Mrs Humdinger

If you are going on the Severn, best to plan where you are going to stop - moorings are few and far apart.

I've never actually fallen in, but have done a very elegant "splay myself out on the floor like a sack of potatoes" at a lock, having tripped getting off the boat. Luckily the lock keeper was on the other side and didn't see me. Mr Hum has fallen in. He put his arm out to lean on the boat moored next to us, only to find it wasn't there anymore. It was very graceful, hardly a splash as he hit the water. It was dark, and he was quite drunk (New Year's Eve!) - that's his excuse anyway.

Whilst on holiday I saw an advert on the TV for these - Eggies - so you can boil your eggs with no shell. I hate having to take the top off a boiled egg, and something funny always happens to the eggy bit. I think these are only available in the US though.

I just renewed our licence. Paid online on Tuesday. Licence arrived in the post on Thursday! Can't complain at that.

We have been at Stourport over the last couple of weekends, and it is indeed a tragedy that a child died. As I understand it from what I have been told, the child was racing his bike across the bridge (racing was the word that was used), when he lost his balance and fell. Fencing was erected around the bridge whilst investigations were undertaken. People have since left many floral tributes, etc, tied to the fencing, so as such this has been left as it is for the time being as a mark of respect. I don't know when/if the fencing will be removed, but will be at the boat at the weekend and maybe someone will know.

If you are stopping at Worcester don't moor anywhere near the two bridges, or the locals will throw bricks at you (I speak from personal experience). Up by the Racecourse is much safer, but I heard the moorings are all closed off. The park chaps come round and collect the mooring money. If you are not there they leave a ticket stuck on the side - took Mr Hum weeks to get the sticky stuff off. If you arrive after office hours one evening and leave before office hours the next morning, chances are you'll avoid having to pay.

Sometimes, your circumstances just change. We are on the brink of selling our 12 month old, 65 ft (!!) boat. Initially, we were going to live aboard and cruise about, but things change when you least expect it. Now we both seem to have fallen ubti jobs we enjoy, have a nice little house, and it's become clear to us now that it's just not going to happen. This is our third boat, and we have already lived aboard our previous one for best part of 4 years, so it's not like we didn't have some idea of what we were doing or what to expect. Everyone with a boat knows there is always something to do, so Mr Hum works all week, spends all day Saturday doing boaty jobs, and then by 7.30 am on Sunday morning he's up and pacing about ready to come home so he can have a Sunday afternoon kip on the sofa. We are also in the "shiny boat brigade" (Mrs Hum hangs her head in shame!), so he's not really keen to take it anywhere in case it gets scratched. He likes to keep it looking nice, and spends ages cleaning and polishing. We've had to ask ourselves can we justify the expense of keeping it just to use it for the odd weekend? It's a lot to have tied up just sitting there. We could probably buy something half the length for a third of the price and halve our running costs, and have more fun out of it!! Mrs Hum is feeling very sad now!

We bought two bits of acrylic - 6mm x 500mm x 500mm which Mr Hum used to make internal doors for the side hatches. £25.30 delivered (£9 of which was carriage) from Plastic Online. Am not sure if they cut to size, Mr Hum made a wood surround so it was like a proper door, but they do other sizes so you might be able to make something work. Hope this helps. Mrs Hum

Appreciate that signal, etc, makes a difference. 3 are advertising their "premium" dongle as being up to 40% faster than a standard dongle, and it has a wiggly bit you plug in which means you can move the dongle up and down which apparently increases the signal strength. Just wondered if anyone had tried one yet. I am considering a Mifi, so I don't have to stick the dongle out the side hatch as Mr Hum keeps tripping over the wire!

I bought a 3 data sim loaded with 3 GB data which lasts for three months from the date you first use it (or until you use up the data), originally from Ebay but I see Amazon are now selling them cheaper - details here. When the data runs out, you either just top it up or chuck the card away and get a new one. Mine is just about to run out, so I will order a couple next time and then won't have to think about it for ages. Has anyone tried the new premium 3 dongles, which are supposed to be superfast?

Pacific Daylight Time - I think. One of the US timezones, anyway.

I like tugs! There, I said it!! I'm out of the closet! Mrs Hum looks around nervously.

