floating in the city

government plans to sell UK's canal system

Chancellor Alistair Darling is planning to sell off the M25 Dartford Crossing and the complete UK canal network (above) as part of a £16bn-plus privatisation programme reports the New Civil Engineer.

Speaking at the James Callaghan Memorial lecture Alistair Darling said:

“We need to look at what non-essential public sector assets we can sell, so that we can free up capital for key projects.”

Up for Sale

• British Waterways
• QE II Conference centre
• Ordnance Survey
• Land Registry
• Dartford Crossing
• Royal Mint
• Met Office
• Oil and Pipelines Agency
• Defence Storage and Distribution Agency

This sounds bad, in fact awful, but then we are 'old school' here at Floating in the City. We could easily end up with 'Virgin Waterways' (Sir Richard Branson owns a large barge moored at Little Venice, London). Perhaps this is the only way forward, but why are they saying British Waterways is a "non-essential" asset? Apart from not being true, this is just talking down it's value, so it will sell for even less. They even think the British Weather (the Met Office) is non-essential; we are obviously entering desperate times.

Can we sell Winter and keep Spring?

invasion of the green algae splurge

Thanks to the Babylon narrowboat crew for these pictures of the recent green algae invasion on the Lee River, London. Algae thrives on nutrients released by farmland fertilisers and sewerage systems. Meanwhile the Environment Agency says it is worried by the spread of algae that is threatening to choke wildlife along the south coast of England, and the Japanese have invented algae that 'sweats diesel' which sounds like a good idea, unless it escapes.

•  Because of so many foreclosed abandoned homes with stagnant swimming pools in Florida, USA, local health departments are now using a type of "Algae eater" fish from the Amazon called Pterygoplichthys to dump into the pools to eat up the algae. In California  local 'Mosquito Abatement Districts' have been using  'Mosquito Fish' to eat up mosquito larvae in stagnant swimming pools. Unfortunately these fish are also being used to control the mosquito in the wild, and are decimating native amphibians in rivers and streams where ever they are introduced.

www.floatinginthecity.com

It's a web red letter day for floating in the city on a narrowboat in a canal somewhere in London; we now have a proper web mooring @ http://www.floatinginthecity.com

cycle powered narrowboat shows way forward

Electric boats get a 25% discount for the annual British Waterways Cruising License if the boat has an electric motor as its sole means of propulsion. Presumably the same applies to cycle powered narrowboats? This video of how to cycle up a canal (above) is by Rinky Dink inventors of an amazing alternative energy powered mobile bicycle sound system. Hopefully no one of any influence will have a brain wave and suggest canal cycle lanes.

high speed youtube canal trip round london

The speed limit on London's canals is 4 mph, and everyone knows the canals are slow. But now, even if it is raining outside, you can go on a high speed trip round the 'London Loop' in less than an hour on a souped up narrowboat, with no chance of a speeding ticket thanks to this video by PaulandtheBear. The trip includes the Regents Canal, some great views from the middle of the River Thames at top speed and back to point zero via the Grand Union. They even catch the 'floating in the city' mooring as they zoom past on the fastest narrowboat in London, yet somehow they manage to leave no wake at all. This video is a bit how a 'Waterways View' version of Google's 'Street View' might be. On the other hand at those speeds the 'London Loop' could become the waterways equilivent of CERN.

cycling on the towpath: remember the two tings

A friend of mine has complained that a rear view mirror is now required for anyone walking on the Regents Canal towpath in London, because it has become a bicycle super highway. I think that is an exaggeration, although the towpath is well used by cyclists. As a regular towpath cyclist I always follow the London Towpath Code of Conduct of course, and it seems most other cyclists do too. The main requirement is to give "two tings" on your bell when coming up behind people to avoid unnecessary heart attacks. I think making a 'ting ting' noise might also be ok, but this is not mentioned. Cyclists do not have a legal right to cycle on the towpath, but it is officially allowed by British Waterways who allow responsible towpath cycling. In London you do not need a British Waterways Free Cycling Permit but this is required in some areas.

water level down a bit, bandwidth ok

Despite all the rain over the last few days the water level is down a bit on this stretch of the Regent's Canal, but I've seen a lot worse. The wire in the top left of the photograph is my broadband connection which I have to remember to disconnect before setting sail. Then it is Three on my mobile for £5 a month, which works ok floating in the city, even for blogging, but could be a problem in some country parts of the waterway-net.

• Pocketsurfer3 by Datawind sounds like a mobile internet solution that is better than a mobile. 30 hours usage a month for the first year is included in the £199 price, and you can get lifetime unlimited use for a one off fee of £59.99. The only problem is that the stockists listed on the site do not have any Pocketsurfers; Ideal World is out of stock, and Maplin is only selling the Datawind UbiSurfer Netbook for £149.99 with a similar 30 hours a month deal. A big plus for those with a sub-primer credit rating in these harsh credit crunch times is no credit check is required for this interesting mobile Internet deal, but don't blame me if it is all too good to be true, because I have not tried it, yet.

amsterdam: tossing smart cars in canals is new craze

picture by tinou bao

There seems to be a craze in Amsterdam for throwing poor little innocent Smart cars into the canal, even when they can't swim. Tossing Smart cars into the canal is taking floating in the city to extremes, and it is Smallist, but Amsterdam has always taken things further than the rest of Europe. I am wondering how water tight Smart cars are, they look like they might bob along fairly well. Amphibious Smart cars that you can drive up canals - now that really would be smart. You could avoid traffic jams, until everyone started doing it of course, then they would have to bring in a floating congestion charge. All we need is for British Waterways to make the canals Smart Car Friendly (SCF), with ramps so you can drive in and out of the water without having to suffer the indignity of having to be craned out by the fire brigade. Smart cars are even narrow like narrow boats; you could get several in a lock at one time for sure.

coming soon: electric power from canals

An "in-stream hydrokinetic turbine" for harvesting electric power from canals, irrigation networks, wastewater systems and the streams in and around industrial sites could be available by 2011. "Think of it as the love child between a steamboat paddle wheel and a small hydroelectric dam" reports Greentechmedia.

Developed by Hydrovolts, the device will cost about £300, and can be placed in relatively slow moving water courses. A six-foot by four-foot turbine in an irrigation canal flowing at two meters a second might produce 1.5 kilowatts. The same turbine in a four-meter-per-second stream might produce 6 kilowatts to 8 kilowatts.

Above: Lab test at Washington University.

floating tv: bbc rivers with griff ryhs jones

Several years ago my boat featured in the back ground of a Crime Watch reenactment of a brutal tow path murder in Kings Cross. Since then the Floating TV genre looks like it might getting out of the crime/horror rut and going main stream. At the moment there is BBC Scotland's 'River City' drama series based in Glasgow. The main river content is in the intro sequence, but never mind. However a new five part series starting this Sunday, called 'Rivers with Griff Rhys Jones' (BBC One, 21.00), could do for Britain's rivers and waterways what the excellent 'Coast' did for cliffs, and amazing beach views filmed from a helicopter.

The BBC explains:

"Actor and comedian Griff Rhys Jones sets out on an adventure to explore how rivers have influenced, nurtured and powered our lives throughout history. From the raging torrents of Scotland to the reflective flatlands of East Anglia, Griff barges, canoes, swims and sails his way along a hidden network which has been the lifeblood of Britain."

I think I might earn £10 cash from Private Eye's Pseud's Corner for the above paragraph, but this new series could be interesting. and even funny, especially if he falls in.