gatekrash

Have you not done the plastic freezer bag trick ? Place blanking plug in freezer bag. Attach freezer bag over log stub inside boat and tape the neck of the bag tight. Undo the transducer through the bag so that it ends up inside the freezer bag with the blanking plug. Bag fills with sea water, but it doesn't shoot up your arm and into your face. Grab blanking plug through the bag and reattach it to the log stub. Remove bag. Hey presto, only one freezer bag full of water in the bilge and none spraying everywhere. Having said that, the latest log on my sailing boat has two loose hinged flaps that are flush with the sides of the transducer tube, as you pull the transducer out the water pressure pushes them closed and you only get a trickle into the boat anyway. Very clever !

Only if you are literally on deaths door. It's called NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) and it's pretty much impossible to get. Managed it for my mum after fighting for 2 years. Advanced dementia, bed bound, severe osteoporosis meant she had fractured vertebrae and she developed open bedsores because she couldn't lift her chin off her chest. Still told she wasn't 'ill enough' to qualify. We eventually managed it, but they still tried to take it off her 12 months later (presumably because she hadn't died fast enough). You can still claim attendance allowance in a care home though which was a small amount to help.

Well I started at about 6 minutes in and lasted until about 8 and a half. Glad I did cos at 8 minutes 30 secs they went past my boat, we were clearly in cos the side hatch was open !

Yesterday, Tardebigge top lock repairs

Lidl were selling water meters a couple of weeks ago, about a fiver. Mechanical vane /impeller thing on a hose connector that attaches between the tap and the hose. We completely emptied the tank dry then refilled which gave us a volume measurement.

Quite often, yes. We sometimes get helimed turning up at jobs we wouldn't expect to need anything for transport other than a land ambulance because I think they have higher levels of specialist care training than some of the land crews and can get there really quickly. They've also got an air ambulance vehicle that sometimes turns up with the helimed doctor aboard so they can also get the higher level of care on scene without the aircraft. This was one of our jobs a couple of weeks ago. Cas had an open ankle fracture and didn't need airlifting but we were grateful for the helimed doctor who we dropped over the cliff with one of our guys to help with stabilising his ankle. We also had HART here so anyone looking on would have seen 5 ambulance vehicles, 3 coastguard trucks and an air ambulance, effectively for one guy with a broken ankle, albeit a fairly major break.

Off the back of this we've just bought 4 with a new 185w victron panel to add to our solar. We've had a few months with an eco flow lithium and foldable 160w panel running our little alpicool freezer and decided to add a bit more to the permanent panels so we don't have to keep deploying the folding one. We were originally going to use one of bimble's plastic stick down mounts that attach to the panel corners but your feedback on the mag mounts was good so we've gone that route first to see if it works for us. Think we might need to grind off the non slip grit from the roof first where the magnets are going though, when we usually stick stuff down with magnets they're not as firm as I'd like for a panel mounting.

We fitted ours ourselves. I built the hearth, the Mrs did the tiling. Porcelain "Victorian" floor tiles, come in 6x6 backed sheets and the border tiles also on backed sheets. Took a bit of working out the size to make sure the pattern worked properly.

We went down there for a few nights last year, definitely worth the trip. Definitely the Portuguese cafe for breakfast. And a good chippy up the hill and around to the right, but of a walk but the F&C were good.

I reckon there's a stoppage inbound at Middlewich if anyone's around there... HGV in the canal...

Definitely happens in Plymouth, although not generally in the 'posher' neighbourhoods. I know of a few caravans which people were living in for a while in various places. Although at least 3 of those got torched by the local youfs. May well be cos there's more employment in Bristol, Plymouth tends to be tourist jobs these days now the dockyard is a shadow of its former self.

Definitely not. £2 each for the plastic glass on the first pint though, but only the first time around. If I'd thought of it I'd have brought back last year's and saved myself another 4 quid.

We've done a whole 2 hours from the marina to Netherwich basin today. Now slaking our thirst after that marathon effort. Currently 16 ales and quite a few ciders on at the beer tent at the canal festival, and it's only just opened so we can take our pick. One of the several different Pardoes ales was tempting but gone for an oatmeal stout for starters 🍺 Mrs G is on 7% abv cider, luckily as a Devon girl she can handle her scrumpy 😀

Solar Kingfisher is down at Droitwich at the canal festival this weekend, I'll see him there and ask him.

Also nicknamed a spin-maker after a Chinese gybe in a serious blow. Only time I've ever had to get on the keel of a yacht (Laser 28 it was - as seen on Howard's Way!) to try and get it upright, even dumping the spin halyard hadn't worked, the mast had already filled with water by the time we got it free.