Water Rat.

All open now.

Was planning to move the boat towards Denham this evening but the canal at Halfpenny Bridge in Paddington is shut whilst the police investigate a body found in canal

And you can grow a whole new crassula plant from a single leaf - how neat is that!

The bands have their own stage and the beer has its own tent

I'm going to be there with the boat, doing Henna body art on the Saturday, working Sunday but around all other times. Be nice to see people.

Yes - they are good. Expensive since you can only 'use' it once, may inflate in heavy rain - I left one outside and it rained I had thought they were not being made anymore?

Well, it depends where you want to grow your plant. Inside or outside? If it is inside you need a plant that is happy to grow in low light levels - Spider plants easy to grow and resilient to neglect; Succulents are great and don't need too much attention or water, butterfly orchids, dead easy and will flower again. Ferns are good but need water. Outside - again it depends where you want to put it. If on the roof it has to be very low growing - the prostrate rosemary would be excellent - you can eat it, it flowers (Bees love it) and is evergreen. But, as far as shrubs go here are a few more: Skimmia - evergreen, small flowers followed by red or white berries, Lavender, Potentilla - pretty flowers in various colours, Hebe, go for a dwarf variety - evergreen flowers pinks/purples, Cistus - lovely flowers. Pop into you local garden centre and have a browse. Be sure to pot it into good compost with drainage, add slow release fertilizer, water it until it is established then you will find that most shrubs are fairly tough as long as they get some water occasionally. Check out FB page The Canal Boat Gardener. Let us know what you do.

Thank for your comments By'ek, very informative. The 'box thing' is integral to the boat but I will try to line it with some wood. The lid is wooden with insulation.

Thank you Bacchus - but what exactly are they secured to? Mine are just sitting in a purpose built box thing.

It is boat safety time again. I think everything is in place, except the batteries. I have two batteries in a purpose made metal box affair with a lid, there is space for a third but I don't have one. How should I secure them? Can I just wedge something, some wood for example in the gap?

Try to avoid the school holidays - it gets a bit busy!

Oh I say - just seen this. Thank you so much - I did have a lovely day.

Did anyone find my long handle windlass - left there last October'ish?

We managed the tidal Thames,The Avon, Severn, Weaver, Soar and Trent last year. A very different experience from canals! Very lovely, but far more stressful then canals. Prepare well, watch the weather and be sure your engine is serviced before you go.

What is it with running engines? I am spending a single evening on my little boat in Berko and the third boat this evening is still running it's engin. The whole evening I have had to listen to someone's engin, it is now almost 9pm! Come on people. Hush please. Rant over. So much for the peace and quiet of the cut!

I thought it was interesting that the slant was actually that living on a boat was, price wise, not dissimilar to renting a flat. A good point raised. Omitted was that there are not the facilities in terms of water and elsan points to accommodate this number of 'cc'ing' live aboard boats. CRT definitely missed an opportunity to point out the difficulties being experienced by boaters because there are simply too many boats. On another point, there are miles of towpath unusable because of the underground cables and the possible dangers involved with hammering your pins into the ground - but is there any reason why rings or piling cannot be installed to use this space?

Oh dear. I believe it to be a long term hire boat. Who is responsible for the re-floating I wonder?

There is an interesting point being raised on the London Boaters Facebook page about keeping to the right. A few seem to feel one should be keeping to the right at times whether passing another boat or not. I thought the correct thing to do was keep centre, sound the horn when approaching a bend and keep to the right when passing another boat? I usually position the boat to where I have a better chance to see what may be approaching bur generally keep to the middle except when passing. What are other thoughts in this?

What???? FFS