That is interesting, and I will go and have a read, although Mr Hum is about as resistant as it gets! A bit off topic but a couple of weeks ago I saw NB Lapal, one of Barry Hawkins boats. There was a Gardner engine, complete with lots of shiny brass bits and the wall plaque, thumping away in the engine room. I have to confess, I watched wide-eyed as it went past - one of those "i want one of those" moments. Maybe I just like engines!!! Anyway, I duly went back and made Mr Hum come out and look. There was a look of total abject horror on his face as he peered into the engine room. OK, so it wasn't in any way a historic boat or an historic engine, but Mr Hum thinks that "proper" engines take 10 times more looking after than our Beta 43. Is this the case, or is it really just a knack?

Am not sure we'd be able to manage an old boat, but I have to admit, it does have a certain appeal. If you wanted an old boat, where do you find them? Not that I've really looked, but I don't recall ever seeing any advertised for sale. Is there a special secret old boat website?

Not wishing to hijack the thread, but has anyone tried the new 3 premium dongle, which is apparently super-speedy??

which pub? We're going to the boat this weekend specifically to avoid the "W" That makes me wonder. How do you recognise a forum member when they are incognito? Will you be carrying a rolled up newspaper and have a flower in your buttonhole? Or is the cork ball sticking out of your pocket a giveaway?

There was a fair bit of rage at Stourport last weekend. There was a considerable amount of shouting between two boats about who had right of way - one coming up the lock from the Severn, and the other going down the lock from the Basin. There was a hire boat stopped at the service point. They were jammed in like sardines - you could see it was a whole family, Mum, Dad, Gran, Grandad, and two small kids running up and down on the roof of the boat, even when in the lock, which made me wince a bit. They were heading up the Staff & Worcs, and sat there until they saw another boat coming across the basin, when suddenly there was a frenzy of activity, untying ropes and running about. I heard the Dad say "quick, hurry up so we can get into the lock first". They then pulled straight out in front of the other boat so they could claim the lock. The guy on the other boat (which was also a hire boat) just laughed.

Unfortunately, you've signed something. What does it say in the small print? Maybe you could negotiate due to the fact they haven't actually done anything. We once had a house which was rented to tenants. We decided to sell, and gave the tenants first refusal. They thought about it for a while, then said they didn't want to buy it, so we put it on with a local agent. 2 days later, we bumped into the tenant in the supermarket and he says, "oh, I've just been to the estate agents to make an offer on the house!" Mr Hum nearly killed him on the spot! We managed to get the bill reduced a bit as they hadn't actually done anything, but it still cost us £1,500.

Anyone heard anything from DeanS? Has he moved onto his boat with his extended family as yet? Just curious as to how he was getting on.

I read somewhere that if you fill the gap between the chimney skin and the liner with heat resistant expanding foam, this stops all the nasty stuff leaking out on to the roof. I will try and find where I read it. I should mention I haven't tried this myself, so apply at your own risk! Edited cos I can't spell!

We were considering the addition of a galvanic isolator, especially now we are moored in a marina alongside a 70 ft metal pontoon with everyone plugged into the shore power. Mr Hum did a bit of internet research, and the opinion seems to be split. On the one hand, it seems to be a bit of "must have" kit to stop hull pitting. The other view is that with the technology in the kind of kit that is installed these days that it's not really necessary. Of course, all the sites that say it's a bit of must have kit are trying to sell you one. Thoughts?

Mr Hum and I watched it with our mouths open, and he said "those two blokes are bonkers!" For a light entertainment programme, which is what it is, we quite enjoyed it. OK, anyone who knows anything about boats would have spotted the locations didn't quite add up and that the boat had obviously had a considerable amount of work done on it beforehand - lined out, electrics, new houdini's, engine, etc. However, It wasn't advertised as an in-depth documentary about boat restoration and it's not, it's more like a light-hearted romp through industrial history with the boat as the link in the middle. We learnt a bit about things we didn't know much about - OK, the whole furnace thing didn't work, but was interesting in itself, and you could see the two blokes were enjoying themselves. You just know they are going to be getting up to no good sooner or later. If you didn't like it, then don't watch the rest of the series. Simple.