kitman

Agree with tat guy about researching your artist first. I find Instagram is really good, as the artists regularly post pictures of their latest work for you to look at. It helps to broaden your understanding of what can be achieved, and what a good tattoo should be. I have three tattoos, they were all 'walk in' type appointments, I'm happy to say that I was sober for all of them, but my first tattoo was a bit of a mistake. The first time I was 19, didn't have a clue, and just went to the nearest tattoo shop. I was pretty strapped for money so I even contemplated haggling with the guy! No haggling happened though, as I thought better of it. I ended up having a tribal design which I choose quickly, because I was just interested in getting inked, whatever. Regretted it about a month later. I was young and stupid, but not stupid enough to get something that could be interpreted as offensive - luckily. Second time was an improvement. I was in Holland, aged 30. I conducted a bit more research this time (which purely involved asking around to find out which was the best tattoo shop) and managed to find a really nice, clean, sensible shop. There was an old lady working behind the counter (who I later found out was just known as 'grandma') and that finally sold it too me! I had my wife to be's name tattooed under a traditional swallow design, her name is short, LUCY, so it looks great in a banner. Incidentally my friend also had his wife's name tattooed on his arm at the same time (good job the artist didn't mix the two names up!). Getting partner's names is always a bit risky, so again this could of been a huge mistake, but hey my wife loves it! Third time around was in that same shop in Holland last year. I was more confident this time so I took my time choosing a theme and the brilliant guy (Bill Loika at 'Tattoo Peter') drew it up for me. The tattoo looks great and I will never regret it, because I took my time and decided I was really comfortable with the design and the artist. Now I have had a bit of experience I would say definitely do a lot of research first (in advance, not on the day you are actually getting tattoed!), and if the shop and the people don't don't feel right then keep looking.

Sounds like one for DC Morse and Fred Thursday!

Thanks Dave, I very much appreciate the support, you have a talent for inspiring others about the folk art specific to English canals! I look forward to bringing some of my historic pieces along for everyone to draw inspiration from, I always find that it helps to channel the spirit of the 'old masters' (so to speak! )

Thought this may be of interest to enthusiasts, we have some traditional canal arts and crafts courses coming up on the 7th and 8th of May. Learn to paint Roses - May 8th - taught by Chris Weston Learn to make rope fenders 7th and 8th May - taught by Phil English The courses will be held at Stretton Wharf CV23 0PR, which is a real traditional working boatyard. You will get to take home what you make! Pm me if you are interested and I will give you more details. Cheers Chris

Poor Bob, he must of been working late on something

Used to be. So was it Bob who fell in?

Nilfisk Compact C130.1-6 P X-tra 130bar Pressure Washer 1.7kW 240V

I bought this Nilfisk a few weeks ago Nilfisk seem to have a good rep on the internet, karcher have come in for a bashing recently for premature failure. It's made a good job of the patio, and the car. Seems robustly built, the pressure is strong. One of the nozzles allows you to increase/decrease the pressure, in case you are worried about blasting your car tyres with a high pressure jet for instance.

Don't forgot all the accountancy side of things as well, you will need to shoe horn time for that in somewhere

I wanted answer because I feel I have something to offer on this. We record atmosphere every six minutes using data loggers when we have a boat in (which is most of the year). The equipment records and stores Relative humidity, air temp and surface temp on a tamper proof computer file. You have to be a bit techie minded to make sense of it all though! Effectively we have a detailed record of the atmosphere of our dock night and day all year round, including all the dewpoints, so we can see at a glance how the dock is performing. Exciting huh?! I can see you all glazing over. In combination with the data loggers, Myself and my staff also use dewpoint meters for spot checks before painting, so we always know when dewpoint temp is 3degrees above steel temp, spot checks get recorded as well but only on an excel spreadsheet. In terms of how many other boatyards or painters do this, well, I'm not convinced data recording is common at all. Again, I monitor thickness as I go to make sure we are creating the specified depth. Results aren't logged at present, but can be checked at any time by measuring the coating. I feel an independent would be better than an experienced peer. But, no, we don't do this, although I agree it is a good idea. They do it with the paint jobs for the super yachts, but then again we are talking £500,000.00 for a super yacht paint job compared to £8500.00 for a narrowboat paint job. Like I said, I think inspection by a specialist is a good idea, I have spoken about this to International Paints before. They have said that for what it would cost it's not worth doing. And unless boat painting prices rise to accommodate the cost of doing it, it's unlikely to ever happen. The phrase International used was 'horses for courses'. In short, boater's aren't paying enough for this level of service. As if the repaints didn't cost enough already huh?! Moving back to atmosphere monitoring and recording. I see the posts you have made in relation to monitoring conditions effectively on this thread and others. I think you are right to recommend customers check their prospective painter is doing this (doing this correctly I hasten to add!). It's important to record the data because it gives the customers reassurance that the atmosphere is being properly checked and maintained. And if a fault occurs later, which it may do, there are records to point to why. However, further to the above it's fair to say that recording temps daily is still not high on the majority of customer's "suitable painter" check-lists. In fact I read on CWDF the other day that a good professional paint job consists of "taking the windows out", but not much beyond that from what I gather!

ALDEBARAN all fine, I think the problem was further up

Mike, I will be down there at 3pm today, I will have a look for you. Is Broadmoor Lock what I call Appletree Lock, by Ian Staples place?

I searched my emails as soon as I read your post. You were sent an estimate for the work on the 6th of June 2014 from OBPCo, ref FIR1858. And I know you received it, because you replied to it.

Morelli have a branch in Loughborough and they mix Mason's P-Type to order. Sit down before they tell you the rrp per litre though