Mike Todd

Somewhat depends on the time of locking through. Although there are mooring opportunities outside Limehouse Basin, there is not a lot which is 'just around the corner'. If the locking is early morning or late evening then it adds to the stress of making a Thames transit via Limehouse if there is greater uncertainty over mooring. (I don't want to make the use of Limehouse sound more difficult than it it is but it is something that most canal users will only do rarely) Early morning locking down: it is highly desirable to be able to moor overnight in Limehouse in order to be able to go through the pre-checks with the lock keeper and be fully focused on the exercise. It would clearly unsatisfactory to have to hover if all the spaces were already full of boats waiting to go down. One solution might be to increase the requirement to book a passage and to accompany that with a guaranteed overnight mooring space. Late afternoon/evening locking up: after coming in from the Thames then it is highly desirable not to have to continue further but this is a distinct possibility if all the visitor moorings are occupied. Neither the main route nor Limehouse Cut offer much sensible for some distance and, going on towards Paddington does have the real risk that space will not be found that late in the day until well after Little Venice. Of course, as it stands the operation does need to provide safe haven access through the lock for inbound boats even if not pre-notified. However, given that CaRT have now established reasonably successful on-line facilities for booking places that have limited availability (eg Anderton, Rembrandt Gardens) then if the visitor moorings at Limehouse are to be significantly restricted it would make some sense to consider whether they can be linked with booking transit of the lock. It would be unhelpful if the spaces were occupied by boats that just wanted to stay 24/48 hrs in the area and do not intend using the lock (yes, we have done that!) Equally, it is not that obvious from the plans whether there will be a significant reduction, bearing in mind that at present (or it was last time we were there!) quite a length on the pontoon has been designated as Disabled Access and not otherwise for Visitor Moorings (not always respected, of course) I could not immediately see whether this designation is being retained in the new layout, but perhaps someone more involved can enlighten us.

How often do you find such weather lasting longer than 14 days without a break? I know that there have been some exceptional events in the past, but I am asking generally?

The law does not directly recognise this. It uses the very helpful device of reasonable which is a well-tested legal approach but one which often leaves literalists and those pushing at boundaries in a hard place. The only way to decide whether a particular action is permitted by law is to do it and then see how the system reacts. In the first instance, it is The Board who have to be satisfied that it is reasonable but their decision can subsequently be tested in a court if the aggrieved boater brings an action. Even the, decisions are generally i lower courts and it can be difficult to carry over the decision in one case into others. Even if you find that one boater has succeeded in making the reasonable case for staying put in specific icy conditions, there is not guarantee that you could do likewise in potentially slightly different circumstances. In general the ambiguity of the law works in everyone's favour but it does present problems to those who want absolute certainty. Sad that certainty is usually not what they want.

Those stones: two years ago we set off from Autherley Junction with a new prop fitted and made our way up to Macclesfield where we wanted to moor briefly to have lunch and pop to a local shop. As we came alongside there was a nasty sound and when we set off later we rapidly discovered that we had severely re-shaped the new prop! This resulted in having to dry dock and replace - not cheap but we did manage an insurance claim.

The distinction is that boaters who are effectively compelled by circumstances beyond their control to stay in one place for longer than 14 days come under the 'reasonable circumstances' rule. But, as has been pointed out, this does not extend to those who want to stay put for their own convenience such as not wanting to move in inclement, but feasible, weather conditions.This is only permitted through a Winter Mooring. Want and need are thus differentiated.

But how does your PC connect to the internet whilst on a boat or away from a building? Increasingly, smartphones (dumb mobiles not suitable) are used to enable that connection, whether or not the information is viewed on a tablet, PC or the smartphone itself. FWIW, we use all three on the boat as there are different contexts and one is more suitable than the others but it varies. The main alternative to a smartphone with tethering is a mi-fi dongle perhaps with a dumb mobile for calls. But that is just the same as a smartphone but packaged differently but with potentially less functionality (whilst it supports doing things on a tablet or PC it does not allow viewing on the phone) Everyone is different but I guess that one of the largest uses (adding a number of bits together) is finding out about the world immediately around us - either looking for shops on Google (more up to date than the paper guides), transport timetables for picking up the car, Old OS maps to find out about the history or even trying to discover why there is a strange looking structure in just that location. You will miss so much if you are not inquisitive about what you see or hear. Take one small example: just before reaching Worcester on the day after Boxing Day we passed what looked like a former wharf structure but with nothing close by to suggest why it was there. A little bit of Googling revealed some amazing history of the area including that a famous film star had crash landed there making a training film in the last war! Also that Cadbury's cake factory was turned to rifle bullet production - and I later met someone whose mother had worked there!

I thought that Winter Moorings were for those who wanted to stay put rather than those who, because of circumstance, had to stay.

But they are harder to avoid than the trip and rubbish boats! Even worse are coxless ones . . . Looks like you were coming in upstream. The problem we found is coming down from Brentford on an ebbing tide - the flow 'bounces' off the downstream entrance wall and pushes the boat sharply to the left ie the upstream wall - not what you would expect.

