Ronaldo47

Not a part of the system I have used since my first canal holiday in 1976, but in the late 1970's I recall reading in a canal mag that it was often the practice on the southern GU to leave gates open when leaving locks. We always closed ours after us unless meeting boats going the other way.

On the positive side, if you are getting condensation on your window frames, you will probably not be getting it somewhere else, such as in your cupboards, as moisture from damp air will condense on any surface at a temperature lower than its dew point. While I have never seen any actual examples, some older books on building practice describe windows for kitchens and bathrooms where the inner surface of the lower glazing bar was provided with a gutter to catch condensation, which was drained away to the outside via a brass tube extending through the frame. This is the sort of arrangement that used to be used on the compartment stock of railway trains, where the gutter was a brass inlay close to the glass. I always used to feel comfortable travelling in those trains in winter, as the cold single-glazed glass used to condense the water vapour from the passengers' breath, thereby acting as a sort of air conditioning by removing excessive water vapour from the air. The later double-glazed carriages with no roof ventilators and hermetically-sealed doors always used to feel unhealthily stuffy in winter and were very Turkish bath-like with seemingly 100% humidity, although I never had anything to measure it with. So you might be better off living with some window frame consensation.

That sounds consistent with the user handbook and official workshop manual for the Hillman Imp I used to have, which advised you to drive away promptly after starting the engine and not to leave it idling. You were also advised not to use friction-reducing additives like Molyslip (molybdenium disulphide-based) on new or rebored engines. Friction between the rings and the bores was essential to bedding-in, and the friction-reducing additives would have prevented this from taking place.

I understand that the road accident rate in Victorian London was much reduced in the 20th century after internal combustion vehicles had largely replaced horses. It wasn't just the removal of the bolters, biters, and kickers, there was less grain around to support the rat population.

There was a letter on the papers last week about a supermarket's problems with the use of 5G by customers attempting to pay using smartphones. The 5G service was so unreliable and slow that customers were advised to disable it on their phones, whereupon everything worked immediately using the older G service.

In the 1960's, the stirrups of the police horses that were sometimes used for crowd control at West Ham's football ground, were fitted with sidelights showing white to the front and red to the rear. When I mentioned this to someone they thought I was pulling their leg.

Controlled by a phone app of course!

You can get fittings intended for installing outdoor taps, consisting of a length of 15mm copper pipe terminated in a brass flange having a boss with a 1/2" BSP female thread.

That is no doubt a consequence of the target culture that pervades organisations like the government and civil service these days, where your annual review requires you to have met targets. When my god-son was a trainee copper, they were expected to get a certain number of bookings each month, and if you were a bit low, the easiest way to catch up was to get in early, grab one of their hand-held speed cameras before anyone else did, and book some motorists ntil you had met your bookings quota if you wanted to get on. I think things may have been different when I was a new driver in the early 1970's. One fine summer's day I had been happily driving at 60mph on an empty 40mph dual carriageway in open country, oblivious to the police car behind until he put his siren on. I admitted what speed I had been doing and what the speed limit was, and rather than booking me, the copper warned me to pay more attention to my mirror as he had been sat beind me for some time, and if I catch you doing that again in my manor, you're for it. Lesson learned, (I do always check my rearview mirror regularly when driving,) and left with a feeling of goodwill towards the police. But that was then, and I wonder if I would receive the ssme treatment today?

In the early 1970's a friend who was DIY renovating the house he had just bought, made himself a bath mixer like that, using end-feed solder copper fittings, with the pipes just poked through the tap holes in the bath. It was (supposed to be) a temporary arrangement until he could afford the proper thing . I don't think gate valves were used.

Using a barge pole in the bows is fine if you have a second person to wield the pole, but impractical for a single hander.

Agreed, we do need more enforcement regarding e- scooters and illegal bikes, but I'm not holding my breath. Years of government efficiency savings ( i.e. cuts), in the public sector mean that realistically there are not enough police to do anything, not to mention the severe cuts-induced backlog in the courts if they did attempt to prosecute offenders. I get the impression that the government prefers to turn a blind eye to these illegal, but green, means of transport, despite the dangers to pedestrians and other road users. France does allow faster e-bikes and scooters, but users must have third party insurance and there are age limits. We have two electric bikes, both Powabyke shoppers, that can be operated in both power and assist modes. The first was bought some 15 years ago. These models, which are no longer available new, have grandfather rights for power use on public roads, but are limited to 12 mph under power. Their panniers and pannier bags mean we use them for most local shopping trips. Current street-legal electric bikes are assist-only and limited to 15mph. . We used to use conventional bikes, but it is hilly where we live, and age and joint problems meant giving them up. Our car use has fallen substantially since getting the electric bikes, which unfortunately are too heavy and bulky to fit our car to take with us on holidays, but I do still have my Bickerton folder for canal holidays, where hills are not a problem.

When traffic is light, I find that locks with both gates closed often end up about half-full, meaning that the next boat arriving from either direction will only have to empty or fill half a lock in order to enter.

I understand that "sulfate" and "sulfur" are now the spellings recommended by the international organisation that sets standards for chemical terminology in scientific publications, and are used in at least some modern school text books in the UK..