[Gold standard solid fuel - five stars]

On 19/03/2023 at 18:20, Wanderer Vagabond said:

That has to be a big selling point. Although I haven't bought much coal this winter having been off the boat, pretty much all the fuel I have bought in recent years has been soaking wet. Yes, it still burns, but it seems to me that you are paying for a load of water in your fuel, which must be a 'bargain' for the fuel companies. I originally thought it was just a consequence of buying fuel from canal-side suppliers who store their fuel outside, but then visited my sister's house which is heated by a coal fire delivered by a local company, and the fuel they were putting on was soaking wet as well, starts to look deliberate to me

Round here coal merchants store the coal outside in heaps, being in the Lake District it is almost always wet.   Nothing deliberate merely weather conditions.

[Canal boat owner slams people littering the water as they spot ‘dead animals’]

24 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

And best of all, plastic bottled water costs more than petrol. Probably not quite as much as whisky.

I don't know where you buy your petrol but I have just googled Sainsbury's bottled water and can't find any at more than £1:00 per litre.   Petrol per Litre varies locally between £1.45.9 and £1.48.9

[Canal boat owner slams people littering the water as they spot ‘dead animals’]

17 minutes ago, Goliath said:

and is this before or after he (the actor not character) exposed himself on the internet ?  😂

I didn't know he had.

[Canal boat owner slams people littering the water as they spot ‘dead animals’]

2 hours ago, Goliath said:

..what? How they get around that one?

weren’t it Sharon and her drunken mother who put him in the ground

Couldn't say who did what but it was the way he left the series after he had "come back from the dead" i.e. the shooting and fall into the canal were said to be his way of getting away from those who wanted to kill him.

[Canal boat owner slams people littering the water as they spot ‘dead animals’]

3 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Famous though ain’t it:

“The towpath of the Grand Union Canal in Alperton has been used for various scenes in the BBC TV soap EastEnders. It was first used in an episode which aired on 3 October 1985, when the character Den Watts(played by Leslie Grantham) meets Michelle Fowler (played by Susan Tully) and it is revealed Den is the father of Michelle's baby. It was used again on numerous occasions, most famously on 23 February 1989, when Den Watts was shot before falling into the canal and supposedly dying. Den returned to the canal with daughter Sharon Watts on 3 October 2003, when he returned to Albert Square alive.” Wikipedia 

 

sadly I missed the episode of Den’s return,

I’d always thought he’d been buried in concrete behind the bar 🤷‍♀️

He was but that was his get out after the return.  MRs J watches the series.

[Bradford on Avon boater 'will set fire to boat armed with garden fork']

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

And that's why a banana plant is a herb ta.

 

Most, if not all, commercially sold bananas are propagated vegetatively like you say the ability to produce seed has been bred out of them, apparently people don't like bananas with seeds in them

Luckily they produce offshoots after the flowering stem dies 

There are all sorts of dire warnings about the demise of the Cavendish variety due to disease, the plant breeders will just find something new I am sure

Have you ever seen a banana seed?  I grew some once from seed, hard, black, and about 8mm in diameter.  No wonder folk don't like them in their bananas you would break your teeth.

 

For those who are wondering these weren't the seedless ones used for food, they were one of the 1,000 or so species of Banana.

[Bradford on Avon boater 'will set fire to boat armed with garden fork']

4 hours ago, Athy said:

Quite right.

Eggnant?

The term is gravid  if you are really wanting to know.

3 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Fruit, I've heard the herb thing and am not sure why, apart from the fact banana is monocarpic, which basically means the flowering stem dies after producing the fruit, it sends new stems up from the ground.

I suppose as it produces no woody growth and is basically a collection of leaf bases, maybe that's why it's called a herb?

There are to the best of my knowledge two definitions of herb.

 

A plant used for flavourings.

 

Seed bearing plants with no woody stem and die to ground level after flowering.

 

Where that leaves the Bananas grown for food I don't know as they never form seeds and are propagated vegetatively.  The last I read the type grown all over the world is Cavendish.

[what wood would to use in a bilge area.]

What about Elm if you can source it.   Used for pier piles in the past as it stood up to water well.

[Taking a narrowboat to Europe ?]

2 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Not sure? I think its increasing a tad as people move out to quieter areas?? I spose its similar where you are? There are definately lots of English here at present.

I was interested as up here while a little more crowded hasn't changed in the last 10 years.

[Taking a narrowboat to Europe ?]

18 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

This is one of the reasons I have bought in Wales. The population density of England as a whole is 434 peeps per square foreign thingy, in Wales it is 150 so moocho better. The county I live in is actualy only 40 people per square foreign thingy 😀 absolootely fabulouso

Is the population per square Kilometre increasing or decreasing over the last 10 years?

[Calls to limit boat traffic to protect wildlife on restored Welsh canal]

12 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

Can see a few people actually going for horse boats as a notionally even more environmentally friendly alternative to electric boats. CRT should use "making towpaths ready for engine-free boats" as a fundraising strategy...

 

Although I wonder how the greenhouse gas emissions of a horse that farts regularly compare with that of a rarely-run engine?

