JennyMorgan

Was a time when houseboats were more common than they are today: A houseboat is a perfectly legitimate way of creating space by the water, perhaps a go ahead yard will start production. Always strikes me that a concrete hull would be a good basis for a useful 'spare room'. This one was 'near Wroxham.'

Not yet. Mind you, I haven't ordered any yet! Whatever, enjoy.

Waitrose & the Broads? Ummm, the boats might be but can we say that about the infrastructure?

Thought it was aiming to go higher, not lower!

http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/lowestoft_based_hoseasons_launches_new_televison_campaign_1_3896123 I note that Hoseason's is promoting its upmarket image, I suppose it is the way forward but personally I prefer the idea of the Broads being for all rather than just for the well heeled. That aside I look forward to seeing more of the Broads on TV. I note that the voice over is by Mariella Frostrup , don't know about you but I find her 'advertising' voice really annoying!

Broads anglers are thoroughly spoilt! If we fish from a boat then we have over a hundred miles of free fishing, lucky us. Those of you who rely on commercial fisheries and day-tickets are very unfortunate. Owners of such fisheries either charge £1.00 and hope for one hundred anglers to turn up, or they charge £10.00 and reasonably expect ten anglers to turn up. Of course those who pay ten pounds are content to pay it, there will only be ten other anglers sharing the water. Bit like boat builders, do they build one £100.000.00 boat or a hundred £1,000.00 boats? We all know the answer to that one! Basically the more frugal of us are being excluded. Was a time when angling and boating could reasonably be enjoyed by all, was a time when on a Saturday morning when mile after mile of a big Midland river would be taken up by anglers, near enough shoulder to shoulder. As the saying goes, money is the root of all evil. People will always be prepared to pay if it means others will be excluded.

Allan might have talked proper but was he Norfolk born? No, another foreigner!! Is Norfolk the grain basket of England or . . . . . . . . . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Smethurst Bring back Steward & Patterson, Morgans and Bullards!

I left clicked on the 'thumb nail' and up came a nice big, albeit on the sos, picture of a Hunter.

That explains it all then!!!

Blinkin' 'eck, we only had BBC! Dad bought a TV for the 1953 Coronation. Before that the only TV I'd seen was a projector sort of thing that showed a grossly poor picture on a silver screen. I actually inherited that TV, it survived right up until the old 450 lines or whatever was turned off.

History of the navigation here: http://www.eawa.co.uk/upper-bure.html Broads were always very open in the days of the wherries when wind was the driving force.

We still get a rag & bone man with a hoss & cart, one of the local travellers, decent sort, I think. Once upon a time we made music with a comb and 'hard' toilet paper. Once upon a time a walkie-talkie was two empty tins, baked bean tins for example, and a piece of string stretched between them. Once upon a time a take-away-meal was handfuls of peas nicked from a passing pea lorry or tractor delivering to Birds-Eye at Lowestoft.

Back to the 1900's. I note that the pub, back then, was a Bullards house, meaning that it probably sold the dreaded wind maker, Bullards mild. It's only merit was that it was cheap, or was in the 1960's. Cheap, maybe, but as a palatable brew even Watney's Red Barrel was preferable, by a gnat's whisker. Ducks even plagued boats for food way back then!

Just hope that the little blighter refrained from leaving a deposit! Have just been scrubbing sea-gull deposits off a boat cover, urghhh! Bigger beasts than a robin I know, but the smell, awful. Pervades everything, all my cloths are now in the washing machine and I'm showered and preened.

I can well remember the Javelins of Coltishall, also the testing of VI rockets from the airfield. I was at school nearby, right under the flight path. Exciting days for a school kid. One of the Javelins caught fire as it crossed over our playing field, we thought it most exciting. The pilot parachuted down amongst a clamour of excited school kids, none of which realised quite how lucky they had just been!

Fenders were knotted rope covered in canvas, they really took some scrubbing after a night alongside a muddy bank. Life-Jackets were blue and orange, bulky affairs and filled with kapok, once saturated they never dried out so didn't last long. Bilge pumps were ex WD things that were designed for putting out phosphorus fires, they really weren't much good. Sails were cotton canvas and if they were stowed away damp soon developed mildew so drying sails could be a chore in wet weather. Decks were covered in painted canvas and laying in bed during a rainstorm often included clutching a bucket rather than a teddy bear! The 'gents' at Geldeston Locks were a hole in the ground, surrounded by tarred, corrugated iron. There was no roof so one hoped that it wasn't raining because the 'bog' was someway from the pub. Locally the Waveney Inn (WRC) was known as 'Dirty D*ck's', and that was nothing to do with the customers! The landlord was a 'puggy old bugger'!

Barry, thank you, wonderful. They were the days!

None of you Norfolk boys have mentioned the infamous 'honey cart! Biggles, yes, but let's not forget John Wentley.

Did this wherry reverse out? Probably early 1900's. Amazing that a wherry could sail up such a narrow dyke!

Iain, there are certain similarities!

Arrowroot biscuits plus a pint or two of Bullards mild, wa-hey, far, far worse than sprouts and beans, especially on a small boat!

Iain, didn't think that you would have got Luxembourg that far North! The signal here in Broadland was pretty inconsistent at the best of times back then. Then along came Radio Veronica, good signal, good music, no Horace Batchelor or the dreaded, mundane NDO, bliss!

No sea trip then, Clive?

Memory is going! London to Brighton in FOUR minutes, see it here: I thought it wonderful, at the time! Mr Crabtree, The Tiller Girls, Percy Thrower, Barry Bucknall, Jack Hargreaves, I remember them well!

Newspaper 'squares' threaded onto string and hanging in the 'privy'. Dan Dare & Digby, Radio Luxemburg and abbreviated Richard (Di*K) Barton and Horace Batchelor Crystal sets, X-Ray machines in the shoe-shop, The 'Light Program', Workers Playtime & the Northern Dance Orchestra, London to Brighton in one minute on the TV, Billy Bunter, yah-roo! Bronco, Archy Andrew.