[Danish Oil (or similar) or Varnish ?]

Internal woodwork, we have mostly Danish oil, I don't like it, it gives a very hard-looking finish, and if you accidentally put it on too thick it goes sticky. I prefer a light vegetable oil on the raw wood, then beeswax to buff it up.

[Why do houses seem odd now?]

We love our boating but live on a narrowboat.........never, decided to cut long weekend short due to wash out weather. Lovely to come home to the bricks and mortar

 

Charles

 

Well it certainly wetted down on us and the river rose and rose and now there's a reasonable flow on it as the sluices downriver have been opened to let it all out to sea. We battened down the hatches so to speak and loosened up the mooring ropes and got the fire going again and had a good laugh at the moorhens trying to paddle upriver against the flow. House? no, not even in last weekend's weather!!

[Rayburn Royal]

Back on topic...

 

A cautionary tale:

 

:cheers:

 

My OH had the "bright" idea of chucking a load of salt on the fire to get rid of the build-up of tar in the chimney. He does this every now and again and it seems to work quite well usually.

This time I think his hand must have slipped because suddenly the whole boat was filled with choking fumes. I got out quick and went for a walk!!! Even so I was badly affected and it took weeks to stop coughing. What seems to have happened is the vast quantity of salt plus the heat of the fire did its thing a bit too well and cleared out all the little cracks in the thing, plus the salt actually sublimed and we got salt vapour in the air, followed by fumes from the fire which usually go up the chimney but were now escaping through the microcracks.

 

Be warned!

[NIMBYism at it's worst]

Perhaps we should have a look at the overall level of debt in the UK, and give some thought as to who those people are who are most likely to be the debtors. I quote http://www-iva.org/ukdebtmatters.pdf :

 

The average personal debt in the UK is more than double that of the rest of Western Europe. According to Credit Action (http://www.creditaction.org.uk), the total amount of personal debt in the UK is now in excess of £1.26 trillion and rising by £1 million – hold your breath – every four minutes. Record numbers of enquiries are being reported by the debt help industry.

…

Here are some more facts from Credit Action:

•Total UK personal debt is more than £1 ¼ trillion, as of November 2006 (actual figure of £1,278bn). For the trailing twelve months, the rate of growth increased to 10.4% , which amounts to an increase of £111bn.

•Total secured lending on homes has exceeded £1 trillion (yes, it starts with a “t” and a trillion is £1,000 billion), and as of November 2006 (actual figure of £1065.9bn). In the trailing twelve months, the increase is by 11.4%.

•Total consumer credit lending to individuals in November 2006 was £212.1bn. This segment registered an increase of 6.2% in the trailing twelve months.

•Average debt per household in the UK is £8,765, not including mortgages and £52,811, including mortgages.

•Every UK adult owes £27,180, on an average, including mortgages.

•Average interest paid by each household on their total debt is approximately £3,327 each year.

•An average consumer in UK owes £4,511, on overdrafts, credit cards, retail and motor finance deals and last, but not least, unsecured personal loans.

•Insolvency is claiming one person as a victim every minute of any given working day.

•There were 27,644 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in the third quarter of 2006 (an increase of 5.7% over the previous quarter and an increase of 55.4% over the same period a year ago).

•Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) grew the fastest at 118% per year, and this continues to increase.

•The number of people becoming insolvent in 2006 is nearly 110,000. The estimate for 2007 is around 150,000.

•It is estimated that between seven and nine million people claim to have a serious debt problem.

 

I propose it's not what you have that's the indicator, but how much you owe. Hire purchase, buy now pay later, put it on your credit card, take out a personal loan, second mortgage, loan shark, you can get a lot of stuff without actually paying for it then and there.

[Moorings, boats an all that - Back in hot water?]

