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Ironic that it's the nbta organisation who suddenly seemed concerned about navigation when in reality their members seem to want to do anything apart from navigate.....

I would consider Test Match Special to be one the joys of the English Summer . Listening to the likes of Phil Tufnell , Henry Blomfield , Aggers & of course Boycott is the BBC at its best & long may it continue . Its better than telly for me as you don t have to pay so much attention , you can usually have a nice afternoon nap & listen to the commentators going off piste & talking about someone in the crowd who s caught thier attention or paying great compliments about a cake thats been delivered or reminiscing about a great innings or bowling performance from days long since past . Boycott may for instance talk of an innings made in 1963 by a great West Indian batsman and even tho you ve no idea what he s on about ( im too young ) its enjoyable as he speaks with such a passion & his knowledge of the game is undeniable . You either " get it " or you dont but for me its an opportnity to completely switch my brain off & just totally relax .

This is actually now over 6 years old, and was our son David's second attempt at a time-lapse video travelling the Thames from Limehouse to Brentford, (in our former 50 foot narrow boat Chalice). Initially it was un-watchable, because on this, the second time we did the trip, it proved to be very much rougher than our first time, and the horizon was constantly dipping and jumping all over the place. However David has now done work to stabilise the image, so the horizon stays roughly in place, and it is the boat that is all over the place. Music is by the New Moon Morris band, with which my family are associated, and features Christian Taylor & Martin Lindridge, (and is used with their permission). I'm told forum member Jeannette Smith Harrison can be spotted at Brentford, as she had made a trip out to photograph our arrival there!

I do find it ironic this organisation has the word traveller in its title as that seems to be the last thing the members want to do.

Does anyone know the history of the narrowboat The Norman Chamberlain photographed under Lichfield Road Bridge in Brownhills, probably in the 1950's? The back of the photograph says: ‘THE NORMAN CHAMBERLAIN’ AUDREY RUSSELL & WINFORD VAUGHAN THOMAS OF THE BBC BRIDGE BY B’HILLS SMELTERS The question is raised by Andy Dennis in the very informative local blogsite "Brownhills Bob": https://brownhillsbob.com/2017/01/21/a-mystery-for-the-narrowboat-folk/

NORMAN CHAMBERLAIN was built out of the former F.M.C. Ltd. horse boat CONWAY (purchased from T. & S. Element as RUBY in October 1950), its conversion being completed in September 1951. This boat was operated by the Birmingham Federation of Boys Clubs. edit =

Turkey sausage!! Can't think of anything worse, hate turkey in all forms apart from at Xmas with loads of cranberry sauce.

No because they'd be both wet and wrapped around some poor suffering soul.

Agreed, and ALL anchor types are a compromise. You DO NOT throw an anchor!

I'm happy to agree to differ, but rather calling this "refusing help to boaters who have problems" I think I'd describe it as "closing a loophole for freeloaders which is being publicised by the NBTA" Cheers, MP.

Best argument so far for the new arrangement! MP.

I think you are right lol I like many on here were born in a time (1950's) that things were hard to get, and once you have it, you make sure you looked after it. Make do and mend was the motto of the time. Darned socks, when a bed sheet ripped or wore thin in the middle, your mum would cut it in half and sew the outer edges together. It would last a lot longer. Your dad would buy slack, (coal dust and chippings) as it was cheap and close down the coal fire so it lasted longer lol. There was no credit, no loans, if you couldn't afford it, you didn't have it. There were schemes called easy payments, or a sort of hp agreements, and of course the tallyman but no credit cards. You worked hard to get it, but you also worked hard to make sure you keep it too. This day and age, people want it now, live today, pay tomorrow, we are in a throw away age, how many fridges do you see down the tip, that look perfectly well, probably just the wrong colour. The week before Christmas, our fridge broke down, we thought £150 new fridge... no problem, or £6 for a replacement thermostat, I opted for the thermostat, as we had another fridge in the garage that was being replaced at the mother in law's house, as she said it was noisy... Well it is fine in our garage, been so for over 6 years now lol I remember the days when washing machines had replaceable bearings, accessible from the rear without having to strip the drum, not any more, sealed for life units, but that life is only 5-6 years lol Paranoid, possibly, but having been brought up when money was tight I would say I was more careful. Without the make doing and mending, we would have spent far more hard earnt cash on just replacements.

I wonder if it's worth fitting dash type cameras on boats, you could have motion detectors to trigger the camera. Date time etc. Problem with dash cams on boats, you don't want the camera continuing to record for days after the event, as it will over write the footage, hence a motion sensor, or maybe a timer. A small pir sensor will draw very little current. Of course, best to have it on a small seperate battery well hidden from view. How far do you have to go to protect your property, the important thing is to get these thieves arrested. Marking batteries or any other possessions with boat name, post code etc would be a good start, it helps to put the thieves at the scence of a theft, if ever batteries or stolen goods are found. I don't want to start a survey, but I wonder, how many boats have an alarm fitted, and is it set when people leave the boat? Are boat alarms reliable, what happens if it goes off, and your marina calls you, but you are three hours away, you really want the alarm to hush after say 20-30 minutes, but then the thieves may come back later. Who actually investigates an alarm anyway? if at home you need a group of friendly neighbours and an alarm that doesn't false trigger, I am a member of our local Neighbour hood watch, we do check and look out for each other. One neighbour, his alarm went off randomly, In the end, I volunteered to investigate, there were in fact two faults, a rear door reed switch and a pir sensor that didn't like spiders. I also fitted a new battery, and it has been fine for a couple of years since I fixed it. I also extended the alarm to include his garage. Getting back to boats, how easy is it for someone determined to actually steal your boat? It happens, some are driven away, some simply towed, A lot of steel boats and many cruisers are generic, same starter panel, a simple key. Is it worth having a hidden defeat switch, difficult to do on older diesel engines unless you have an electric fuel cut off, or can disable the feed to the starter solenoid. In Norfolk, there have been many reported outboard thefts, boats have been taken to remote areas and the outboard sometimes chainsawed off, with fixing bolts some times below the waterline, even if removed with spanners can result in the sinking of the boat too. How many outboard owners have a seperate record of the serial number? The police in Norfolk/Suffolk managed to arrest a group who were stealing outboards, they were loaded into a container at Felixstowe ready to ship abroad. The Norfolk Police also sell waterproof covers to replace the solid outboard cover, as engines can be difficult to sell without a cover, and a new one can cost £100+ The owners swap over to their hard cover before starting the engine, but most would keep it on board doh... If you are looking to buy a secondhand outboard, you can look on a well known auction site, and see engines for sale without covers, a few I have seen where the serial number plate has accidentally fallen off. So buyer beware. We just need to keep an eye open, if you are not in a marina, where there is a type of caretaker, is it worth sharing contact details with close moorers? Some will say... don't worry, just keep paying your insurance. To a point I totally agree.

I like the curve on that worktop Richard

I am suitably impressed. It must be a tardis that little boat

It does as soon as they're a few months old.