JennyMorgan

But one that spills out all over the place might be an ounce or three over what might be considered worth showing off!! As one might reasonably expects to see outside Waitrose!

Just curious, but do you? Mebe oil hatta larn it!

Being a Suffolk Wherry she does like to rest her frames and ribs in that county!

Dowsing is remarkably useful when it comes to tracing the Big Estuary! By the way, 'Ted' was also a numerologist and had some success in locating a tomb in a pyramid. I take it that our Timbo is something of a sceptic ?

You obviously know what those old soldiers are like!

Tropical Linda, a delicate grasp and a pint pot, please excuse my ignorance but could you explain the connection, remembering that we have lady readers?

That's two of us who say it works so it must do! Go on, try it, you can even do it whilst walking the dog. Good idea about the biro outers although I have never felt the need, what with me having a sensitive and delicate grasp!!

By the way, if you fancy a spot of dowsing or divining, it's a doddle and all you need is a couple of steel coat hangers such as you get from the dry-cleaners. Cut and bend the wire into an 'L' with the long bit about eight inches and the short bit about four inches long. The short bits are the handles. Bend your arms with your elbows into your sides and forearms parallel to the ground, the handles held very lightly with the long bits also parallel to the ground and pointing straight ahead, turn your wrists to achieve that. Walk slowly forward until the long bits eerily cross and point towards each other. At that point throw them aside and grab a spade, hopefully you will find oil, gold, dead body, a ley line or more likely the main drain. Have fun, it does work!

For my sins the Angles Way goes past my garden and a very good walk it is too. I've done many miles of it over the years but unless things have changed lately we have nothing like that that North Norfolk offers. In my own case the footpath itself qualifies as 'ancient' and has both Roman and medieval connections, in other words it has history yet the casual walker is unlikely to be aware of it. A good friend of mine, a Teddy Back (RIP), was keen on such things. He always maintained that the footpath in my vicinity was a 'drovers way', even that it follows a 'ley line'. It is largely on a North/South alignment & my diviner's rods always reacts so who knows! I would hate to have a dirty great 'interpretation' board stuck up outside of my house but the NNDC scheme does look good.

No, you are undoubtedly the 'better' one!

The rhond PLEASE!

Even when there has seemingly been a costly error of judgement? Okay, so that error might be debatable but that has to be a personal judgement. Best go back to page one for that!

In truth I do agree that the BA appears to have been carried away in regard to SOB, indeed with Breydon in general. It has long been clear to all and sundry that patrolling Breydon is both tide and weather dependent, what it isn't is a 9 to 5 service. As for the builders, the harsh reality is that they built the SOB & fitted the original engine thus this unfortunate episode does have something to do with them, how can anyone think otherwise? One thing I am certain of is that there is no wrong doing involved. I can't help but think that some of my thoughts on this one are being misinterpreted thus I'm now backing out of this debate.

Deffo not Canada geese, they used to be down here in some number but not now. These geese were certainly not honking as Canada Geese do. Beyond that they were just geese, big, noisy buggers and probably several thousand of them. As for the egret, yellow legged job in my pond, just told by several people that the park pond ones were egrets but not what colour their legs were, sorry.

Good to see a pleasing lack of dangling fenders. Excellent picture too!

Thoroughly enjoyable read by an accomplished raconteur, however not adverse to a tad of BS! I have all his Broads related books and am not adverse to revisiting them on occasion but I don't rely on his historical accuracy. Despite that wholly recommended.

The builders built a boat, presumably fitting it out to meet the requirements of the original purchaser/contractor. Anyway, end result was that the order was cancelled, for whatever reason, thus the yard was looking for a buyer which, as we all know, came along in the form of the Broads Authority. I do know for a fact that the Authority responsibly and rightly sought professional, qualified opinion as well as seeking the advice of the Navigation Committee, theoretically that is all that they could reasonably be expected to do. The Authority had asked all the questions and set the criteria for the choice of boat, but were they sound and qualified, that surely is the crux of the matter? I very much doubt that the original engine choice could in anyway the responsibility of the Authority. That said the Authority has to accept full responsibility for deciding on the perceived and potential role of SOB, and for the questions that it asked as well as the final decision to buy. Beyond that I do wonder what responsibility the yard has, if any, for the engine that it originally supplied?

It wasn't until later in life that I met Martin, we were both Broads Society committee members. It soon became abundantly clear that he was a true gentleman, both by birth and by nature. More than any one else I have met he had the remarkable ability to more than fairly balance the three core values by which the Broads Authority is governed. Martin was a realist, a clear thinker and a wise man. I well remember attending a planning consultation at the Cantley Sugar Factory. On one side of the table was the management of the factory and on the other were members of the Broads Society. I rather suspect that the factory people were expecting confrontation but Martin quickly pointed out that we were there to judge the merits or otherwise of a factory development, a factory that was as much a part of the Broads as the river themselves. BSC were clearly aware of their responsibilities and not just to the shareholders. We were pleased to support their application. The Authority is well aware of his writings and they are referred to, especially when they can be seen to support policy or agenda. However, Vaughan is quite right in suggesting that Martin should have been listened to more than he was.

For me the one book that any lover of the Broads should have is this one, absolute bible of the Broads: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NORFOLK-BROADS-BROADLANDS-LAND-USE-ECOLOGY-CONSERVATION/383209394526?epid=91796195&hash=item59390f515e:g:AoQAAOSwZbNdPw08

Today was an autumnal treat, part of the regular cycle as a very large skein of feral geese came across the Broad, and seemingly my garden in particular. Initially very high, and noisy, the skein broke up, dropping before circling and reforming as eventually two other skeins joined the original, larger group which then came in even lower, and noisier, before banking, spiraling, forming up in massive chevrons and once again going high and even higher before heading off towards the the North East. The noise was, as ever, incredibly loud, perhaps the lady geese telling the blokes whether to swing to the left or to the right! Re the egret, apparently there has also been two sighted on the boating lake at Oulton Broad over the last few days.

My feeling too, indeed it has been so for the last seven pages and a bit before if I'm honest. Perhaps based on well informed gossip! Agreed!

Perhaps the original choice of engine might have had something to do with the cancellation of the order for the boat that was to become SOB?

The original engine was replaced under guarantee, the replacement lasted four, maybe five years. To my way of thinking that suggests that the BA were sold a pup. I don't see that as being the BA's fault. I hope that they negotiated a healthy discount on the new engine.

Noooo, the inverted snob that I am I always takes my Sports Direct carrier bag!

Perhaps she'll go now that she got a pukka engine!