Bacchus

I love sports cruisers - this is what's great about them:- er... IMHO they are generally built "to a price" for people to impress their friends with their flash new boat. They are lightweight GRP layup with lightweight (generally petrol) engines, designed to blat out of a coastal marina, bump around for a while at high speed, and then go back to moor up and head off to do "something more interesting". Generally there would be the capacity to stay aboard, but "the wife" would probably prefer a hotel. The hulls are designed to plane and kick up a horrible wake at low speeds at which they have virtually zero directional stability; regardless of dimensions, they are completely unsuitable for any inland waterways. conversion to electric would be largely pointless with current tech, because this type of boat is designed for 20+ knots which you just won't get in any meaningful way from electric. Side decks are important when inland, but are virtually non-existent. They are the ultimate example of form over function on inland waterways, and even at sea they are mere toys - they will not look after you in any kind of bad weather, and they will not take you long distances like a sail-boat On the positive side, "there's one born every minute" so they seem to hold a reasonable value for when you come to sell them and get a proper boat. Also in fairness, as mentioned above, @Naughty Cal did seem to get an awful lot of use and pleasure out of hers, but now has a van instead.

this one? https://www.jamesdupavey.co.uk/property/old-chester-road-barbidge-cheshire/ weirdly typing "barbridge" instead of "barbidge" links to the wrong property!

If you can hit it with a ping-pong ball, you can take it home...

INT: Morning. The paint desk of any London DIY shop. CONTINUOUS_CRUISER enters and smiles at SHOPKEEPER. CONTINUOUS_CRUISER: Morning Mr Shopkeeper, I would like a tin of paint please. I have hours of maintenance and upkeep to do on my recently acquired narrow-boat. SHOPKEEPER: Certainly Madam, what colour paint would you like? CONTINUOUS_CRUISER: Duh. White.

EA love stuff like that, they wouldn't want you to remove it! What they would want you to do is pay an accommodation licence for it - ker-ching!

so, in this case, when you smell fish you've found the heron? Ok in the spirit of the game... (although I think the reflection might give it away...🧐)

By not adding the picture or a link, you have certainly added a layer of complexity to, what sounds like, an already intriguing puzzle. Guess what the picture looks like, then work out where it's taken? Of course the irony is that anyone who knows the entire canal network well enough to work out where a picture of a heron is taken, probably doesn't need to win a canal holiday... they might prefer a week in Benidorm (c:

For quick bursts of heat - cup of soup or a bowl of beans - I bought a low power microwave which runs via the thousand watt inverter in my camper. Microwave power is a bit misleading, as the manufacturers quote output power which is roughly half the input power, so an 800W microwave will draw 1600W but there is a company who sell via ebay that downrate the magnetron bulky but very convenient, fairly efficient way of heating/reheating food, and less washing up...

double post due to some kind of weird software glitch so deleted Nothing to see here...

Did you install it on the strength of the reviews? 🧐

I think You-Tube is spoiling a generation, not just any particular activity. "We" used to get on a boat, go touring in a clapped out van, play football... (insert activity of choice) because it was fun, not because it would look good on our vlog to have a video of casting off, nailing two bits of wood together, or our mate Dave falling over in the mud. I am a member of a camper-van group on facebook and just saw a post "see the latest video of us unboxing our acme travel-power" (/useless p-o-s that has no place on a properly converted van). Unboxing? Really? I must make haste to see some cretin take something out of a box, suck my teeth, and say "ooh, look, shiny" before dashing out to buy one. Maybe I am just a cynical old Hector, but one of the comments was "how does it work?" and my first thought was "well, acme rubbish products Ltd. pay Bill and Ben Imbecile to show the shiny piece of junk on their blog, Bill and Ben promote their blog on Facebook, and, like sheep, we click to watch them taking something out of a box. Enough of us will baa loudly and go and buy a shiny thing to make the whole exercise worthwhile for acme whilst the sum contribution to motor-homing or knowledge is a big fat zero. (and... breathe! 😉)

Oil prices tumbled a couple of days ago because the UAE hinted that they were happy to increase production -- https://www.cityam.com/uae-hints-at-supporting-boost-in-oil-supplies-following-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/ High prices and shortages are profiteering and scaremongering (probably by those with a vested interested in profiteering!), nothing more, nothing less.

No, I realised the irony, but I don't think I was "brimming" my tank whilst deriding others - that was why I added the anecdote of calling in at Morrison's two days ago, finding it empty, and not panicking then (in fact, on Friday I was on my way home from Sainsbury's - I decided not to fill up there because Morrison's have pay-at-the-pump and I thought that would be quicker and easier), but I am "actually goings somewhere" - I am two hundred miles from home with less than fifty miles in the tank. I need to get home tomorrow, and as carer for my 98 year old mother, I need to get back to her house afterwards.

Well I have just filled up at 1.68 near Huddersfield - I read this thread and confess that I panicked as my tank is empty and I need to get back South on Tuesday, and we have seen how these irresponsible sons of bachelors can create "shortages". I would have filled up in Morrison's on Friday when I drove past, but apparently they had sold out of everything.

Has he??? That's a blow. I walked past his boat the other day and the covers were up which is unusual, but I have seen him on the move within the last month or so. He re-engined the boat only last year so I assumed he was at least planning on continuing for a while.

Chris on Merchant? I am sure he'd meet you on the other side of the lock and you could ferry your jerries from there?

I just watched a couple of minutes; a couple of excruciating minutes. I am sure that it is tough now, but it was tough then. My first home - a one bed flat - cost over four times my income and interest rates were around 12% so that was a lot less affordable than four times income now. The national average income is about 28,000, a quick look on Rightmove suggest flats in Milton Keynes are available starting at less than a 100k Of course I didn't have wardrobes full of clothes (with selfies printed on) and I didn't have a designer Bengal cat. I did make soup out of gravy granules and frozen peas once, because that was what I had. (luxury! when I were a lad...)