Ronaldo47

I tried downloading duckgogo but my phone is too old to run it. It's odd, sometimes the forum opens with no problems, other times I have to go incognito, which means entering user name and password every time. Other sites are starting to go the same way, so it must be down to my phone.

So it seems that using a vehicle of a type which, if ridden on a public highway, would be criminal offence, would not be a criminal offence if ridden on a towpath (other than the rare case where the towpath is also a public right of way).

But is a tow path a public highway? If it is not, then using a vehicle that would be illegal if used on the public highway, would arguably not be illegal when used on something that is not a public highway. You used to need a special permit to use a bike on the tow path, indicating that a tow path was not a public highway, but I don't know if subsequent legislation has changed the towpath's legal status. Perhaps it would be covered by by-laws or conditions of use, which could mean it would be a civil law matter rather than a criminal law one. The last two times we hired at easter, it snowed. The first time it settled and was heavy enough to build a snowman figurehead.

We were looking at boat hire prices recently, and they do seem to be on the high side. Don't forget that Portsmouth now has a ULEZ zone that you have to enter to get to the IOW ferry terminals.

In my part of East London in the 1950's, about the only horse traffic was rag and bone men, brewery drays, and the mounted police. The draymen used to give their horses a nose bag when they were delivering.

The 1/2" and 3/4" pipe threads are the only ones where BSP and NPT have identical pitches (14tpi). My screw thread book gives the BSP/NPT pipe diameters for 1/2" as 0.8250"/ 0.840" and for 3/4" as 1.0410"/ 1.050". BSP/ NPT thread flank angles are 55°/ 60°. BSP threads have rounded crests and roots, those of NPT are flat. If the fit is tight, using a die/tap on/in the larger/smaller thread should provide a solution.

I used to use Plastic Padding Type Soft for car body repairs and general filling jobs, but I haven't been able to buy it for some years. I now use Ronson High Performance Wood Filler, a polystyrene-type filler that looks, smells, and behaves much the same as Plastic Padding Type Soft, apart from the colour.

It's not rocket science to make a new key for that type of lock. When I was a child, we inherited a box of assorted mismatched locks and keys, and I managed to modify some of the keys to fit some of the simple locks like the one in the photo, using a hacksaw and files from dad's toolbox.

Especially so when horses were the motive power.

My understanding is that, when canals were in their heyday, bargees were paid well enough to afford a house on land for their family, and that it was only later when competition from the railways led to lower wages, that living on board with your family became widespread. So the reference to three centuries of living afloat is arguably not entirely correct.