Southern Star

Red dye?

I quite often come across a family waiting at a lock for a boat to come along, just to see how it all works. When I say "would you like to do the lock for me?" and offer them a windlass, the kids normally burst with excitement!

I suppose the easiest way to learn how to use a lock is to go to one, on one fine sunny day, with a picnic and watch the boaters going through it. Most people will, I'm sure, be happy to answer questions and if you explain what you are about, there's a good chance that somebody will invite you to hop aboard to do a mile or two down the cut.

I've seen a hell of a lot worse. You'd need a boat to get along many parts of the Shroppie towpath even in mid-Summer.

Just my two pennorth... if there are a significant number of people who moor in marinas and who never go out cruising, would there not be a business opportunity for somebody to provide out-of-water moorings, in a field for example?

I like this way of thinking!

I did Rugby to Llangollen last year, I went up via the Shropshire Union and back by the T&M, and that was more interesting than going up and back by the same route I'd say.

The reason people read the Daily Mail is that it is not behind a paywall. Although, like all newspapers and broadcasters including the BBC it does put across the views of its owner and has a slant, for politically neutral stories it can generally be considered to be fairly reliable. The simple fact is that there have been numerous drowning deaths in Manchester canals, out of all proportion with canal drowning deaths in London or Birmingham, and the Police would be failing in their duty if they did not ask themselves why this was. The reason Andrei Chikatilo got away with murdering so many people was that the Soviet authorities simply refused to believe that such a killer could exist.

It's almost certainly a typo, and they wouldn't have to honour it, it is legally an "invitation to treat". Having said that, there are moorings about for not much more than that, I pay £312 a year for a 42' boat.

That's what I'd do if I had a job interview. I am expecting to be interviewed for jobs in the Midlands this year, and I know one question I will be asked over and over again is "How can you work here when you live in Ramsgate, Kent?" And so I will have to explain that I won't be commuting daily but will be staying on the boat for a month or so at a time and then heading south for the weekend to collect the mail and get the good lady to do my washing. So I am already prepared for telling interviewers about the boat, and my prediction will be that far, far more will be interested in it than would have a problem with it.

Can't beat a BMC 1.5 in my opinion.... easy to work on, spares readily available, economical to run, I specifically sought out boats which had them.