Yup!

What are your timescales? (remember Worcester and Birmimgham Canal is effectively cut off until mid March on current plans)

I don't find the last phrase particularly true - but then a fifty year sample span may not be thought to be long enough to judge! I am always amazed by the number of well-meaning and helpful people there are on the canals - and alongside - often from a wide variety of circumstance. Always best to judge a book from its pages rather the cover.

I would certainly concur that entering Brentford is a whole lot easier than Limehouse.

Do you still have/use the tall thin shaped versions?

They were a great idea but sadly no longer updated.

I don't see how your comment follows from the quote . . .

This why better designed input systems try to define all of the acceptable answers in a list but, if there is any chance that there may be others than a free form entry box called Other is also provided. This means that the human both entering and checking normally has very little to do and they only have to concentrate on the relatively small number of Other cases. This approach also means that it can be introduced even when the full list is not yet determined (and also allows for the option of new ones coming along under the radar) and gradually extended as the info is available and validated. Overall, this should mean that what often happens with totally free form entry, the same place is not given several different names, perhaps based on local history and practice. Of course it does benefit from on-the-ground intelligence that can combine together two or more related locations - such as marina and on-line moorings just outside and jointly administered. All of this will be beneficial as the IT schemes, such as the Mooring Validation Scheme are trolled out, most of which will be motivated by a reduction in staff time rather than some ulterior and covert purpose. IT that neither reduces staff time nor offers an extended service is a waste of time!

The only objection I can see with that letter is that it does not specify what their query is in respect of the boat. It could be anything although the rest implies it is about mooring. But such approaches are notorious in questioning as they can lead someone to offer information about an entirely different matter from that which sparked of the query and in so doing initiate a whole new line of issues. To me, the proper response - especially in these days of precautionary advice regarding unsolicited communications - would be to respond by asking for specific details of their query. That is not being awkward, just playing safe.

But that statement only refers to an established contractual debt. Increasingly, businesses, especially internet based ones, are specifying what means of payment they will accept and if you proceed to buy from them then you have to accept those conditions. As it happens, because of fraud via ebay, people are sometimes being advised only to handover a valuable item in person and in exchange for an immediately usable payment (either cash or a verified bank draft/transfer) that cannot be reversed once the recipient is around the corner and in possession of said item. Although there is some snobbishness about developments like bitcoin, saying that they are not 'real' money, in fact most of us, most of the time, only operate with a set of digits stored on a computer systems somewhere out there in the ether. Before long, it seems to me highly likely that money = cash will cease to even be a dream. Talk to very young people (like the Listening Project did yesterday) and see how they view the world without smartphones etc etc etc.

But you cannot insist that the creditor accepts cash - and, in any case, there are limits on what cash represents legal tender, as I recall. ie you cannot deliver a sackful of pennies and require someone to accept them. Cash is, for a business, one of the more expensive ways of obtaining payment.

Do we know whether the pump house is listed? If it is - and I'd be surprised if not - then some of the fears are diminished, if not eliminated.

Is/was it a requirement for feisty lock keepers to be called Maureen? Just thinking of Wardle Lock as well! Life on the canal is duller without her (Shaw, that is), alas.

In some instances, cheques are counted as cash (almost).

The change in the law is not to say that no charge be made for a credit card, only that such a charge must apply to all payment methods. We have already seen some internet based businesses applying the charge for cash and debit cards. But at least the scam is transparent . . .

I suspect that the application of auto renew to most accounts was probably something done at a low level in IT rather than a Board level decision. It's the sort of thing that many companies have tried to do in order to boost their cash flow. Perhaps a boater rep could take this up officially, but I don't actually know any personally. I'm less sympathetic to the point about the start date for a licence. The T&C are quite clear that licences start from the first of a month - not unlike most similar situations. Similarly, licences are not (now) transferable. When we were on the verge of licencing our new build boat last spring it was clear that it was slipping towards the turn from March to April but we needed a registration number so that it could be painted on, along with the name. This can be done as a separate transaction. I calculated that it was better to do this and take the hit of the small extra cost rather than 'waste' a whole month's licence. In the end, the handover was after office closing time on 31st and we took ownership from midnight! You just have to be a bit savvy about these matters and not ignore the info that is available. Of course, we all make mistakes (including 'blinking' at the wrong moment) from time to time . . .

I must admit that my recollection from passing it several times was that the main pumphouse building was owned or rented by a trust - maybe the Dudley Canal Trust (Wikipedia say that they operate it) know more but I cannot find anything via Google. I did find a photo from 1984 which showed the site rather downbeat and boarded up, it previous industrial user presumably having left. I'd be surprised if the building is not listed. The document in the OP does not feel genuine, however. All such official notices I have ever seen have a header that tells a lot more and I'm suspicious that we have not seen all of the document.