Mac of Cygnet

I apologize for starting your answers on a negative note, but after 40 years as a professional horticulturalist, I never have anything growing on the roof of my boat (although I did find some moss growing recently - removed!). It blocks the view ahead and would get in the way of ropes and access - I frequently am on the roof. Growing your own vegetables on a boat is certainly not cost-effective, once containers and compost are taken into account, but \I can see why you may want to do it. Peppers are unlikely to ripen outdoors in most summers, and broccoli would probably get too tall. Dwarf french beans, early carrots and dwarf peas all do well in containers - I grow them that way at home. Don't use ordinary garden soil - it's not suitable for containers. You can make your own compost cheaper than buying it - look up home made potting compost on the internet. Good luck

Ermmm..... Perhaps you've forgotten the Calder & Hebble, Rochdale, Aire & Calder, etc, etc. And I can unreservedly recommend Shire Cruisers at Sowerby Bridge, (with whom I moor) who also keep boats on the Leeds & Liverpool. We also hired from them several times before I got my own boat. Edited to say that IanD has got there first.!

The canal from Chester to Ellesmere Port isn't 'grimy' at all, although as it isn't busy, it can be weedy. The hardest part is the lock staircase in Chester (which is well worth a visit anyway- lots of good pubs and history), but I've singlehanded it several times, so don't be put off. The town of Ellesmere Port is pretty uninspiring, but a stay in the bottom basin is well worth the entrance fee which you have to pay. I've left my boat there twice. Good moorings and pub at Stoak on the way there.

Do all Vetuses have this fuel pump filter? Mine is the smallest, 2 cylinder one and I've been boating for 14 years (6000 hrs) in blissful ignorance of such a thing. Do I have one? I don't remember seeing it in the maintenance schedule in the handbook. I do religiously change the other two fuel filters, though.

I just got a sense of deja escrit https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/99633-the-folly-inn-at-new-years/&do=findComment&comment=2247559

Well actually only one poster has stood up and said that they looked forward to seeing suffering and death, but that was ages ago, in post #29.

Perhaps Noddyboater observed the survey chaps from his bedroom window, as he lives canalside.

I don't think it reflects on the way we are governed at all, but reflects the controversial and contentious nature of the issue, rather like Brexit. The decision to invade Iraq was not so controversial at the time, but became so later when Weapons of Mass Destruction were not found. A few brave souls opposed the invasion, but they were a small minority. (I know, I know, I've contaminated this thread with the B word, despite my plea elsewhere. I apologize. )

Not quite as the title says: "The proposals, outlined in the Government's Clean Air Strategy, include plans to outlaw the sale of the most polluting fuels and to ensure only the cleanest stoves are sold by 2022."

The most intriguing thing about this post is that it was edited by Athy. Surely The Monkey didn't swing out of line?

Well the mice are terrorised, probably, so it must be the keeping of lots of dogs and riding socially that you object to? I am given to understand that the last item on your list no longer occurs, although I must admit to occasionally surprising Mrs Mac with a dead mouse or two.

I've been tempted to get one of those magnetic clamp-on devices which claim to prevent/reduce limescale, but when I looked into it I found reports very mixed and the science dubious. Has anyone any experience?

I took Sue to mean that (some) people keep cats to catch mice, which may involve some unpleasantness for the mice. Personally, I don't get on with cats, and use mousetraps. Edited to say that, with regard to foxes, the phrase 'dumb animal' is inappropriate, if the screaming vixens round here are anything to go by.

Ooohh, yes! I'd forgotten about the drains. The OP would certainly find those quiet. I went down to them with another boat, became separated after half an hour, and never saw it again. You've got to watch out for this sort of thing, though (West Fen Drain). Yes, that's an Ordnance Survey map - not much in the way of guides!

I read it that the navigation is definitely closed from Jan 9. And the towpath also.

Huddersfield Narrow. Maximum of 9 boats each way per week traversing the whole canal!

Completely ignore the dog. Don't fuss over it or try to comfort it or do anything to acknowledge its fear. This may sound cruel, and may take a while, but dog behavioural psychology says that if you are the pack leader, then your unconcern will communicate itself to the dog. Of course if the dog has been used to getting all the attention it asks for then you are not the pack leader, so a lot more disregard is required! Edited to say that Haggis has said essentially the same thing.

I've noticed several quite readable threads recently infected by the B word. Now apart from a few contributions early in the first B**x*t thread, I have for health reasons (sanity, blood pressure, etc.) studiously avoided the subject. Is anyone going to join me in an appeal against this pollution of otherwise informative/amusing topics?

The OP has quoted a 2" concrete hearth, not 5". This seems quite reasonable and easy to do. Adjustment of ballast may be necessary, but not much. In any case it is possible to make lightweight concrete using vermiculite.

Very similar, except I hadn't even considered buying a boat, until Cygnet came up for sale, but not the Cygnet I thought it was, so a purchase by mistaken identity. No regrets, but I still wouldn't want to live on it. But I might if the alternative was the hell-hole of a big city.

Of course.

Schrodinger's Cat and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle are examples of popular culture invading quantum physics. Or the reverse. Or both at the same time. However Stephen Hawking is reputed to have said: "When anyone mentions Schrodinger's Cat, I want to reach for my gun."

It can be both, whether you are talking of geometry or arm bones. A matter of usage. HOWEVER can a memory have a radius? I think they are dimensionally incompatible.

But the act of taking the photograph would reveal the cat's fate. It wouldn't need a direct observation. So kitty is alive.

€500 notes used to be known as 'Bin Ladens' (as in Osama, not an overfull waste receptacle) because everyone knew they existed, but no-one had seen one. And now they are being killed too.