Athy

Dramatic! I hope the crew were not harmed.

Could well have been - or the person who was operating it!

So, despite the sensationalist use of "capsized" in the headline (journalists, eh?) the boat tipped on to its side, not upside down. Thankfully it looks as if no one was hurt. Now, who owned the tree?

You could be right - but wasn't there a case a couple of years ago in which a boatbuilder was fined for supplying a hull which was over 6'10" wide which was considered by a judge not to be fit for its purpose? So we may look at 6'10", or 2m08cm, as the limit of their width. Working boats were built to 7'0" or even very slightly wider. Not sure about the boats of 30 years ago in general, but I suspect that 6'10" has been normal for many years.

The standard width of a modern narrowboat in metric is, I think, 2m08cm. So it's only one centimetre (about two-fifths of an inch) narrower than the norm, which should not make a deal of difference.

But we see from Matty's last post that Aintree Boats have done the decent thing since the error was discovered, and done it promptly. That sort of after-sales service gives one confidence in the company.

They varied quite a bit but, in general, yes.

...as inscribed on the flyleaves of numerous copies of Kennedy's Shorter Latin Primer - or "Shortbread Eating Primer" as it often became at the hands of first-formers.

You will find the greatest quantity, if not quality, of boats gathered in one place at Whilton Marina. It's by the A5 and the West Coast main line, but I'm not sure where the nearest 'bus stop and station are. They allow you to take sets of keys from the office and view boats at your leisure. I can't think of any brokerages near Brighton, though I guess that the trains which go directly from there to the Midlands may come in useful.

Perhaps just the fashion of the time. Springer was a major builder of budget-level narrowboats at that time, and most of their boats were V-hulled. It does have the advantage that in shallow water you can get the boat closer to the bank when mooring up. In fact this one bears some resemblance to the slightly more upmarket model called the "Springer Tug". One forum member has one of those, so he will know more about any resemblance that I do. The price looks rather high for a boat of this size and age, but in view of the amount of attention and new equipment which it has recently received, it's worth a look.

Built by Total Craft (whom I haven't heard of) in 1989, when those steel thicknesses would be common in shorter boats. Our first boat was a 1989 39-footer by Atlas (whom I also haven't heard of) and her plating was 6/5/3. The roof flexed a bit when I walked on it, but otherwise she was solid enough.

But the words come from French, where the verb is absorber and the noun is absorption, so let us blame them. It has friends, such as describe and description, prescribe and prescription. It all goes back to Latin, if memory serves.

Puggered if I know.

I don't think that's the case - as far as I'm aware, any moddy can give them.

What a kind thought, but used fivers will do just fine. As for the report facility, I too thought that it had vanished - but hover your cursor/arrow thingy over the blue or gold stripe across the top of a post and the words "Report post" will magically appear. At least, they do for me.