homer2911

In fairness to C&RT, they gave us a cheque by way of apology, which we requested that they make payable to the charity, and they promised to make ammendements to the Salthouse Dock booking procedures. Of course, not every request for a linear mooring for wheelchair access can be accommodated, but at least now, such requests will be given priority.

Seems that Telford and Wrekin local authority is a bit more relaxed: People who may be issued with a Blue Badge without further assessment are those who are more than two years of age and entitled to one of the following benefits: receives the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance; receives a war pensioner's mobility supplement; is a registered blind person under the National Assistance Act 1948; has been awarded a benefit (giving rise to a lump sum at tariffs 1-8 inclusive) under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and has also been certified by the Service Personnel and Veterans agency as having a permanent and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking; receives 8 points or more under the moving around activity of mobility component of Personal Independence Payment. You can still apply for a Blue Badge if you do not meet the above criteria but you are more than two years old and fall within one of the following categories: have a severe disability in both upper limbs and regularly drive a motor vehicle, but have difficulty operating parking meters; have a permanent and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty in walking. Please note: you may have to attend a mobility assessment to see if you qualify for a badge; have a child/children under 3 years of age who, because of a specific medical condition, need to travel with bulky medical equipment or need to be close to a vehicle for emergency medical treatment.' My 91 year old mother in law is now living with us permanently, so I applied for, and very quickly obtained, a blue badge for her. Following a stroke, she can barely walk, so can only get out by being assisted into the car and taken everywhere in a wheelchair. She also has an inoperable cancer condition. My declarations on the application were accepted at face value, without any medical examination. Just to bring this back to the canal environment, earlier this year we were booked into Salthouse Dock in Liverpool, but along with dozens of other boats, at the last minute we were told we would have to block moor in the adjacent Albert Dock, due to the activities of the excellent Mersey River Festival. We were expecting visits from at least two wheelchair-bound members of the charity we are involved with, and had requested a linear mooring to allow access into the boat at bow and stern. At first we were told by C&RT that this was not possible, because the only such mooring available in the Albert Dock had already been allocated to someone else with a special need. After kicking up an almighty fuss, another linear mooring in the Albert Dock was found, and all was well for our visitors. Only later did we find out that the lucky boater moored on the first linear mooring had been given it because his dog had difficulty exiting the back of his boat! During the arguments with C&RT, one of their protestations was that there was a perfectly adequate trip boat operating in the area called Sefton, for disabled visitors .

'Must have had to move'. not 'must of had to move' - or is this another Americanism? If we really are being picky, I believe that the plural of manifesto is manifestos, not manifestoes. My daughter is an apostrophe vigilante, awarding points to her junior school class when they spot offending signage. I'm sure that 'potatoe's' or 'potato's' must feature in the gold star list quite often, judging by the number of times I see these mis-spellings.

This argument just won't stand up, unless and until figures are produced, showing how much of local taxation, by local authority area, is spent on the upkeep of the canals. Nice idea, but where is the proof?

Oozels loop has always been our preferred mooring spot. Off the main drag, local security cameras trained on the boat fore and aft, overnight security patrol, a Spar just up the steps etc. Never had any trouble - want a pub?- walk a bit!

Er, you do have a choice - get to where you need to be, during daylight hours, without waking folk up as you go past, and wait for the next tide. Simples.

Second funniest thing of the day - a Trump campaign slogan - 'We shall overcomb'

I'm afraid I don't understand the point you are trying to make. Boaters pay handsomely for the upkeep of the canals and towpath, cyclists (and walkers) pay nothing. This 'hoary old trope' will continue to be brought up, until the time when cyclists, walkers and anglers are seen to be bearing a proportionate cost of the upkeep of the waterways. Yes, there is a role for local authorities in this.

My apologies to all. Blame it on a late night after a very busy day. So we have a mere 300,000 increase in population to deal with, year in, year out, for the foreseeable future. How many schools, how many GP surgeries, and how many hospitals, year on year? Anyone done the calculations?

