Lady Muck

the only one I know of is out the other side of town, if youre on Faceache heres his page https://www.facebook.com/pierrelespark/?fref=nf

CRT moorings don't allow chickens either

yeah I know, had no water or time to do the washing for three weeks!

Yeah, persuading my partner to let go is harder, there is way more I'd chuck out if he'd let me. But after ten years onboard, I think hes coming round to the idea of ditching his cds. Our best mates work abroad and come back to the UK for the summer. They have downshifted a lot more than we did - their posessions need to fit into suitcases. All I can say is that having less stuff is easier - digital stuff is easier to look for, if you have less stuff you waste less time cleaning, looking for things, maintaining things, shopping, worrying about your things, even packing is quicker. If you want to let go but find it hard, there are professional declutterers (our aunt paid for one), plus plenty of books out there - look for books on minimalism online. I knew I had too many clothes and shoes but couldn't let go, reading these books, it's changed my mindset. I now have far less, but what I own is much better quality. Plus ebaying a load of things and then buying one nice thing with your profits is rewarding.

If you really want a certain item onboard then you will make room for it, so your sewing machine isn't unusual. I'm still downsizing ten years on (!) when we moved onboard we had two sheds and a campervan stuffed full of stuff and the bath on our boat had a tv and playstation and other things stacked up in it , we'd moved out of a big house and we just hadn't had time to clear things out. This summer I emptied one shed and it's now used to store wood. The campervan full of junk is long gone. I further reduced 'stuff' by doing the following. Paperwork books and music. Got a Dropbox acccount, I've a large one as I store my work on there too. Look up your books and instruction books for your tools etc on the internet and download the digital copies and file them in Dropbox. We use boatmail for our post but we've gone for the scan and destroy option for our post. I no longer have a pile of letters, they are pdfs in a dropbox folder. I'm almost totally paper free, I'm forever photographing things on the ipad and uploading them. I don't buy magazines, I get the digital versions. My music is all on an sd card and then backed up, you can get the tiny ones in enormous capacity now I've an 128gb one in my phone. I have a bluetooth speaker. Bedlinen blankets etc you don't need more than one set of spare bedding, get rid of the rest. get rid of some of your cushion pads and store spare blankets and towels in the cases. Be wary of storing fabric and leather shoes in cupboards or places with no ventilation (down low at the back of cupboards is a no no), they will be claimed by boat mould. You need to store them in vaccuum pack bags (Lakeland sells them). Clothes Try this challenge: http://bemorewithless.com/project-333/ I've got far less than I had. Things I avoid buying as a boater: bulky coats and sweaters, they take up too much room, they are a pain to dry, I go for packable down, thin layers. Anything long or flappy, wide trousers or long skirts, they just get ripped or muddy. Anything that needs ironing. When you're not on shore power all the time it's pointless. Galley and household Muji, lakeland and camping shops are useful places, lets see....my mixing bowls are all collapsible silicone as is some of my tupperware. I've a tiny metal colander from muji (they design things for miniscule japanese flat) . I tend to buy pans when I go to Italy as they don't like long sticky out handles out there, but Lakeland does a set of cooking pans where they stack and the handle comes off. I have buckets that squash flat and a really narrow clothes airer. I got rid of the food processor and I have a stick blender and a friction food chopper instead. Look for smaller versions of the things you have already. If you need to find room for something, you will, I ebayed several pairs of shoes in the spring to make room for more power tools (I'm changing lol). Maybe get some storage for the things you're not sure about for now, don't panic about reducing everything all at once, relax, it will sort itself over time. There is nothing like living in a small cluttered space to make you take action to get rid of things. You can do it.

I've seen a few over the years, but they always get discovered by CRT, usually they don't last long because of that, but very occasionally they get properly ticketed up and go legal. If he wants to do themed dinner nights on the boat then as long as he doesn't cruise the boat while he does that, then I don't think the license is much extra. Got friends who put on folk nights and events on one of their boats (which is fitted out for that purpose). Then there is the Village butty, they apply for music and drink licenses in the different boroughs, after having their cruising plans signed off by CRT, neither boats cruise with their guests onboard though. Both have had to make modifications to CRT requirements. It's when you get people running trip boats, hotel boats and holiday hire without the proper licenses, when it starts getting difficult and expensive.

There are boat checkers daily in the central area, plus the mooring rangers.

Its unsuitable, its a very narrow stretch with trip boats going at full chat. They are deep draughted and to force them to the offside, they would ground. There are no services and in some parts road access is tricky. I'm not surprised at the survey results, I haven't been through town since last year, but could not moor both times. 12 hour day very knackering.

our insurer (swiftcover) has that option. They know the car is locked 'in a secure compound' in a different city to our actual address.

