grahame r

Never mind the gas, look at the electricity consumption, the last time I had a cup of tea with Bizzard (and very nice it was too, will be back around October for the next) he only had one car starter battery as a "domestic bank". Unless he's joined us power crazed wasters, that's perhaps 100 amp hours assuming it's brand new and perfect (it's neither) if he depletes it to 50% (foolhardy with a starter batery) that's 50 Ahrs, over 7 days is just 7 Ahrs per day. If you've ever done a power audit you'll know just how frugal he is.

And what did the man, who even though he's been dead for 50 years and was famous for playing this instrument over 70 years ago and is still by far the most famous exponent of this instrument cal it?

I thought 4 guitars, a banjo (5 string no arguments), a Uke (guitar shaped so shut up), a concertina (is it a melodian? NO!!!!) and spoons were too much even on our widebeam. We've nothing to eat our soup with now

So what did George Formby play?

I'm fed up with people going on about the saucey image of the ukulele, I blame George Formby, if you wanted a double entendre he'd give you one. Anyway to encourage you to start playing here's a video of a man strumming my girl's pussy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhVILRvy1gA It may take you a little longer than a month or so to play like this.

Nice Uke, it could change your life! Lots of free instructional vids about, just google "Ukulele training" or such to find them. Then find your nearest club, enjoy a good night out, practice for a few months, post a vid on here of you playing and then reccommend the club on the pinned subject you are going to post here. Simples. With all due respect to Aunty_Rinum, that's why I posted that it was A good definition. The definition, I believe, is accorded to piano accordian players. We Ukemen are nothing if not pedantic. The word Banjo covers a multitude of instruments, the 5 string banjo is a fine instrument but it's almost as big as a guitar and more limited in the type of music it is suitable for, 6 string banjos whilst in existence are rare enough to ignore, the four stringed variety when made small enough to be discreet on a boat are called... you guessed...Ukuleles!!

Frugal? that's profligate, Bizzard could live for 10 years on that and still have thrupence left to get the bus home. Yes, turning the fridge off in the winter and using the natural cold is a good strategy. We've tried putting the fridge/freezer on a timer and turning off between about 2am and 4am in the summer, but of course you then have to chill it down again, so we tried turning it off between about 6am and 9am because by 9am the engine would be running and chilling it down wouldn't take any signicant extra power, it seemed to be better. By far the best thing we did was to invest in a KW of Solar power, our batteries are showing 100% by 8am this time of year. What will happen in the winter is yet to be seen.

But we aren't plugged into the mains Tony, all I'm saying is that the system I'm describing is an efficient use of resouces. If you were on the towpath, even with your frugal (it's that word again) power usage, you'd have to run your engine for hours to get your battery back to a decent state of charge. More noise, more pollution, more fuel and no hot water!

Communist. Why do I think that brainwashing our kids into liking Ukuleles is a great idea but singing about a dairy product is spooky?

Or whilst stationary and running an efficient engine driven generator for other purposes! CCrs don't have an umbilical chord attached to the mains, so generation of some sort is inevitable if entropy is to be combatted. If you have ANY electrical equipment, and EVERYONE on this forum does, then you will need a means to recharge your batteries, I agree that solar power is the quitest, cleanest and cheapest to operate, that's why we have a kilowatt of panels on our roof, but during winter this is limited. If you're going to run an engine then a proper generator is surely more efficient than a conventional alternator AND you're getting the hot water, as much as you like at full pressure, as a by-product.

I know that a good definition of a gentleman is a person who CAN play the Ukulele and DOES'NT, but am I alone in my enthusiasm for this most practical of instruments? The obvious advantage over a guitar of course is size, my guitars have a habit of multiplying and even one takes up a lot of valuable space. There are other advantages, having less strings than the average person has fingers on one hand makes it easier for beginners to get a tune out of and, being tuned 5 exactly semitones higher than the top 4 strings of a guitar mean that guitar chord shapes still work albeit a "D guitar shape" becomes a "G Uke chord" etc which is a bit mindbending to start with but if you can play a guitar you'll able to play a uke immediately. They are not just a poor man's strumming guitar, they are just as challenging as other stringed instruments with complicated strumming patterns and of course fingerpicking offers endless possibilities. I think the naturally bright happy sound of a uke is particularly suited to the waterways whilst skilled players are also able to engender more soulful pieces. During the winter we moored on the Lee at Stanstead Abbotts and I visited the Bishop Stortford Ukulele Society which is one of the many clubs springing up for people to get together and enjoy communal music making. There were often upwards of 30 players, they cater for all abilities, absolute beginners are always welcome and performances in public are organised at private parties, music festivals, open mike nights etc. This is a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously, but playing with others will improve both your motivation and technique. In the summer months we cruise The Thames, K&A, Grand Union and London's rivers and canals and I've been searching the net for suitable clubs to pay the occassional visit, I've found one in Reading and I'm sure there are other's dotted around. If anyone else is like-minded and perhaps more technical than myself would it be possible to start a pinned thread listing details of clubs near the waterways? If on the other hand there is no interest, then I'll be a gentleman, at least in public. Grahame

