Mike Todd

I don't think you can derive the certainty of (il)legality from the text you cited. In particular it makes it clear that we are in a grey area that would have to be determined on the facts of the case. In any event, it is up to CaRT to make any necessary application and I would have thought that they could argue that the use is ancillary. No planning authority (esp one closely associate with a housing authority) is going to create unnecessary homeless cases (which is what would happen) which they then have to house as a matter of emergency. Winter mooring permits are clearly in a different category from permanent moorings - even if that does not directly say that they do not require pp.

Useful to draw out the distinction as some folk do conflate the two situations without realising that they are significantly different (and is a minefield for marinas . . .)

When were there the gate to the car park, opposite end from office, had a key pad which could be operated from the car whilst on exit it opened automatically. One of the shortest distances to port between car and boat.

We had a short term mooring there this summer and we found the staff and boaters very pleasant. It is, compared with the mega-marinas, quite small and this perhaps helps. It is a good location - the nearest station is a bit of a hike (20 minutes IIRC) but level and doable. I understand about the issue of getting in to some of the pontoons as we were accommodated close to the far end! However, we were fortunate to arrive on a windless day (but it is quite sheltered anyway) and opted to reverse in, for a quicker getaway at the end. There were several boaters on the lookout for entertainment but, sadly for them, I failed to provide it! Was one of my better reversings onto moorings (not all are like that!) Some did grudgingly admit being impressed. If it was where we wanted to break, I'd happily go back there again although I hope that ABC to not over institionalise it, but there were obvious areas in which some improvement could be made, with investment. It happened that the announcement came whilst we were there, with an interesting conversation with the office staff person!

And remember that navigating on red boards probably means that you will be uninsured (going against advice) and therefore against the bylaws so you could be challenged at any point! Apart from not being for the faint hearted - some locks require you to pass quiet close to the weirs. What is OK for the experienced is not necessarily safe for everyone. Can't recall whether you are single handed but having at least one crew does help with the navigation - as mentioned there are quite a few islands and the main passage is not always obvious until the last minute. Also, below Brentford it is important to dopwnload the guide to the bridges - there are plenty of them and each has its own rules about which arch to use. All that said, the doom-mongers are not being helpful!

My point really was that 'you cannot have your cake and eat it' ie you should not use one argument to support the contrary!

In which case, surely, the view that leaving gates/paddles open at the lock above could not have been the cause does not have has much strength? If the cause was a more substantial failure of the embankment at the breach position then simply increasing the freeboard would only have hastened the collapse as it would have increased the load?

It is happening here as well. However, those I know about are buskers - depends on your point of view whether you think there is a difference (legally I believe that there is a big one). In fact, contactless readers are now very inexpensive and, I understand, quite easy to set up, unlike the days of merchant accounts and endless form filling etc.

No I definitely was not getting at you but I had justrwsd a piece on another website which made me throw my toys out of my pram!

It does amaze me at times that some people spend a large amount of time (and even their website/newspaper) berating CaRT for a lack of maintenance and then complaining when the canal is closed for such work! OK, so they defend their (illogical) position by then claiming that it is a scandal that CaRT take 'much longer than they did in the good old days' when carrying out such works. This may well be true but ignores (a) the arrival of a H&S culture that sees any injury, let along fatality, as unacceptable in the work place (b) heritage and planning structures that ensure that work is extensively considered and reviewed in advance in order to prevent the kind of works that ruin assets in the long term and (c) cash is limited for reasons beyond the control of CaRT and he adoption of medium term planning that groups works together for greater efficiency rather than doing things a small but at a time. Of course, there are plenty of examples where it all still goes wrong but for the most part what I see is a commitment to making the best use of available resources (which are not enough by most standards) and a real effort to find new ways of working that are both efficient and effective - not always the consideration in days when labour was cheap in all senses.

Many canals do not have routine mile markers. The Grand Union has flat faced markers with the distance to a single place. Generalisation is quite complicated.

or here http://cheshireimagebank.org.uk/frontend.php?pos=1&action=zoom&keywords=Ref_No_increment;MATCHES;(^| +)c08995($| +)&continueUrl=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

Or even more with this one https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.1744861,-2.4260955,3a,75y,75.46h,96.55t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swzOpPI9Et6-lHTF4y0HpWg!2e0!5s20090301T000000!7i13312!8i6656

I know the bridge but had not thought to follow up the history before! I'm not very good with looking up old Google views but have managed the 209 Street View at this loation and you can see the office building, being the only remaining building at that point. Not sure if this link will work: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.174204,-2.425785,3a,75y,62.12h,84.48t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMj1vR5YCW4PT3axxuy6QpA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

A while back, I realised as I walked up to a lock that I had left my windlass at the previous lock, not too far away. I jogged back, could then!, and found a boat just about to leave in the opposite direction. I asked if they had seen said item, which had been on the balance beam. Very sheepishly the windlass was produced with a comment about wondering whose it was and what they should to about it! I thank them profusely for keeping it safe for me. ..

Not planning to go through Torksey? It is always a 'feel good factor' when the parents want (with evident delight) to take photos of their little ones pushing an impossibly large gate!

And then change it on the day itself!

I wasn't claiming to know how it was pronounced in the past, only that today's usage is chuff and that --ough has a variety of ways of saying.

Will the market forces and pricing strategies be much different from the present? I almost always use the rail system off peak ('cos I can) but I am also aware that other people on that train making exactly the same journey may well have paid very different prices (I get a third off anyway just by being ancient). Travel at peak times is driven significantly by business (or more accurately travel-to-work) journeys and the pricing seeks to even out the demand into the other times of the day (and long may it continue!)

According to local press reports (Beeb?) publicly available data tracking the ship demonstrated that the crew made several attempts to rectify the situation, probably as soon as their alarm went off, but the conditions turned too difficult for them to succeed and they ended up drifting ever closer to the beach. Luckily they seem to have had no cargo and were fairly shallow draft as a result - whether that impacted the power from the prop I don't know but I have read in other reports that it can be a factor. In any event, they could not have been much closer to the full range of support and rescue services! Despite the public drama - made for easy news reporting - I doubt whether they actually came close to any real danger for the crew - hopefully they will now get at least as good pastoral support from the good folk in Falmouth. (At least they will get to understand the wholesomeness of 'proper' Cornish pasties - at least whilst the protected status remains - will they get away before the end of March?)

What I was really getting at is that pronunciation changes much more quickly, sometimes quite radically, than we sometimes recognise. One of my favourite wind-ups is when I encounter people who insist that wind, as in winding hole, must pronounced as the stuff that blows rather than as in kind. However, we know from rhymes in some well used places that wind, as in the blowing stuff, rhymed that alternative way - winter wind thou art so unkind. There are plenty of anomalies as well. Here in Cornwall we have seen the return of the local chough, well embedded into local usage for all sorts of things. But it does not rhyme with the current pronunciation of plough but as in chuff. Similar views are available on both sides of the debate about whether 'proper' grammar matters! (Not to mention RP) Actually they tried to avoid locks and used inclined planes in several places! (They had different tendencies?) Perhaps that happened as a result of a misunderstanding through (mis) pronunciation . . .

Towns are bypassed because the traffic is not local. Benefit to residents from reduced congestion but benefit to wider users through improved journey times (unless the scheme simply transfers the problem elsewhere, not unknown!)

And how do we know how it was pronounced?

That's an obtuse angle to the debate . . .

Methinks you knew what I meant!