If you go to Eynsham, the man who takes money for visitor moorings above the bridge offered us a few months there, might be worth striking a deal with him. Lower Heyford as said. We once left our boat at Enslow Wharf for a month because of a family crisis, it was usual marina mooring price.

A couple I know who were lifelong boaters got caught out in the next lock up from there - its an odd one, lots of sticking out brickwork plus if you work the lock in the regular way, opening a paddle on the same side as the boat the opposite happens. The boat starts to smash around, its an odd one, that one. I don't like to judge these situations, it could be me, next time. We don't know if they'd been drinking in this case, no comments that way from witnesses, anyway. Those electric locks are deceptive, the top gates look like they're not going to be an issue but a boat sank in Tottenham Lock the same way one or two years back. I do think theres so much emphasis on cilling in locks, some people assume that's the only thing that can go wrong in a lock, far from it, I don't think any of the sinkings on the Lea in the past five years or more have been cillings, let me think. There was two weedhatch sinkings. Two getting hung up on the top gates, one got hung up on the brickwork, there was the day boat crew that didn't remove the swing bridge from Stansted Lock and sank because the bridge held them down as the water rose. ETA there have been two deaths in the London area in locks, in the past year, both men fell in and hit their heads, I think in both these cases booze *was* a factor.

This is what I do. Not just canals. First time we canoed above Inglesham the lockie said, 'don't forget your bow saw.' He wasn't wrong. I don't mind overgrown banks, I like to see the flowers, I like the privacy they afford and we bring secateurs and clippers, but overhanging trees can be a bit dodgy. We once had one lift both bikes off the roof and dump them in the cut next to the boat.

One of our favourite moorings in London is the park next to Engineers Wharf, it's also walking distance from a big Tescos and has an off license very close by the moorings. The moorings themselves are not my kind of thing (overlooked by flats), but I know two couples who used to moor there and they said they were good. They both moved to moorings nearby that have gardens. If you like cruising at the weekend then it would definitely work, you are on the big lock free pound for a start so it's dead easy to make lots of progress, you could go into London or head out Watford/rickmansworth way. There are great places to visit, mooring in Cassiobury park is a treat, there are also plenty of places with pubs.

read this first. i know someone who had their pop video shoot stopped because of unauthorised filming, They will want your monaaayyy. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/media-centre/filming-and-photography

check your private messages.

check your pms I'm going to have a look through the admin things now and try to see what did or didn't happen.

Yes it's in the site terms that we don't have to, when I became an admin here, we didn't, but now we usually do. But not on the public forum, in private. So it's always best to message us if something is not as you expected. It could merely be an oversight that someone forgot to message a member, for whatever reason, its not malicious. Then there is the boaty aspect, sometimes your phone or your internet signal dies and you can't even ask someone else to do it.

hes posted elsewhere saying they've approved it. Come to think of it, weve had similar situation on ours and CRT were happy for the tenant to do it.

I've had berth sitters before (most recently last summer). You do need to speak to your mooring warden, they won't let anyone in enforcement use the mooring for more than two weeks and if you don't tell them about it, then your berth sitters can end up in trouble for none movement. I can't imagine they'll be happy about the ad as they aren't happy about money changing hands. Put it this way, on our site when boaters have not used the mooring for long periods of time, sometimes CRT organise their own short term 'tenants', say they are doing repairs on a site, or other reasons. Now we are on Metermacs electricity, they know when you are away - I even got an email from them when I unplugged the boat and left a few weeks back

the students I know that live onboard say that uni libraries (often open 24 hours) are useful for a warm place to study with plenty of electricity, too.

Maffi told me about a brand new college cruisers boat that got craned in and got a patrol notice (I think on the same day it went in) !

Since Ive been a boater, there is only one boat I can think of that wasn't found - Que Sera Sera. She was rented out and went missing during a booking. On the various places I admin we get a report about once a month, we tend to take it with a pinch of salt as almost always the boat is not genuinely stolen, it's the subject of a dispute. Or they rented it out, don't know where it is, can't be bothered to look and want the internet to find it. Some of the disputes are bizarre!Even with a crime number they are not always what they seem. We had one on here where there was a crime number but the boat wasn't stolen - it was subject to a rent to buy agreement. There was no contract, just a handshake sort of thing. But the 'landlord' died and the family took the boat (as it was part of the estate, obviously). The tenant then declared it stolen. There are so many situations like this. The only thing Id say, is, if you're not renting out or lending your boat in any way then theft is really not going to happen. Very unlikely anyway!

There are about 30,000 boats registered, its barely anything, I have to say, I dont understand the fuss. I work it out as a 0.06% chance. For car thefts the stat I found online was 0.2%