magpie patrick

Sometime in the mid 1980s British Waterways got an enabling act for the restoration works - unique as far as im aware, and also got funding from the EU to do it. However the Secretary of state for Wales, Peter Walker, refused to sanction the funding and it was lost. We really can't blame BW for this one.

Fenestrate - typical of the Middle Level Navigations

DREADLOCK: emotional response to Caen Hill

I do sometimes feel like popping open a can of diet Pepsi in some of the local health food caffs in protest at the many, varied and not-good for a diabetic fruit smoohies they offer (Cries of "but it's natural sugar" - still gives me a very unpleasant sugar hit)

The vegan teetotal movement will have a field day with Tottenham then... 😂😱

Indeed (again...) The George and the Archangel can be seen from the Market Place in Frome, each with their own clientele, some, such as me, will drink in either, however they are very different. It would be odd, and counterproductive, if the customers of the George were to demand the Archangel change to serving 6X and pie and chips, or those of the Archangel demand Prosecco and canapes at the George - and if neither suits you, other pubs are available So it is with Forums (or Fora)

Indeed Certainly in this, and in other walks of life where I make judgments, I tend to ask what the rules are for. "The spirit of the law"** rather than the letter - trouble is of course that this means making a judgement call, and when one does that, someone, but not everyone, is likely to disagree. ** I don't apply this to speed limits, that's just asking for trouble! I can point at Judicial Reviews where the courts have said "We can not say they (usually the local planning authority) were wrong", meaning it was a judgement call that the authority were entitled to make, and whilst other interpretations are possible the one applied was "not unreasonable".

Lock 11 is currently in bits in the Memorial Park...

I'm taking my trumpet on board - it won't suffer... Thing about KenDorR's nearly in tune, I find that if a guitar or similar has drifted slightly it's a few seconds to re-tune - it it's gone way out, and does it every time, the effort of getting it back in tune makes a five minute sesh whilst dinner is in the oven hardly worth it Give the conditions that some instruments endure through a summer on the folk festival circuit I guess most guitars would survive, but it's like anything else, you have to learn to work with it - keep it dry, accept more frequent re-tuning

I'd seen it elsewhere - the branch will be good for Burslem and, if the surrounding development is well planned could become a local and regional landmark. I'd give the water taxis about 6 months before they go bust though, speeds on our canals just aren't up to it, you can walk faster. Trip boats are another matter

From memory there is only one paddle at each end now, so no need to cross the gate. I did, to take a photograph, but came back over the bridge as I hadn't enjoyed crossing a gate with no footboard or hand rail. The bridge is not intended for canal use, but climbing the fence to get at it was the lesser of two evils

Loggerheads...

Hot as well perhaps...

I think we may be struggling as it's not even clear the promoters always knew what size of boat to expect - The Grand Junction IIRC correctly wanted broad boats and was loathe to let narrow boats use locks singly, yet single narrow boats were sure to arrive given the connection at the north end to the Oxford Canal Things get more complicated on things like the K&A. which was built to a non-standard broad size (it is slightly smaller than the GU, and smaller than the barges on the rivers at both ends), and during the development stage accepted that connecting canals would be half-width What is undoubtedly true on the GU, where motorisation meant that boats meeting each other no longer had to contend with passing towropes*, was that pairs of narrow boats were a lot faster than single broad beam boats as they could go flat our between the locks passing each other in bridges and tunnels, neverthless the intention was to allow broad beam vessels to Birmingham *The K&A didn't see many pairs and they weren't motorised, so although narrow boats could pass in a bridge hole they still had to contend with towropes passing

These are very murky waters if you'll pardon the pun - many marinas, and I guess some caravan parks, either explicitly state that you can't be residential, or it is implied, but unless they define residential, and enforce it, then it is very easy either for the moorer to fly under the radar or for the marina to turn a blind eye. There is, of course, also the variance that boats can and normally do leave a marina for a period of time each year - it's what boats are designed to do - whereas most caravan parks are static. This matters because a caravan park can easily say "you can't stay here in February" whereas it's much more difficult for a marina to impose that rule, one might be staying aboard the night before going away on the boat for a few days. The planning definition is that the mooring/caravan must not be your primary residence - that's slippery to define anyway but for a boat it's even harder, because the boat can leave the mooring even if the boat is your primary residence it doesn't necessarily make the mooring so - for example one could own a boat that was normally out of the marina and put it in the marina when making long trips abroad for business. Also, in the case quoted by the OP, it would appear the caravan park have been selling the idea of the caravans as homes, which is mis-selling, and another matter entirely. Final note - people just can't stop existing just because we're short of houses, they have to live somewhere, and government at all levels from central government to parish councils need to wake up to this - if you'd rather people don't live in caravans where do you suggest they do live?