Québec

A number of holes in this story, methinks.

From the Birmingham Mail: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/yobs-drill-holes-canal-barges-10679960#ICID=FB-Birm-main A barge owner has been forced to flee his mooring by vandals sinking boats on the canal network. Martin Taylor quit his mooring at Bissett, near Alvechurch , after seeing a boat sink before his eyes. The 59-year-old said vandals drilled holes into the hulls of boats on the canal network to deliberately sink them.........

Here's ours. Tiles on fire board. 3 sections, bolted together.

Till a friend found it, I'd completely forgotten that I'd made a photographic record of our first trip along the Llangollen in 2012, using Flipagram (in case you were wondering) which I then posted on YouTube. Here it is (2min long) :

Off topic (a bit)...only links Crime and Chorlton. The GMP have only just released CCTV footage (which was on the BBC national news) of the thieves who stole c. 200 Xmas trees from our local convenience store in Chorlton three weeks ago. Clearly there must be a reason for the delay....though in the case of he trees, they've all been sold off the back of the van by now.

Oops...yep....apologies. (Note to self: do not attempt to read/post anything on CWDF unless stone cold sober....liable to write a load of bilge)

Post deleted on grounds of stupidity.

Didn't bother with the grout. The white is the original adhesive. To be honest I can't remember whether I actually used the Vitcas stuff. But it was certainly a strong, heat resistant adhesive.

I used standard PVA to prime the boards. Tiles still rock solid after five years. ETA Found a couple of photos .

The luxury houseboat was moored virtually outside our son's flat at South Quay, part of the West India Dock system. The lock entrance to the whole system from the Thames is just behind the restored tug boat. The houseboat was only there for just over a week while they made the programme. Though fully furnished, there was no one living in it, certainly in the few days I was staying in London. The actual mooring was on the far left of the photo, by the lifebelt. As to 'premium' view. This is the view from our son's one bedroom flat, the rent for which was by no means 'premium', and relatively low for Docklands, especially as he'd only just started at the bottom of the job ladder.

Just to be clear....from the government's Intellectual Property Office. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/305165/c-notice-201401.pdf Essentially copyright remains with the original photographer and/or (if he/she was paid for doing their job) with the company who employed/paid them. Copyright can be transferred, or someone can be given a licence to use the photos. If you don't know who the photographer was (or can't be bothered to find out) then using the photographs is still a breach of copyright. These works are known as orphan works, and cannot be copied. Of course, the t'internet and social media (like CWDF) are creating havoc with the law.

Just catching up on this thread. Glad your dog's OK, Loafer. Our miniature schnauzer was set upon by two boxers on the loose in our local park, with their owner standing by in the distance holding on to two other dogs and doing nothing to help while my partner and her friend fought to keep the two off. Eventually my partner was able to pick up our dog who was bleeding profusely from a massive wound on her side. Fortunately is was a weekday and our local vet was only a couple of miles away. It was touch and go but after an operation and a few weeks recovery she was physically recovered but was clearly now afraid of open spaces and other dogs. We reported the incident and put notices up around the park asking if anyone knew the owner. We quickly discovered who he was (he owned a local hairdressing salon) and also discovered that the Dangerous Dogs Act only covers dog-on-human attacks. The dog owning policeman who visited us, who was very sympathetic, said that if the dogs had bitten my partner or her friend they they would have been able to 'get him' under the Act. As it was they couldn't do anything except give him a stern warning. We had pet insurance, which paid out, and we could have taken the guy to the small claims caught, but decided it was just too much hassle. The only upside to this was that as word spread around the local dog owning community a number of people started to stop going to the hairdressing salon, apparently the owner already had a bad reputation in regard to how he controlled (or not) his dogs. At one point the guy sent a 'friend' round to us complain that we had ruined his reputation, and threatening to take us to court!. It was all bluster, of course, and nothing happened.

Here's our entrance from a trad stern. Straight in over the engine (under blue mat). Bend but no twist. Foreground is part of platform for superking size cross bed and, in case you're wondering, we've got a perspex window that slots easily between the doors. Layout: Bedroom - bathroom - open plan kitchen & lounge (stove at front) - cratch. 40' narrowboat.

Can vouch for the advantages of a 40-footer. Except our experience, on the Whitchurch arm, was the opposite. The only possible space on the VMs was a small'ish gap between two boats. I was saying to the OH 'We'll never fit in there", and two guys from one of the two boats said 'Oh yes you will, we'll give you a hand". We threw them the fore and aft ropes and they pulled us in sideways. The gap was c. 40' 1"!