What we did when looking for a mooring/marina was to take an Ordnance Survey map of the area we wanted to be in, highlight the waterways and then drive around and look, stopping off at any places that seemed promising and talking to whoever was in charge. Bear in mind that on the phone you will often get onto a so-called waiting list, but if you turn up you can get a place if they like you. It took us about 5 weekends of looking (about the same as it takes to find a house to buy).

[Staying logged in]

Google notebooks does it to me too, so does Yahoo groups, canalworld too. It's a recent thing. Something Microsoft has been doing?

[Why do houses seem odd now?]

Roger you know how scruffy our boat is but it's great for us and it's the home we chose. OH was visited by a friend the other day who declared he knew someone who has a wide-beam "and it's quite palacial". As if we want to get something with "more status"! No, we like Homey, and if we ever get round to getting a wide-beam (we are thinking about it), it won't be palacial (somehow I think I've spelled that wrong). Palacial we don't do, comfortable yes.

 

Your observations about many people's houses quite easily map onto boats too, people often have things because they are status symbols, not simply because they need the things. On the other hand, if you want things, why not have the best you can afford if that's going to make you feel good?

 

But I agree with the adaptation to boat life - it's taken me only a year, and being in a house often makes me feel wierd. Tell you what, though, the hardest thing is going off to work ... I'd much rather be home fishing or doing something around the boat.

[Switching Ownership]

For what it’s worth and from limited experience from dealing with my mother’s death two years ago, it’s not as confusing as it first looks. A gift is just that(with some exceptions). You give title to ownership away so at that stage the owner of the boat is the deceased gent. Once he passed away the boat becomes part of the estate. The estate then has to be distributed according to the deceased wishes i.e. his will. If there was no will the estate is split between surviving relatives, once the funeral director and tax man have been paid. Starting with spouse, the children and then parents and siblings. After that it seems to be a bit of a free for all for the rest of the family. If the son you refer to is the eldest surviving child and there is no spouse and HE has obtained probate he has control over the estate.

 

I would not worry too much about the previous owner who gave the boat away, but there may be concern if the boat is mentioned in a will or the son has not got probate.

 

As I say the above is only based on my own past experience and from advice I received from the probate officers. I hope it helps but you own judgment must be followed. Good luck.

 

I agree. You can't take a gift back, you gave it away and it's not yours any more.

The only question is who had the right to dispose of this item from the dead man's estate? Without evidence from the will or probate, it won't be clear but it seems reasonable to think that the son would have had a right to sell it.

[Help, need to give staff experience quick.]

Here are two documents with information that you could take into account when planning adventurous activities (I have got my elf n safety hat on at the moment). In my view it's terribly important to take very seriously the duty of care especially to young and inexperienced people.

 

http://www.aala.org/pdf/02_06_10_GPinES_Version_Two.pdf (The inspection document used by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority which inspects activity centres and other activity providers on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills (DfES).)

 

http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/47809552-4...draftforDPC.pdf (a consultation document whose time has now passed and I expect will be finalised before too long).

 

But good luck with your trips and I hope a fun time is had by all!!

[Jon's email]

I read the email today, and not having been around much lately (too busy), I think I've probably missed all the aggro, anyway I have always found the forum a great place to get info or just have a jolly good laugh, I know there are sometimes people who go off on one but I pretty much ignore it.

It's too easy to type the first thing that comes into your head and press Add reply, but surely we could pretty much self-moderate by taking a couple of seconds to think about how things are going to sound when read on the forum. I've decided against posting a number of times, because I thought someone could take it the wrong way, or if it sounds a bit sharp I add a smiley or something to indicate it's tongue in cheek or a joke (we still need a T-i-C emoticon LOL).

That said, this is the only forum I've been on that I've stayed on for any significant period of time, due to the friendly and helpful attitude of most people.

Let's stay

[What's your boat lined out in?]

Not that I've used cup washers, but what's so bad about them. I'm guessing your going to say that they just don't look right?

