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Paul
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Posts posted by Paul
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The Bridge Inn at Acle or the Recruiting Sergeant at Horsted, no others sadly, but that is just my opinion
Edit to add the Nelson's at Horsey, plus the Swan at Stalham is nice depending whats on the specials
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Sad to report that Rosy Lee's has closed, I will not go into the reasons here and would ask others not to conjecture. Sadly it looks like this might be the end of Rosy Lee's in Loddon.
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Just now, Paul said:
Owner being a ******** maybe?
Ooops - I should have added "allegedly"
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why does the phrase compulsory purchase order keep popping into my head, surely someone could find a loop hole or some kind of excuse? Owner being a ******** maybe?
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Surlingham Broad and Bargate are separate stretches of water. The navigable broad is Bargate. Surlingham Broad is shallow and navigable only by small craft. If you enter by the upstream dyke from the middle of Brundall turn left for Bargate or right for Surlingham. Surlingham Staithe is also up there. We made it up in a dinghy some years ago but I believe tree falls have now blocked access
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10 minutes ago, grendel said:
called in the cycle shop on the way home and purchased some chain lube.
is that code-speak for "called in at the paddle makers arms and purchased some operator lube"
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8 hours ago, scaniaman said:
It is the Arum Lily, It`s Latin name is Lysichiton Camtschatsensis
not quite, the Arum is Brosimum aethiopica, the one kept in a pot by annv is likely to be a Peace Lily or Spathiphyllum which are excellent house plants and supposedly improve the air quality around them. This is Lysichiton camtschatcensis, has the common name Asian Skunk Cabbage and is not considered invasive YET, but is a plant of concern on the RHS list. There are a whole family of skunk cabbages, some of which are truly repulsive with flowers carrying the scent of rotting flesh and some are highly invasive with the capability of covering acres of bogland in a single growing season
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I know little of Mr Goodman, but may he rest in peace, and deepest condolences to his family and friends. It is easy to overlook the fact that the personalities we see on our televisions are still husbands, fathers grandfathers, etc.
Someone I knew much more about also passed away on Saturday, Barry Humphries. Through his alter ego Dame Edna Everage, he made me howl with laughter time after time, across a whole lifetime. I recall on one occasion he gate crashed the Royal Box and took a seat next to the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. When an equerry appeared to remove "her" Dame Edna simply looked at the Prince and said "Excuse me, but they have found me a better seat"
A true entertainer. a commander of the British Empire and member of the Order of Australia, the Australian equivalent of Knight of the Realm. RIP "Sir" Barry
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maybe this could be your next project Grendel
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4 hours ago, catcouk said:
Without anything else, a holiday 'from £313' has cost more like £530 (but many holidays face this kind of 'hidden cost' structure).
Overseas holidays should not, the law changed many years ago to stop holiday companies advertising prices that were not reflective of the actual price you would pay, so any unavoidable room supplements, taxes, etc must be included in the advertised price. How UK holidays get away with all of these things I'm not quite sure.
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I'm sure the B.A. will not mind me adding this on their behalf
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A sad day today, an entertainer who not only made me laugh, made me smile and once or twice even cry but a man I was privileged to call a friend. R.I.P Paul
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1 hour ago, ChrisB said:
The Dacia Duster in it's 150hp spec does 0-62 sub 10 sec and tops out at 124mph
Not so slow.
just boringly mundane, which of course is exactly what it's meant to be. 30 years ago I was driving a Rover 600 which hit 60 in under 7s and went onto 145 so I guess it's what you're used to. Even now in my dotage when my right foot barely gets past 90 degrees I still like to drive something that makes me smile
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3 minutes ago, twowrights said:
Give it a few years and Dacia will be up there with other car makers, just like Skoda and Kia now are.
The big difference between those examples is in the parentage. Skoda and Kia both have parent companies capable of building reasonably reliable cars and passing that "DNA" down the chain. Dacia meanwhile are owned by Renault .........
