Capey

Not as tedious as people who use words like belay. As for tedious, well it might be an old subject matter, but as long as tedious people keep speeding past those of us who dont know what belay means, you will keep getting abuse - pity some people just dont have any manners

You great wally!!!!!! (that is me at my politest, I called you a lot worse on Sunday) OK you may wonder what that uninhibited outburst was all about. For those of you who claim, its not necessary to slow down when passing moored craft or make comments on the "meerkat" like behaviour of those inside said moored craft, let me share with you my HO on the subject. Sunday, after working like Trojans all morning on the boat, we decided to have a nice quiet civilised lie down for an hour or two. next thing we know there is one almighty crash, bang and everything goes flying. It took me a few seconds to wake and reaslide that Armageddon was not happening, and heared my neighbour who was sitting on her deck reading shout "thanks so much for slowing down" - and the charming reply reply "I can't go any slower than this". He must I swear have been doing 6 miles an hour - had to have been, 9 boats in a row bobbing about like crazy his wake. The best part was that "Mr Congeniality" had to turn around and come back past us later in the day. I did notice he went a lot slower that time but we all ran to hold down our precious posessions in his wake. He stared straight ahead, not even bothering to turn around and look at us as we clung to our boats in panic. So NB Ranger, if you are out there listen up - our boats double bank on one hell of a narrow canal at Warble Wharf, slow down OK. I dont care if I am one of those annoying people who shout at you, I dont give a damn if you have all sort of historicaly fancy schamncy engines, and I dont give a toss about the wonderful sound it makes, next time you come past me at that speeed you will feel the wrath of the shiny boat owners club of Warble Wharf. If everyone else can slow down and do, so can you!!

You can also join the army, travel to exciting places, meet interesting people and kill them, just not smoke while you do it......funny old world isn't it ?

Oh Poo, thats really sad, maybe too much diesel in the water or whatever. Mine are done with the tap and are flourishin, in fact the cucumber is a bit like a triffid now, I am getting a bit nervous to go into the greenhouse, in case I never come out again. Looking to plant garlic next after watching that fella on the Hampton Court Flower Show garlic person from Isle of Man - it lookes just too easy for words.

Yet?? befor what, the great flood, the next ice age, before we all turn into swamp monsters - I sit with a hot water bottle under my feet every night, and its July people. But I still would not swap living in the North West to go back to South Africa, despite the weather - I still love it here

Hi Nathan I'm afraid I dont play football either, I am a grown up lady who never got the hang of it. I don't know your dad because our boat is moored in a place called Hyde in Cheshire. You need to go and look it up on the map. Its in the Northwest and we live on a wharf where boats used to be build in the olden days. Its called Warble Wharf so if you look at the canal guide for the North West you will see us on the Peak Forest canal. I wish I had a dog but I work all day and so does Paul so we dont want to leave the dog by itself. I am trying to get him to let us have a cat. I see you are using the Captain emoticon - so is your dad the galley boy?? I used to travel on ships and was a stewardess (thats like a very fancy word for waitress and laundrymaid) all over the world. Japan, America, Carribean, and Africa. I come from Cape Town in South Africa - get out that map again but am very happy living in England. I hope you find some penpals of your own age here soon, there must be lots out there - maybe thier folks will see your message and get them to reply. Do you know what a blog is - you could write one about being 8 and living on a narrowboat. I am sure other kids around the world would be interested in reading it. Its a very differnt way to live isn't it. Good luck Bridget

http://animal.discovery.com/breedselector/dogselector.do I am in the same position as you, and this was very helpful - there are some breeds out there that are quite content to be on their own for a while.

Hmmm shouldn't see my daughters flat then, she has 3 boa's, 2 velvet gekko's and a baby python. Her specialisation in reptiles (she is doing a doctorate in Conservation). Mind you if your gambian friend is a native African then it is easier to understand as a lot of their fears are traditional rather than "rational" - if you see what I mean. In South Africa the black people are scared of white cats, white dogs and particulary snakes. I cant wait for the arrival of the bats though - so watch this space.

