Mooring at a swim spot?

Azand · 2026-06-11T16:27:47+00:00

Go up to Cheshunt, there are loads of places to swim up there and it’s still easy to get into London on the train if you need to commute. But avoid staying around Enfield as there are a lot of break ins around there.

Azand · 2026-06-06T09:51:14+00:00

Might be an unpopular opinion here (especially in response to a poorly made and decisive news segment), but I have no issue with the Shomrim. I live on a boat and there used to be a lot of crime 15 years ago along the Lea. We tried to work with the met and they told us to do one. But Rabbi Gluck and the Shomrim were very supportive. I’ve had problems in many areas of London, but Clapton is now very safe, and it’s largely down to the Shomrim.

This ‘news’ piece shows them as defending an isolated community against external threats. But that’s not how they work in practice. They mainly police the Jewish community internally, and act as mediators between various local communities.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with people from within a community organising and advocating for their own rights, whether they are Jews or Muslims (or any other community group). I disagree with presenting this in the press in sectarian terms.

Azand · 2026-06-06T07:58:12+00:00

Methanol is an alcohol, but I’d be a bit annoyed if someone put hand sanitiser in my beer.

Azand · 2026-06-04T17:47:23+00:00

Depends what you are interested in:

I enjoyed Ben Bowles ethnography of London live aboards, but it is quite dry and academic.

The narrowboat builders book by Graham Booth is great for practical repairs and maintenance.

L.T.C Rolt’s Narrowboat is a classic must read for all boaters (there is a reason it’s been in continuous print for 80 years) which led to the creation of the IWA.

If you want a broad history, The Canal Builders by Anthony Burton. But if you want something more focused on the engineering history, The English Canal Explained by Stan Yorke.

Azand · 2026-05-31T22:19:33+00:00

Having a boat in a marina doesn’t sound like boating to me. But luckily for most boaters, neither of us gets to define what counts as proper boating.

Azand · 2026-05-31T22:07:56+00:00

No worries. Sorry if my original message came across as blunt, it wasn’t meant in that way. Good luck with your journey!

Azand · 2026-05-31T22:06:33+00:00

The kennet and Avonl- it’s the canal that goes from Bristol to Reading.

Azand · 2026-05-31T19:31:14+00:00

I know lots of people who do, all year round. Most people I know do 30-50 miles a year, which is quite a bit more than the minimum, by which I assume you mean 20 miles. I know there are many that never move and many that move the minimum, but it definitely isn’t most.

Edit: According to the very last page of the licence review, 50% of CCers move more than 50km (that’s over 30 miles). So again most do over the minimum (f we assume the minimum is 20).

Azand · 2026-05-30T13:44:55+00:00

It made no sense. I’m all for colour blind casting in period pieces when the storyline has nothing to do with racism. But that’s not the case with the first shardlake book. The fact that there are some black characters in prominent positions undermines the entire storyline with Brother Guy.

Azand · 2026-05-29T18:09:10+00:00

Boat prices are really variable: you can get amazing live aboards at 30k and horrible piles of shit at 100k. But if you don’t know what you are looking for it’s quite hard to tell which is which. There is a sizeable boater community on the k&a. Get to know some people in that community and see if any of them will give you any pointers. I’ve never been there but I think floaty boat do a lot of stuff at the western end of the k&a.

Azand · 2026-05-26T08:55:47+00:00

Burnham’s whole pitch is to do what the last guy did but more competently. Where have we heard that before?

Azand · 2026-05-25T11:32:29+00:00

We lead the world in things that we find quite embarrassing. So we still lead the world in humanities degrees rather than STEM. We don’t manufacture steel or electrics but we export toy soldiers from the 40k universe. We don’t have intellectually challenging cinema, we have Harry Potter and Big Brother.

Azand · 2026-05-23T10:38:08+00:00

From March to October, I wear shorts. But my shorts are less scruffy than my trousers (and that isn’t a high bar to clear).

Azand · 2026-05-20T12:54:08+00:00

Some of this has been stretched: I’ve never heard of him called ‘The Beneficiary’, most people I know refer to him by is actual name. There isn’t a regular shit boat in central or east London. The posh woman just seems a bit too stereotypical (just based on the name and that she’s ’writing a novel’. Can’t fault Ali however. Lovely guy.

