Seagull

.

Sounds like a good price.

I suppose this reinforces the old saying, "a boat is a big hole in the water into which you pour money". Seagull.

It would be a great shame if you were passing by and did not visit the Warwickshire Avon. As has been said before, you can purchase a licence at Tewksbury. However, there was when I last visited a lower Avon licence and an upper Avon licence. The keeper at Tewksbury will put you right anyway. Please do visit and enjoy. A trip along the Gloucester and Sharpness canal is quite an experience if not too scenic. Seagull.

Given the cost of diesel and the aggravation due to the drought this seems a very good idea. Anybody know what costings will be involved ie. crane, transporter etc? Seagull.

Thanks Lady Muck. I will update my records. Kind regards. Seagull.

Alan. You certainly appear to be a fun guy. Seagull.

AHAAAA! Now we know why you have chosen the handle "mr smelly" . A camping stove and a store of tinned and dried stuff will suffice. A Porta Potty would be sort of handy. Note that dried soya meals have the same effect as beans. Kerpow! Check if there are going to be any problems on the Oxford. Last time I took a narrowboat up there many years ago in drought conditions we got stuck at Banbury and had to turn back. Best wishes for your trip. Seagull.

Well I am very fond of mushrooms but that would certainly make me "Twist and shout"! Do What Richard says, "get rid of it" and seek some specialist advice regarding treating the surrounding woodwork with something nasty. Just sploshing it with Cuprinol will not be enough. Seagull.

The National Trust have some free moorings at Pangbourne on a field. The bank is a bit high but quite a good location. There are several pubs in town and two worth a visit over the toll bridge (free to pedestrians). There is a Co-Op in town and a really good chippie and an excellent butchers and a bank. Well worth a stop. The towpath above Sonning lock is a pleasant mooring with a good hard bank. However, you will not get any morning sunshine on this mooring. A walk through the churchyard near the lock leads you to an excellent pub serving good food and Arkells ales. Just upsrteam is "Tesco on Thames" where you can moor up and replenish food stocks and get a reasonable cooked breakfast. If you want to stock up on diesel there is a boatyard on the right hand side upstream of Tesco that will give you any tax split you want on red diesel. I have been told that most other boatyards on the Thames will not do a tax split. I cannot say this for certain as my boat runs on petrol. There are pleasant moorings on the North bank in the park at Reading. I belive the first three hours are free and a reasonable fee overnight. This information is correct as at July 2011. Hope you find this info helpfull Seagull.

Thinking about this problem I realised that I have connected taps in this manner without using tap connectors: If you can insert a piece of standard copper pipe snugly into the fitting you could use an olive on the pipe and a standard cap nut onto the thread. To make a good job of it you could use some plumbers white and some hemp too. If you must, ptfe could be used too. I have used this method in my house and it withstands our very hefty mains pressure easily. Hope this helps. Seagull.

Of course we have to put up with the pub chains deliberately sabotaging one pub if they have another nearby. By putting in an incompetant landlord, supplying duff beer, cutting down on maintenance it is very easy to persuade customers to go to their other pub. It is very easy to then claim that they cannot make a profit at that pub and close it. I have seen this happened to two of my local pubs both of which were thriving. They have both been demolished and houses and flats now stand on the sites. Of course, the building land in the area costs a fortune. Very nice for the shareholders. We don't use their other pub, we prefer to use our bus passes to go elsware to a Wetherspoons so the pub chain has shot itself in the foot. This is a great shame as our locals were a focus for our community and Wetherspoons do not have the same atmosphere. The last remaining pub in the said chain has an enormous car park but the building is listed. The beer is rough, the food is not to be reccommended. This building is probably destined to be turned into flats, keeping the facade and the car park built on. On another tack, a lovely little pub I used to use when out on the boat (no names no pack drill) mysteriously burned down one night. The pub chain owned another enormous pub on the other side of the river. The little pub was never rebuilt. I leave you all to draw your own conclusions. Seagull.