problem selling some 15-18 tonnes to locals as I recall. The hulks at Purton were still relatively intact at that point. We did continue on to Bath once, long before the K&A was reopened, and someone subsequently sent us postcard showing Towcester moored below Pulteney Bridge.

On a related note, is there a lithium community in the North west? I find people are judging me every time I rattle on for four hours about lithium batteries, and I think it would be great to find a group of people who are ok with talking in public about lithiums. Its nothing sexual, of course. Well not for the others.

I've been told Christians go to church and Musims go to the mosque. Weird. Surely they'd both be better off mixing with "all walks of life". Good grief, they do that too! And some boaters even go to waterways festivals. Can't imagine why. They'd be better off mixing with cyclists and motorists . Perhaps some of them are petty and small-minded, but, luckily, not most.

He is trying to do 'his own thing' by finding others like him? Why is "doing your own thing" basically code for "be just like the rest of us"? The subtle intolerance of Brits never ceases to impress me. The veneer of friendliness falls away with barely as much as a bump. You can't understand because presumably you're not gay. That's OK. Gay people look for other gays because we're a minority and not everything has to be understood by you (frankly, I find a lot of heterosexual behaviour downright bizarre and will never understand it myself but each to their own) and that's also OK. No help mixing with 'all walks of life' if none of them want to have a relationship with you. Seeking out other gay men increases the likelihood of that happening. Why do you think gay bars and the like exist? The man is asking if there are other gays around the north, not segregating himself like some homosexual shut in.

How do you know they do not? Many people like to mix with like-minded people who "get" their situation and interests and somewhere where they may feel safe. Have you never joined a club? They may also be looking for a partner/company so a group of other gay people will be a good place to start. It does not mean they do not mix with all kinds of people. I am sure there is one, informal or organised but I am afraid I cannot supply and help with specifics, good luck in finding one that suits you.

Thank you.

And you are now on my homophobic list. Nice of you to identify your bigotry. Funny sort of ignore list btw…. I along with my partners had a lovely day at Leicester pride yesterday..it was great to meet up with other non judgemental people who live life for themselves. Maybe you should open your mind too.

I never understood calculus anyway.