WOW a supercharged narrow boat! Is it a Bentley?

This is slightly off topic as you have specifically asked about electricity requirements, but heating by electricity, be it water or space, is incredibly inefficient and to be avoided. I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that a solid fuel stove for space heating is a must for year round liveaboards. Water heating is a bit more testicle, back boilers tend to be good at distributing heat via rads and can be connected to a calorifier water heating system but I've yet to see a really practical one and of course during the summer you still need hot water. Bizzard's enthusiasm for gas water heating is warranted if you intend to live a frugal lifestyle (and Bizzard is nothing if not frugal) but will get expensive if you need regular "tankfulls" of water. We've just had fitted a second hand Dometic/Electrolux Travel Pack, an engine driven 230 volt 3.5 kva alternator system that I'm hoping will solve the hot water and battery charging in winter conundrum. In conjunction with substantial solar power, I'm hoping that running the engine for an hour or so per day will provide hot water and battery boosting to allow us to continue consuming energy at an obscene rate. The only real reason we come into a marina for winter is for the electrical hook-up and if we can avoid the marina charges then the savings will be huge. The cost of such a system new is eye-watering and retro-fitting a second hand system, even if you can locate one, is not for the feint hearted, but if you could find a boat with such a system already fitted then I think it should be seriously considered.

When we come across a mooring designated for priority for the disabled we put Sue's blue badge in the window. I'm sure it has no legal signifigance but at least people know that we have a disabled person on board. Should a more severely disabled person need it we would move or, more likely, suggest they moor alongside. We have window stickers inviting people to moor alongside. If these were more readily available from CaRT and the EA then I'm sure a lot of the congestion issues would be eased. Despite evidence to the contrary on this forum, a lot of boaters are actually quite shy and retiring!

I don't think your boat is in any danger, there's an "effect" (someone will remember it's name) that stops lightning from harming metal tubes like boats and planes. Point a nice long metal pole skywards tho........

Surely it's the CaRT's responsibility to keep the navigation open?

"Two elderly passengers on board" now who could they be? No, he's in hospital. Charles and Camilla? perhaps he was driving!

If you give a good long toot as you enter Lock Number One, Southmill Lock on the Stort, just outside Bishop's Stortford, Bizzard may appear from behind the bushes and complain about the noise, or if he's in a good mood entertain you with an amusing wheeeeeeze!

We passed this boat yesterday. It's a wonderful sight, something you don't see every day and our guests were thrilled to see and photograph it. It was heading east, we west, we pulled over to the left to allow them to pass unhindered and got a cheery thanks and a wave from crew and passengers. It's obviously not the easiest boat to handle and anything we can do to make it easier we will.

We've just put a Kw on our roof, SOC 100% by 8am this time of year. It will be interesting to see what its like over the winter, we only come into a marina for the leccy, could save us a fortune.

If the images are to be scanned at the size of the original, presumably mostly 35mm then £2.50 per image is not absurdly cheap bearing in mind there's 20,000 of them. Modern scanners do not require colour correction for very exact colour matching. Annotation and archiving are outside of my expertise.

Yes, but please be aware that not all elsan points are suitable and a lot of people will post saying that its smelly and unsociable. We have a self pump out kit but only use it in emergency.

If they do that then there'll be criticism that they are spending our licence fees on self publicity! I notice people are back out drumming up support for the "Friends of the CaRT" campaign, no doubt the whingers will be talking of chugging and money wasting again. My opinion is that the more people we can spread the cost of the waterways over, the better they will become. I've certainly noticed a better attitude since CaRT took over, we all need to spread the word.