Chubberdog

No, it's only you so far , had several PMs offering polite greetings and assistance, including some from people listed as 'friends' in your profile. With over 11,000 profile views since 2009 you seem to have given a lot of people an itch, maybe it needs a newbie to express displeasure at being treated as you have treated my posts. I shall be more than happy to lack your attention. 'Most days I am forced to add another name to the list of people who pi$$ me off, and today has been no exception' comes from Watterson's 'Calvin and Hobbs' series, a simplistic view of life featuring a small boy and his tiger who wants the whole world to march to his tune. 'Caps' and 'wear it' come to mind. Doug

There, it's now official! Two years is not too old, Phil has said so, glad he's cleared that up, our secret moderator has spoken, time you learned, Phil, that being old is no excuse for being rude. I would suggest you try Loch Ness in mid-September before you start pontificating. Most days I am forced to add another name to the list of people who pi$$ me off, and today has been no exception. Doug

Careful, Athy, or Phil Ambrose will be telling you 'get a grip'! The thermos is good for overnight cooking/soaking of dried peas, beans etc for soups and stews, used to save gas and condensation. A cabin seems nice and warm on a September evening after a days motoring but at 6 a.m. there's usually moisture running down the scuttle glasses. WEshall miss our woodburner for the same reason when we relocate next month to U.K. Doug

We have loads of paper family photographs that I am working through, some in very small formats. As has been mentioned already scanning each one individually is very time consuming so I arrange as largea number as possible on my A4 scanner, scan at 300dpi and save as (for example) Auntie Bessie and Uncle Fred Dartmouth and Plymouth 1955 in a folder called 'Old photographs'. When I have done as big a wodge as I want, I use a really useful free download called Faststone. This picture editor has a handy screen capture facility, so I open one of the saved A4 scans, then use the screen capture facility set to 'Rectangle' to cut out and save them as individual pictures. Faststone includes a batch rename facility so it is easy to select and group them into (for example) Uncle Fred Dartmouth Regatta 1955 jpeg 1,2 3 etc. Faststone will search your hard drive once installed and put them all into folders, too. Hope this helps someone, has the O.P. done the business yet, I wonder? Doug

My 1898 Cassels Encyclopedic dictionary would suggest the 'porch' on the f'csle would be a 'companian hatch', the ladder (presumably) leads through the 'companionway' into what I would call a 'lazaret', a separate store, as I think it unlikely to connect with the hold. I love words! Doug

In April on a camp site in Slovenia whilst walking the dog I came across a sobbing child who had been 'hooked' by her 12 year old brother just above the back of her right ankle, the hook was deeply embedded and about 1" long. I picked up 'Winky' and with brother in tow (literally) went to the nearby reception who were clearly quite experienced in this sort of thing. Their simple expertise impressed me and I think it is worth handing on.... 1 Brother and fishing rod separated and sent to fetch parents 2 Ice lolly given to 'Winky' & ice cubes applied to ankle 3 (the yucky bit)Fish hook pushed right through so that the point popped through the skin 4 Point and barb snipped off with side-cutting pliers and the shank simply reversed out, just like my wife taking out an ear-ring! Some very natty purple antiseptic was applied in time for the distraught parents return and off they went. Doug

Can't help with the inverter question, Terry, but you can save power using a wide neck thermos flask to make your breakfast porridge. For two people, a cup of porridge oats, pinch of salt, a dessert spoon of dried milk powder and three cups of boiling water left overnight will need hardly any reheating in the morning. It's our early morning start standby. Doug

....then it makes no sense for you post a reply here instead of starting a new post,does it? The post prior to mine was posted in April this year, your last post in the thread was in July 2015, and this 'newbie' would have gained no brownie points by opening a new thread, appropos to nothing in particular to say "Oi! You narrer' boaters out there wot's taking wood from skips is thieving, an' here's why....."

Zombie Threads? An old wolf-cry,surely? A thread entitled 'I hit my thumb with a hammer' first posted in 1999 is just as topical and relevant to the man/woman who hits their thumb with a hammer in 2016.... Consider, the phrase is rarely used by those who agree wholeheartedly with the 'newbie' poster....or is it verboten to add to a thread 'I love pink narrow boats' if you do? Doug

See 'Abstraction of electricity' This offence is created by section 13 of the Theft Act 1968: A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. Thus, an offence for which there is a power of arrest.... Not sermonising, but next time you are tempted to plug in somewhere and 'borrow' some electricity...Section 13 was implemented because unlike property which could be produced in court as evidence of an offence, once the 'tizzy has gone, it's, er, gorn! 'Stealing' from skips "Stealing waste wood from skips costs the owner of the waste wood nothing. It may even save him some money, as he won't need to have the skip emptied as often and/or her can get more of his rubbish into the skip." The Theft Act 1968 states A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and “thief” and “steal” shall be construed accordingly. The wood in a skip belongs to the skip company. They agree to hire a skip for a period of time to a user, and agree to empty it, either on demand, or regularly when it is full. The proprietors use their business acumen to gauge how much they will charge, often based on how often the skips want emptying, i.e. they don't empty an empty skip! To stretch a long point, the hirer is acting in contravention of the contract between himself and the company if he gives you permission, and could in extremis be considered to defrauding the company if he turns a blind eye if you empty it. If you managed to make some agreement with, say, 'Grumbletown Skips West MIdlands' you then have to look at the minefield of trespass, whether the skip user was acting in contravention of H & S regulations by permitting persons not trained in HW [Hazardous Waste] handling to potentially do so on their site without reflctive jacket, hard had, toe 'tectors and a note from your Mum to say you are excused from carrying a clean handkerchief... Oh, that feels better! Seriously, would you take scrap copper from a skip outside a demolition site? Doug [Advocatus Diaboli] Doug

Wouldn't for'd canvas dodgers suitably fastened to appropriate eyes be a sensible 'extra' for persistent river users? They kept liberty-men dry on 52ft cutters..... Doug