stumpy

Did you check the tide table while you were there?

The best tomatoes I've ever tasted come from an old boy in my local who works in the local sewage farm - various varieties but all organic, he says.

JM - is there not a song about this? Even if Griff's a tiler, not an engineer. Lol

Our cars were often parked outside the 'Lima Papa place' (licensed premises) -didn't need to specify which one lol. We piggybacked on the old bill system and often heard "Church, radio procedure please" _ Happy days!

So sorry to hear of your loss Robin - in our prayers mate.

Sandtex? Seriously, there's a thread on YBW and they're raving about it!

Griff, re: gift horses, 20-odd years ago a Cuban (I think) boat lost its deck-cargo off the Cork anchorage and a positive flotilla of fishing boats set out from Felixstowe Ferry to clear the shipping lanes - it helped that the flotsam was mainly 18" x 3" x 12 foot planks of red hardwood! There are still some very sturdy gear sheds standing down there! It was a b*gg*r to cut but I got a nice back doorstep for two pints of Tolly!

I was on the phone to Robert at Sutton Staithe this morning discussing the price difference between a complete new bog and a replacement macerator (£40!!) - he had a yarn with the guys moving the boat as they went past, apparently the bill for the move was in the region of 29 thousand!

Robin, Re. The wide ducting in coach roofs and overhead racks, I once extracted 10,000 Benson and Hedges from a 'booze and baccy cruise's coach. Each of the 500 packets had been taped together and fed up the vent ducting - must have taken hours!

A couple of years ago we were chugging down to Acle when one of Clive's finest hove into sight wearing a 3 yard White. After a quick tutorial to Kathy sitting in the stern we dipped our Red to them and sure enough a junior rate scuttled to their stern and returned the courtesy amid great hilarity and thumbs up all round. The senior service gets everywhere!

Just rescued a six foot fence panel c/w both posts (snapped at the bottom, rotten as a pear) from next door and spotted a 20 foot forked lilac that's splitting down the fork! Fairly happy that if/when it goes it shouldn't hit anything, I int a-going to stand out there waiting for it it. Highest gust half a mile from us was 55 mph about 4 p.m.

The beer engine handle looks like the one Greene King fitted twenty-odd years ago - I pulled many a pint though one at Felixstowe Customs club back in the day!

I've opened a bottle many times with a rhond hook before I discovered Swiss Army knives. One in pocket,spare in ditty box!

I'm a member of a few fora - even Speakers Corner and a couple of the Facebook groups. The way I see it is Facebook is similar to meeting someone on the High Street " Hi mate all right?" "Yeah busy busy- you?" "Oh yeah - see you around". This forum is more a half dozen friends sitting around a pub table with pints of mild on top and dogs underneath putting the world to rights and gently taking the Mickey out of each other until long after closing. Vive la difference, I say!

Re: hire boat shore power leads, a couple of years ago we shared Horning Staithe with a big Woods boat. A very puzzled guy was standing beside it with a blue plug in hand connected to at most 15 feet of cable! Luckily we have a selection of leads,couplers and splitters so were able to sort him out - don't know what he did the rest of the week.

A few Bank Holidays ago we were watching the power boat racing on Oulton from near the starting pontoon when there was a minor holt (sorry) to proceedings until a big old otter had had a good look round and then bimbled off towards the Wherry - he wasn't at all worried by all the kerfuffle.

I put a solar vent into our fore hatch 5 years ago and it's still working well, it came with a dress ring which held the edges of the vinyl to a 3". length of drainpipe glued into the throat of the fan. It was a b*gg*r getting the length right! CT1 is the only glue/sealant I've found that goes off truly transparent.

When I was young and foolish I had a third of an all wood Dragon (now that dates me!) on and out of the Deben - that was plenty scary enough, especially when the tide was running over the bar!

You'll just have to keep popping next door to use the free pub WiFi lol

Re:"Parting like the Red Sea", I once had a most entertaining trip back to Suffolk from a training course just outside Swindon with a colleague, both in shirt-sleeve order (white shirt,black tie and epaulettes) driving a hired white big Rover. We hit the M4 and folk started moving over and dropping down to 70. When the penny dropped we wondered what would happen if we put the dipped headlights on - it worked!! Naughty but oh so nice!

Re. Herbal tinctures, in some country pubs round here you can still add clove, shrub and others to your tot. The Lord Nelson (not that one, this is 'down the docks' in Ipswich) used to market half bottles of 'Deben Angel' which was Woods 100 based with clove cordial being the only recognisable ingredient (another maybe honey)- a very warming waxer in this weather!

Cracking post Timbo, the only thing I'd add would be a ban on the wearing of football shirts in public unless one is actually playing a game.

Following the ice/shotguns thread drift I once had to examine and clear for export a crate for an Arctic expedition. It contained a Beretta semi auto 12 bore with the long magazine and a number of cartridges - blank, No.7 and Brenneke single solid slug (!). The were for in case a polar bear fancied breakfast off you the order of load would be 2 x blank, 2 x No7 and if he didn't turn around the slug would be the last resort. The guy delivering it to the quayside said you then got two days off - one to recover and one for the paperwork!

Maybe a bit too far South but Andy Seedhouse in Woodbridge or Seamark Nunn in Trimley may be worth a phone call - I've seen 2/H outboards on stands when driving past both excellent establishments.