Ray T

Parthenogenesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis

Fred W If you PM me and let me know when you are coming I'll come and say "Hello" if I'm available. The City centre is only about 1/2 mile from the basin. I live about 2 miles from the Basin. We've stayed overnight on a boat visit with no problems.

Out of interest from The Oxford Dictionary: Definition of cratch in English cratch Pronunciation: /kratʃ/ noun dialecta long open trough or rack used for holding food for farm animals out of doors.Origin:Middle English: from Old French creche; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to crib I understood it to be the area at the front of the hold in horse drawn boats where the horse's fodder, food was kept.

Interesting comment in the description: You can help to get 1913 built "Hazel" up and running as a well being boat by bidding on her old deckboard ( often erroneously called a cratch) It's well past being used on a narrow boat but would look well as a wall decoration. Bid generously, get the old girl back into service. Is this a deckboard, a cratch, a cratch board or what? According to Mr E Paget-Tomlinson it is a cratch. Any one know different ?

Viewer discretion required Some of these look polished http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/fake-dog-poo Not quite sure what this has to do with fresh paint ?

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=60001

Our good wishes for the future, have courage and be gentle with yourself.

I featured on BBC Radio 4 news this morning. The local council have ordered its removal as the bridge is a Grade 3 listed building and the box in not "appropriate".

With all this "wind" is this any good?

We have a Stinger CB aerial: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Long-Springer-Tornado-Stinger-CB-Antenna-7-Turbo-Magnetic-Mount-CB-Aerial-/221151501913#ht_1350wt_1162 We cut the original aerial feed off the base and put the dongle up inside the coil in a cleaned out inverted tooth paste tube. Works for us. ETA our dongle is a Vodafone one.

Likewise. I find his articles informative and easy to read.

From Wiki: 21st-century use[edit source | editbeta]CB has lost much of its original appeal due to development of mobile phones, the internet and the Family Radio Service. Changing radio propagation for long-distance communications due to the 11-year sunspot cycle is a factor at these frequencies. In addition, CB may have become a victim of its own popularity; with millions of users on a finite number of frequencies during the mid-to-late 1970s and early 1980s, channels often were noisy and communication difficult. This caused a waning of interest among hobbyists. Business users (such as tow-truck operators, plumbers and electricians) moved to the VHF business-band frequencies. The business band requires an FCC license, and usually results in an assignment to a single frequency. The advantages of fewer users sharing a frequency, greater authorized output power, clarity of FM transmission, lack of interference by distant stations due to "skip" propagation, and consistent communications made the VHF (Very High Frequency) radio an attractive alternative to the overcrowded CB channels. Channel 9 is restricted by the FCC to only emergency communications and roadside assistance.[15] Most highway travelers monitor channel 19. CB radio is still used by truck drivers, and remains an effective means of obtaining information about road construction, accidents and police radar traps.

Used very much in the offshore world, The Thames + others I am unaware of. From The RYA site: http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/courses/specialist/Pages/SRC.aspx "The Short Range Certificate is the minimum qualification required by law to control the operation of VHF and VHF Digital Selective Calling (DSC) equipment on any British flagged vessel voluntarily fitted with a radio. This includes both fixed and hand held equipment using International channels. A radio is an important piece of safety equipment on board and it is vital to understand the correct procedures. Unnecessary transmissions could block out a Mayday distress call."

Ever had a Morse lever stuck up your trousers? I ripped a trouser leg doing that. Admittedly I was climbing down off the roof of the boat at the time.

We changed the name of our boat shortly after purchase. The boat had stood on brokerage for nearly 3 1/2 years - we never found out why. We were out in her one day sharing a lock with another boat. The lady aboard inquired "Have you bought that boat"? On my affirmative reply,I then received this comment "We looked at it, didn't think much to it". The original name meant nothing to us any way, it was a mixture of the original owners name and an area of Rickmansworth they lived in. Had we discounted it on her name we would have missed out on a lovely boat which suits us. The paintwork needed attention and a complete repaint was on our agenda anyway.

Hello and welcome. A couple of sites may help: http://www.tb-training.co.uk/ for information on mechanicals etc. http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/ lots of boats to suit all purses here.

Definitely use anti freeze, a 50 - 50 mixture will suffice. Just treat as you would your car's engine. If you have central heating radiators in your boat that system will need anti freeze as well. Again I use a 50 - 50 mix in our boat. Anti freeze will have corrosion inhibitors as well. Unless you want to drain the entire system every winter.

Ideas here? http://lifeafloatonnarrowboatticketyboo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/diy-porthole-curtains-night-time.html http://www.sewgoodshop.co.uk/porthole-bung-narrowboat-canal-boat-12-14 http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=30225&hl=porthole+covers

Edited; posting pictures of individual CRT staff members could be construed as bullying, and so this post has been removed.