JennyMorgan

http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming/bird-flu-confirmed-in-wild-swan-in-the-norfolk-broads-1-5139287

http://www.thebroadsblog.co.uk/2017/08/latest-shenanigans-at-broads-authority.html

In the days of Maurice Griffiths & Denny Desoutter advertising was additional to the editorial. Now the roles have been reversed and the editorial is no longer to be trusted, advertising clearly leads the editorial as editors pander to their clients. End result, a decline in readership.

Is it the editorial or advertising content that has been reduced? I'm afraid the helpful days of building the Den Ashton Longboat have long departed the pages of PBO.

YM & PBO, once must reads, I rarely bother now. The same can be said of the Angling publications. An age thing I suspect, all magazines, other than VIZ & Private Eye, periodically regurgitate the same old topic, all are over stuffed with adverts that I have less than nil interest in.

Lathams & QD are already wheeling out the 'C' stuff!

One of the downsides, actually the only one, of mooring outside the Pleasure Boat at Hickling is the incessant tap of unfrapped halliards from the nearby dinghy park. Laziness and thoughtlessness by those concerned.

Was his record for not being bashed on the Broads upheld? We did think of going along for the service but that was as far as we got!

Anchor Bleu, Bosham, good memories. It used to be Mary's excellent 'ploughman's' that were the attraction, and Barry's pints!

It's an inconsiderate sailing boat owner that allows that to happen. Almost on a par with inconsiderate motorboat owners running their engines at moorings! We really shouldn't have to endure either annoyance.

You should try short tacking all the way, you won't have time for company!

Or total lack of! Cracking location, just need Lotto to cough up.

You must have been there then! Actually they had some good stuff on offer as well as the above jollop.

Thanks, Bob. I shudder at the terror that the poor lady must have had to endure.

My wife and I went for a delightful walk around 'Lound Lakes' today. Because we were out and neither of us fancied cooking or washing up we decided to visit a nearby, waterside hostelry. It's one that we have passed numerous times whilst out on the water but, to be honest, have never visited as it really looks unappealing but people have recommended it on the forum so we took the plunge! Thus we arrived by car rather than boat, err, what is this place? It looks like it's made up of breeze blocks, somewhat shed like and with flat roofs. The menu was on the wall beside the door and that at least looked appealing so in we went. The Eu de wee as went past the toilets was less than appealing but we carried on regardless, the scent turned into one of fustiness, the place clearly needed a deep, intense clean. Into the bar we went where we were met by two totally lack lustre, devoid of personality bar staff. Despite being about one o'clock the place was rather less than busy, we wondered why? Two of Richardson's finest moored up, their crews looked at the menu and the bar, turned round and departed. We ordered our drinks, picked up a menu and went outside and sat down in the sun, lovely, my glass of well chilled Aspels sliding down nicely. Lynn, my wife, drank a couple of mouthfuls before noticing the dreaded red of lipstick, which she wasn't wearing, on the rim of her glass. Into the bar she marched returning almost instantly minus a glass of drink. Apparently Miss Lacklustre 1960 to 2017 had asked Lynn what she expected her, the barmaid, to do about it. Not only that but she laughed at Lynn, bad mistake, when she suggested a replacement. Until that point we had planned to spend at least £40.00 in the bar on food. Sod this, says Lynn, let's go back to the Wherry at Oulton Broad. Fine dining it is not but the food is good, the standard reliable and so we handed the menu back and we headed back towards the car park via the odorous toilets and fusty passage. I'm rather glad, despite the wonderful view across the water, that we had decided not to dine there. If we were on holiday, possibly having spent well over a grand on a boat, then we would have expected far better of the holiday infrastructure. A wonderful location, awesome view across the marshes and river, but it was a dump in need of immediate and intense TLC, or even total replacement. That it was practically empty on a Sunday lunchtime when the weather was really nice should surely have registered with the owners, it certainly did with us. Some of the yards are offering superb accommodation on state of the art boats, not my choice but that's another issue, whilst their customers, when going ashore, are sometimes expected to really slum it. Will those customers come back? If the answer is no then I can hardly blame them! PS, there are some cracking pubs and restaurants on the Broads, equally there are some really poor ones, and that's just what we found! Perhaps it should be renamed the First and Last Time!