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Tyres have come a long way since the days when the main choice was radial or cross-ply. With the difference in the performance of cars and especially the wheel sizes on offer matching the right tyre profile to your car is vital. There are a huge number of different rubber compounds used to give tyres different properties, depending if you want to get a Dacia Duster from A to B or your pride and joy around the Nordschleife. The best tyres are no longer made in Europe but in the Far East, especially in Japan and yes, sorry to upset you purists, China.
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the issue of that bridge has been going on far too long and the solution is very obvious. Recruit a pair of bespotted young scrotes, sorry respectable young people from a local place of learning, equip each of them with a can of neon green spray paint, and within two rotations of the traffic lights, they will have daubed a number on each stone of the bridge, along with one or two more "colourful" symbols I dare say. Then remove each stone in turn, which given the fact that the structure seems to be falling apart anyway should take no more than a couple of hours, and relocate them into the small field adjacent to the river behind the chippie where they can be reassembled in something similar at least, to the order in which they were removed. It would take a team of civil engineers about six to ten months to complete the task, or alternatively, a small forum working party with a backhoe could have it done in a couple of evenings.
Problem solved
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1 hour ago, BroadsAuthority said:
Hi @catcouk
Here are some suggestions for you:
Northern Broads
- Take a wheelchair accessible boat trip aboard Ra the Solar Boat at Hoveton
- Enjoy an accessible sailing or canoe trip with the Nancy Oldfield Trust at Neatishead
- Visit the floating wildlife visitor centre and go wildlife spotting at NWT Ranworth Broad, or visit the Broads Authority information centre at Ranworth Staithe to learn more about the local wildlife and history
- St Helen's Church at Ranworth, the church tea-room, visitor centre and sensory garden offer an accessible visit, ramps are available to enter the church
- Hire a wheelchair-accessible day boat from Broads Tours and explore the River Bure
- Browse the exhibits and take an accessible boat trip at the Museum of the Broads in Stalham
- Hire tandem bicycles at Broadland Cycle Hire in Horning
- St Benet's Abbey near Ludham is a very atmospheric site to visit, with some accessible areas
- Enjoy the views and Braille signs on the accessible boardwalk at Barton Broad, and visit the viewing platform; there's also an accessible boardwalk at Filby Broad
- Filby and Rollesby Broads have suitable access for angling, and Martham Pits is another good place
- Hire a mobility scooter to enjoy the gardens and take an accessible boat trip at Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden (South Walsham)
- Take a river cruise aboard the wheelchair-friendly 'Queen of the Broads' and 'Belle of the Broads' with Broads Tours, or the 'Southern Comfort' Mississippi River Boat in Horning
- Take a trip on the accessible miniature Bure Valley Railway or venture along the flat Bure Valley Railway Path
Southern Broads
- Get close to nature and visit the Suffolk Wildlife Trust Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve and Visitor Centre (Oulton Broad)
- The Roman monument at Burgh Castle includes some accessible areas and offers one of the best views in the Broads
- Take an accessible boat trips with Waveney Stardust (Beccles) and Waveney Sailability (Lowestoft)
- Enjoy a picnic and relax at easy access green spaces near the waterways at Beccles Quay, Oulton Broad (with Nicholas Everitt Park), Cow Tower and Pull's Ferry (Norwich)
- Venture out to Wheatfen Nature Reserve at Surlingham and explore the easy-access boardwalk linking the car park to the bird hide
Accessible places to eat and drink
In addition to food and drink available at the places above, below are some places to eat which are wheelchair accessible (we suggest you call in advance of your visit to check any specific requirements you might have):
- Indulge in some shopping and refuel in one of the quaint cafes at Wroxham Barns
- Browse the brewery shop and eat at Woodforde's Flagship pub/restaurant The Fur and Feather Inn
- Enjoy delicious food and picturesque views at the wheelchair-accessible Filby Bridge restaurant
- Eat and drink at the wheelchair-accessible Ferry Inn, Horning
- Dine at the wheelchair-accessible Waterside Restaurant (Rollesby) and enjoy views over Rollesby Broad from their flat wooden decking
- Visit the Flint Barn Cafe at Whitlingham Country Park after exploring the paths around the Broad (advisable in summer/dry periods only)
Accessible places to stay
Below are some ideas for accessible places to stay during your visit:
- Self-catering stays at Hall Farm Cottages in Horning caters for disabled visitors
- Limes Farm self catering cottage in Ludham offers disabled access and has a wet room
- Wheatacre Hall Barns in Beccles have a number of easy-access cottages (contact first)
- The Nancy Oldfield Trust's Kenyon Bungalow at Neatishead offers accessible stays and boat trip opportunities
- Cotenham Barns (Panxworth) have accessible options, including the fully-accessible Cotenham Garden Cottage
- The Threshing Barn at Mill Farm Eco Barn, Winterton-on-Sea is accessible
For links to businesses and activities: https://www.visitthebroads.co.uk/discover-the-broads/about-the-broads/accessible-visits
Hope that helps,
Tom
What an excellent post, it wold be great if we could have that pinned somehow?
