Jim Jam

As said above, I have been playing on boats for 30 years, and well as 10 years on narrowboats, looking for anyone who would like help moving boats, delivering them etc, pm me

Can do it and have done it and love to do it again, love a call please Gilly, promise I will make your tea strong this year

what about these? we sell them at Tooleys and also available from Midland. There are also black rope ones on the market that are about the same diameter

Can we have your cakes mrsmelly ? please??

The bit of it I dont like is the crap shopping centre that hides the place.... (yes, I work there and having a'good' job, its the first time I have looked forward to going to work in the mornings)

Had some parts in the other day for a FR2 I think it was, what you after?

I have breasted up loads of times, its common in cowes for instance, where I used to do a lot of sailing and yes, on a sailing boat you go round the front of the mast when going across boats. When I have done it in narow boats, its usually in Upton upon Severn where I have been 3 abreast and seen yogurt pots 5-6 abreast and they tie directly to the bridge with a bow line. The main thing when doing it is to make sure you tie directly to the bank or something solid yourself, dont rely solely on anyone elses knots. *edit* I did laugh at some woman at the Camp in Grimley on the severn a couple of years ago that didnt want me to breast up with their boat cos it had just been blacked, her hubby heard the convo and went red and asked me to, so i moored up the stern in front of them and only the back half of the boat on the pontoon and threw out the anchor knowing the river was low and all was fine and the couple stayed in theor boat bless em

From what I know, not a lot as you cant get to Bewdley in a narrow boat, its too shalllow to go much further up the severn than 300 metres past the bridge in Stourport

have a look here http://www.cruisingschool.co.uk/home.htm can do the ICC, CEVMI and helms course

We went, tom and gem spent the day looking at the WOW stands, which I have to admit were good. I went wondering and saw lots of really pretty boats, most of which were near signs saying no entry. It seems to me it was a few engine suppliers and boat builders etcdoing a great job on what they do and a few other companies that tried hard, but on the whole, I would rather not have spent the money I did getting there and back

two sheep on the avon here

Speak to Rod who has a boat in Stourport, he will travel to you as far as I know

I did some work on the Droitwich canal restoration last year when made redundant and from what I remember, if you use volunteers, there is a way to get more grants etc the more hours volunteers do - not sure if its a charitu thing or something, but it was something to get up in the morning to do

I am impressed, I appear to have been elevated to office manager or somfink according to it when I read it lol

will wait and see if your right and I am wrong, I might just be wrong looking again

I know exactly what you mean about cranked arms, there are several on the staffs canal. Think about it, I have just used google maps to check. That lock gate is going down a lock, so the quadrant needs to be mirrored to be correct, I think thee PM mis-read the plans slightly wrong By the way, that quadrant is brand new last year, I watched em build it

The quadrant is in the wrong place as from above, think about it, its the wrong way round? as as for the length of the beam, I would also struggle to open or close it, but it kinda sums up the management of the project in general, the beams seems to have been chopped while in place

Problem is Richard, thats a nice shiny new lock gate and beam

Heres a pic I took yesterday.... Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I worked on this last year as a volunteer and its going to be ages yet, some of the locks are sorted down near Salwarpe and theres finally water in the canal, but I saw a little error the quadrant was put in slightly wrong and is going the wrong way. The river has to be canalised and the new part from the rugby club into town and the barge lock is no where near ready

Talk to the boss, not me about that, millions above my pay scale all I can say is if there are boats there and its busy, the gap to get boats through is never narrower than the bridge or a lock, I have never seen a boat not get through cos of his boats and its miles better than some places I have been through

I err cant post what the boss said I have been told off for going to fast when in tickover in Kinver and my reply was the same, any slower and we wont move:) Couple of the guys took a boat from one base to the other the other week and cos it was a hire boat, no one would share a lock with them, they are scum and love it now Myself and the wife and son took a boat out for the night to Thrupp, had a guy ask her if I knew there was a cill at the bottom of the lock, her reply was 'I hope so, he has been playing on boats since he was a kid and works for the company!' When we got to thrupp, I found a space about two foot longer than the boat and have a nice little audience wondering if a hirer boater could possibly get into the space! yes I did and I was quite happy for the posh peeps at Thrupp to watch me do it I always smile, love boats and everything about them, not my fault some people are up their own bums

Well, was handover day today and it was fun Reversed a 69' boat just south of bridge 206 today and checked nothing was coming and proceeded to wind the boat so they could set off on their holiday going north. Halfway through, when the boat was 90 degrees in the winding hole, I saw a boat about 10' from me with them shouting at me, asking me what the hell I was doing and generally being rude and thinking they owned the canal. They claimed they didnt know as I hadnt told them - err what the hell is a boat doing if its sideways in a winding hole? might be turning round? Trying to be polite as I can some times be, I asked if they minded reversing a few feet for me to carry on, but got abuse again. to show that some people on boats can be polite, I let them past and carried on when they were clear (ok, so full throttle prop fountains came to mind ) Having shown them all they needed to know, including lift bridge operation, we carried onto the first lock. Upon mooring there, I saw 'Mr and Mrs I own the canals' and decided to wait until they were out of the lock as they were obviously looking for an argument, as mentioned by my fellow workers. A couple of the people on my boat went up to look at the lock etc, where they heard loud comments like 'what he did was illegal' and others similar and they thought it so good and amusing, they took a picture of their boat to let their friends know about the joys of narrow boating. On the bright side, the people on holiday this week are having a great time and thought it was hillarious and I have booked them a table at a nice country pub tomorrow for them and even, got a tip off them!, on the down side, they saw the downside of what some arrogant ignorant w******s can be like

Why is it, when home in the Stouport area, maneuvering or winding, people stop on boats and let you finish, but on the Oxford, they seem to all think they own the bloody canal and carry on making you wait till they are past as they cant waste 5 mins of their lives being polite? Two things come to mind... 1, manors cost nothing 2, just cos you own or live on a boat means nothing, it certainly doesnt mean you have a clue what you are doing.... any idiot can own and helm or drive a boat (as is obvious) and I also think the people that hire boats and get two hours of my life going through how a boat works and what to do on the canals, ie rules of the road is more than most people who own boats have ever had, i think some make it up as they go along.