Just a bit of silliness here, but after waxing lyrical about my portable greenhouse, I have decided this year to give everyone something for christmas that they can use on their boat or mooring, to improve the environement of the concrete bunker we live at. My first gift I bought yesterday on a specail at the garden centre (where I went to top up my hayfever attack) a Bat Box - how fantastic is that ?????? they had ladybird boxes, bee boxes and butterfuly boxes - I just thought the bat idea was fantastic. I will need to introduce them to the woodpeckers though. Isn't life in this country just brilliant -back in Africa - we would have caught the bats and barbecued them. I will just stick to squirrel kebabs - more meat on them

oh har har - spelling was never my strong point but i am fully on the anti side - there just has to be a better solution than this. I would love to try the first nuclear powered boat - oh wow, and would save so much on heating and lighting - it would glow green all the time - as would I.

Have read your other posting as well re; how much you are enjoying it - could not agree with you more

Oh dear, does not look like there are loads of kids out there, so thought I would say hello anyhow. Just keep calling, I am sure the kids will pick up your message soon enough. We live on our boat and would not go back to a house for anything. Do you go to school or are your taught at home? What do you do when you want to play football or some game that takes up a lot of room. Do you have a dog or cat? You should write down what its like for a boy of 8 to live on a boat like you do, other kids will find it very interesting I am sure. Enjoy it Bridget

And here in Manchester - someone would have pinched his boat, table, unbrella and his dog

IMEHO - The smartest reply so far. There will in any case be a shortage of products for bio fuel in the future. The worlds largest populations are all discovering the joys of beef and dairy, so with huge tracts of grain dissapearing across S E Asia, responsible governments should be producing more food, not fuel. This is from a woman who has today for the first time, used a train in the UK. I have abandoned the car as the fuel is too expensive The train was such fun - the fellow next to me introduced me to his shopping, the bloke in the suite spent the entire trip cleaning his ears with his fingers, and the one next to him chewed his dentures - I didn't know life could be so interesting.

My only suggestion to your topic is get yourself some boat handling and safety instruction. If you have alreayd had some you may have been sleeping through the "what cosmically stuiped things to avoid doing when living on a narrowboat" - part 116.2 which says, dont ever jump into the canal - dont fall in, dont paddle, for God's sake you dont know what is in there. I mean people fall in by accident, and the safely training teaches you, not even to jump in after them to rescue, throw a life belt whatever, never mind the shopping trollies, the dead cows, the disgusting muck at the bottom, if your girlfriend wants to jump off boats into water take her to Greece, but stay on board your narrowboat. My safety and boat handling was done by Top Lock training - and Malcolms words were - the only thing to remember about getting into the canal is don't. Any flu like symptons, better take her to the local A&E -

I have just added mini pumpkins, chilis and brinjals to the collection , the green house is now chocca. Stil no produce yet except a huge crop of basil - so a hell of a lot of spagetti sauce is on the cards. Mind you we have had no sun this summer - again - so everything struggling a bit

while obediently signing the petition, enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling of democracy, I could not stop the voices in my head saying "do you reeeeellly think the government gives a toss for this poxy petition " - I mean, how many thousands marched against the Iraq war - yeah, a hll of a lot of notice there too, a petition - well that will have Gordon Brown lying awake at night. Only way to get noticed, everyone, every single boat, refuses to pay thier licence fees, every single boat simply moores up where it likes, every single one of us defy thier raft of rules and regulations - I only mean until someone listens......well you see its the African in me, banners, polite protests etc, just dont work, becuase no one gives a damn, but create civic unrest and someone listens - well of course after that, someone puts the kettle on and we all have a nice cup of tea. Ok now that you have all deflated again, the above is just tongue in cheek really, I know its not h the English way, its just a pity that we allow this sort of thing to be run roughshod over, I will be prepared to bet, the petition is serviced by an automated answer on the computer thingy at the government - like anyone is actauly going to read the voters opinions. Next time, Monster Raving Loony Party - all the way

Newts are not a prob - I realise you are joking, but just for the record, by law, they can be moved - unlike the lesser spotted shitehawk which cant

Yelling at the canada geese every day to pigging shut up, trying to trap the squirrel who is destroying my bird feeder, looking very superior when asked "do you actaully like live on that", never being alone - there is always some fellow moorer who wants to join me in a glass of plonk of an evening, and of course our familes of birds......honestly who would not want this life - but oh I have to just say, becuase it was such a treat but completely un boat related, in the city centre of Manchster on Wednesday the RSPB were out in force with telescopes showing the public the newly fledged peregrine falcons, nesting on top of the D of the Arndale centre. It was just magic - Ok OK I know, nothing to do with boating but how often do you see that huh??