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you know the easiest way to improve a BMW Z3 is to sell it and buy a Honda S2000, you'll need to add a few K to the pot though. It's the car the Z3 might have been if BMW hadn't dumbed it down. I seriously wish I hadn't sold mine when I did, prices are starting to rocket.
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We visited just before the pandemic, having missed it for years as we always visit early in the month and IIRC it only opens the last weekend of each month. It's a lovely thing to do on a sunny afternoon, it's not expensive, admission includes a free water taxi from and back to Granary Staithe and a ride up to the garden where you can sit an enjoy a coffee and a slice of cake. You don't even need to be too interested in the trains, it's still a great way to spend the afternoon.
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Not my own work, but seems very useful.
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Salt surges are nothing new, and from what I have seen yet and reading Marshman's very enlightening posts this one seems nothing more than an average "ten-year" event. I think the reason it becomes more of an issue, seemingly with every salt incursion is the rising number of people on social media who make it such. Salt comes, fish die, salt goes, fish recover. It has been happening since time began. Nature - red in tooth and claw, and fin on this occasion.
Many people mistakenly believe that it is the salt that kills fish, and whilst this might be true for small numbers that become trapped in increasingly brackish water most die of suffocation, they swim upstream in front of the salt until they become so congested that the already over warm and oxygen low water becomes critically depleted of that oxygen and fish die. The strongest and the luckiest survive and will recover the population. You could take the view that our attempts to disturb this natural process are very arrogant. Nobody does it because they are worried for the FISH, they do it because they are worried about the FISHING.
So what to do about it? Should we do anything? It was happening long before the oldest of us ever saw the light of day and it will still happen long after our youngest shuffles off this mortal coil.
Before deciding what to do we must understand why it happens. Marshman makes the point that the head of the northern rivers is not a dead end but drains a large part of North East Norfolk, but for rivers the size of the Bure, Ant and Thurne that is a woefully inadequate catchment, especially in a part of the UK known for having the lowest rainfall. There is simply too little downstream flow of fresh water to protect against these surges. It was the inadequate downstream flow remember which closed the locks on the NW&DC. We never see this issue on the Waveney which has much healthier DSF and rarely on the Yare.
Now we can't do anything about how much fresh water comes down the rivers, so can we stop the amount of salt going up? Yes, we can, and quite easily by erecting a barrier at Great Yarmouth but this would be a major engineering project with a huge cost. We are not talking a few planks and slots. It would have to be somewhere upstream of Haven Bridge and downstream of Bure Mouth a wide stretch of river. Who pays? Who benefits? What would be the justification? What would be the drawbacks? Everyone I have heard arguing that something must be done has a vested interest in the angling sector such as John Currie who has been very outspoken on the use, or rather lack of use of the HW barrier and happens to be chair of the Norwich Pike Assoc.
