Derek R.

I find it odd that when the word aqua refers to water, and logically a structure that carries water acoss any space ought to be called an aquaduct, that almost all references use aqueduct. Who wrote this dictionary . . . ?

There is something on Mary Gibby on the Hospitalfield website: https://hospitalfield.org.uk/garden-talks-this-autumn/ (I hope I have the right Mary Gibby, I think I have). Select the slides link (Part two), there are images of staff. Some may recognise Mary therein. Many years ago Mary invited us to go along to Chelsea for a visit, sadly we never made it.

Good grief, that's terrible. She ran the Physics Garden in Chelsea for I don't know how long. My condolences to friends and family.

Garry, a lot of boats get sold through the grapevine. It's who you know, and sometimes whether the prospective buyer is considered a worthy new owner.

Word of mouth; post the details on blogs like this; and knock about £25k off the asking price. Just saying. It's good looking overall, and well equipped - perhaps a bit 'over' equipped. But what is there, is there, and best left there.

I have two A4 sized books on London Docklands, a 200 pager and a 300 pager; 'Dockland Life' by Chris Elmers and Alex Werner, and 'Dockland' NELP/GLC, edited by S.K. Al Naib & R. J. M. Carr. The latter has extensive photographs, machinery layouts, ship layouts, warehouse practices and a Gazeteer chapter with lined maps of all the docks during their working days. Dockland Life ISBN 1-85158-364-5 Dockland ISBN 0-901987-80-8

Somehow, Paul suffered a crankshaft failure with the PD and IIRC within six months of purchase. Yet that PD stonked us all around the system from the Thames to Gargrave without missing a beat, save for one incident where a fuel line cracked at the point it entered a banjo union. We were on the L & L at the time, and a short walk took us to a plant repair depot where it got re-brazed on. Other than that - faultless. (The PD came from a ships lifeboat allegedly, somewhere in East Anglia courtesy of John Pattle, and was lifted in at Aylesbury. The BMC Commodore it replaced went into Brian Barnes KALAMAKI, and may still be there today). The lack of 'lift' to the cabin at the stern was to emulate that of other 'Josher' motors. My biggest regret was not to have had the sides 'panelled'. But finances at the time precluded that option. Prior to 1986 when the cabin and motor counter stern was created (Roger Farringdon and Co.) at Braunston : At Wigan. IWA Rally '83? Françoise (Mother-in-Law) comes for tea.

Be still my beating heart . . . Our home for ten years. 18ft swim, she goes well. I quite like the inside, has character. That back cabin range has had it, but the chrome plated oven and ash-pan doors want saving. Chris Lloyd's idea that was.

Mid seventies sounds about right, though it remained open as a shop into the eighties. If you wanted beer, you went to the Red Lion just up Vicarage Road in Marsworth. Two minutes walk.

Wonderful collection of drawings. Thank you for posting these, they describe the machinery very well. I can only think that the comparative complexity of integrating the cone structure to the hull, and the concerns over fouling through water born debris has been two of the factors preventing a more widespread adoptation of the system. That, and of course, the dogged obstinacy of 'keeping to what is known' as another. Propellors on shafts present their own issues, but are in the main, simpler devices with clearing them done with a boat hook.

Apparently oily, dirty and difficult from memory of the written word.

I see it. But that's t'other side of the world! Google Wig Wig and the daft thing comes up with a wig shop in Church Stretton! https://tinyurl.com/yp6b4sdh

@Ray T Yes, it comes to us all. It was the little things that I remember from speaking with ex-boat folk. Inconsequential things like the chap who looked in the engin'ole at suttons and saw we had a 'chip fryer', tall stories from Arthur Bray, and the helpful way Joe Safe got us in off the Thames with a nifty bit of rope work, and top of Hatton when I set the engine speed and left it alone which drew a comment from the lockie who said words to the effect: 'That's more like it. Not like these hire boaters who can decide one way or t'other.' David Blagrove on a bend when our boats barely touched: - "Two Joshers kissing on a corner!" Good memories.