excellent tip that thanks - for the hanging tomaoto things - my tomatos are at the moment on our wharf in a little plastic greenhouse, but because we dont have a cratch cover, I figure one day in the future, CC'ing look for the boat with a tiny greenhouse on the front. The bug has bitten = end of story. I never grew plants in Africa, too many bugs, (goggas) too hot too little water blah blah, but here its just perfik. Only problem is now I am hankering for a garden. My only property is a flat, inhabited by the great unwashed AKA my offspring and the only flower box serves as an ashtray *sigh

I am just so dead proud of myself. Living on a concrete wharf, the only ground available is old broken up tarmac used to shore up the bank, I decided to do some gardening. Slight overuse of the tree I will admit but 4 birdhouses and 3 birdfeeders later, a dozen hideous garden gnomes and two ceramic sheep (oh please dont get me started on those sheep) I finally went the whole hog and bought 2 little el-cheapo plastic greenhouses. I am now the proud farmer of a huge tomato plant, cucumbers, a red pepper two - yes TWO lettuce, a whole mass of different herbs and some climbing beans. Many of you might think "what the hell has this to do with boating" but I am sure that just as many will admit when you live aboard you do miss watching greenery growing - not talking about the mould around the portholes now. I feel all sort of Hugh Fernley Wittingstallish........

we resigned from the Camping and Caravan club after my Paul took our dinky little caravan down to London. He is a wonderful fellow, with a strong Lancashire accent and a round jolly red face. He greeted the cadaverous fellow behind the desk at Clapham Caravan site in a typical Northern friends manner, like mate, pal and my flower...you know the stuff. This fellow says to Paul "you'r not here to "work" are you" using work like one would talk about poo under your shoe. Before Paul could defend himself he said "we dont want you wearing work clothes on the site, it lowers the tone" - nothing could have lowered the tone more than him......resigned, after that week - dont need that sort of grief do you.

Holiday hire boaters were generally very friendly, enjoying the novely of being out and about with people who take the time to say hello. Except for the pratts who saw us coming down Bosley and actaully ran to empty the lock for thier friends, the rest were great. I was a bit concenred though as I had to stop and give some teenagers a safely lesson, like - "see this latch thing, dont take it off, I assume you like your teeth ???" We realise that snobbishness comes from all angles. The funniest episode we had was on Monday, a couple in what looked like a very nice fancy shmancy boat in front of us - we went up to them to help them and admired the boat - "oh its a one off, build in London" - very nice indeed I must say. Then asked me to raise the lock only 1 ratchet at a time. She said "oh you see, when you own your own boat you take more care" - I pointed to Twakkie (half scraped, half picked off paint, with bits of red, green and undercoat all over the place) and our friends Unnamed and primered boat and said "see those two boats - do they look like bloody hire boats to you!!!"? - how stuck up can you get. Just because I was wearing Paul's jumper in XXXL, ( I am small) a cap advertising Namibian beer and a pair of jeans, more holes than denim, soaked to the skin, it doesn,t mean I cant afford a tatty half painted boat with bird poo on the roof does it ????/

Had an almost identical experience this weekend coming back after a glorious week on the Mac. Coming down Marple Flight, we were told by 3 seperate bike riders of a tree blocking the canal. We we concerned as we were all just about 3 miles from our mooring at the time - you can imagine the frustration level. Well got there and there were 4 BW fellas all standing looking very grave - nope, nothing to be done on a Sunday, sorry chaps, will have to moor up here for the night, we will be back tomorrow. As soon as they were out of sight we gave the tree a poke and away it floated, we chugged majestically past and were able to tell the queue of day trippers coming up the Peak Forest canal that they were quite Ok to enjoy their day. How much brains does it take to just see if the tree is floating before you call out a huge heavy crane to lift it. What a fuss over nothing.

Sorry did not mean to cause you anxiety, but living around that area, although Warble is off the ashton, the general rule of thumb is as above, only go along that section up to Fairfield during school hours or take the local rugby team with you (you can drop them off with me if you like :-)