JennyMorgan

Plenty of pallet furniture ideas here: https://www.google.co.uk/search?safe=off&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=775&q=pallet+furniture&oq=Pallet&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.720.3523.0.8587.6.5.0.1.1.0.223.838.0j4j1.5.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.6.843.ecXGYYf2SOc#imgrc=_ Even more ideas here: http://removeandreplace.com/2013/07/26/64-creative-ways-to-recycle-and-reuse-a-wooden-pallet/

The best pallet furniture I have ever seen was that made of complete pallets cut into smaller bits and reassembled like Lego blocks rather than dismantled. Hope that makes sense. Really a case of once a pallet always a pallet rather than trying to make it into something that it was not. Reckon that any pallet that does not have 'this is the property of whoever' on it is fair game. As for skips, just can't walk past without a quick mooch!

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/revealed_the_north_norfolk_public_toilets_which_could_close_1_4435506 Whatever next?

Commercial television . . . . . . . so plebeian! Thanks folks.

If I were hiring then I'd be off to Martham Boats, ideal boats for a boating holiday. No whirl pool baths there!

Perhaps, Matt, folk should see it as a boating rather than a self catering holiday?

Those sunken wrecks that we do see around the Broads probably, if they are actually insured, have the cheapest available policies.

Just curious, Strow, but the BA only require 3rd party insurance, does that require a hull survey? I'm fully insured so do have to provide a survey on a timber boat but none has been demanded for a grp one. The guy who does our BSS has more than once expressed his opinion that hull integrity should be included.

Choo Choo time! http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/watch_stunning_aerial_video_of_flying_scotsman_steam_enthusiasts_brought_it_to_shuddering_stop_in_cambridgeshire_1_4432488

And as I motored home:

A spot of pike fishing today, no monsters but the winter colours were a delight:

The yards obviously can, but following the recent sinking at Norwich Yacht Station it does suggest that some private owners can't. As for those bits of paper, the hire yards have to have them for engines and installations, which they can maintain perfectly adequately, so why not hulls? Okay, exclude hire craft, but every year there are reports of private boats sinking, thankfully whilst no one has been asleep on-board.

Yes, Strow, Broads & Broads boats, made of wood or GRP, not canal boats made of box section iron or steel. As has been wisely suggested, in my opinion, the BSS 'needs renaming along the lines of mechanical, gas and electrical install test. Otherwise it indicates a boat is safe and seaworthy which is just not the case.' As for hulls and skin fittings, don't you think that a boat that floats rather than sinks is safer? Please don't think that I'm criticising the principle of maintaining boat standards, I'm not, but it was rushed legislation. At the time of its introduction I was involved with the industry so was well aware of what various yards thought of the BSS.

Hi Iain, I admit to not knowing the answer but just my thoughts. I have long suspected that the industry made a mistake when it decided to compete with hotels rather than selling boating adventures on the Broads. People now come to the Broads expecting hotel quality accommodation that floats rather than a change of lifestyle holiday on a boat. It's not a 'saily' thing, it's a boating thing.

The obvious question should have been asked before inflicting the BSS on the Broads, is it suitable for the Broads and Broads boats? As the answer would probably have been 'no' then the industry could have come together and got things right, right from the start. Including hull & skin fitting integrity, in my opinion, would have been a wise move, might have helped reduce the number of sinkings.

Simple question really, it is a boating holiday so why do folk need all the comforts of home?

Loo, you jest, surely?

Got to support that one, Poppy. Not just in regard to holiday boats either. Just how many private boats are homes from home rather than boats? The manufacturers and hire yards pander to these expectations and demands, understandably, but have dug something of a hole for themselves when it comes to a foolproof means of satisfying the demand that they themselves have created!

Jean, I think that we all appreciate what you are saying.

Thank you for that, Jean. Your comments rather suggest that a large part of the noisy engine problem is down to the yards after all. I rather suspect that the yards know the problem full well yet some almost pigheadedly continue to provide boats that are overly dependent on anti-social auxiliary power. As for cold mornings, keep your cloths on when you go to bed!

Vanessan, a number of commercial concerns post all their e-mails in bulk at predetermined, 'premium' dispatch times. Prudent use of our money!

Trudi is generally a gem but she can only support the party line.

No probs on a 24hr moorings, effectively those mooring belong to the Authority, they set the conditions and terms of use.

Don't get me wrong, Iain, I support the general intention, with reservations, but cobbling bylaws together and making threats that can't be upheld could be a nonsense. Coo, not going to the Broads for my holiday, might get stung for a grand.