Paul

I always thought Hardy's move away from the smaller boats which had an avid following would prove their downfall, their offerings have got bigger and bigger and more and more expensive moving them into a highly competitive and already over populated market sector. But then again, I'm no boat builder ... Sad days none the less, is there likely to be a saviour out there, come on Jenny, you know you want to ...

Oh the captions that come to mind ... Once more in to the breach, dear friends .. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done

I'm a bit concerned that it says sander / polisher, the two things are very different. Sanders require relatively high rpms to work, car polishers should have very low rpms or they will damage the clear coat on your car. If you have a two purpose machine for heavens sake make sure it's correctly adjusted before you use it on your car

I'm not sure anyone can criticise the government for not being prepared for such an extraordinary event. What they were is ready with plans in place which could be adapted and made to fit the crisis that ensued. The speed with which additional hospitals were made ready was outstanding. Now it appears we may not need all of these extra beds, lets hope that is the case. Someone will I have no doubt criticise the cost of all this work if not. In hindsight there are things which we might have done differently or done better, but hindsight is nobodies friend. I guess these are the same people who complain on those rare occasions when snow blocks our roads and tell you how Norway's road remain clear and passable every year despite days of snowfall but who ignore the fact that Norway spends huge amounts of money to tackle what for them is a regular occurrence, the same people who would then complain if our Government spent billions of pounds of there money on equipment to deal with what is generally a less than once a year occurrence. They moan and criticise because that is the limit of their intelligence, it's all they know how to do.

just the same way as any oximeter, by shining a bright light into your finger then measuring how much red light, and infra red light is reflected. In this way the device determines how much saturated hemoglobin is in the blood Professional meters measure absorption but reflection is almost as accurate

there has never been a railing on the other side, according to Tim West's old program Waterworld.

In the famous words of a certain Mr Morecombe I hit all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.

perhaps they are worried about catching a wasp fish

A surreal experience today, as the sole attendee of a funeral. Not something I have experienced before or would wish to repeat. You will recall I posted of the death of a very old family friend who we lost a week last Saturday. Her funeral was held at the crematorium today. The minister called on Monday and asked if I would be able to attend. Her only family is an estranged daughter living in Australia, her neighbour would like to have attended but is in the at risk category and most of her other church friends are upwards of 80 years of age and so similarly have been recommended to self isolate. Hence it was the minister and myself. I gave a fine solo rendition of Abide With Me, and her favourite hymn, which is also mine, How Great Thou Art.The crematorium staff were very good, and asked before entering the chapel if I wished to sing the hymns, if not they would "pipe" them instead. I have to admit, I might have the stature of Sir Harry Secombe, sadly not the voice, but she went on her way to the sound of her favourite hymns, sung, not played.

trust me, I wasn't going to trip, slip or anything else. Head to toe I was locked rigid, I don't think I even flinched muscle the whole way across. When we got to the other side I virtually had to prize my fingers off the tiller. Of course, having got to the other side we had to turn around and come back,

if you think walking over that aqueduct with the hand rail to hold onto is a spare trouser experience try taking a boat over it when you can look straight over the other side which doesn't have the hand rail. I would never stand underneath it and look up!

The padlock was duly removed at 3pm this afternoon.

As you might have read elsewhere, our beloved Parish Council have padlocked our allotment, along with a number of childrens play parks, contrary to current government advice. There is an ongoing battle between the Parish Council and Community Garden Association which manages the allotment. I am currently in isolation but had an email from a fellow committee member yesterday to advise that the PC have been instructed to remove their padlock, or it will be removed. The village is getting militant!

Whilst this sort of clarification is useful, and in my book a bit overdue I am concerned that it is being issued by our constabularies when really this is the job of law makers, i.e. government. The Police enforce the law, it is absolutely not their place to determine what it is, or even it's interpretation. Having lived, briefly, in the former East Germany I know all too well what a dangerous precedent is being set when police forces start to decide what is and is not acceptable especially when they are empowered to issue a penalty directly. The become not only judge, jury and executioner, but law makers as well, which is the very definition of a police state.

