Dav and Pen

I used to use the shop in railway terrace, he kept all the scumble combs as well as the paints and varnish. He wore bottle glasses but still did lovely signs. dennis Clarke was what you might call a carefull man with money so whatever was around went on but the green was aimed at light brunswick green.

Rose skinner used to say that the mule “had a good position in the army” I always thought of it as possibly a sargent horse. Arther Bray told me that his father dealt in horses and often he would fine his horse had been swapped overnight. One was so big that it had to duck under some of the bridges and to do this he pulled its tail. A lady walking over a bridge saw him do this and he was reported to the police and rspca. He told them of the problem and asked them to get it under the bridge, no joy so they went away.

When we changed from a PD2 to a PJW3 on a big Northwich we decided to have keel cooling and had a pipe right round under the counter, it went out and back under the side bed. Think it was made of scaffold tube and worked a treat even though no calcs made. changed the engine on my barge which already had external keel cooling and the temp gauge showed around 90 degrees all the time so at the next docking had a bit more volume added and it still runs at 90 so think gauge faulty.

We now boat in France and have done for many years. There have always been containers for glass but other waste was difficult to get rid of. The community recycling depots are usually only open to residents and in Belgium you needed a bar code to even gain entry to some of them. Now we are finding many more places for plastic and cardboard packaging know as the “tri” approach and the packaging has the tri mark on it if it is recyclable. Used oil is a problem but on the big rivers there are containers at some of the locks. General domestic waste is still a problem and there are very few skips for it, where they are specifically for boaters the locals still come and put there stuff it them. Rubbish bins on the roadside and in parks are useful if the opening is big enough to stuff a black bag through. Luckily at my home mooring I have been introduced to the depot manager and now I have permission to take everything there.

When the prospect of a low level bridge on the new A5 threatened the possibility of the Buckingham arm being restored the Northampton branch of Iwa organised work parties to clear the bed of the canal from cosgrove to old Stratford. Whilst working at the old wharf a gentleman who had worked at the HAYES works showed us photos and told about the boats being towed by steam engine and launched at the wharf. The boats went all over the world. we lost the battle for a raised bridge at the public inquiry but had a good try.

Thanks for that I will phone you to confirm.

Mrs Tawny Owl. I need 2 gaskets for the top plates part 201-30805 2 head gaskets. 201-80210 4 bottom rubber cups. 201|30261 Top rubber cups. 201|42360 i have oil leaks from the push rod protector tubes. hope you can help I am back home for 2weeks now. David

I have a TS2 generator and need some parts. Seals and gaskets. Any ideas of a supplier. Thanks

Ours were always blue (fordson)

As an ex owner of a large Northwich I think this particular conversion is poor to say the least and it even has a chimney on the wrong side. when we sold ours we were offered a better price by someone who wanted to convert it and refused. The new owner traded and carried with it until domestic circumstances lead to a sale. It’s still unconverted but I wouldn’t say it’s in better condition than when we sold it 35 years ago.

Old goat is quite right dislexia strikes again. I don’t regognise the colour norange though. the 4 cylinder was 115hp nominally. Pleased to see the back of it, life has been quieter and cleaner these last 10 years.

I had a 4 cylinder GM Detroit 2 stroke in my barge when I brought it. It was a dirty smelly engine and on start up the smoke was like a fog. The Belgium cyclists used to go past holding there nose’s. Parts are still available but they are a very old technology. Havent come across a 2 cylinder version but there are 6, v6 and v8’s still running in barges on the continent. They were mostly ex American tank engines but also Allison Chambers used them in tractors. Very heavy engine mated to an Allison gearbox, when I replaced it with a 6 cylinder Perkins the boat came up 3 inches! Think it would put a narrow boat on the bottom.

We use a humax pvr in central France and have a bigger dish than the usual sky one. I have a very old Tom Tom which I use for speed awareness and direction. As long as I know where east is when we moor up then it’s the first strong signal towards south. I use a sat finder and also if in doubt about direction have an app on the iPad that will locate any satellite. The only problem with freesat is it needs a post code and now it views 2 satellites it needs to be a bit more accurate or it keeps saying postcode not recognized, otherwise great reception.

This one fell in the Burgundy canal where I moor. Rumour has it locally that it had wine and champagne as part of its load and as the accident happened on a Friday by Monday there was no evidence of any at all.

The town of Clamecy on the Nivernais canal was where the timber that was floated down the river was assembled into rafts and then taken to Paris via the rivers Yonne and seine. It was called the floatage and it’s still enacted in a small way every year although the rafts don’t go far. There’s a museum dedicated to it in the town and a nice statue on the town bridge.