Lily Rose

You can't win. Do it yourself and get accused of not trusting the other person. Let them do it and then get in trouble for watching or even just listening.

I do that sometimes. I should try to do it more often as it removes the temptation to comment - unless the bounce was noisy enough to hear.

My tiller is a few inches too high for my backside and I don't smoke. I think Mrs Lily Rose might already be using the close eyes part of your recommended method. (Please don't tell her I said that!)

That's exactly how I do it as well. Doesn't help with most locks though as more often than not Mrs Lily Rose brings the boat in while I watch from the gate and try to resist the temptation to comment as she stands in the middle, enters at an angle and then bounces off one side into the other. I often succumb to the temptation to comment. Doesn't go down too well!

I also think comments along the lines of "they can't decide" are a bit unfair. I expect most MPs individually decided a long time ago which way they wanted it to go, what they are unable to do is agree. A bit like the rest of the country really with 37.5% of the electorate voting to leave, 34.7% voting to remain and 27.8% not voting at all.

Those who nothing about it (if/when it happens) would be the lucky ones. I suspect many more would know about far more than they would like.

Are you descending the locks to join us?

I did and still do. It was sufficiently important to persuade me to change my original view and intention. No proof of course but I felt that this, amongst other things, was too important to risk jeopardising.

"used to"? Have you left?

I'm glad you posted this Jennifer, as I'm considering this trip for the summer, so thank you. I haven't actually read it yet as (I'm pleased to say) it is long and we were about to set off as it arrived. Look forward to reading it later.

Far too young, just a lad really, and, at least as far as I know, of no interest to Classicfm. I'll give you a clue... somewhat hard of hearing. And no, it's not Pete Townsend either.

I immediately regretted using the word precise and wondered long before someone corrected me! Anyway, Classicfm say "born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770… but no one is sure of the exact date! He was baptised on 17 December, so he was probably born the day before." So there ?

? 1770 to be precise.

Totally agree. I was born mid-50s and feel I have probably lived through the best time to be alive in all of human history. Sadly, I fear that due to what is currently happening in the UK and in the wider world, that my children and, even more so, my grandchildren will not be anywhere near so lucky.

Or literally just round the corner, and no locks, to Wigrams Turn Marina. As long as it's not Saturday. I'm pretty certain Midland Chandlers don't do diesel. Frequently go past and never spotted a pump.

I had a very fine time just last summer! Spent all of July and August on the boat with 4 weeks on the Thames and 2 * 2 weeks on the South Oxford. No unpleasant experiences at all as far as I can remember.

Also at Calcutt (below the flight) is Ventnor Marina, they sell to the public any day except Wednesday. There's also its sister marina, Wigrams Turn, at Napton Junction. Possibly best to avoid Black Prince turnaround days between 9am and 4pm for that one though, if possible.

That last sentence seems to sum it up. That seems to be the situation, in the UK at least, for much of the time, at least when the weather is very changeable. Like now. Or perhaps most of the time. I've pretty much settled on netweather's weather radar (thanks again DrBob) to assess the likelihood of rain, and how heavy and long-lasting it will be, over the next 2 or hours or so as that helps me decide whether or not to pull up the pins. I just need to decide on which service to use for assessing the next couple of days. I've decided to ditch Metcheck for being overly-pessimistic and just need to decide (probably) between the BBC and the Met Office.

We've taken your advice. We decided to sit out Storm Hannah in Cropredy rather than Banbury so this morning we boated (briefly) in the sunshine to move from the 24h mooring above the lock to the single 48h mooring next to Athy's boat. This afternoon well go to the nearby pub.

I'm still quite new to all this (nearly 4 years since we bought Lily Rose) but I am now changing my views on volockies. When we started out, with me doing almost everything to get us through each lock, I was pleased to see a volockie ahead as we approached. A few years on my wife is now confident taking the boat in and out (she is not physically able to work the locks) leaving me to concentrate on working the lock. I have also become much more aware of what can go wrong, and how quickly, which makes me want to be off the boat and in charge of the paddles rather than on it and relying on someone else to operate the lock safely. For this reason I now inwardly groan when I see a lockie ahead, particularly if they say "stay on the boat". I normally do so if they say that but I am now reaching the point where I will get off the boat anyway. I now think the main value of a lockie is to assist by opening and closing the gates to speed things up a little. I'm not sure I want them whacking open paddles so my (45') boat ends up shooting backwards and forwards in the lock (or worse). I'd rather take a minute longer and do it in a safe and controlled manner. I don't suppose Nicknorman would be happy if he was behind me but you can't have everything.

Presumably that (Diane retiring) still means it's closing though? Therefore still a shame. I wasn't a regular by any means but I have deliberately gone there, rather than MC, a few times as I felt it deserved as much support as possible. Similarly with Tradline when appropriate.

Hi Tim - that's the plan! I'll pm you in a while.

I've just put a Stillie (for my "just in case" box) into my Amazon wishlist as a reminder. Would this one be up to it? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-361-8-Stillson-Wrench-8-Inch/dp/B001OXGUVK/ref=cm_wl_huc_item I don't want to take up any more of my limited storage space (I've only got a little'un) than is absolutely necessary.

Great, just when I thought I'd made a decision someone comes along to make me doubt it. Thanks to DrBob for the link to the radar, I checked it after we had lunch and it showed nothing heading North between the South coast and Banbury so off we went. Only needed 1.2 hours and it stayed dry and mostly sunny. We're now sitting in lovely sunshine at Cropredy. I'm happy, the solar panels are happy, the duck's happy (no, not that one! I'm not a kidnapper).

I haven't tried on my phone yet. I did it on my el cheapo 8" Amazon Fire tablet.