cuthound

Failing that perhaps it could be used as a paint stripper?

Blimey, fixing boilers must be even more lucrative than I thought...

I've completed it, but it swerved the most important question, which is "how much more are you prepared to pay to rectify the maintenance issues?"

"Sparrers wud drink off the gunnels...."

Not on the Ashby it isn't... 😂😅

That is because they originally relied on gate paddles in the top gate as well as relatively small ground paddles to fill. These were removed when pleasure boating became popular because at that time they were unshuttered, and could send a jet of water more than halfway along the lock, potentially sinking a boat, if they were opened before the lock had filled enough to cover the gate paddle. There used to be lots of locks with unshuttered top gate paddles around, but these were all "sanitised" out by the early 1990's.

And that is before you include slow blow, motor rated and the various specialist fuses. The largest one I have ever come across is a 5000 amp one, used to protect a 15,050Ah battery, similar to the one below. A little known fact is that they can provide much tighter protection than circuit breakers.

I would think that repairing the inevitable scratches would soon erode the initial cost-saving over a professional paint job.

The best roast beef I have ever tasted came out of our air fryer. It does mean steaks as well and the bacon cooked in it is divine. Best kitchen gadget I have ever bought. Our traditional oven is rarely used now unless we have guests, and even then it is relegated to keeping the batches cooked in the air fryer warm.

Given the amount of money this government has "spent", there must be a veritable forest of magic money trees somewhere. Does anyone know where I can get a cutting off one?

Indeed, that is why I put "savings" in quotation marks in my post above. What do expect. It will have been produced by The Treasury and they have never been good with numbers...

A couple of days ago the government announced plans to spend the "savings" from cancelling the northern part of HS2 on upgrading transport in the North and Midlands. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/local-leaders-to-receive-47-billion-to-transform-transport-across-the-north-and-midlands#:~:text=Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and,%2C towns%2C and rural areas.

The Aylesbury Canal Society publish a Launderette List, detailing public launderettes close to the canal network. http://aylesburycanal.org.uk/laundrette-list/ It is what we used to do before buying a washing machine for the boat.

Are you sure he wasn't just re-inventing the wheel?

I've always said you can judge how good (oe bad) a driver is by his no claims bonus...

The ones I used to work on didn't have tops...

Until fairly recently, if you were rich enough, you could leave a large cash deposit (£500,000 when it was revoked) with a high court rather than take out a motor insurance policy and still comply with the road traffic act. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/motor-insurance-alternatives-removal-of-deposit-and-security-options IIRC it was £50,000 when I passed my driving test way back in 1971.