Hi, Your comments are always most welcome
Hello Sue and Vic,
Happy New Year. Well we're finally recovering from the holiday selling season and are busy getting the new doll collections up on the site. Haven't written much lately, but have been reading your blog regularly.
Wanted to comment on the nice blog about Meg's new scarf a few weeks ago. I get Petey, our cocapoo, a new scarf each month to reflect the seasons. Last month it was Santa's on a blue background and this month it is snow flakes on a red background. Very cute but not as impressive as Meg's canal scarf.
Enjoyed the pictures of the office party this year. Everyone looked like they were having such a good time. Nicest pictures of the party since I started reading your blog three years ago.
Have a great week. Best wishes,
Mark
Hi Sue - happy New Year to you and the crew. I too read about the APCO intentions to get BW to charge higher rates to continuous cruisers. I agree with you that the problem lies fairly and squarely on the continuous mooring fraternity and BW's lackadaisical attitude towards enforcing 24, 48 and 14-day visitor mooring sites. If BW would, as at Bugsworth Basin and Banbury, enforce their own laws and charge overstayers then I am sure this problem would not exist.
Mark, And a happy new year to you both too!.
Thanks for you nice comments, I always look forward to reading what you have to say, and yes this year's christmas do was great, just we were put on two tables instead of the promised one that we were spose to have, but we didnt let that spoil our evening!
Thats a good idea to reflect the seasons I didnt think of that, I must look more closely when choosing scarves in the future me thinks...
Sue 
Graham,
Thankyou for your support. If BW would enforce the continuous cruising 'law' then everybody would be happy including me. Seems to me the cheapest way for BW to deal with this is to try put up the licence fee for continuous cruisers, whether or not they offer a free winter mooring.
That, they feel, would keep the continuous moorers off the prime moorings... but BW must realise, that most of these people who live as continuous moorers have cars/jobs/need to be near towns... so they will still keep on mooring wherever they want regardless if they have a free mooring in some other part of the country.. 
Do you think a system of Pay and display would work at busy locations? Punch in your boat's registration number and pin on arrival and receive a ticket. Then 24 or 48 hours free followed by £20.00 per day or so thereafter. Return your ticket to the machine before departure and then be charged (if applicable) when you renew your licence (as at Bugsworth Basin). No security problems and a fair system for continuous cruisers / moorers, hire boaters alike.
Graham, A very good idea indeed, and one I wouldn't mind paying into. But I can't see BW monitoring the situation and collecting the overstays. They are not doing it now, that is the main problem. If they sort out those overstayers then continuous cruisers can get on with their rural lives without keep getting persecuted as 'low life' by some of the boating fraternity.
All weekend it has been annoying me so I have written to APCO
Dear APCO
I am astonished at APCO for its recent petition and submission to BW regarding its support for higher charging of "Continuous Cruisers".
May I point out from the start that I am not a continuous cruiser, that I have a permanent mooring and that I also run a business from my boat.
I believe APCO are not making a fair distinction between legitimate "continuous cruisers" and "continuous moorers".
I can understand that APCO members are upset because their hirers can't get overnight moorings at busy locations - we have experienced exactly the same problem, but charging higher rates is not going to resolve the issue.
If BW enforced its own policies regarding 24 and 48 hour and 14 day mooring (and effectively dealt with licence evaders) so that the "continuous mooring" fraternity, who are the ones who hog the prime spots for weeks (if not years as in the case of visitor moorings at Fenny Compton on the Oxford canal) on end, then the problem would probably not exist.
Perhaps APCO should work with BW at installing pay and display machines at busy locations during the summer months. I suggest a system of a free period (24 or 48 hr) followed by say £20 per day (payable on renewal of licence) thereafter, a similar system to that already successfully in operation at Bugsworth Basin.
APCO may well like to remember that it is the continuous cruiser who, throughout the lean winter months, buys their diesel, gas, provisions and chandlery from APCO members. They are usually the only ones to be seen cruising the network at this time of year and keep the canals operational for the rest of us by informing BW of any problems they encounter.
Graham, Very well written, I look forward to seeing what they have to say to that, thanks for showing me what you wrote
