Starcoaster

I also found 25p (plus VAT) per unit of electricity rather flagrant too... I looked into what recourse I had over this given that it is theoretically verboten to sell mains electric on at a profit (unless you declare it as a separate service charge), but without knowing who their electricity supply firm was I found there was little I could do. Paintjobsgonewrong.com

That is a very good point actually! Perhaps ze mods can comment. I thought the five post rule was also designed partially to stop people joining simply to message people for their own agendas rather than using it as a side benefit of contributing to the forum. More than happy to let the mods have the pm...

New member Eco-admin (who is now sending me unsolicited pm's here too and still doesn't seem to have got to grips with defamation law) might be able to confirm the shareholder and directorate status of Richard Saillet for us pending the Companies House update.

I would welcome a definitive statement from Daniel regarding protocol for a moderator to edit the spelling and grammar within other people's posts please. I can fairly say that if someone was ever rude enough to do that to me I would throw a pretty epic flounce. If someone pointed out to me that I had spinach in my teeth or my skirt tucked in my knickers, I would likely be grateful. But I would not be so happy if the girl in Subway told me I was too fat to order the meatball marinara and she'd make me the veggie delight instead... She might be totally right, but she's also way overstepping her boundaries. If a hairdresser accosted me in the street and started snipping at my split ends.... If a random boater re-tied the knots on my boat simply because they were not "correct..." If the cashier in Debenhams refused to sell me a dress because that style won't suit me... I could go on for a while here, but seriously though, don't correct another grown-ass adult's spelling and grammar for its own sake within their own posts without their permission, that's a bloody liberty. ThankyouPlease.

Not sure I agree with this. When I bought my boat at the age of 33, I had two choices: Use that money as the deposit for a mortgage that would tie me to one location and see me working full time until I was about 60 to pay it off and retire, and hope that I was in good health and ready to start again by using the money from selling the house to buy a boat. By then I would have waited 27 years to start the lifestyle I wanted, and also would have been pretty much obligated to work full time to pay off this mortgage. Or: Use that money to buy a smaller, cheaper boat at that juncture allowing me 27 additional years (should I choose) of my lifestyle of choice knowing that I would at worst, get to do it for a while when I was young enough to have my health and lots of options, in case I was unable to for any reason when I was older. Now I am 39, living on the same little cheap boat with no desire at all to ever go brick, working less than 20 hours a week, and in a freelance job that I would never have even considered trying in and that became obvious as an option only as a direct result of getting the boat and joining this forum. To me it was a no brainer to not waste all those years in a house with a full time job, or wait all that time being a good little minion to retire and find out for sure if it wasn't for me? for-after all, I could be dead by then for all I know, never mind in poor health! I am not trying to say it is an easy thing-Sometimes, some boat stuff sucks, where you are sucks, or there are boat-related people who you can't get far enough away from fast enough for whatever reason, and you will never know what exactly it is that you will find so sucky until you get there-it is different for everyone. The last five years that I have been on the boat have in fact included the top scorers in the ranking of the very darkest times of my life for various reasons, and even the logistics of managing things like that (whatever your equivalent "like that" is) can be harder on the boat too. But I think there is a big difference between "dreaming" and "wanting something nice that you can actually get." Sometimes people are too programmed to do what is expected of them without questioning it, and questioning if that is actually what they want-why SHOULD someone work until they are 50 or 60 if they don't desire to and have other options that they prefer? There's a trade-off for everything in life, innit. That doesn't mean the trade is necessarily a poor one.

Because he can't tell the difference between a car and a boat...

I can ride a horse pretty good, so I guess the same principles apply for a unicorn!? If not, that's stupid! Stupid unicorns not knowing how to be ridden!

Numpty edit.

Ah, I suspect you know him well given the cynicism!

Good find, thank you. Will check back then.

I just spotted that myself. Assuming that this is verifiable, here endeth my publicity campaign and I wish the remaining team the best of luck. Companies House still shows him as a director, so I will check back in a week... Does anyone know how often they update, and does it apply to shareholders too?

No it was a Facebook group. The owner had posted on her own page that this dog was missing, and one of her friends had seen my own posts about finding him and put us in touch.

Sam-for that is indeed his name, despite answering quite happily to "Dogue" has now gone home with his dad. Lots of thanks due to the fellow boater who babysat him while I started posting his mug shot too!

OWNER FOND* AND ON WAY Thanks! *Also, found... Although they do seem to quite like him...

I just wanted to add a footnote to this as I think it is relevant. Last week just before sentencing I was advised that Mrs. Saillet was using the fake name of Jennifer Lancaster online to gain access to various groups and monitor news regarding her husband. I searched the name on FB etc., but came up blank. Anyway, lo and behold I got a message request on Facebook today (after posting on that platform publicizing Richard Saillet's conviction and the situation with the business as it still trades) from one Jennifer Lancaster, reproduced below: "I think your comments although true could possibly be libellous.. To malign a legitimate business and its proprietor is quite foolhardy..." There was an attachment on the request too, which I could not open, but that I presume was some form of link to someone's interpretation of the Defamation Act, and I am kind of sad I could not open it because I would love to hear the machinations of how libel can be claimed against verifiable facts and when the very message itself acknowledged "ALTHOUGH TRUE!" Unfortunately I could not thank Jennizanne for her concern nor ask her to re-send the attachment, as she blocked me immediately after sending me the request. So I think that answers the question about where Richard's wife stands on the whole thing, and her plans to disassociate her business and personal interests from him or not... Not, being the case.

