frahkn

Is that a debate?

Perhaps it hasn't reached the sophistication of a debate. Tony 1 said "I have already stepped over the line ", you replied "No, you haven't,", Tony came back "Yes I did step over a line" and suggested that your own intervention wasn't helping. You responded "No, I can't agree with that" and advised Tony to "be careful". So, on reconsideration, perhaps it was more of an argument than a debate. But having met neither of you, it's difficult to be certain. You say it's not a debate, perhaps Tony thinks that's debatable? Anyway he has coined a memorable phrase "ugly knife fight that one sees in the loathsome cesspool".

It would be hypocritical of me to contribute to a politeness debate between yourself and Athy. But surely the Liberal Democrats (though not my personal cup of tea) are not so discreditable as to spoil Mr Cleese's body of work for you? For avoidance of doubt, this is merely a comment, not an attempt to initiate a political debate. I am no more enamoured of knife fighting (nor cesspools for that matter) than are you.

Just checked my log - I bought 934 litres of diesel last year. I was on the boat for 177 days in the 12 months, it uses about 1 litre per hour for the engine and about 0.5 litres per hour for the Refleks (when it's on), so the expense adds up over time. If I have to pay £2 per litre this year, that's quite a lot of cash.

Sorry, expressed myself poorly, I do indeed have a mobile number on her collar.

Our goldie is chipped but does not have a name tag. Although this is illegal, it is for security reasons; we spend months on the boat each year and the dog is very approachable. I don't want strangers learning the address of our empty property from the dog. It's like most risks (very small) but it worries me; a bit strange as I usually ignore other risks and tend to scoff at tales of 'dangerous mooring areas' etc.

Well it depends on whether reading is a "good thing". To give a simple example; those with smaller shoe sizes (say three year old's) are, usually, poorer readers than those (say forty year old's) with larger feet. The example above is stolen from "How to lie with statistics", I still remember it from university - which was a very long time ago.

There is a growing body of evidence that the reduction in lead has resulted in improved average IQ. But there is stronger evidence of the link between reading ability and shoe size. Just saying.

It's not a completely up to date version of the OS but following the previous advice, I got the legacy theme switched off. So all's well now. Thanks.

The moment I attach a hose to a tap, a continuous stream of cyclists, pedestrians, dogs etc start walking by. Most of these (perhaps not the dogs) would fall over the hose if it were off the ground and then sue me.

Sorry but I was being entirely serious - honestly.

As the guy who printed the "old fogey" cards, I'll raise your Sunday newspapers and say I never read any newspapers and never have. I discovered, in my youth, that I have an allergy to printers ink and have never been able to fix it.

Surely the people "solely responsible for the last lot of panic buying" were those who went out and made the panic purchases? Or are we no longer responsible for our own actions?

Yes, and not just on grounds of cost. Buy some jumpers for early mornings, you will be fine the rest of the time!

I don't live on my boat but spend 6-7 months a year on it; split between winter and summer. The 70' boat has no central heating, just a Refleks stove in the front and a Hobbit in the boatman's cabin. We (in our late 60s) get along fine, I honestly think radiators are not needed in a boat and the various lorry diesel heaters are just too much trouble. There was central heating in a shared ownership boat which we almost never used over the 11 years of our ownership.

That is only a single sentence, albeit 34 words, nevertheless you haven't got your meaning across, at least to me.

First, let me say that whatever you want to do on your own boats is of course fine. But second, this seem to me to be beyond eccentric, it verges on weird. Can you (and do you wish to) explain this activity? Preferably in non-psychiatric terms.

It depends on how "hands on" you wish to be. I would ask Debdale to service the engine and put the boat back in the water the day before you expect to arrive.

I've used 3 marinas in the 10 years that I've had the boat. One had a choice of residential or non-residential moorings, they charged more for residential but provided more services in return. They were quite watchful for non-official 'residents'' which is fair enough. Both the others had a 'no residential use' policy (it's in the contracts) but both had many residential boaters, the staff at both were well aware of this but nothing was said. I don't live on my boat but my perception is that you don't have to keep your head down very far in order to do so. Life is more relaxing if you don't worry about what others may be "getting away with"; it's not worth the stress and it's an unattractive trait to display.

There has been nothing on Sara's "Chertsey" blog since October.

Are there still some Bathams pubs in Upton?

I've left the boat unattended at both these locations without any problem.

I am in exactly the same position, there is a switch (one of two ganged together) which does not appear to do anything. There is 12 volts at the input (and the output when the switch is closed) but nothing happens. I bought the boat through a broker and the previous owners (who sold in a somewhat embarrassing situation) would not speak to me.