Paddle

I have driven thousands of miles during (various) lockdowns and never seen a single police car stopping people, let alone been stopped myself. Haven't been to Wales, mind. I'd just go to the boat if I were you, and your cover story is that you're letting it out this year so you're travelling for business.

La timonerie = Wheelhouse. New word for the day.

You didn't fancy going up the rollers then, to head to Grantchester?!

The magic of colourisation. What really interested me was the roll-on-roll-off ferry at 1:16. Wikipedia claims the first Ro-Ro ships for motor vehicles were WW2 landing craft.

Up to a point, Mercer's are not really colour photographs are they. Red and white photographs, rather than black and white. The colour of the photograph has nothing to do with the colour of the subject.

You may be surprised to learn that the first colour photographs were taken in the 1861. It was a bit of a struggle, and proper film only came in in 1935 https://wiki2.org/en/Color_photography but it was still based on the same principle of separation of the Red Green and Blue colours. You did need three cameras and three projectors... @magnetman I liked the person walking along the top of the lock gate at that point. And I liked the eyes painted on the barge at 1:27.

The skill is not completely dead: https://www.canalboat.co.uk/canal-boats/riveted-narrowboat-company-1-2257911 http://www.brinklowboatservices.com/restoration-work/

To be fair - though perhaps indicating the level of neglect over the ages - the listing does say that Ely has had a new bottom and sides. (Which makes one wonder whether there is anything left of the original.)

How long have you owned the boat for? 1 year Why are you selling her? Moving ashore The above is in the ad and is an interview with the owners of STARCROSS. Presumably what they really mean is moving somewhere where their feet don't get wet. (I hate to be rude about beautiful old wooden boats, but one has to be realistic.)

Thames locks are a bit different, you need a rope there. I had in mind a quick-emptying narrow lock with a heavy, 72' long, ex-working boat in it where a rope is pretty much useless.

Conway back on eBay as "circumstances have changed". Presumably the woodworm have been reluctant to move out. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Historic-narrowboat-wooden/324272596603?_trkparms=aid%3D888008%26algo%3DDISC.CARDS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190920090938%26meid%3Dcf6d68dc1b9d444fb5c15a52b06feef1%26pid%3D100035%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D203070896549%26itm%3D324272596603%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DDiscV1&_trksid=p2047675.c100035.m1982

Yes. The Building of the Empire States Building cost 5 lives (or possibly 14 according to the New York Daily News). Last year the entire UK construction industry recorded 30 deaths. Going back to the nineteenth century 3 navvies died per mile of railway laid (https://wiki2.org/en/Navvy) - I have not found an equivalent number for canals. I like to think of this as progress! Boats with running engines are safer in locks than those without.

Turning the engine off in a lock strikes me as downright dangerous.

It's astonished me for many years that Peel still keep the Runcorn Arm open at all. I guess there are mooring fees and it would be expensive to shut it, but what's it actually for? (In their accountants' minds?)

Suggesting between four and nine square miles of land per village assuming a square grid - or between two and four if a triangular grid.