I'll 'see you' with Wig Wig . . . .

Smacks of greed and disenchantment. I've never been a fan of 'big' gatherings, favouring the Christmas and Easter 'do's' that were regular in the days in the eighties. The fun was in getting there; some impromptu music in a pub; a good breakfast - then off. Perhaps the Braunston experience is wearing thin. £20 for parking? A fiver would be too much. Blists Hill Victorian village charges £5 still (my daughter works there). It's £26.50 to enter, but you have an entire small town to wander round, shops from which items can be bought, fish & chips, bread and rolls all baked on the premises, cafe and restaurant and guides and shop-keepers in period costumes explaining the activities of many trades that once were, and the entrance auditorium tells the story of Coalbrookdale in sound and fury. History on show, history explained. For rallies, smaller is better. There is also the query that most of the attendees having never worked boats for a living (nor have I) are there as: 'would have beens', but having 'never been' were pretenders, often in almost clown like pseudo costume - dogs with neckerchieves. Those Braunston rallies I have been to, reminded me of how so many people were complete strangers to me, with barely a handful of faces I knew from forty years ago. And even then, I considered myself as a 'newby' - an imposter. Maybe I'm getting too cynical in my dotage. The working life experience has gone. The 'Circus' show is fading. The 'Big Top' is leaking. Such things were never 'traditions' amongst working boat people, it was graft, only broken by an evening in a pub, or a stoppage. Todays Brasso Brigade can only polish and paint. But still - I miss it.

A boat is worth what you want to pay for it. And that will depend on why you want it, and what you are going to do with it. Where you moor it will demand fees; licencing, insurance, docking, paint and ongoing repairs. Boating is a lifestyle that precludes all else, not for the average 'Joe'. But then boat folk are not your average anything. Same goes for classic and veteran cars or motorcycles, though generally speaking they are much cheaper to buy, maintain and run than a boat, and you have the opportunity to SORN them, and tuck them away almost cost free in a garage or barn. Boats and motor vehicles are not investments, they are expensive liabilities. If you want to invest in something, look to precious metals. Presuming there will be any kind of future for humankind with the way certain national administrations are heading just now. Niche interests live in isolated hope. Enjoy while you can, you certainly won't be 'taking it with you'.

Clearly Mr Hassell was able in his depiction of trees, dwellings and cattle. Pity he was not so observant with locks and gates. I can draw many things, but never accurately trees, cattle or people. Are the engravings better than nothing? Or puzzles to be pondered over for future generations?

Not least the Old London Bridge - not the one that is now in Arizona, but the bridge that stood for 600 plus years with houses; shops; drawbridge and chapel thereupon. The pedestrian entrance to that bridge still stands in Lower Thames Street, opposite Fish Street Hill, EC3. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Remains-of-the-old-London-Bridge/ And recently: https://tinyurl.com/3vvcps5a

I agree with David Mack. There must be many paintings and engravings that have been made in the past that have been made from memory of a visit to a location. Perhaps when some detail or other is needed, a look though published literature might fill in some required factors, but the end result is a scene which could be many places, but in effect - none, leaving speculation to explode.

Fascinating story of St. Ives bridge and Chapel. Thanks for that link.

Apart from the lovely flight of steps, this is what caught my eye: Company number?

The Troubled over Bridged waters . . . .

Use a team of chainsaws. Sad, but true. £195 for a chance to save a complete engine and Hotchkiss cones. Is the engine and cone configuration worth £195? And then add the cost of transporting away the debris.

I had understood (and I may be wrong) that the tar boats were used to take the waste water products from coking plants to places that could use such tar water for the preservation of wood products, rather than the transportation of fuel or lubricating oils. As to why a pipeline and not boats; Convenience, much like why Motor Spirit stopped being sold in cans, but available from a forecourt pump. The decline in tar boat traffic must also have been affected by the clean air acts which cut back on coal burning in general. Wikipedia has a fairly good article on Coke and the phenolic by-products https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)

I think I can smell the tar . . . .