Paul

Is this where we revisit the debate about access to public staithes?

I started reading AR at school. I had a very studious big sister who taught me to read before I started school, which was a bit of a problem for my 1st year teacher, Miss Bevan. They gave up with the National Curriculum "Peter & Jane" series as I was already beyond that stage. By the end of year 1 I was choosing my own books from the school Library. Sadly there was no Harry Potter or Alex Rider back then, so for me it was Rosemary Sutcliffe and Arthur Ransome. They remain some of my favourite books to this day.

where do you think I got it from .......

I much prefer the idea of some sacrificial lamb standing in the forepeak with a string and lead shouting "three fathoms ..... sand" ..... "Two Fathoms .... mud"!

Cole-Palmer?

I guess the system realises that if you are using proper punctuation you must be speaking English, nor "American English", in the same way when spelling realises with an S, not a Zeeeeeeee

We took the rowing boat in to King's Fleet many years ago on a lads week. We moored Princess in the Bargate and rowed up and was surprised to see a Fair Lowliner, one of the 44 footers moored in there. I guess local knowledge is key.

Perhaps a subject for Lord Paul and his eye in the sky?

The later remakes of the Marple series by ITV is a case in point. Some of the episodes are totally different to the original novels, some re-written completely to feature Miss Marple when she did not appear in the original. Sadly, you can easily tell when the story line has been altered. TV scriptwriters are not in the same class as Ms Christie when it comes to a good crime novel.

If you know the best route in and out you can get quite a sizeable boat up to Surlingham Staithe. Last time I went up there in a sailing Dinghy there was a Sealine 290 and a Bayliner moored on the staithe, as well as a number of dinghys.

There is a lot missing from the Big Six, and especially Coot Club, though I suppose that is the pressure of slimming the novels to around 75 minutes of TV. In essence though the storylines remain much the same. I am not sure I want spies and such adding.

Alas yes. In recent versions of the famous five Aunt Fanny has become Aunt Frannie and Dick has become Rick. How long I wonder before we see Chris Packham on Springwatch talking about nesting pairs of Blue Cyanistes?

never a truer word said. The Richard Burton recording really brings to life a work which otherwise is quite difficult to engage with.

Wow! The community cafe in the village just bought a new complete set up, 3 head barista machine (the kind you find in coffee shops), Grinder, Grinds draw plus all the prep accessories, and a load of freebies, (15k of beans, 3000 cups, replacement filters etc) for a tad under £4k all in. I think the cost explodes when you start to talk "automatic", viz a viz the costa machines in service stations, wetherspoons etc, which actually don't make very good coffee.

I never quite got into filter coffee machines, I always preferred espresso machines even if I used the essence for long or white coffee. I can heartily recommend this for anyone who is looking for a decent bean to cup machine without spending a kings ransom. Clicky Linky Type Thingymajig.

much the same here. My previous car was a Renault, Espace V6 diesel. It was abysmal. The mk IV was the first Espace built by Renault the I - IIIs having been licensed out to Matra. They proved reliable, the mkIV anything but. Every time I tried to trade it in I got the same response ...... sorry, we don't take the 3.0 diesel. In the end I found a dealer who would take it then chose the car, hence the cr-v. I've been to look at a new one this morning, though after three consecutive tin lids I do crave a return to a rag top, an E class being the most likely choice.

It's a proper colour that Ian, I can supply a nice Liverbird badge for the bonnet if you want to make it extra special! I hope it runs well for you and carries you on many trips to the broads. I really must change our car, it's 14 years old, 180,000 miles but never lets me down. It is however BLUE!

Actually, with hindsight I think I made an error calling The Lavender House the worst experience. Perhaps the most disappointing would be more accurate. The worst experience was a Fish and Chip Shop from which the food was inedible and went into the bin. As they are still trading I shall say no more.

As the establishment is now closed I will elaborate slightly, seeing as you asked so nicely. I was not impressed with the decor, I found it out of keeping with the product and not inducive of the claimed fine dining experience. The rolls in the bread basket were not cooked, two of them were still doughy. I ordered tuna for a starter which was a let down as I had been looking forward to the belly pork but it was "off". The Tuna was overcooked and dry and when I bought that to the waiter's attention the response was "that's how it's always cooked." There was no pinkness to it at all. In fairness it was replaced but the replacement was only slightly better. I think it had been given an extra basting before being served to make it look less dry. The main was OK. I had glazed beef (I might have gone for the sea bream had I not had a fishy starter). That was perfectly OK but those in our party who did have the Sea Bream received it covered in soggy, watery samphire. Dessert was also disappointing. We were eating from a set weeknight menu with three or four options for each course and the only dessert I liked the sound of was watermelon with Pannacotta and a syrup of some kind, precisely what I forget. The Panna Cotta was gorgeous, but the watermelon was bland and tasteless and the syrup like pink coloured liquid glucose. Having already complained about the Tuna and the Sea Bream we couldn't be bothered any further. We ate up, paid up and left. For five of us, three courses, two bottles of white and one of rose, 4 brandy's a baileys and five coffees the bill was a touch north of £325. For "fine dining" that's not excessive (I've eaten at Fat Duck!), £20 for mains, 7 or 8 quid each starter and dessert, three glasses of wine at a fiver each, similar for coffee and a brandy and your not far away, but it simply was not a £65 a head experience. This was April, 2016. It was suggested afterwards that the proprietor was not in the kitchen that evening, and that staff had become aware of the plan to close the restaurant later that year. Perhaps that had an impact but we went expecting something special. We knew it was above average price compared to other eateries locally but had been assured it was good value given the quality. We just didn't find that to be the case.

unless I have missed something I haven't seen any bad reviews?