Searching this forum alone for "salt surge" returns results from 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 and I recall the surge which Marshman refers to which IIRC was 2008 when angling societies across the Northern Rivers told us that fish stocks had been decimated for "generations to come". An EA hydrographywhatsitsname survey in 2014 showed volumes of fish in the Broads were higher than ever before. Forgive me if I am sounding blase but cry wolf comes to mind here.
So we return to the question what should we do if anything? I think it is likely that serious salt surges become more frequent, and so do we build the barrier. What if we do and the broads become overstocked with weak, disease-ridden fish due to the lack of this natural selection caused by the salt? What could we do other than a barrier? We could artificially aerate key parts of the upper reaches. Not difficult, you only need a big pump. It would not save every fish but it would help. Should we address the Bure bump as Griff calls it? People try and deny its existence and point to river depths in the lower Bure but I don't recall the huge mud shoals on those stretches that we see today being there in the 70s and 80s. Would this allow better ebb flow and the quicker and more effective release of salt water? Would it affect river levels upstream? I believe it should be looked at if only as a demonstration. I would like to see the whole width dredged from the Yacht Sta. to Five Mile House. Look at Google maps and switch to satellite view and look at the river colour, the thin blue line edged by brown shallow water all the way to Stracey almost.
Of course, what lets the salt out faster also lets it in faster, if indeed dredging that sector does improve flow, which I think we should accept that it should, would this be beneficial?
Or should we leave well alone and let nature take it's course?
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And so the nation has paid it’s final respects, said it’s last goodbyes to a monarch who has served our nation for longer than I have been alive. When Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne Britain was, to put it bluntly in something of a mess. We, or should I say they, as I personally will not play a part in this story for another decade or so, were still subject to food rationing. There were still steam trains and people used them because very few had cars. Few even had televisions and most who had bought them specifically for the coverage of her coronation. The Empire was in decline and in many aspects Victorian values pervaded through the monarchy and the nation as a whole.
Her Majesty oversaw the inevitable break up of the Empire, the end of imperialism and the development of the Commonwealth, so beloved of her. She led the modernisation of the monarchy helped in no small part by developments in television. For the first time ever the Monarch was in our house at tea time, we followed her on her tours within this country and overseas. We saw her playing with her children, then grand children.
I was born into a family which had immense respect for the Royal Family. I fear to use words such as royalist and republican which have become the rhetoric of hatred and intolerance, the very things which Her Majesty stood against. When a news item came on the television featuring the Queen or other members of the royal family then everyone shut up and listened. If not we got a “flea in our ear”. Christmas day was scheduled around seeing them attend church in the morning and watching Her Majesty’s speech in the afternoon. Still to this day Christmas is not complete in this house without these events, even though those who bought these traditions to me are now themselves long since gone and courtesy of the press we know exactly what she was going to say. Still, the act of watching the speech was an act of continuity, a remembrance of parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles who in years gone by sat and watched with us. Those parents and aunts and uncles were much of an age with Her Majesty and the last of them passed away a few years ago now. For me personally the loss of the Queen is very much an underlining of the passage of that generation, a sad day and one which I am not embarrassed to say has bought a tear to my eye on several occasions today.
The pavane is completed, the entwinement of duty, ceremony and pageant come to an end. The Queens coffin now rests in the vault of her family chapel, alongside her parents and her beloved husband. May winged angels sweep you to your rest Ma’am, you have earned it many times over.
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she looks suspiciously slumped in the middle to me. Only a few minutes up the road from me too but I shall not be going anywhere near.
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1 hour ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:
Well it doesn’t say about black mourning ribbons on the official gov web site
That's the government for you. Known as a mourning cravat a black ribbon can be added to the upper or leading toggle n flags which cannot be flown at half mast
I think it was Mouldy who posted the guidance on Friday which explains, though as someone who was once responsible for flags on a public building the etiquette is something I had to know.
You think it's confusing when talking about one flag. Try working out the etiquette when a stand of flags is involved
Incidentally, you should ALWAYS raise or lower a flag to and from full staff, never directly to or from half mast
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Should We Be Concerned?
in Broads Chat
Posted
An interesting news update from Auntie Beeb
bbcn1002.pdf