Dav and Pen

Think we kept it a bit better. What a shame to see it like that.

Good to see our old boat Tadworth at 3.52. A good round up of the waterway scene back then.

My point was that the dish alignment is more critical now. The fact that I am in France makes no difference it still recognizes the humax box with my home post code. I also have freesat at my home address.

We have used Freesat for years in Belgium and France. Sometimes we find if the dish is not exactly lined up we get postcode not recognised but a slight alteration of the dish fixes that l think is because there are now two sats beaming down almost behind each other. Did you do a manual tune in which case sometimes you do get all these other stations which are also on the astra sats. Try the automatic tune and it should come right.

Funny how they like to take the glory when their predecessors did everything possible to stop the restoration. like the bit about being a “well-being charity” don’t think many on here will think they are.

Whatever happens we have enjoyed our time barging on the continent wether it be on the busy commercial waterways, or coming into Paris and mooring near the Tower and even the 200 plus locks on the Burgundy canal its been a great adventure.

The ICC is not a European but an international qualification. Wether a country chooses to recognise it may be another matter but at present they do. My barge is 100 plus years old and is a Dutch built one and was registered in Belgium when we brought it. I was told then that we couldn’t keep a Belgian registration so put it on the SSR. If there is likely to be a problem it is easy to put it on the Dutch registry. I am hoping to put it on the market fully next spring as we are getting bit past it, and expect that the UK buyers will be thin on he ground but the Swiss and the Americans etc still seem to be keen judging by the enquirers i have had.

We have a barge in France and have been boating on the continent for 18 years with the barge having been brought in Belgium. There are many Americans, South African, Aussies and Kiwis owning boats based in France who need visas to come over. There is a provision for them to get a 12 month visa and I can’t see why we would not be able to apply for this if we have good reason to be there. There is a lot of money spent by boat owners in France. It is rumored that having a visa for France would not allow you to visit other countries in the schlegen area. we have had the same mooring from the vnf for some years and when we do go back next year I will ask the local mayor of the chances of getting a carte sejour. Im also trying to decide wether to have a blood test on the dog to prove the rabies vaccine has worked as again rumor has it that the existing European passport will not suffice. All petty minded in the extreme. The other problem could be for UK resident boat owners especially of newer boats is the local VAT rules on imported boats especially as many will have been zero vat when they left the UK. read through but probably missed some of Apple spell checker help

Alice May was WFBC first boat. When we brought Crane from Willow Wren in the early 80’s it had an SR3 in it and a hole in the counter that you could see through.

Spray them with wd40 and wipe excess off. I spray it over the wood burner every year when it’s out of use in the spring as advised by the installer and it’s in great condition after 8 years. when we were carrying house coal and bagging it up the weights were 56lbs we couldn’t lift hundredweight sacks out of the boat without serious damage to the back. Avery seemed to have the monopoly on coal scales. David

We just knew him as H. Rest in piece

Not only sandbanks to look out for.

Jerra said that evidence of literacy was rising but I beg to differ. As an employer of young men in a mainly manual job we had great difficulty finding any who could read a tape measure or fill in a time sheet which after 11 years of schooling shouldn’t have been beyond them. in the late 50’s and 60’s I was a deck officer mn and out of all the crews I only came across 1 man who couldn’t read and write but he knew every star in the sky and how to travel by train around the uk. lots of the old boatmen around Braunston had had no formal education but they where a dam site smarter than lots of the youths coming out of Daventry comprehensive schools.

Although I hadn’t seen Harry for some time and had no idea he was so ill. He was very involved with the early days of WRG and was a great friend and supporter of the late Graham Palmer and even helped with the funeral arrangements . Over the years had many a pint in Alrewas with Harry and I contributed to his regrettably short lived canal magazine after the fall out with waterways world. Respects to his family