Mike Tee

You can only deal with things with the equipment you have - alternative equipment is apparently available at personal cost through medical intervention.

If that's the consequence of dumping poison in the public waterways system, then so be it.

I'd have thought the guilty party, in view of the business they are in, would have insurance in place. That should delay things for a few more years.

Has anybody heard anything (rumour or otherwise) as to what, if anything, is to be done regarding the future of this canal? If what I have read so far is true, the only solution is to empty it all then scrape away the polluted bed and then replace and refill. The disposal of the polluted bed will be a mammoth task.

They still don't address the problem of crossing the A421 on the way to J13 of the M1. When the road was widened the canal group were told they would have to come up with £3 million to build a culvert. Otherwise it could be retrofitted - at an estimated cost of £10 million. So they can build all they like round Bedford, but without that crossing its not a through route. So who will pay for that?

That 50l bin looks ideal. When I was looking for storage for coal I ended up buying two cheap kitchen bins from Dunelm. Had to buy 2 to fit one inside the other as they were a bit fragile! Held about 18 kilos of coal, so sit in the engine room just right. The rest of a 25kg bag fits in the scuttle.

You can just paint a number (obtained from the well known boat search site) onto the side of the boat - maybe different numbers on each side to double the confusion.

I'm surprised it hasn't become common for boat license numbers to be cloned for the few who overstay or want to avoid the annual license. Or maybe it is more common than I think! (Thought provoked as I originally thought this post was about boat license plates / numbers).

Have you asked the Kelvin guy? I would have thought he would be better informed than most.

There is no alternative to practice. I've got many years of experience in many different boats and I can reverse fine - until I can't! No apparent reason for suddenly failing, but I'm sure it must be something to do with the depth / shape of the canal or how close I am to the bank. Couldn't possibly be my fault 🙃! Just keep on practicing but one thing for sure, do it in slow motion. The faster you try to go, the quicker it will go wrong, and the more difficult it will be to recover.

Many years ago my mother-in-law asked an artist local to her to paint a picture of our boat as a christmas present. She gave the artist a photo that showed the front and cabin but the stern (trad) wasn't shown. So the artist painted the picture of a boat with two fronts! Artistic license..

She normally does

They may not know what the plan is, but they could at least let us know what their intended end result is, together with an update on the process of getting there. Not every day, not even every month, just occasionally would be better than nothing. And, unless I've missed it, I don't think there has been any formal comment from Peel regarding their intentions.

Somebody nicked it, thought there was a pound inside

We charge ours when cruising from a small (250 I think) inverter. From virtually empty to full takes about 3 hours and does all our 240v stuff if we moor for a couple of days (no other 240v on board) plus all the usual phones, laptops etc. It's a Bluetti 500 something. Works well for us. The small inverter was, I think, fitted to power the gas water heater, which we never use!

My only area of concern would be the weather - get the soar over with before it rains heavily, rather than leave it till nearer the end of the trip and get caught out. If you get blue skys and no rain for the whole trip it didn't matter which way you went.

I think I've got a touch of dyslexia, can't tell the difference between Facebook and Arsebook.

I don't care how many they represent, but it's not all. So the opening line on their arsebook account is bullshit.

'long standing organisation that represents all boat owners on Britain's inland waterways' Not this boat owner - it's a national organisation that represents some boat owners.

Ever seen The Full Monty?

I've just renewed a boat policy with Craftinsure - apart from my computer told me their website 'was not safe'! I rang up and renewed with no problem.

How do you usually cook your salad?

The legs on that kitchen table are amazing!