Interesting reading here: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article50256.html Great when you say it quickly! Half a percent a year equates to over 3 million people needing to be housed, educated, treated. Factor in higher birth rates and greater longevity and problems start to arise. Your argument that 'a growing population generally goes hand in hand with a growing economy and a growing workforce, so assuming a fixed proportion of GDP is spent on schools, hospitals, training etc., there shouldn't be any particular problem with providing services to a population just because it's growing' ignores the fact of a changing demographic - a greater and greater proportion of our population is having to be supported by a smaller and smaller proportion who are actually in work.

A well thought out argument, but no mention of Labour's open doors policy that swelled the population of the UK by several hundreds of thousands. Add in the religious factor - muslim or catholic - that results in much larger families, and the population growth becomes exponential. All these people have to be housed, educated and treated by the NHS. By the way, the racist jibe has long since lost its currency in these matters.

Democracy buddy, rightly or wrongly.

Couldn't possibly be because they saw it as a logical move? BTW, they never repealed a single trade union legislation change enacted by the Conservatives whilst in government, despite which, they got re-elected more than once.

I'm not confused in the least! The net result of your point, for the affordable housing argument is ...........?

If Maggie hadn't allowed councils to sell off those council houses (note that she personally didn't sell any council houses, and didn't benefit personally from the sale of any council house - she merely allowed councils to make those sales), the net result would have been that those same people would have remained in those same council houses - not a single house would have become available to other families , and we would have the same shortage of council houses that we see today. Lazy politics in the extreme - blame Maggie for the shortage of affordable housing, and conveniently forget about the 13 years of Labour administration that came after her downfall, with every opportunity to undo the supposed damage that Maggie had wrought. I don't doubt that more social housing is required (let's all ignore for the moment the elephant in the room that is the enormous expansion in the quite legitimate immigration from EU countries), but let us at least not be silly enough to blame all these problems on a UK administration that ended 16 years ago.

Disagree, if both boats have competent steerers, far easier to enter the lock together - going in one at a time involves the crew of the first one in having to get the boat under control and held against the lock wall, before the second boat can enter. Go in together, and no such problem arises. Saves an awful lot of time on a flight of double locks. 'I drove down to the marina where we keep the boat in a scalpel sharp sports car'. Do you have a very small boat or a very large sports car? :-)

I would be more enthusiastic about this announcement if it were not for the restrictions on boat movements on the Montgomery canal. What is the point of restoration, if boats are to be restricted from full access - on the basis of wildlife preservation?

We were once waiting to ascend Wardle lock, at the head of a queue of six or seven boats, all waiting to go up. A boat came down and the steerer shouted that he was turning and going straight back up the lock. Almost with one voice we shouted 'Oh no you're not!'

I do hope he can swim!

Fishing habits beat me! Why fish from one side of the cut with a 15ft pole, when you could go to the other side and fish with a 3ft pole?

After watching the film Titanic, just after it's release, I wrote a letter to a daily newspaper, pointing out an anomaly. Just before the fatal impact, the helmsman shouts 'Hard to port' or it may have been 'hard to starboard' -I can't remember which. Either way, in the film, the wheel got turned the 'wrong' way. It got published, and immediately I had a phone call, pointing out a change had taken place in the helm rules, and during that time period, left would indeed have meant right.

Just a few years ago we were starting down the Hatton flight when another boat turned up. No names, no pack drill, but Hasta La vista! Mr Second Boat suggested to my wife - she who commands the tiller - that we tie the boats together for the duration of the flight. She agreed, and that's what we did, but then he strode off, and from then on one or more locks were always set for the two boats. Meanwhile, having got over prospect of steering two tied boats into all the locks, everything went like clockwork. So all I can say to the gentleman, whom we have met many times since, is 'muchas gracias'

Pilot! You didn't mention a pilot! A must, I would have thought, for someone desperate enough to ask for advice - from a bunch of ditch-crawlers like us - on crossing one of the busiest shipping lanes known to man!

I don't think anyone has mentioned credit card payments. Even if only part of a purchase price is paid using one, the whole of the price paid is covered if things go pear - shaped - or doesn't this apply to boats? My PayPal account is linked to a credit card