JennyMorgan

Your prototype, perhaps! Strange are people's impressions of you

Thanks, Carole, will pass that on, fingers crossed.

Thank you for that Keith, I shall be having words with a suitable recipient. As I have written there is absolutely no requirement within the Broads Bill for this sort of expenditure. I'll let you know of any feedback.

I might not have enough time then! I can cope with the wait, it's the general attitude. I put some clean plant pots in the 'plastic' chute, arghhhhhh, you can't put them in there. Errrr, why not? They aren't plastic! Yes, they are. No they aren't, they are the wrong sort of plastic, are you ignorant or something? Give me strength, per--lease!

Be better if Plod were to say something.

WDC, grrrrrrr, they don't want you to put grass cuttings in your black bin when you could pay £45.00 extra for a green bin. Totally daft as I can still bag it & take it to the recycling centre and no one bats an eyelid!

Carole, you are not the only person to have discovered the shortage, I have a very indignant near neighbour in the same boat and who is off on his boat at the end of the week! This really isn't the first example of how out of touch the management is. Surely they have some idea of just how many cards were used last year. How many boats plug in, a thousand perhaps? Each buying five cards, hardly rocket science.

Exorbitant charges, yes, and if the attitude at the depot is anything like my local one then I can quite understand why people don't go there. Re those charges, must be a local authority thing, just so much gets charged against anything that can yield an income from the public. I have a good friend who worked all his life as a civil servant. He always maintained that the public would be horrified if they actually knew what they were paying for.

Do yer know, if Jimmy Hoseason were still alive then I sincerely doubt that we would be having this conversation. One way or another it would have been sorted by now.

Only a policeman could have one that shape!!

If Yorkshire is God's County then why do so many of 'em come South for their holidays?

Vaughan, you quite rightly quote boat numbers but don't forget the day boats. Probably not a consideration at Berney Arms but I hear in conversation with landowners that day boat hirers leave everything from faeces to soiled underwear to tampons to KFC containers under bushes in popular mooring spots. There is no provision for such things on a dayboat so I do have some sympathy with the hirers but really there is no excuse for such desecration of our environment. Dayboats have how many clients a day? It's not to say that private boats don't contribute, I am darned certain that they do but most privateers are geared up to cope with their waste and know where they can dispose of it. The point that I am trying to put over is that the yards, if they don't already do so, need to bang the anti litter drum both loud and clear. When I managed the Waveney River Centre we had at least one large skip a week as a service to our customers, who in turn were customers of the yards. Wasn't really our responsibility but it was a service and, most importantly, it helped protect the environment from which myself and fellow shareholders earned our livings. We didn't pass the buck, whilst we sold petrol & diesel etc. but we gave away water and disposed of other folk's rubbish. Personally I'm rather proud that we did that, and we were 'Pub of the Year' for every year that I was manager.

Well, my local Lowestoft McD goes to a great deal of trouble in clearing up waste left by their customers, to my way of thinking a very responsible attitude. As for the yards I see no harm in reminding them that their customers do sometimes leave litter. I also think that the yards have a responsibility to help, after all people hire a boat in order to enjoy the environment that is the Broads. There was a time when the industry worked together to improve the Broads for all, after all the industry also benefited. However good a boat is if people don't like the destination experience then they probably won't return.

I've come across some mightily petulant motor boat owners in my time! On one occasion it was a spectacular display of teddy bear throwing just because of a very minor deviation of course in one case, the plonker! There is 'unreasonable' in both camps. Are sailing boats better? We like to think so, if only to wind MAFI's up!

No, it wasn't but with a little bit of forethought it could have been useful to both user groups thus giving greater value to the toll payer. Effectively though why is it that sailing boats can hang onto a single dolphin and wait for the tide yet a motor boat requires to moor alongside?

They were indeed but nevertheless cleaning and maintenance is apparently down to the Authority. Why I mentioned it is because it was being touted as a reason that the general toll payer should subsidise the supply of electricity. Well, if demasting areas were exclusive to sailing boats then maybe, just maybe, there is some meat on the bone of that argument. However, more than once I have had to get quite arsey with motor boat owners moored at demasting areas, Beccles & Potter for example. They are used and appreciated by both disciplines.

Mention has been made of demasting areas and that they are only of use to sailing boats. Well, let me remind you all of the demasting area between the Gt Yarmouth bridges on Breydon. Being in between two bridges it is of positively no use whatsoever as a demasting pontoon for sailing boats, it is purely and simply there for high air draft motor boats to moor against whilst waiting for the tide to drop. Arguably a waste of dosh, all it requires is boat owners to read their tide tables but hey-ho, us sailing boat owners happily pay up! On top of that is the floating jetty at Somerleyton, once again provided primarily for motor boats as the darn thing is really in the way for sailing boats who would normally head up into the reeds! All us sailing boats really like is a post to hang onto, we really don't need yards of expensive, floating jetties, that's a motor boat thing.

Andrew, I see nothing wrong with informing the yard, after all they hired the boat. The yards have two obvious options open to them, one being to advise THEIR customers of the problems of fly-tipping on the Broads and two, to lobby their local authorities and central government.

We can both agree on that! By the way, a large part of the original installation was met by one of the power companies although I don't remember the details.

Just for the record the BA has tried voluntary payment at 24hr moorings, I doubt very much whether the income received actually covered the cost of the posts or the cost of replacing the ones that were nicked? A member of Broads Beat told me just how many were stolen last summer, it was more than only one or two! Anyway, are 24hr moorings truly free?

Moorings are a navigational requirement, something that we all benefit from, imagine if there were none available. I don't deny that electric points are a positive but are they really a necessity? Moorings we have to have.

Actually I don't believe that there is any call to provide electric posts within the Broads Act. An opinion that might not please you all, for that I apologize, but it is the harsh reality: It is the duty of the Authority to manage the Broads for the purposes of: Conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the Broads Promoting opportunities for understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the Broads by the public Protecting the interests of navigation. Sorry, but no mention of electricity. The BA doesn't sell diesel so why should it sell electricity? If an overall charge is foisted onto the general toll payer then I can honestly see very good reason to object and to do so with some passion. If people are not prepared to pay for the provision of electricity, and no one else is prepared to pick up the tab, then what option does the Authority have but to turn it off? It is debatable as to whether they should ever be supplying electricity anyway, it is hardly a navigational requirement.

Perhaps the BA should quite simply pull the plug on this and be done with it, leaving it to commercial interests to take onboard.

And protest I would if I were asked to subsidise other people's electricity usage.