I wouldn't say that, looking forward to future holidays is one thing that can keep us all going through this. We didn't make plans for May this year beyond deciding where we were going, or not going now! We have got a holiday booked in Wales for July and Norfolk in August, we are hoping they will go ahead but I'm sceptical about July

whilst we were in Devon over new year I picked one up from a garden center for 14.75, I asked is that plus VAT, no - 14.75 inc vat. Compare that to £25 for the last calor 6kg propane and I'll stick with the flogas

which are valid points, but don't account for blocking footpaths, closing allotments etc, which are all essential facilities in the exercise regime the government want us to follow. Our bin men, as previously said, are great, and according to my through the window chat last week are not short staffed and can't understand why the cardboard and green waste vehicles have been stopped. It seems to have been done in expectation of what might happen rather than the real situation on the ground. Some might look at that as a knee jerk reaction and others will see it as appropriate forward planning. I guess you pays your money and makes your choice. Our recycling centres went from seven days a week to five a couple of years ago worked on the basis that neighbouring sites close on different weekdays. So for us if one is closed the nest nearest is open. Perhaps they could reduce that to for or even three days a week with the main centres open weekends and smaller local centers just one or two weekdays. We could then take our cardboard and green waste which is not being collected to the tip ourselves

On a similar local authority note there has been considerable uproar in these parts that the local authorities, be it county, district or parish have closed many of the amenities people might use to exercise. The county council has closed all of it's country parks, including the public footpaths which run through them, the legitimacy of which many are questioning as these are public rights of way. I can understand closing the car parks, but not blocking off the public footpaths. We don't live near the sea, next to the river or in a National Park but we do have a lovely country park in the village which is now off limits. The parish council have also closed the community garden which if you read my other thread a while ago you will understand has gone down like a lead balloon. The ground was bequeathed to the people of the village for their enjoyment in perpetuity and the Parish Council rather assumed responsibility for it which was then passed on the the community association and from them to the community gardens committee. I went down over the weekend to find a big chain and padlock in addition to the normal lock and a notice from the pc to say the facility is closed until further notice. Other allotments in the village which are operated by the district council remain open. They have also padlocked the skate park and children's playground. Sadly during this crisis (can we call it a crisis yet?) there have been some instances of over zealous officiating, hospitals insisting on DNR forms, Police officers telling shops not to sell easter eggs or people that they cannot be in their front gardens. It seems to me this has reached county hall, and it's various subsiduaries.

On a personal note I hope one of the first things to reopen is the recycling center. We are starting to drown under a pile if rubbish ready for the tip what with the rampant spring cleaning and sorting etc. There was somebody on the TV last night advocating the same as apparently lots of people are in a similar boat and it should be something which can observe social distancing relatively easily

Breydon seems fine in all respects, polished his roast lamb and yorkies off this evening, still running around at 200mph which he does non stop from 7 am till 11 pm, I'm sure he's hyperactive. Does have quiet clingy moments though which is unlike him. A dose of calpol and his temperature is back to normal tonight but we'll keep him wrapped up as "ordered". We've just done a full shop so will only need milk at the weekend which the neighbour has already offered to get for us.

Our youngest started showing symptoms yesterday, a persistent if irregular cough and his temperature is slightly up so isolation has begun in the household. We are lucky in that we have good neighbours who will keep us supplied with essentials as and when needed

Not until the 16th of June I trust!

It's a Sessa 42 Oyster, currently residing in Falmouth, though that was about to change. I keep checking my ticket to see if my numbers have come up, sadly not. I should love to buy her outright and induct her to the Brundall Navy but sadly that's unlikely. There is a suggestion that one of our members is considering making a bid but he would want to move her back to the Med where she originally came from.

Thanks Neil. Presumably the EVC version cannot be updated? Sorry if that's a dumb question.

We have twin D6-310's of 2004 vintage and have already been told that the EVC does not have the capacity to output fuel useage. Having emailed another of the owners this morning he thinks they run EVC B, possibly B2. Serial numbers are out of the question at the moment as nobody is visiting the boat at present and the documents which would show them are lodged with a solicitor under the terms of the syndicate. We do have a second expert. a independant Volvo Penta specialist due to take a look but obviously not until after lock down. The problem is it's a ticking clock. At last Octobers AGM the required 70% of shareholders voted to liquidate assets and close the syndicate, but according to our constitution unless the vote is 100% then a year has to elapse to allow the remaining owners to buy out the shares at market value. We would like a clear idea of the cost of fuel meters before we have to make a final decision, though with each 10% valued at around 12k the total of 84k between the three of us in this current economic climate is looking doubtful. The catch 22 is that brokers are already warning us that if we do offer her for sale the market is very slow, and prices likely to be rock bottom for some time ahead.