RichardN

Well I am obviously biased but I would look here: http://www.greyhound-data.com/adoption.htm?id=710&filter_sex=&x= or for a more local branch click here. Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com/

It may be worth giving Limehouse another ring - their office is now open at weekends. The visitor pontoon looked pretty empty this morning. Not sure what the current charge is.

It is unlikely to be a transformer leak - they hold a serious amount of oil and the ones that I have seen are all properly bunded. I think the cables are oil filled - going the other way I know they are. I assume there must be an oil/water heat exchanger to cool the oil that in turn cools (and insulates) the cables? Richard

More photos here Also this site is excellent. Now all I need to work out is where Mike Steven's web site went to ... Richard nb indigo dream

Been through it two weekends on the trot, no problem. Last Saturday there seemed to be too much water in the pound .....

I found the course exceedingly useful, go for it! I would also endorse Malcolm of Toplock training. Marple is miles away from you but apart from the great tuition I suspect you will find the experience of narrow locks very useful. If Malcolm has retired then try the competition - I have only personal experience of Malcolm but I have talked to people who have been on other courses and were delighted with what they got out of it. Richard nb indigo dream

I should say it is Sue that writes the blog not me. We collected the photographic evidence of you at your moorings! Sue is just uploading photographs but has gone off singing this evening. I think we will finish and publish tomorrow. Let us know via the blog or by email if you want a CD. Is the rowing boat for the next cruise? Richard nb Indigo Dream

A few years ago when we took out our policy we clearly stated on the proposal form that we wanted to be covered for trips to the Royal Docks and Barking Creek and the cover note duly came back with an endorsement allowing "tidal access" but not defining what that meant. Recently when we renewed I spent some time talking to them as I wanted to make sure that we were still covered for the charity trips that we do (Nautical Insurance Services were great, cover extended at no extra cost). Talking generally we discussed tidal cruising and I explained that our next trip was out to Barking Creek which got everybody excited. It seems that they define river up to the Thames Barrier and it is sea beyond and we are not covered for sea trips. Bit of a shock as we have been to the Royal Docks ie through the barrier twice. Quick chat explaining what we do (and what our proposal form said), next day underwriters came back saying no problem, no extra premium. Surprisingly they seemed very unbothered about a trip down the Severn even though for that you need a pilot, or may be they were unbothered because you need a pilot? You may find that you can get cover to beyond the thames barrier at no extra cost, though insurers may take a different view of a trip to Belgium so make sure you don't miss the turn! Richard nb Indigo Dream

It was a fantastic trip, one of those that will really be a great memory. Many many many thanks to St Pancras Cruising Club for organising this! If you have never done the tideway then have a look at the events page on their site - click here. The good people of Barking also deserve a mention for being so welcoming, what a place to go to on a saturday night! Our write up of the outbound trip is here. Next page is all photos, we will add return trip and photos shortly. Richard nb Indigo Dream

Hi Tim I liked Brian Taylor, knew he had retired but as Daniel said was still doing the MSC Certificates. Has that changed? I thought that the MSC was a trip worth doing , particularly for us as we did not have time to go the long way round to the Weaver. What I found awkward was that Waterscape's boaters guides were wrong and finding out who to talk to took time! Richard

We only did the short run from Ellesmere Port to Weston Green but summarised who we talked to here: http://indigodream.wordpress.com/2009/09/0...ip-canal-notes/ Richard

How true. I have seen some fantastically good driving by people in hire boats. Malcolm from toplock training allegedly can reverse park his boat, a rumour I am happy to believe as I am sure he has the skill. He told us a story of hiring a boat down south and being looked down on by owner drivers as he was a hirer ... Richard

We were originally on berth 7 paying £4K as a non residential boat. We left because there was a mess up at our renewal time but did tender for our berth when it came up for auction 6 months later. Now I thought berths have been slow to fill, should go for less than £4K ... How wrong can you be! Mind you those are very nice moorings. -- Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com/

But none of these are hard to do. We contacted our insurers, explained what we wanted to do and what precautions we were taking and they were happy to allow us to have charity trips on board providing we met a few conditions which were basically from our list of precautions (2 people on board with Helmsman's Certificates, thorough briefing, offer everybody a life jacket, we take no money). They (Nautical Insurance Services) made no charge for extending our policy in this way. More stringent BSS: I just rang the BSS in slight panic as we have not done this but would probably pass the hire / reward BSS. They were very relaxed then more carefully said that the BSS just supports the Navigation Licence so if the trip is within the scope of our licence then there is no need for a more stringent BSS. They recommended that we talk to BW out of courtesy as we are on their waters and may well find that they can offer some help (Reading between the lines I interpreted that as talk to them, get them on your side first and they will be helpful and won't charge you). We provide a basic lunch for people and suitable liquid refreshments, we are really keen not to handle any of the monies so I believe that we are within the scope of our licence conditions but now that I have had the advice to talk to BW, I will do so before the next trip. Qualified Steerer: Sounds like you have that covered Being sued: I breathe therefore I may get sued one day. Yes you are more likely there is a possibility that you may get sued if you have people on your boat, they may need to if something dreadful happens so that is why you have insurance. We have done 2 formal trips so far plus a few more informal trips, will do more later this year. I have thoroughly enjoyed them, it has been a delight showing people the waterways. We have had feedback afterwards that our "passengers" have been so enthusiastic about the trips, but it can be hard to convince people that they will have a good time and to fork out the dosh. Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com/

