dor

It was on the phone, but adequate for the consultation I needed, and he would have arranged to see me if necessary. Frankly I think the phone consultation is a big improvement in many ways, most of my hospital appointments have been by phone also, but seen when needed. No travelling, no parking hassles, no waiting around for ages with a bunch of sick people, appointments on time, speak to the right person the same day, scrips sent to online pharmacy and delivered two days later. I accept that I am fortunate in where I am treated, but very grateful for the attention I get.

Rang my surgery on Thursday morning at 9:30 to speak to a particular gp. He rang back at 10:10 and gave me a 20 minute consultation. I guess I am just lucky (for once).

Not a trailer but a van... In my teens I had an A35 van while a couple of mates had minis. I had warmed the engine up a bit, dropped the suspension a bit but road holding was dire to say the least. 4” cross-plies. To improve things a bit I fitted wheel spacers on the back, and with a combination of a bit of extra power, lowering, the spacers and my driving skills I could keep up with the minis. After a very ‘sporting’ drive back from the coast with my mates in the minis, the back end seemed to go a bit wobbly as I turned into my girlfriend’s road. A look at the back end showed three of the four stud extenders had sheared off. One more hard corner could have been entertaining. I did actually have it on its side once, sliding along the road, sparks flying, girlfriend loose in the back. Some people in a nearby house came out and helped me tip it back on to its wheels and we carried on to the cinema. Ah the immortality of youth eh?

Even adding 5/4mm would probably need ballast removing. IF you did go with the overplating, I would go for 6/5mm, be prepared to strip the inside to remove much of the ballast and redistribute what was left. Would need some careful investigations to determine just where it would sit in the water. Use a decent surveyor. But, if you could get it for about 3K it could be a good boat for a good few years and still be reasonably saleable, providing the market doesn't collapse from its current high. I would be tempted if on a tight budget, having seen the sort of boats that are available for sub-£15K. I'm sure Bizzard could come up with a design for a sort of box baseplate where the increased buoyancy of the hollow 'box' baseplate could compensate for the extra weight. Perhaps fill it with hydrogen to gain a few more ounces of lift.

Use good SS bolts, not brass. I've seen a fairlead fitted with 6mm brass bolts 'ping' off under high stress . The lump of brass missed the boater's head by about two inches and could have killed him.

Even adding 5/4mm would probably need ballast removing. IF you did go with the overplating, I would go for 6/5mm, be prepared to strip the inside to remove much of the ballast and redistribute what was left. Would need some careful investigations to determine just where it would sit in the water. Use a decent surveyor. But, if you could get it for about 3K it could be a good boat for a good few years and still be reasonably saleable, providing the market doesn't collapse from its current high. I would be tempted if on a tight budget, having seen the sort of boats that are available for sub-£15K.

If the sump-type pump needs replacing, why not rake the opportunity to fit a Whalegulpher? Fit it and forget it; mine’s been working happily for 13 years now, small switch next to the shower.

Yes of course the virus particles are smaller, actually much smaller, than the holes in the mask. How thick do you think we are not to see this. But that is not the point. A naked virus wouldn't travel more than millimetres on its own, not to mention being slowed down by passing through a mask. The viruses will be enclosed by aerosols or blobs of mucus, many of which will be stopped by the mask. What does go through will be slowed significantly and so will travel less far. Whilst no one claims that the mask will prevent all transmission, it will cut it down significantly and so reduce the risk of it being passed on. Common sense tells you that anything that can reduce the range and volume of virus-laden particles offers real, if not complete, protection.

Whilst I do not want to get involved in your personal slanging match, I do think Mr Chagall has a point.

Hope all goes well Piotr. My experience has been different and I have had excellent support from my GP and the oncologist. I think it helps if you know enough physiology and anatomy to know what they are talking about and asking the right questions. I'm having a tricky time with my current treatment and the oncologist has said we want to keep a close watch on you, along with a healthy disregard for NHS funding cutbacks. Another scan coming up and new chemo in the new year.

Why would you need to run the washer and the dryer at the same time? Ok, so you could start a second wash while the first one is drying, but if you have a washer-dryer you can’t do that, so what is the advantage? What you have works, so why change?

One possible reason is to be able to have a small, modern, efficient, low emission engine somewhere to run a modern efficient generator. EUR6-type engines seem to be impractical in a narrowboats, but something to drive a generator might be a better option. And can still give you hot water and auxiliary electrical power.

Agree that rotties can be as soft as anything. Unfortunately they are, like GSDs, often picked by people wanting an aggressive dog. Like staffies. I did have one unnerving experience late one evening at Hurleston when a couple of Rotties came running round under the bridge and didn’t look very friendly. The owner appeared shortly after, shouted something and the dogs immediately stopped, turned and sat down. He did apologise and said he didn’t expect anyone to be out at that time. I love well-trained dogs with responsible owners, but unfortunately there are too many irresponsible owners out there.

How deep is “deep water”. Are we going to see these popping (shortly before they are popped) up all over the place? What about Telford Basin in Chester, there must be dozens of other places. What a waste of money dreamed up by overpaid people who haven’t got a clue about the real world.

The trip boat at Froghall had a hydraulic prop built into the ‘ellum. Seen it on a couple of others too.

Something doesn’t seem to add up here. She apparently has near 100% occupancy, but no mention of providing services, pump out etc. What sort of mooring where? She mentions paying for one, but what sort of marina would allow Ab&b?

The normal way is to have the filter in the cold feed to the galley tap. If you want to be different that is your choice, but why bother asking f you seem to be convinced that you need to filter all the water rather than doing what is the norm?

I've put on Hammerite quite thickly and it still goes off. More so than ordinary paints. Hammerite has changed the solvent, now white spirit-based. Don't think they have changed it again.

In my limited experience, Hammerite seems to cure a lot quicker than other solvent-based paints and still goes off in cold, even damp conditions. I painted my bilge with white 'Smoothrite' several years ago and it is still holding up well. I haven't measured the temperature of thecanal lately, but it is still probably around the 8-10 deg mark, echoing air temperature (ignoring the odd cold night).