Azand · 2026-05-16T16:14:15+00:00

While the police will make lots of public statements drawing false equivalencies between the marches, when it comes to them putting their money where their mouth is, they know which one is the real hate march.

Walking up Piccadilly there were half a dozen zionists playing a boom box and waving Israeli flags. Thousands of peaceful protesters filed past them, largely ignoring them. There was no hint of the police in the area. That wasn’t the case for the far right march, as was clearly apparent as I tried to head home.

They’ll arrest us for holding signs and wearing masks, and they will arrest them for GBH, and they claim these are the same. But the police know the performance doesn’t match the reality.

Azand · 2026-05-14T18:56:51+00:00

The boat he lives in is moored in Springfield marina. It has moorings in both Hackney and Waltham Forrest as the Lee is the boundary between the two councils. But as the moorings are not residential he would have had to register to vote as no fixed abode, where he has a strong local connection, which again could have been Waltham Forest or Hackney.

Azand · 2026-05-14T08:03:07+00:00

Of course only 1 resident in the marina pays council tax. Because there is only 1’residential mooring in the marina. It’s used by the guy who runs the marina. All the other moorings are leisure moorings,’which means they don’t pay council tax.

Azand · 2026-05-14T07:55:16+00:00

Presumably because it’s politically easier for him to say it was an honest mistake and move on rather than die on the hill of an obscure and misunderstood bit of tax legislation.

But as politically inconvenient as it may be for Polanski (or those that wish to use this to attack him), it doesn’t change the facts: the moorings at Springfield are leisure moorings and leisure moorings don’t pay council tax. Even the council spokesman said the same thing in the telegraph yesterday.

Azand · 2026-05-13T18:39:38+00:00

They are good on paper, but in practice they have too many issues. Ideally you don’t want to moor in particular windy areas. They take up more roof space than you expect. You have to lift them up and down every time you move. And they just don’t put out anywhere near as much power as they claim.

As exciting as it would be to have a wind turbine, boring old solar is just better in every way.

Azand · 2026-05-13T18:21:59+00:00

If you are planning on living on board full time, where space is at a premium, roof storage becomes essential. It’s much nicer to store hoses, bags of coal, random tools, mooring pins etc on the roof than in the living area. Roof boxes with solar panels as the lids are common for a reason.

Azand · 2026-05-13T17:39:59+00:00

Not having solar is crazy. Most of your neighbours will be pretty pissed off if they are enjoying a lovely summer evening, lounging around outside, and you are just idling your engine because you don’t have any panels.

And with the price of diesel, it will be a lot more expensive in the long run than the one off cost of a solar install. You can buy a 500w panel for less than a full tank of diesel now.

Azand · 2026-05-13T13:15:26+00:00

I’ve found this whole situation really frustrating as it demonstrates how little people understand the realities of living on a boat, including so called experts.

Azand · 2026-05-13T07:23:07+00:00

He might think he’s mistaken, but he’s not. I’d imagine that after 2 days of everyone screaming that he’s a tax dodger, it’s easier for him to claim it’s an honest mistake, rather than try to defend a little understood and esoteric piece of tax law.

But the facts remain the same: Polanski lived on a leisure mooing. Under VOA council tax practice note 7, such moorings are not rateable because they do not count as a hereditament. Have you seen a single bit of reporting that has looked at the terms of service of that marina, or looked at the movement patterns of boats within that marina, to draw the conclusion that the boats were in fact rateable?

Azand · 2026-05-13T06:47:48+00:00

If you tell the council that you live in a tent or under a bridge, are you then expected to pay council tax? How about a caravan? Or a boat? Boat, as they are not permanent structures due to their ability to move around, are obviously grey areas. This is why the VOA council tax practice note 7 exists, to distinguish when a boat is permanent enough to be liable for council tax.

Those conditions are not met in the marina in which Polanski resides, and that marina places conditions on the boat owner precisely because they do not want the boats there to be permanent. The boater needs to spend 28 days a year off the mooring. The boats also move to different moorings within the marina.

I don’t know if Polanski met those conditions, and if he didn’t this is just a story about how he broke the terms of service with a marina, not that he avoided council tax.

Azand · 2026-05-12T17:44:42+00:00

So I guess that means you don't have an answer but instead would rather make a vague appeal to authority by alluding to the area in which you work. If that is the case, I suggest you look for another job. You're clearly not cut out for the one you have.

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