Bacchus

Also GRP boats like the Starley Sundowner. I like a nice beaver,

Oh man. I live in a wooden house (within an hour or so of @system 4-50 ) that needs painting... but the prep involved to use a "proper" gloss like Dulux Weathershield is not insubstantial, whereas I can use something like Sadolin Superdec pretty much straight out of the can with a good hose-down... and in my experience the superdec outlasts proper paint. Bugger. Free paint with loads of work, or loads of money with less work... how lazy am I...??? (actually, also, do I want to live in a pea-green house??)

Fun facts... The decimal system is not based, as most people would (probably) say, on the numbers one to ten, it is based on the numbers zero to nine. The Romans couldn't use the decimal system, or anything like it, because they had no symbol for zero - zero was "invented" around fifteen hundred years ago in India.

I quite like the concept of what three words, but I can see the problems too, especially as it uses plurals. The w3w that identifies my front gate can also be a place in Norfolk (Norfolk Virginia!!) or Quebec depending on which of the three words is pluralised, which does seem a little vulnerable, and also the 3m squares can easily put you inside or outside of building, or on the bridge/in the river! I did offer three words to a courier who couldn't find my address recently... they couldn't find it with w3w either. I suspect the eBay seller rather than the courier, but at least I tried. Interestingly, although the company have used 40,000 words, they could have made do with 4,000 which could open up the possibility of a numerical equivalent that might be better? 1234.5678.1234 - people tend to be able to remember four digit numbers, it would be easy enough to remember three of them.

I have a little Victron AGM which I use for bench-testing pretty much anything from inverters to blown-air heaters. On the table right now as I try to fathom the workings of a cheap dash-cam which came complete with Chinese instructions... (there is a translation, but the Chinese probably makes more sense!) Mine is 8AH, I think it's for a mobility scooter or similar, extraordinarily useful thing to have sitting around.

Ah, well here lies a problem with the interweb, because this London stone wiki page does mention it... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone_(riparian) which also has a picture of the Staines stone complete with grooves worn by tow-ropes! Also, another interesting thing about St Aines (you knew there was more than one, right?) is this little bollard There's another one buried in undergrowth by what is now Regus offices, and another by the towpath near Halfords. They are excise markers. If you passed these markers going into London carrying coal or wine, you were liable to pay a duty which, I believe, helped pay for the bridges across the tideway! (I have passed the Halfords one on the way back from Sainsbury's many times, but I think my wine was duty paid...) Ah, now there you have me. I thought they owned it as part of the port, but it isn't a hill I am willing to die on. Sorry for the thread drift, but when you live somewhere as dull as Staines, it's good to find some interesting bits that don't involve Sacha Baron Cohen...😁

Port of London Authority. Before the locks and weirs were built, diurnal tides would slosh up as far as the London stone (just about perceivable by all accounts) at Staines so it was considered the limit of tidal navigation, therefore under the jurisdiction of the City of London, then the PLA

I am torn between hating those things...and thinking that they look quite fun and wanting to be young enough to annoy people of my age!

An interesting project and a lot of work! Not sure whether you want spelling mistakes pointing out, but the pop-up for the Stour in Kent says "Rive"

I agree with @LadyG that the ply is probably shot beyond aesthetic repair. You could potentially put a kick-plate or similar over the knackered bit to hide it, or you could strengthen, repair, sand, and paint, but the best solution would be to repair and maintain in future A friend of mine swears by "Woodskin Curing" (from International) - apparently very UV stable and not as glossy as varnish so easy to live with, he has just done the washboards on his yot with it (which were in a right old state)

I would look at this as two projects - get a fabricator to make the folding screen out of either hardwood or aluminium, then speak to a cover maker to look at the hood - not sure about the world of narrowboats, but somebody like Jeckells of Wroxham will do a very good job, and they will give you an inclusive price for measuring and making - I think they will do the steel frame for you too. Their work is excellent and their prices reasonable.

Yes, immediately downstream of the bridge. Nice spot to stop. obviously you get a bit of train noise, but that seems to add to it rather than take away. Just googled PSPO - be interesting to see how (if) that works. There has been a boat moored on a Spelthorne mooring for at least a year. EA enforcement notice caused it to be moved about 25m to a "non-mooring" bit of bank which is presumably also owned by Spelthorne.

I spoke to the owner of a fatty at Maidenhead last year, and he seemed quite proud of the fact that he had kept his 70' thing on a public mooring for 18 months... It might help if the anachronous VAT rules which make a 65' * 12' boat cheaper than a 50' * 10' boat could be addressed!

My mistake - I think the sign is some local militants trying to make it look "official" like the Kwasi Kwarteng blue plaque that was stuck to Staines bridge recently sign Blue plaque

sorry, been away in Henley. Drinking... Yes - Thames at Staines - a hand-written note tied to a lamppost! I will try to get a photo later Exactly - see my reply to @magnetman 😁 "where smooth waters glide" - not sure who maintains it, but I find it a very good and informative site https://thames.me.uk/s00470.htm

Half full of what though? I have just been for a walk in the beautiful sunshine and seen an EA warning saying that the river is "polluted with raw sewage". We always know that, but it must be pretty bad if they think to put a warning sign up...

Well they say every picture tells a story, and this tells the story of the Thames today (well, yesterday, but it hasn't changed...)