Athy

Now moved to General Boating.

That's sad to see. When we moored in that area (late '90s/ early 2000s) it was a proper lock-keeper's house which housed a proper lock-keeper who took a pride in maintaining the lock and who, I think, won an award for the most attractive lockside in the region.

Welcome to the forum. To the best of my knowledge, most steel boats (including ours) are blacked every few years. I don't know if antifoul can also be used, but someone with more knowledge than me is bound to be along shortly. We do have members with considerable experience of the French waterways, so feel free to ask any further questions which you may have. If you repaint the upper part of the hull I hope you don't lose that charming panda picture.

Yes, so do I, as the advert says that they are. They're painted by "AKJ"; whether that's a single artist or a company, I don't know.

It doesn't look bad value for a set of three painted cans. Our three-gallon model cost about £90 from Jane Selkirk about 15 years ago, and that's steel, not brass.

I'm going to attempt to merge the threads. This is something I have never ytied before, so please forgive me if carnage ensues. Well, fallen at thge first hurdle I'm afraid. I entered the name of the topic ("Small Problem" etc) in the requisite box, but the box then demanded that I enter a URL, which I couldn't find. So, as you were...

As this in the West Country, surely a Pasty? I was going to ask if this was the same George who appeared in that film in which a young lade and her strngley-names son, Rover or some such, were evicted from the canal. I see from an earlier post that he is. In the film, which I think was made some five years ago, he had a somewhat weatherbeaten appearance, so I suspect that he may have further declined since then. What I do wonder is, , if the young lady and her son, whose boat did move at least a bit, were evicted, how come George hasn't been? Is it because CART knew that the former, as a family unit, would have the right to be housed by the council (although I think they chose to move into a Dormobile instead)? On the face of it, this doesn't look like a fair application of the rules.

Yes, I get the picture (yes, we see), as Paul C. had already explained it. In answer to your second sentence...er, nit-picking? Making work for yourself? Tedium?...unless you can get a computer to do it, of course - they aren't easily bored.

Ho ho. Yes, I'm aware of "granular". It means in the form of grains. "Accounting" too, it means adding up my income, taking a bit off and showing it to the taxman. Isn't that right? But I had not previously encountered the two together. Bet you knew that really.

Er, no. Close, though. So it means that you pay for what you use, as in electricity, rather than pay a sum based on the average of lots of consumers, as (in our case) water.

A term with which I'm not familiar. It sounds as if it's the work done by Lord Sugar's accountants. What is it? (I realise that I'm inviting a retort of "Google it!" but that would negate the point of CWDF as a place for discussion and the exchange of information).

That's very lucidly put. Personally my favourite on your list of attractions would be number 2; and Mrs. Athy and I somehow skipped the earlier steps of the "pathway" and went straight in at number 5. But I realise that we aren't typical.

Be careful what you wish for. I must admit that a few years ago I thoroughly enjoyed walking along the derelict part of the Crmford Canal from Langley Mill to Butterley Tunnel and back. But part of the enjoyment was imagining the baots and people who had pased along it in days of yore, and foreseeing those who would do so in tthe future. The "better by water" slogan is actually rather clever, is it can by interpreted in two ways, as "travelling by water" and "being beside water".

No no, the grants are awarded for the unique benefit of fishermen who sit beside a canal and cheer the place up. I'm amazed that no one has yet grasped that. You are 100% correct. Yes. If someone wants a pleasant walk in the country, thjere are thousands of lanes and footpaths to accommodate them. To suggest that canals be kept open just to give them somewhere else to walk is, at best, erroneous.

Oh come on, not all of them are taking drugs. But seriously, yes, you're right.

I've fixed that for you. Don't worry, I've done so completely free of charge, so you aren't my customer.

No, they are not and you are not. I might enjoy looking in a shop window, but I am not a customer until I go into the shop and buy something.

I think you're clutching at straws there. Canals are kept open to allow the passage of boats. It may be pleasant for people to walk beside them but it has no bearing on their income as far as I'm aware.

Tea-he.

Do you also talk sense. Try sitting in your local café or pub for an hour without buying anything. In what way would this encourage other people to come in and spend money? It would not, unless perhaps I were a celebrity, which I'm not.

Quite right too. To communicate in proper English costs no money and little effort; not to do so indicates a sloppy attitude and a lack of respect for the people whom you're addressing.

Nearly right. The original purpose was to allow the movement of BOATS, which could indeed transport goods or people. Allowing the movement of boats was, and is, the raison d'etre of a canal.

Well spotted./ Please don't call me "D".