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NigelJ

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  • Website URL
    http://www.jaymedia.co.uk/blog.html

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Cheshire
  • Interests
    Canals and boating (of course!), squash, tennis (anyone for?), cycling, walking, reading, music, theatre, travel.
  • Occupation
    Corporate & Online Media production
  • Boat Name
    Veronica Jay
  • Boat Location
    Cruising

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  1. I've got an excellent Numax starter battery (96 amps, I think, without removing covers to look at it) and was going to get a set of 3 Numax 110amp .. maybe I should think again? I've still got a couple of long-lasting 4-5 years 'Diamond' 110amp leisure batteries - green casing (unusual) - and wanted to find the same for replacements but one of our most popular, fair-priced and amenable chandlers (S in W.. A.. .... many will know who I mean) said the casing and label are no guarantee you're getting the same battery as before, in that the case/label you're looking for could have a quite different battery inside it. I dont quite understand how that works - seems to be flouting trade descriptions and all sorts - almost like fake designer labels on clothes (which I thoroughly approve of, paradoxically!)
  2. Well, since BW have now replied by simply confirming the winter price I queried, without answering my point about comparison with longterm prices on the same towpath stretch, I've now asked them to explain how winter prices are calculated. Yes, in my examples, the 20% higher rate equates to dividing the longtem annual rate by 10 and then multiplying by 12. So let's see what they say. However, I wouldn't say that justifies the higher charge on its own, as - like has been pointed out here - the winter moorings are often no more than grassy stretches of towpath and may be nowhere near a water point. On the Macc several are identically priced but some of them are near water points and others are not. If BW quote that vague concept 'market forces' I'll ask them to explain that, too. So let's see eh? ... I'll let you know
  3. Anyone else noticed that 2011/12 BW winter mooring prices are higher, in some instances at least, than BW longterm or permanent moorings? How can they justify commandeering a stretch of unmanaged towpath (free for up to 14 days April-October) to charge above the going rate? One of my local examples for my 70ft narrowboat: Higher Poynton (Macclesfield Canal): Current Price 1/4/2011 - 31/3/2012, on hard-standing towpath, with mooring rings, opposite Lord Vernon's Wharf at Bridge 15 : £1947 per year. Higher Poynton, other side (south) of Bridge 15 : grassy towpath - very muddy through much of winter - with rings or cleats (BW says but I've not seen them there): £973 November 2011 - March 2012 (5 months) ... 12-month equivalent pro rata = £2336 per year. Or £392 more than the longterm moorings (see above). Do they think (1) we won't notice or (2) we're idiots? Or do you think it's fair, reasonable, justifiable, etc, etc? I'm waiting for a reply from BW. I'll let you know.
  4. For along boat (ours is 70ft) it definitely makes a lot of difference and I avoid mooring with ropes slanted 'inwards' if at all possible. Although the boat is theoretically fastened tight against any movement, in practice it can pivot about ropes slanted inwards but is almost entirely prevented from doing so whent the ropes are 45 degrees 'outwards'. A very obvious difference when boats are passing. Also, not everyone seems to realise the 'drag' on a moored boat is not initially created by a boat actually passing. The first, and quite noticeable, effect occurs when the passing boat is still 100 yards or more away. If it doesn't begin slowing down at that distance it will be too late to prevent moving a boat on its moorings.
  5. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  6. Steve There really is no problem. You could probably grow a decent beard within a month; there are lots of dogs needing new homes; and you could start weaning yourself by ordering 'half 'n' half' (half Fosters, half real ale), then 'quarter 'n' three-quarters', etc till you get there. Of course, you'll still have the canal-ducking initiation and tied-to-a-tree-with-towrope sense of humour test to come, but you'll be feeling ready - nay, eager - for those by then. Look forward to meeting you. N
  7. Sounds like a lot of bother to me. I just add up some miles and locks (3mp / 4 per hour) add a bit for luck and keep a day in hand for unexpected stoppages (like queues, long lunches, meeting friends, reading and other unhurried uses of time). Then if I fall behind schedule I start early (6-7am) and finish with daylight. I really don't see canalplan being a load of much use. How's it going to predict all that? Like satnav, which irritates me no end. And, no, I'm not a technophobe. I'm busy editing a very complicated video. I save computer technology for purposes only it can achieve. Beyond that, I'm with the ducks.
  8. Loads of boaters will no doubt add - more accurately - to my comment but, basically, you can't do the Yorkshire canals and rivers in 70ft (mine's 70ft narrowboat). That means Leeds & Liverpool Canal east of Wigan, Aire & Calder, Huddersfield Broad and various links between Yorks and Loncolnshire. (I'll be corrected if I'm wrong). Or north up the Leeds & Liverpool to the Lancaster Canal. It's because the locks, though wide, are all no more than 60ft long. I think you'll find length (ie lock) restrictions on the BW Waterscape website, though it's a nightmare of a site to 'navigate' and I hate ever having to go to it for information. No doubt you already know there is no link between the wide canals (ie wide locks) of the north (the above-mentioned + Bridgewater and Rochdale canals) and those in the Midlands and South. Basically, you have to choose whether to be based north of Preston Brook tunnel (Trent & Mersey/Bridgewater) or south of Birmingham/Leicester, although the 70ft length will leave you far fewer fewer cruising options in the north than in the south, which seems to be where you are based anyway. Personally, I regret not being able to do the Leeds & Liverpool into Yorkshire but I do like the extra living space. All the best with it.
  9. I stepped straight from the boat into the canal once because - while trying to read 'Towpath' at the same time - a quick glance told me (wrongly) that a thick layer of flotsam was the towpath (the real one). I surfaced a lifetime later, still clutching a very soggy 'Towpath'. I doubt I ever finished that edition.
  10. I 'lost' a mushroom vent in Middlewich in January. And a watering can in Chester this month. First probably theft. Second probably prank. All very unpredictable, since I don't regard either town as dodgy. Nor Nantwich .. but I cruised out of the marina there yesterday, clutching a warning notice from the local police about recent thefts from narrowboats. Is it recession? During the notorious 1980s, crime - especially theft - was said to have risen .. the cheap way of getting things you can't afford and resent someone else having. David Cameron's 'broken society', which his coalition's policies are only going to make worse?
  11. It's always worth giving these programmes a try .. I've also heard the 'new Fred Dibnah' tag - from a production assistant on the programme. Trouble is, typically BBC, the content sounds like a rehash of lots of well-worn TV subjects (pottery, iron and steel-making, etc, etc). Give it a try, eh? The evnings are getting lighter by then. Stuff the telly. .. unless it's really unmissable.
  12. You probably didn't know this .. or did you? http://www.jaymedia.co.uk/blog.html
  13. This is a devastating decision to have made. Remember, when this is talked-away and smoothed-over, no-one, but no-one, cancels an event of this magnitude, at such short notice and after so much hype, unless they are facing absolute disaster. And is it just the 'economic climate'? Who's been organising this festival? For such a major event, given such a high profile by everyone from Liverpool Ccity Council to British Waterways, has someone messed up? What other major public event is being cancelled this year? Well,ok, maybe more to come, but let's wait and see. And, let's face it, this is the same day that David Cameron has been loudly proclaiming the Big Society is where the community steps in. No connection? How long can this Big Society run away from its responsibilities?
  14. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  15. Except when you fall in ... Rochdale Canal, Lock 91, October 2009. Remarkably clear under water, as it turned out. Sadly - for you all - there was a student video crew filming ... at Lock 90 ...
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