I find this story absolutely horrifying. I wonder, on picking up a boat, do hirers have it explained to them the dangers of propellers? Is it explained to them, for example, that the helmsman should never reverse up to a casualty, that an engine should be out of gear, better still turned off, when a casualty is in the water and close to the propellor? We can only guess what happened at this point but the appalling dangers of propellers needs explaining, if it isn't already. A few years ago I watched a BA Ranger helping a boat owner clear a rope from an outdrive propeller, he was attempting to clear the prop by hand, by unwinding the rope from the prop blades. The two engines remained running. Even those of us who should know better sometimes don't.

She does look the biz though! http://www.norfolkbroads.com/accommodation/boat-hire/brundall/cruiser-boat-hire-7571.html

https://www.dioceseofnorwich.org/event?id=9457 Or at least don't bash into Albion or whichever Wherry they use this year!

No question that ducks, grebe, moorhens and coots are in obvious decline on the Southern rivers. Indeed a duck is quite a rarity nowadays. Coincidently populations of both fox and otters are worryingly on the increase.

Or the joys of wind or even oar power. Cruising music, especially when the volume has been racked up to drown out the engine, arghhhhhhhhhh!

My wife and I spent a pleasant few hours in that delightful seaside of Southwold earlier today. The place was absolutely rammed, thankfully I have a relative living there where I can count on a parking spot. We waddled around the sights and shops as folk do and it soon became clear that the 'expensive' shops were all offering mouthwatering discounts yet staff in many of these shops were bored and standing around, people were there in the town but by and large they were not spending as the trade were hoping. We have a good friend who has fish and chip shops both in the town centre and down by the harbour. What he sells is second to none and he is always deservedly busy but today he told us that he had never been so busy, both his shops were operating near breaking point. As he said, folk are in town, not spending in the shops as they have in the past but they can always find a fiver for fish & chips. We don't normally see huge discounts being offered in August, at least not in Southwold of all places.

I often wonder what folk expect of a 'family' holiday on the Broads. The Swallows and Amazons market must be on an annual decline as tastes change. There is just one major family attraction on the Broads, something of a theme park, the owner of which is keen on the national park tag. Strange really, Disneyland doesn't sell itself as a national park. Something of a contradiction of identity going on there. However, back to family holidays on the Broads, what are they? What does the Broads really offer families? I really do think that Maurice has come up with the pertinent bullet point in C, The business has misunderstood its customers who find it's not the family holiday they thought but one for more senior customers. Senior customers tend to avoid traditional family holiday times. I know that I do.

Another one for Jimmy Green, the 's wotsits!

The weather has not helped as far as last minute bookings are concerned, that must be obvious. On the other hand those with a good memory will remember the good weather we enjoyed earlier in the year, presumably that didn't cause a flutter of early bookings. I don't see the agencies as having got it wrong but I do think the industry as a whole, yards and infrastructure, are tending to pull in opposing directions. This has not been helped, in my opinion, by the Authority dabbling in areas with which it clearly has no expertise or empathy, those areas being marketing and the Broads themselves. Pirates and national parks, an odd pairing. Pirates OR national parks, perhaps that should be the question. At one time the Broads was a giant holiday resort, and great fun it was too. Now it's a faux national park, perhaps not so much fun. If the Broads is a national park, which it isn't, then it needs to live down its past. You only have to click on U-Tube and the Norfolk Broads in particular in order to see folk's general perception of the Broads, and that does not accord with being a national park. Personally I would wish that the Broads, in my later years, was quieter more akin to folk's perception of a national park, but the reality is that the Broads is the Broads and that is what people have come to expect and that is what the industry should be marketing. People don't often come here with binoculars and guide books. Then there is the small matter of pricing. The other day my wife and I took our three youngest grandchildren to Pettits at Reedham. Wow, over sixty quid for admission! It's actually great fun for young children but I'm sure that your average teenager would consider it uncool in the extreme. As for older folk, not really much on offer, especially for an 'animal' park. All the walkways are pea-shingle, arghh, wheelchair and buggy friendly it is not! What with petrol, food and ice creams it was easily a hundred pound day out. Our choice but we live here, we don't have holiday accomodation on top of that. Two or three days out on top of general holiday costs and it soon becomes obvious that a holiday in Norfolk is far from cheap. As for Pettits, poor value in my opinion, especially compared with other attractions in the area. Mind you, it is right next door to the Humpty Dumpty brewery so granddad went home happy. As for those 20% discounts, I have long been of the opinion that if a company can afford to knock off 20%, let alone 50%, then it is charging too much, even far too much in the first place. Personally I don't like to be ripped off and I see companies offering big discounts as rip off merchants, they would have charged me full price if they could have.

And, of course, Maud is a Norfolk built wherry. . Albion lead the way in Wherry restoration, we mustn't forget that.