 

I use cup washers in the same way I use dish washers ... I couldn't have a cup of tea otherwise (lost the laughing smiley here and can't see how to add him back in)

 

whatever,.....

We've got maple ply with cherry trim in panels that miraculously hang there with only a couple of screws, and I wish we didn't. It's the devil's own job to get shelving onto the walls. Also one of them (the panels) shrunk and fell off the wall, breaking things as it went.

[Shoes]

Sounds like you need a shoe-butty.

 

I get the same problem on my boat and most of them belong to someone else.

Give her the chance and she'd fill an aircraft carrier

 

I have nearly all my shoes and boots under the back step, which has a lift-up tread to make a shoe box. The other 2 pairs (my office shoes) are in their original boxes on a shelf in the wardrobe.

Under the back step I have: a pair of canvas shoes, 2 pairs of sandals (one posh, one workish), a pair of wellies with the tops of the legs cut off (easy to step into in an emergency, when it's guaranteed to be raining as well, keeps most of the mud off even if I inevitable get wet feet), a pair of posh shoes, a pair of walking-type shoes, (that's 6 pairs) and a couple of pairs of the OH's shoes (he has only 2 fewer pairs of shoes than I do - the rest are strewn around the "utility area" AKA the back of the boat.) I make that a total of 14 pairs of shoes between us. Oh, 15 - I've got a pair of serious walking boots for geology trips, but they're kept in the lock-up with the rest of my field gear. So I've got 9, OH has 6.

[Shameful]

I don't like it when people just wander up and help without saying "Would you like some help?"; sometimes you don't even get a "good morning" just the windlass jammed on and winding started at (often) full speed.

Sometimes I like to do the winding myself, sometimes it's nice to have help. It depends. I'd like to have the choice each time.

 

I'm sure no-one could be offended by me saying "No, it's ok, I'm fine thanks " if I don't want them to help, but I sure get offended if someone forces me to be helped even when I don't want to be (if you see what I mean).

[Shameful]

You only have to watch children in the school dinner queue to realise that no-one gets taught manners at school any more, push and shove and me-first seem to be the way it's going. Thank goodness there are still some people who learn it from their parents.

[Please sign the petition]

signed

[Red/White Diesel is there a technical difference]

"Green" diesel (that you put in your car) is ULSD (ultra-low sulphur diesel).

 

The term DERV (short for "diesel engined road vehicle") is also used in the UK as a synonym for diesel fuel. (Diesel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - en.wikipedia.org/... )

 

The Treasury obviously thinks there's a difference between road diesel and red diesel:

 

Budget 2003: press notices

 

9 April 2003

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

Chancellor Gordon Brown today announced further steps in the Government’s strategy to protect the environment, whilst continuing to ensure the competitiveness of UK industry.

Economic Secretary, John Healey said:

 

“This Budget underlines the Government's commitment to sustainable development. Given the current global economic downturn, we have today announced some important tax freezes to help maintain business competitiveness. However, the Government is committed to tackling environmental problems, by ensuring the polluter pays and introducing new incentives for more environmentally-friendly behaviour”.

 

Measures announced today to balance environmental responsibility with UK competitiveness include:

 

*deferred annual revalorisation of the main road fuel duties until 1 October 2003, owing to the recent high and volatile oil prices, as a result of military conflict in Iraq;

*a new duty differential for sulphur-free fuels from 1 September 2004, of 0.5 pence per litre relative to the rates for ultra-low sulphur fuels, to encourage the early introduction and take up of these fuels;

*an increase in the duties for rebated gas oil (red diesel) and fuel oil – which have higher levels of sulphur than road fuels – by one penny per litre above revalorisation, from today;

*the introduction of a new duty incentive for bioethanol used as a road fuel, set at 20 pence per litre below the prevailing rate for sulphur-free petrol, from 1 January 2005;

*a new lower carbon dioxide VED band from 1 May 2003 for the most environmentally-friendly cars. Alongside the standard revalorisation and the rounding, an increase in the VED rate for cars and vans by £5; this increases the VED differential between the least and the most polluting cars to £110 per annum;

.......

