Berengaria

Beard - Check....Boat - Check....Real Ale - Check....Folk music - Check. I think a lot of boat owners just appreciate the simpler things in life, and beards, boats, ale and folk all go hand in hand. I love a few ales and watching the Morris Dancers, me!

Oh my I'm loving the way your mind works lol

Haha, I like it. "Council Mace"

I think I'm closer to that lot than a shiny boater

How do I know if I'm in this group? Is it down to how reflective my paintwork is?

Surely if anyone gives you grief when you're on your boat, siege tactics would triumph. By that I mean simply pull your boat onto the offside, phone the police, set your video camera going in case they try to chuck stuff at you, and then go inside and make a bacon sandwich. Light your stove and wait for nightfall. I bet they get cold before you do

The thing is, I see TONS of liveaboards on the offside on my travels, as I'm sure you guys do too. The majority of these are on farmland (you know, tiny fenced off areas at the ends of fields) and many don't display mooring permits at all - if these are indeed illegal and CRT chooses to enforce their laws, a few people potentially being made homeless in the SE will be just the tip of the iceberg surely.

Agreed Cotswoldsman, just don't tell my missus if someone gets some cheap offside land with enough room for chickens and a bee hive, she'll hit the roof

I suspect the situation has come about from inaction rather than action. If the rules are fuzzy, and you do what you want believing yourself to be within the rules, if no-one challenges you then I guess you get a situation like this.

Just two quick questions, apologies if I've missed the answers buried in this thread anywhere! 1. Someone quoted the Human Rights Act 2000 as not being able to de-home anyone. If this is the case, does that mean non-payment of rent or mortgage (house) or non-compliant CCing (boat) can NOT result in eviction? I'm confused, does that mean whatever you do (or don't do) it's illegal for you to be booted out and made homeless? 2. These RPs, are the costs (£50/m/pa) in ADDITION to the standard boat licence? Sorry it's been a long day

£50 a metre is about half I will be paying for my marina mooring so doesn't sound too bad considering the reduced security and presumed lack of towpath facilities. Having said that I'm not supposed to be living aboard in the marina (I'm not either btw!)

Hahaha. They both made a big thing about ducking under the smoke....one of them loudly said 'for f*** sake' and then the other began coughing when he was about 30 yards down the towpath. I mean if you're going to go for a run down the towpath on a chilly evening, expect some chimneys to be firing up surely.

Sorry, thank you Alan

Not sure if this has already been shared here, apologies if so as its from January. http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2013/jan/councillor-says-huge-increase-dirty-and-noisy-canal-boats-close-homes-could-force-res The reason I found it is that I just had two 'sported up to the nines pro joggers' run by the boat on the towpath complaining very loudly about my stove that i had just lit. It always smokes when it's first lit but the comedic coughing from one of them was priceless.

Little &£$^*&£$ers!!! I honestly don't know what I'd do if that was my boat and I found out who they were, the f****ng scrotes.

Nope, they're still working on it. I still get regular updates from Tim on the progress, and last week we had a few beers listening to the steady 'ting ting ting' of pontoons being driven into the marina bed. It's been terrible weather for them since the new year really, but they've continued to keep everyone informed on the progress (or lack of) and still have regular open days where we've gone along to see what's happening. The recent dry (ish) spell has given them some respite and they've drained the entire site again and work continues in earnest

Hahaha, she would have to know how to open a fridge first

I'm well aware of this, however this was a single white chocolate button, well within safety limits

We were feeding the ducks off the stern the other day and a small brown dog happily trotted up and sat on the towpath staring at me wagging its tail. I know you're not supposed to feed other peoples dogs but she had some spare bread. Then she was on the boat, so I got her some chocolate too lol. She ended up going to sleep on the battery boxes for ages next to me, it's really made me want a dog

Have you seen the price of hiring a boat nowadays? It's shocking, I'm surprised ANYONE does it when you compare it with a cruise in the Caribbean or something.

Leamington does have more than its fair share of tramps and hobos for some reason! No idea why, it's been a source of conversation for my wife and I for years...she works at the peace festival there every year and it's amazing where they all come from!

Hahaha nice

Anyone know where these young asian girls are hanging around?

A home owner in Cropredy who lives just above the lock gave me the same hassle - I'm always very careful about what time I'm running my engine, especially in Winter (as this occasion was). I dunno why, I think because it gets darker earlier I just think to cut it off at 7pm rather than the guideline 8pm. Anyway he comes blustering over, knocking on the boat (I was entertaining friends at the time) and starts going off on one about the engine noise. The moorings were 48 hours but had been rented to me by BW as a winter mooring, which he refused to believe lol.... He even went so far as to state 'I know you lot, you have your own little communities and communes and I've got nothing against that, but the amount of boats coming along here is getting ridiculous.' lol I pointed out to him that I did in fact own a house in the next village and only visited the boat on weekends, but he wouldn't let go. Eventually I asked him how long he'd lived here before the canal came along and spoiled his peace and quiet and he just left. Two days later my boat got broken into....

Bob, not the Vital Spark that was on sale at Braunston 3 or 4 years ago is it?