 

As for this, I'm pretty sure the reeds getting a good whack from a passing rope isn't necessarily better for nature than a prop,

Exactly what I hinted at back up the thread.   I couldn't agree more.

[Calls to limit boat traffic to protect wildlife on restored Welsh canal]

I wouldn't have thought horse drawn boats would be good for wildlife.   Vegetation would need to be kept down and regularly disturbed, unlike a motor powered boat gliding past.

[Trying to learn some 'roses and castles'...]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

My dear old departed Dad used to say the only thing he could draw was a conclusion.

 

 

Mine used to say the only thing he could draw was breath.

[Sex imbalance.....]

7 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Haven't you lot ever seen ducks mate?

 

She doesn't always survive the experience, which would be a simple explanation of the ratio change.

Part of the changes yes.  However the sex imbalance is common in many waterfowl and most of them aren't mating as Mallards do.

[Sex imbalance.....]

6 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

I've noticed it, particularly in areas where there is an artificialy high population because of feeding from locals/tourists but the imbalance is still there in the more rural/quieter areas as well.

@Jerra having an interest in our feathery friends might offer an explanation 

I would suggest a couple of thoughts.

 

1.  It depends on the time of year.  Females are a lot less obvious while on eggs and to some extent while rearing the ducklings.

 

2.  The ratio male to female at hatching is as you would expect 50:50.   This ratio remains roughly the same up to the first breeding season.  After that the males start to increase in proportion, so it would appear that the stress and strain of raising the young, coupled with them being an easy target for predators as they try to protect the ducklings causes losses and the ratio changes.

[These new log burner rules.......]

1 hour ago, peterboat said:

No bias just painting out that Germany runs the EU and the rules dont apply to them

Germany doesn't run the EU according to what Brexiteers in cluding you have been telling us for 6 years.

[These new log burner rules.......]

22 hours ago, peterboat said:

Just pointing out that your beloved EU is as two faced as it gets!

Oh dear, your bias is showing again.

 

Germany is a single country out of 27.   What one sovereign country does can not be laid at the door of the EU.

 

Well, it can't for sensible intelligent unbiased people.   Why do you insist on trying to blame the EU for anything a single sovereign country does?   It can only be blind bias.

[I saved £3000 per month by moving onto a narrowboat in London]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Surely the beauty of living on a boat, is that you dont need to go anywhere near the shithole that is London.

I don't live aboard but still manage to keep clear of London.  😁

[A list of the not so good professionals?]

Personally, I doubt it is possible to "name and shame" without the risk of legal action, probably against the forum owner.

 

However, a thread ( probably pinned ) that praises/compliments good service/rapid rectification of accidental faults/knowledge etc should have no problems.

[I could never live on land again, my boat was the best place I could have been in my life to recover from illness']

I had a friend, sadly no longer with us, who was 25 years into a "3 years left to live" diagnosis.

[Court rules : A floating caravan is not a boat so you cannot be evicted.]

Surely the problem revolves round the term Bona Fide.

 

UK practical law thompsons reuters says

 

In good faith, honestly, without fraud or deceit.

 

I would suggest that a boater knows whether they are "navigating" Bona Fide.  They will know if they are moving because they want to or to try to avoid CRT action.

 

I would suggest, many will not agree, if you only move to remain within the "rules" and/or stay as near one spot as possible the navigation is not in good faith.

[These new log burner rules.......]

1 minute ago, peterboat said:

 

It's a greenhouse gas 200 times worse than CO2

That however doesnot cover "If it leaks it releases a lot of co2 to the atmosphere".

 

I am fully aware of its greenhouse status, I couldn't/can't get my head round the release of CO2 from a leak.

 

The statement didn't say "if it leaks it is a serious Greenhouse gas" or words to that effect, it clearly stated CO2 was released.  Had it said it was a Greenhouse gas I would have understood, but the stement didn't say or imply that.

[These new log burner rules.......]

11 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

If it leaks it releases a lot of co2 to the atmosphere and it's production ( currently ) uses a lot of fossil fuels. 

 

IIRC Hydrogen is H2, my science knowledge isn't good enough so can you please explain where the CO2 comes from.

[Air fryer for the boat?]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Naaah, I will break the mould lol 😂 my dads brother was 103 when he died. The youngest person on either side of my family in the past 150 years was my gran aged 81 and she was a lifelong smoker. However, apart from proper breakfasts, non of the muesli crap, my parents ate fresh meat/fish/veg etc etc and never ever saw a mcdonalds. They did like the odd portion of fish and chips tho. With my ongoing health problems I am already on borrowed time lol.

My feeling was that with modern medicine people are living longer (or were) so you might expect those few extra years.

[Air fryer for the boat?]

6 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Ive said it b4 and will say it again. Yer genes is what counts not some ridiculous vegan vile diet. My old dad had fried breakfast nearly every day right up until death, full fat milk, white bread, chips in lard, sunday roasties in dripping etc etc, he died young aged 90. My mum was more careful with her diet but still only ever had proper milk, butter, white bread for bacon butties etc non of the so called healthy food nonsense the diet cost her dearly as she dies aged 100 years and 3 months, maybe lettuce and skimmed milk and she would have had a long life 🤣

So you have a mix of those genes, what age do you expect to get to?  105?