 

Budget 2003: 04 - www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/...

[Rayburn Royal]

.....

Thanks, another thing to try. Do you find it bearable in summer, or do you switch to gas?

 

We don't use it in the summer, unless it gets chilly. We have a gas cooker, and an immersion heater or the engine for hot water.

[slow-cooked meat ideas]

I was referring to food safety and the desire not to be poisoned, it was nothing to do with tradition. It was a question rather than a statement, is it okay to slow cook chicken?

 

Ah, with you now. Tortured (battery) chicken, I wouldn't touch with the proverbial barge-pole. Free-range, I've never had a problem. I always wash the bird inside and out with lots of very cold water, scrape off any blood etc sticking to the inside. Start it off hot, turn it down after 20 minutes.

I suppose it depends on your confidence in the source of the bird.

[Rayburn Royal]

I PM'd you this as a reply to your PM, but since it's a question on the forum, I thought I'd add it here FWIW:

 

Hi Matt

Yeah, if we're not careful we end up roasting too! I'm not "in charge" of the fire, but in other places I've put a layer of damp slack coal over the top after topping up, smooth it and pack it down to make a crust-like layer. This additionally stops a lot of the draught through the fire, and the dampness keeps it all cooler. In the morning the idea is just to break the crust and the fire will go off again in minutes.

When do you riddle through? You could try leaving the ashes in the bottom of the fire basket to act as a further damper to help stop air getting through too much. Then riddle in the morning before topping up.

Each one seems to be different, you just have to go for trial and error with each one, I think.

Cheers

Nichimyo

[carrot and coriander soup]

time is subjective and totally over-rated!

 

Especially at work, my time is seriously under-rated. It seems to expand infinitely the moment I get there. Unfortunately my salary doesn't do the same.

[slow-cooked meat ideas]

.....

 

Second: Aren't chickens supposed to be cooked hotter and quicker?

 

.....

 

"Supposed" is the key word. If we alway cooked how we are "supposed" to, well... chicken is "supposed" to be roasted with sage and onion stuffing, according to some. Nuff said LOL

I've got a fab Chinese recipe for boiled chicken which I do in the pressure cooker.

 

What did the poor chuck do to deserve that?

 

Janet

 

Can I just answer that by saying: "I like animals. They taste delicious."

[carrot and coriander soup]

This is a favourite of mine and takes no time at all to make.

 

.....

 

Wish I had your supernatural powers instantly cooked carrots etc., eh? what do you do, point your finger at them? shove 'em all in the pan and hiss "double double boil and bubble?

Ah, but then if stirring the coriander into the soup takes a minute, does the rest take negative time? what kind of physics does your world operate with?

[slow-cooked meat ideas]

First idea:

Lamb with rosemary and a few shreds of orange peel. Use the juice of the orange in the gravy and add a slosh of vodka (not too much or it will be bitter).

Second idea:

Shove a whole lemon and some garlic up a chicken.

Third idea:

Beef in a gravy flavoured with red wine and Stilton cheese.

 

Yours please.....

[Hello All! In need of advice.]

Thanks again for the links,

 

Seeing that map of the canal network has got me excited!

 

Nichymio. Yes, mooring is a concern for me. I was going to get a good guard dog and moor somewhere fairly remote but A) I don't feel I could give a dog the life it deserves whilst working and I wouldn't want to upset BW too much. I have no idea what free cruisers can and can't get away with with regards semi permanent moorings just outside of the city.

 

I shall have to look for moorings.

 

.....

 

Nathan, Type in "continuous cruiser" into the search facility and you will find a number of threads which have discussed this question. That should help you decide what you ought to do about cruising versus mooring.

Best of luck

Nichimyo

[BW budget cuts]

Thanks, Tony