Peter X

This puzzles me, because if your phone or PC was in the wrong time zone I'd expect that DST would be applied at the appropriate date for the time zone chosen. These dates are standardised in Europe but do vary elsewhere. If you'd set a computer date to be two weeks earlier than the real date, that should cause DST to kick in two weeks late, but it seems unlikely you'd do that.

I'm not but I've been there, and can guess that if you mean you're southbound and will be going down the locks at Stoke Bruerne, there probably will be people there at the top lock, it's a popular spot for gongoozlers. Whether there will be someone there who knows more than you do about lock operation is another question, but people are usually happy to advise a beginner and honest about how much they know. If northbound I seem to remember it's level for some way after the tunnel.

There must be many thousands of vessels in the picture, but it's hard to make them out at that distance. You'll need to get your cameraman to zoom in a tad so we can see the one you're talking about.

Welcome to the Woolwich Ferry topic everyone! I have fond memories of my various trips on it over the years, and feel that it deserves a higher profile than it has hitherto enjoyed, overshadowed as it is by all the other world-famous features of London. The ferry across the Mersey has its own song, but Woolwich trumps that with its starring role in Behometh the Sea Monster. Well actually I imagine the Mersey ferry has probably been in the odd film itself? I never knew there were more than two boats, or that it used to be paddle steamers. I first went on it in 1970, and can't remember the propulsion method then. I distinctly remember one trip in 1983; I'd been on a drunken night out with some other lads from the office somewhere near the Angel, got on my bicycle outside the pub and fell off after 20 yards of wobbling. One of them escorted me and the bike back to his parents' house in Romford on the train, and in the morning I woke up on their sofa with a hangover then rode all the way back to SE20 via Woolwich in very heavy rain. Happy days.

Unless I'm putting the wrong search terms into Google, there seems to be a dearth of statistics about trends in the use of inland waterways. The best I could find in a quick search is a CRT document comparing numbers of boats passing through the same locks in 2012 and 2013, mostly counted by telemetry, i.e. automatic counting from instruments. These "lockage" figures show only a tiny increase overall for 2013, but with some regional variation, and come with the reasonable warning that differences in weather and stoppages from one year to the next can make them unreliable. They are of course a measurement of boat movement not numbers. As CRT must have a database of licenced boats to record and enforce payment of licence fees and to be able to inform owners when a problem is reported with a boat, I know as an IT expert that it should be a simple matter for them to monitor trends in the numbers, broken down by the available data such as mooring type and area, boat type etc. I would be astonished if they don't use such data internally for forward planning, and see no good reason why aggregated statistics shouldn't be published, for example to enable anyone considering building a marina to develop their business plan to support a loan application. The long term future of the network is a subject dear to my heart, as I'm steadily becoming more interested in boating and hope that the network will be there in good health for myself and future generations to use. I would expect that with the economy increasingly showing signs of recovery, currently doing well in London but spreading outwards as is often the way, spending on leisure boating should be increasing, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Timothy West & Prunella Scales series "Great Canal Journeys" encourages more people to try boating too. It looks as if CRT were keen to help that series get made, with good reason. Anecdotal evidence suggests a particular upward trend in the numbers of CC'ers (genuine and of the not-so-mobile variety!), probably because some enjoy the lifestyle and others find it a cheaper alternative to bricks and mortar, but that won't help the marinas of course except that they get a little temporary mooring income. This growth in CC'ers will be limited by available mooring space unless they spread themselves out more evenly, because ultimately the CRT has to keep the Regent's Canal and western K&A open for navigation.

If they're retired greyhounds, they won't be bothered. They don't want to be taking work away from the young 'uns. This BCN thing sounds like fun, must try to talk my brother into doing it one year.

I think the change the government has been talking about recently is to go onto CET (Central European Time), i.e. GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer as they have in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and various smaller countries. As opposed to permanent BST which was tried about 1968-1971. So far I think they're just floating the idea a bit to see if it would be popular, but I hope there's no change because any change can be a waste of business resources. Politicians all over the world love to tinker with time zones to make it look as if they're doing something, but in reality if you don't like what the clock says you can open your shop or do whatever else at hours that suit you. I'm sure our farmers won't be milking their cows an hour later today. This is how Spain copes with being on the same time as Poland but well to the west of it. The main thing that does matter is that schools try as far as possible to enable children to get in and home in daylight for better road safety, but the day is so short in Scotland in winter that darkness at one end of the school day is unavoidable. Another consideration, especially in continental Europe, is that it's desirable for neighbouring countries to put clocks forward and back on the same day so that railway and other transport timetables are less confusing, and any other cross-border trade. This was why Europe standardised the dates in the 1990s; I recall that in 1980 Switzerland was a few weeks different from its neighbours. A classic example of this rule is that because most of Arizona (with exceptions e.g. the Navajo!) had decided not to use daylight saving, the state of Sonora across the border from it in Mexico followed suit because most of their trade is with Arizona. Some individual border towns in Mexico have a different time zone from the rest of their state for this reason. Our equivalent would be Gretna using English time.

