Onionman

I'm hard to miss. I'm 6ft 3, wear specs and I'll be mithering around "Solace" at around 2pm with a bemused look on my face. I probably do rather smell of onions as well.

Rather excited today as we're off tomorrow for our first week on our share boat. We have a week carefully planned: Pick up the boat from Dunchurch Pools Marina (couple of miles north of Braunston) then head down the GU for three days, turn round and head in roughly the opposite direction in the hope that we end up near where we started. It's a detailed plan and I just hope we're able to stick to it. Why? It's our first time on a boat without the kids so we're going for a drift without the need to get to 'somewhere interesting, please, Dad'. Mrs Onionman currently unplumbing the kitchen sink just on the off-chance that there might be an emergency on the boat that warrants its use. Hoping to find the GU slightly emptier than the western end of the K&A where we've been on our last two trips.

Just my tupenn'orth. Not seen either of these points raised (apologies if they have been and I've missed them). 1. If the narrowboat can't stop quickly enough then, given the speed that he was tanking into the gap, how was he planning to stop before taking out the boat already moored downstream? 2. If he knew there were spaces downstream (as he shouted there were) then his suggestion of an ideal solution seems to be for GRP boat not to enter the spot it was lined up for, circle, (somehow missing the narrowboat), go downstream and find one of the clear mooring spots that narrowboat skipper already knows are there. He preferred that to allowing GRP boat to moor and taking one of the spots he could see downstream? One's a great deal less hassle than the other. I wouldn't have been half as polite as the chap on the GRP.

My abiding memory of the GU episode was the boat coming out of the Blisworth Tunnel at a speed sufficient to have breaking wave at the bow.

Lovely atmosphere, well paced and very well edited. A joy to watch.

I rode a Yamaha FJ1200 for a couple of years and I did 150,000 miles in that time; 1,500 miles a week. I ran it on Halfords cheapest 20w50. I seem to recall it was £2.99 a can. Every Friday evening as I stopped I'd drop the sump plug, drain it till the flow slowed down to a trickle - about 20 seconds (probably 95-99%), pop the plug back in and fill with that awful, cheap, additive-free oil of the wrong grade and incorrect spec. In 150,000 miles I never changed the oil filter. Also, in 150,000 miles nothing at all ever went wrong with the engine. If you change your oil often enough you can use any oil you want.

Here's an oil manufacturer's comment on the shelf life of oil: " You are probably wondering if you can still use cans of oil which seems old: the oil is usable as long as it is sealed, stored in a cool dry location and no water or dirt has gotten in the bottles." https://www.elf.com/en/lubricants-faq/about-lubricants/does-motor-oil-expire

I suspect it's this:

My word! Been through that lock and never even considered that situation as being possible. Probably because when we've been through the pound between the deep lock and the ones above has been damned low. Glad you were OK.

Can you explain what happened? Wouldn't fancy any trouble in the deep lock.

In which case CRT needs to deal with people abusing moorings on the Avon. I've posted elsewhere that I moored at Keynsham in one of three 24 hour moorings. Two days later when I returned from Bristol the other two boats were still there. It's stressful heading down a river with very little mooring riverside to know that the handful of moorings will probably already be occupied by people taking the mick. I was told by a CRT employee that the CRT is much less keen on moving people on on the river.

Having just bought a share in a boat, I hope I can add to this: Carefree Cruising (with whom we bought) definitely offers peak (school holiday), peak (non-school holiday) and off-peak shares. As for what happens if a share isn't sold then if it's a private syndicate then I suspect there would be a "share out the burden" clause. If it's run by a company then selling the final - or even second - share is their problem. While shares bought through a company carry a higher annual fee (you need to pay for the company's management) the reason we went for one is that, should anything not be done correctly, we can bring the matter up in terms of a company not doing its job whereas if it's a private syndicate that conversation would always have the opportunity to be fraught with a level of personal rancour that we chose to avoid. As for the cost, we're going to end up with four weeks' annual time for the cost of a week of renting. The share price is recoverable (less depreciation) when we sell our share so we consider that to be a loan to our holiday fund of which we'll eventually retrieve a portion.

I'm surprised that a vehicle with brakes, steering and tyres doesn't need an MOT regardless of how it's powered. I'm sure it'll be reintroduced retroactively after the first fatal accident due to poor maintenance.

No MOT? Sounds implausible.

Unfortunately I believe we have the toilet. Which is going to feel awfully cramped after two weeks.