Similarly, the worst experience I have had was at the Lavender House, much beloved by so many. Anywhere can have an off day I guess

IIRC that was the unanimous (or almost unanimous) suggestions of various forums, social media sites etc at the time. I'm sure there are one or two who might have suggested "wait and see", but to most of us it was obvious the solution being used was not suitable.

When I was very young my late uncle was chairman of the Leicestershire County Council Sport Committee. in 1974 he took me to Villa Park to watch an FA Cup replay versus Liverpool, it was my first ever match. Liverpool were awesome that day and beat Leicester 3-1 to reach the final. IIRC Liverpool scored right at the start of the second half but Leicester equalised quickly. Goal from Keegan and Toshack, Liverpool's golden boys secured the win. The Final, which in those days was just about the only live televised game was between Liverpool and Newcastle United. It was a very controversial year as in the quarter final Newcastle, playing Notts Forest at St James's Park had been three one down with a player sent off when the Newcastle Fans invaded the pitch. There were many injuries including to Forest players and lots of arrests. After the melee died down the referee restarted the match and Newcastle came from behind to win 4-3. An FA enquiry into the match was exepcted to disqualify Newcastle but instead "copped out" and ordered a replay at a neutral ground, which Newcastle won. For just about the only time in history the whole country was behind Liverpool in the final which they won 3-0 at Wembley in what would be Bill Shankly's last game in charge. Keegan scored twice, I think the other goal was Heighway. The final was always on the day of our school May Fair and I remember watching it on the TV in the school with lots of others, mostly Dads. After the final whistle Malcolm Macdonald broke down on the pitch in floods of tears, receiving little sympathy from the assembled crowd due to the dislike for Newcastle because of the earlier controversy. I joined in with the jeering and heckling and have been a Liverpool supporter ever since. After twelve years on the waiting list I finally got my season ticket in 1997, but that was the premier league era and saw Liverpool matches, like other top sides increasingly moved from Saturday afternoon to satisfy TV schedules. I surrendered it just four years later having managed to attend only six of the 19 home league games that year. I remain an "avid". I have run with the Urchins. I was in Brussels in 1985 to watch the formality of the reigning champions brush aside Juventus in the European Cup Final, or so we expected and witnessed, or so I thought at the time the very worst of football until 4 years later I stood in the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough. I didn't attend another football match Until 20th April 1994, the so called "Kop's Last Stand". I decided if I didn't get back on the horse then so to speak I never would. Norwich were the visitors to Anfield that day. They hadn't read the script and won 1 - 0 on a day charged with emotion. An error from "Calamity James" IIRC. By that time Liverpool were in decline, unable to match the spending power of our East Lancs rivals. A string of hugely average signings further damaged our performances and in the words of Yoda ...."begun the wilderness years had". I watched Liverpool emerge from those wilderness years in Istanbul in 2005, mortgaging my left kidney to fund the trip. We thought that was the start of a new era, the Raffaloution, but alas the frailties of the clubs management structure kept us tethered. The Hicks and Gillette Years followed, the club was bankrupted by two men who were nothing more than fraudsters and crooks. We avoided administration by the skin of our teeth and finally ousted them. Gillette had been quoted as saying he would sell Liverpool "over his dead body". The Urchins made clear that they could arrange that. And so the FSG era began. The new stand promised by G&H never materialised but recent developments to Anfield at least give us a capacity to challenge the big spending clubs. FSG have had a lot to do to rebuild the club but finally our scouting looks more consistent. But redemption will not truly arrive until we are Premier League winners. That will not be this year, unless the hand of fate decides to deal us a Leicester City style Joker.

It is an espresso maker so yes, it does produce a drink intended to be sipped by the thimble full. A traditional espresso serving is three fluid ounces, or about 9cl. You can use espresso as the base for other coffees. Americano, the coffee you are more used to is made by adding hot water to give a drink of similar strength to a filter machine or cafetiere though of better flavour because the extraction of the bean is much better. From my experience you are better to brew a full strength espresso and then dilute it with hot water if you want a longer black coffee than to try and reduce the charge in the machine to reduce the strength as that does seem to detract from the taste. Sadly mine has been consigned to the back of the cupboard for many years, replaced by a N'espresso machine which I do love.

I think that's almost certainly the case, perhaps an errant piece of solder shorting two contacts