I'm guessing that if in your profile you don't check the box "Automatically check if my time zone is in DST", CW will think you're on permanent GMT? Basically you would want this if you're in Iceland. Not the shops! I'm not sure how CW's options would cope with users in Southern hemisphere countries where DST is used, but there are probably few of those on a site about canals in the UK. In my work in IT I've had to learn quite a lot about time zones, and I can assure you it gets very messy in certain countries, notably Australia, Mexico, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina. But Argentina have tidied things up a bit in recent years. A special mention should go to Nepal, the only country I know of that uses an odd quarter hour. In Europe things are relatively simple; almost everyone puts clocks forward on the last Sunday in March, back on the last Sunday in October. The exceptions are Iceland on GMT, Russia which decided, in 2012 I think it was, to stay on permanent summertime so for example Moscow and much of European Russia is permanently GMT+4, and Kazakhstan which is GMT+6. I count Kazakhstan as in Europe because they are for football purposes, they're in UEFA. Anyway, I digress. Computers, mobile phones and clocks based on radio signals should all pick up clock changes automatically. You have to tell a computer or phone which time zone you want to be in, but a clock will be built to follow one signal, which in the UK means Althorn in Cumbria, it was moved from Rugby in 2007. Footnote to the above; technically I should have talked about UTC not GMT. The difference between them is only a fraction of the second, and the reason only matters to scientists. For the purposes of time zones treat them as interchangeable.

No-one seems to be answering this so I'll have a go. I think every IP is a Chartered Accountant, not necessarily with a law qualification but certainly with a full knowledge of company law. My limited company was a creditor of an insolvent company in 2012, and I later asked my accountant, who has long experience with small to medium companies in a wide range of businesses and is now winding down to retirement by being very choosy about taking on new clients, whether he'd considered becoming an IP, given that their hourly fees are much higher than for normal accountancy work. His answer was that yes it's well paid and he could do it, but he wouldn't enjoy it because of the stress of dealing with the owners and creditors of failed businesses. I think you're correct in thinking that the IP had no possibility of trading out of trouble with QMP, because he was obliged to give priority to Mr Steadman's charge over the freehold, and because the triumvirate was set up with PLM paying very little for its lease. The latter must be so because otherwise QMP would not still owe PLM so much money. We've only been able to base our opinions on the limited information QMP and PLM are obliged to file, plus what we know from boaters, John Lillie and a few other sources, but it looks to me as if PL never really intended that QMP would pay its NAA fees, and he and Steadman organised the cash flow with that in mind. All their actions and PL's announcements suggest they thought, and are still deluded enough to think, that CRT will roll over and let them repeat this scheme. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mr Steadman, there must be some in the bistro if you've paid the catering suppliers.

Here's an interesting hypothesis. What if, for medical reasons or because he's absent/unreachable, Mr Steadman knows nothing of the winter's events? Let's look at the evidence for his activity: December's court case: dealt with by PL. Formation of 750LLtd as a subsidiary of QMH: Maybe just dealt with by PL and/or RR; would it need Steadman's signature as majority shareholder of QMH for QMH to receive the shares in the new company? The IP disclaiming QMP's freehold, which reverts to Steadman: Maybe the IP just sends off documents to the Land Registry and posts some notice to Mr Steadman, but doesn't need any reply, or if he does is still awaiting it? PLT receiving the freehold according to PL. Phil Spencer says he wants to see documentary evidence of this. Not a lot of evidence is it?

I'm sure they spotted you... unlike in the film where there was dense fog. Behometh the Sea Monster loomed up out of the fog and the ferry had no chance.

Oops, you've just reminded me, it was a fine day in Croydon today and I forgot to water my veg seedlings. My brother came round this afternoon and we sat and chatted mostly about boating and time passed. Anyway, it looks as though I've wangled an invite to spend Easter with him and his wife on a long jaunt out of the marina, which I'm much looking forward to. I just hope it rains a bit in Croydon that weekend.

Yes, that's the Woolwich Ferry. Or the other identical one, ISTR there were two of them last time I went on one in1995. They do a little dance around each other as they cross, making their little contribution to the ever-increasing job of keeping London traffic moving. Very handy when you want to cross the river with a bicycle downstream of Tower Bridge. Looks less rusty than I remember it, maybe they maintain them better nowadays.

If you're going down below the Woolwich barrier, there's an additional hazard to beware of. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behemoth,_the_Sea_Monster In the film Behometh the Sea Monster (1959) which I saw on telly many years ago, the title character sinks the Woolwich Ferry. He'd make short work of your narrowboat. Not that I've spotted any problems on my voyages on the service. To further worry you, here's a comprehensive guide to monsters you may meet in London: http://londonist.com/2013/07/giant-monster-attacks-on-london-a-natural-history.php The river seems to attract them, and it seems you must be particularly wary when passing Big Ben.

Were you casually dressed at the time? Carrying some fruit and veg? In my experience, wearing a suit with appropriate shirt, tie and shoes is the most effective way of getting respect without earning it. Being a company director (I am) means nothing in itself, it all depends what of. Also, and of course I don't know your beliefs, church officials tend to dislike anyone getting married in a church unless at least one of the couple is a regular churchgoer. They do it because the church needs the money.

That would depend on what they've spent. CRT have said that initially they plan to block the entrance temporarily, and the speculation has been that there will be some combination of stop planks, chains and/or a CRT workboat parked across the entrance. None of those would cost much to remove I suppose. They've also at least hinted that if the dispute is deadlocked long enough, and not before the end of May at least, they might as a last resort fill in the entrance completely. In that event we're talking far more money, tens of thousands or more, and perhaps someone on here who knows about canal engineering could give an informed answer? I see steven Wilkinson has just given a figure, and assume he means the latter scenario? Ah, I get it, the NAA fees which weren't paid.

So Roy Rollings holds no shares in either company, and whatever he hopes to get, it isn't dividends. Of course there may as we speak be more companies rolling off the production line of some accountant in Leicester... I'm unaware of any public pronouncement by RR, which suggests he's more of a protégé of Mr Steadman than of Paul Lillie.