Haggis yes for sure, the more people that know the better! Zen. Yes I will be getting the to take him tomorrow if the owner is not found. And yes, I am going through the usual motions.

Cheers. I feel like he is probably a boat dog, but no one seems to have posted about a lost one...

NOW REUNITED, THANKS ALL. I have in my possession one really lovely, friendly and adorable liver and white spaniel (cocker or springer, or maybe a cross) but unfortunately he is not mine and he and I both are quite keen to find his owners! He was found earlier this evening running around on the towpath of the North Oxford at Hilmorton, with no boats or houses nearby. Liver and white coat, four legs, one tail, obsessed with balls, possibly because his own are absent. There is a capsule ID tag on his collar but the bottom half is missing, so no owner details. He is being taken care of tonight due to the late hour, but I will take him to the dog warden tomorrow if he is not found to have a microchip or the owner has not been found. He is wearing a distinctive bandana that you can partially see in the pics-anyone claiming ownership will need to tell me what the bandana says before he will be surrendered. He is very friendly and hugely lively as well as seeming a bit fretful and is clearly looking for his owners. He is a touch overweight and was very very thirsty, but is obviously well cared for and looks as if he might have had a haircut not long ago. He might be off a boat, due to the location and the fact that when he got to my boat while I started trying to contact the RSPCA etc. etc. he seemed keen to get on! I am in process of adding him to Dogs Lost. Etc., now. Sorry for the shit pics, it was dark and he would not keep still! Please message me directly if he is yours-I will be up til about 2am! As I say, will surrender him to the dog warden tomorrow if I get nowhere as I have two cats and cannot accommodate him, and frankly he is kind of batshit enthusiastic about everything in a way that is making me feel exhausted just watching.

I called it first. **and, backs out.**

I don't really get the concept of having more than one home. I get that it is possible to own/stay in two or more dwellings for an overall equal amount of nights, but to me, only one of them is really your actual home. Whether the one that you think of as "home" when you get there is the boat or the house may be the clincher... But I suspect the real question is more along the lines of "is the boat still your home when the going gets tough and things might be easier with mains services if you have the option to take it" for those with a boat and one or more land properties.

A London boater posted a pic a couple of years ago of tomatoes growing out of his turd tub from seeds that he had pooped out. Someone else mentioned that when they were a kid, the lads who worked at the local sewage treatment plant used to sell tomato plants that err, grew on their own, on the side.

Just a few thoughts of my own to mention based on things I have not seen so far: Given your price range (which I think is perfectly realistic for a good, solid reasonably cosmetically ok boat if you are savvy) I would be more concerned about the condition and maintenance than putting a date cut off in. Some builders from 25 and 30 years ago are now highly sought after and often fabulously maintained and will survey well, whilst some post-Y2K generic large-production craft may have been patchy to start with and poorly maintained since. I'd add another 10 years back to your preferred boat age search, personally. Having 50k plus to play with is a nice idea, but not realistic for everyone! You really do have to have the money in your hand to buy though-or even browse meaningfully with a view to buying if you see the right boat-so the selling of flat and finding of interim accom would be my priority. If you are absolutely out of friends and relatives that will tolerate you, I think I would sell the accom and spend a grand or so renting somewhere in the Midlands for a month or doing an off-season deal with a BandB or something (due to the proximity of so many brokerages) and shopping in earnest. Another thing to consider is that a reasonable number of marinas and moorings have a licence for a couple of touring caravans too-Braunston Marina for one-so perhaps buying a very cheap caravan to stay in while you search and then selling it on when you get the boat would be another option, and you might pretty much get your money back, minus the nightly charges to park up. In winter I have found that I am comfortably warm on the boat regardless of the outside temperature for literally the first time in my life. I love my stove, but honestly the dust that accumulates in every nook and cranny within the course of a week pisses me off no end, and causes me endless existential crisis because I fecking hate my home being dirty, but not as much as a I fecking hate cleaning it. I have found carpet on a boat to be a sodding terrible idea-a pair of good slippers is infinitely better and easier to keep clean! Regarding winter provisions etc., I have had several different moorings since I got the boat from a selection of landlords (lest said about the last one the better... oops, too late!) and have found that when it comes to water taps in winter, if the moorers themselves don't make the effort to keep them maintained and un-frozen no one else is likely to-and they are of course as likely to freeze as any CRT tap. This has held true in my experience for everything from 200+ berth marinas to a two-boat private mooring, although I suspect some places take care of this for you... Ps., Elsans can and do freeze too; this is also not fun at all.

A cheap unregistered PAYG mobile that one uses for conducting dodgy business and that one can bin, break or burn with compunction and replace with another when it has fulfilled its usefulness.

He used to be on his burner phones in every spare moment he thought he was alone and was probably trying to arrange meets once or twice a week 18 months ago when Ibwas around. So I am sure he was prolific. There is mention in some reports about him planning an attack in advance by calling one of the victims (wonder how she got singled out) about some kind of survey, but I strongly suspect he found most of them through dating sites. Finding his dodgy profiles on dating sites used to be something of a game for the shop staff.

Oooh, a speed test... A new side-game for the Golden Blanket Award?