enigmatic

That depends on the specific design. The benches I've seen in some semi trads do look uncomfortable, but mine has two comfy tractor seats and a spacious engine bay, with more space for guests to stand than most cruiser sterns all safely enclosed. The tradeoff is no storage lockers

If based near Altrincham, there are pretty trips across the Pennines for which you'll want a boat not much longer than 57' but no need to go shorter really unless you find an ideal mooring or ideal boat that's only 50'. The other nearby canals are built for 72' boats. Boat prices have gone up recently so £35-40k boats which are worth it sell quickly. Hull condition and reliable engines are more important than superficially pretty appearances. Lifestyle-wise - For me the best bit is actually cruising the boat and exploring different parts of the country. Your work might limit that a bit, although there are nice stretches of canal on the edge of Manchester. - On the plus side, if you find yourself a mooring with an electricity supply it'll make one of the more difficult learning curves for new boaters (managing electricity) easier. - Boaters are generally friendly and helpful and often a pleasure to chat to whilst going through locks, though most of them are a fair bit older than you. Lots of curious members of the public will ask you questions whilst their dogs sniff at your boat too! - Emptying toilets isn't fun, it can be very cold when the fire's out or at the other end of the boat (a radiator system powered by diesel heaters helps a lot, but costs in fuel and needs a surprising amount of electricity to run). Plenty of practical maintenance tasks to attend to or figure out what's wrong too, but I guess if you're a lift engineer you're not afraid if that! - the costs of owning the boat including mooring and license may not be that much better than renting

Entrance to Bugsworth Basin with views across it, could be some canal enthusiasts' dream property. Easy access to neighbouring Elsan point 🙂 https://www.fineandcountry.com/uk/property-for-sale/buxworth-bugsworth-basin/sk23-7nf/2284701

The other obvious (and least concerning) one would be simply opening the stove door to poke around at a fire which isn't burning that well (so the flue doesn't draw all the smoke.). Takes longer for that smoke to exit the cabin than enter it and really needs windows opened to get rid of it efficiently.

Just rang CRT to ask this so might as well share. According to the staff members, the CRT licence months are [now] counted as "used" even though the Gold licence you buy later in the year fully overlaps with them. If you have a CRT licence starting in January this year and replace it with a gold licence (which always starts in January) in, say, April then the only portion of the original CRT licence that gets refunded is April-Dec. If you do it before the end of January (as I am now doing) you should get the full CRT licence refunded. So if you expect to want the Gold Licence, buying at the beginning of the year is the best option, at least according to CRT payments staff. (The refund policy made more sense last time I bought a Gold licence, when my CRT licence overlapped years: I bought in late April 2021 and I was refunded for full starting from 1st Jan 2021. Possibly they've changed policies, possibly the staff are wrong but since I plan to travel on EA waterways this summer, I won't take that chance)