It is pathetic how long Prescott Lock has taken, especially when compared to the speedy and decisive way some other projects have been run on the park - for example just look at the way that the powerlines project went. And that makes you think why on earth could they not stick paddles on one lock or refurbish carpenters road lock right at the start so that spoil could have been moved by water rather than by road to the press centre site (or whatever the site is just north of Old Ford lock)? Richard

Two months back we found a dead cat in our office yard. Our Council's web site had a page and number for this eventuality so went through them rather than anything more straight forward as I thought that they might scan the cat and let the owners know. Pick up happened, cat got taken away. About a week later we had a knock on a door from someone working their way round the area asking have you seen a cat ... Now I don't know if the cat was chipped, or if the corpse was scanned but I was surprised to find that quite often there are no procedures for routine scanning. There is no requirement for even lost animals to be scanned. A petition was raised about this, got a few signatures but got a particularly naff civil servanty response - see here. Richard

You can see Gordon Brown giving the issue of that reservoir his full concentration as he answers a question from the local MP - http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-01-20a.300.6 Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com

I think that is right. I tried (and obviously failed) to make it easier to understand. Go on go for it, you know you want to….. PS This is Mrs Doyle in real life: http://paulinemclynn.com/site/blog Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com

We are up for it (not sure about the dressing up though). The big criteria in our planning will be to get to the pub for our overnight stop at 10 to 11 not 10 past eleven like last year .. For those that don't know it: You need to get round as much as possible of Birmingham on the last weekend in May starting Saturday at 9am, finishing Sunday at 3pm but with a mandatory 6 hour rest (ie you are only allowed to drive for 24 hours in 30 hours). More details will no doubt appear on the BCNS web site http://www.bcn-society.co.uk/events.php For more information get in touch with Mr R Kenn, 14 Hollemeadow Avenue, Walsall, West Midlands, WS3 1JQ. Telephone: 01922 428644. If anyone is undecided: It is a fantastic event just to take part in, it really is good fun and you get to see parts of Birmingham you would not thinking of going to and actually they are rather nice and very interesting. Last year Sue wrote a live blog as we went round - that's here: http://indigodream.wordpress.com/bcn-marat...nge-2009-index/ We have a half collection of links to other write-ups which we will finish researching and add there. I am sure that the message from anyone who has taken part is "It is a great event, you have got to take part" Lots of resources available for planning. Repeating a link from earlier in the thread, I thought this one was very clever: http://www.thecatwhowalksbyhimself.co.uk/o...CNchallenge.php Never did work out how the bonus points worked. Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com PS I am going to train our dogs to bow haul. The only issue will be keeping the boat off the plane if they see a rabbit, squirrel .....

Yes, I was sorry that I missed the post first time round. Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com

16 is a fantastic age. I know it does not make it any easier but you have done well for her. Run free Fern. Richard http://indigodream.wordpress.com

Thank you, very clear. Happy New Year. I am off to see who wants to chance the bottle of scorpion vodka we have in the cupboard...... Richard

Yes, very helpful but I still don't quite understand ... Connecting live and neutral is easy, simple to do but can you enlighten me a bit further? If I am on shorepower does the same apply or will having live and neutral connected mean that I trip out the shoreline mcb? Loaded question as when we first connected to shore power in the first marina that we moored we tripped out the post, an electrician looked at my setup and said take the link out as you only want that if you have a travelpower or other generator connected. I have always wondered if he was right or was it a start up transient from the Victron causing a slightly keen mcb to trip? Since then we have used shorepower with no issues in various places round the country, only having the odd issue with one post in Packet Boat. There is an extra complication as I think that the Victron is meant to automatically bond live and neutral but it does not seem to do that - my 240V is unpolarised. One of my winter jobs is to talk to Victron about that as in the past I have found the lady on their technical support line to be pretty expert. Incidentally if I hit the test button on my rcd it works fine. I have not carried out a real test and stuck a finger into something live. :-) Mind you is having an unpolarised supply safer as you only get 115V unless you manage to grab both live and neutral? Richard

Also it may be worth trying an mcb on another post. We had an issue at Packet Boat with our Victron tripping out our post mcb at anything over I think 8 amps. Tried another post, all worked fine. Usual argument, whose electrics are at fault. I got an electrican in to check our electrics, all ok [1[], mcb checked also ok but noted it was a different make to the others. Went back to the management, they got the mcb changed, all worked fine thereafter Richard [1] though I still don't understand this +120 -120V arrangement.