Arthur

Divert it to the Falkland Islands iain. No shortage of sheep to admire. And they all speak English baaaaaaah! ddraig goch am byth Arthur

Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad. Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau, O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau.

Supper Dooper new Tablet you may have Iain but I bet you went and bought a Sasanach one that has no idea of the lingo north of Hadrians wall. Mind you i make some terrible mis spellings in emails as a result of the cursed predictable text on my phone.

Could be an odd form of Pesky gaelic though. Known only in Troon

My guess would be esperanto I know for sure it is not Welsh

Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Soon be out chasing your haggis then Iain Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudding-race! Aboon them a' yet tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o'a grace As lang's my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin was help to mend a mill In time o'need, While thro' your pores the dews distil Like amber bead. His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready sleight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin', rich! Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive: Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive, Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve Are bent like drums; Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive, Bethankit! hums. Is there that owre his French ragout Or olio that wad staw a sow, Or fricassee wad make her spew Wi' perfect sconner, Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view On sic a dinner? Poor devil! see him owre his trash, As feckles as wither'd rash, His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash; His nieve a nit; Thro' blody flood or field to dash, O how unfit! But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread. Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll mak it whissle; An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned, Like taps o' trissle. Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o' fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware That jaups in luggies; But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer Gie her a haggis!

It is a sad fact of today's society that many charity's including the major ones do not fund raise. They subcontract the fund raising activities to professional fund raising companies, presumably with the charity receiving a set percentage of the money collected. However, many of these companies are over aggressive in the way thy operate. Especially the ones who employ the charity muggers that pervade our shopping malls and high streets. These are the same companies that try to pester us with begging phone calls. If there is a phone number shown and you ring it the first thing you are asked when they get your call is the name of the charity you are calling. Proof that they are handling fund raising for many. Have you also notice that some of those glossy begging letters supposedly showing starving children actually use actors. The same children appearing in more than one place around the world. Personally I do support certain charities the RNLI for one but it is far better to give direct to organisations locally rather than the money go to pay for plush offices etc for the national organisations. Like others I would be interested to know how much, if any of your contribution actually gets to where it is supposed to go. An interesting comparison though. About 25 years ago I saw a job advert, cant remember if it was in the job centre or the local paper but it read as follows. CHARITY COLLECTORS WANTED KEEP 33% OF ALL YOU COLLLECT. Certainly made me think at the time.

Maybe our Pesky Mod from north of the border mistook "Walking in the air" for "Walking in the AYR" By the way can Iain remove his warning points himself?

Put it on Ebay. It is amazing what some people manage to sell !

As you say JA a good recovery/ Thanks for posting that

I notice the vessel in question is not approaching the quay under sail. As is usual with proper boats (saileys) the problems start when the iron topsail is hoisted.

Welcome aboard Robin.

Linux Mint is a good operating system Steve. I have it on my old laptop and it provides all the office and other day to day needs. There is a lot of other free software available for Linux as well. My old dell laptop has a 3G wireless card installed. I had to modify the dell installer to get this to function under windows as according to Dell it was not compatible with my machine. Linux detected the card straight away and it worked with no problems. Arthur

She looks good in her winter skirt Pauline

So far not had a problem with Windows 10 but prior to accepting the free upgrade I took a full image of the PC as it was prior to the upgrade. This means that even after the 30 day roll back window that Microsoft allow I can still go back if I wish to. Only thing that annoys me is the edge browser. It works well and is fast but it will not work with my adblocking software and some sites are almost impossible to use because of the level of ads. Small problem though and easily fixed by using Chrome or Firefox.

Worlingham Staithe on the Waveney

Wherry wanderings on the Wensum and Waveney

3RR and a reluctant river cruiser

Memoirs of a mystery Mudweight

I watched that too Jean as well as the Cenotaph Parade this morning. Very moving events. It is so sad that our young people still lay down their lives in foreign fields. When I first saw the Festival of Remembrance broadcast from the Albert Hall. The oldest of the Chelsea Pensioners were from the 2nd Boer war and most were from the Great War of 1914 - 1918 There are now even fewer from WW11 My Grandfather served with the East Kent Regiment during The Great War. I never recall him ever speaking of it and it was not until he died in 1964 and i got to see his medals that I realised just how many horrors he must have witnessed. He was one of the lucky few to have survived the terrible conditions of the Somme. I do recall though that he always seemed to get very emotional on hearing the hymn "Oh Valiant Hearts". to the tune Supreme Sacrifice. I recall my Grandmother referring this as "his Hymn". Even now It brings back a lot of emotion when I hear Oh Valiant Hearts on Remembrence Day. O valiant hearts who to your glory came Through dust of conflict and through battle flame; Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved, Your memory hallowed in the land you loved. Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war As who had heard God’s message from afar; All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave, To save mankind—yourselves you scorned to save. Splendid you passed, the great surrender made; Into the light that nevermore shall fade; Deep your contentment in that blest abode, Who wait the last clear trumpet call of God. Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still, Rose a loud cry upon a lonely hill, While in the frailty of our human way, Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self same way. Still stands His Cross from that dread hour to this, Like some bright star above the dark abyss; Still, through the veil, the Victor’s pitying eyes Look down to bless our lesser Calvaries. These were His servants, in His steps they trod, Following through death the martyred Son of God: Victor, He rose; victorious too shall rise They who have drunk His cup of sacrifice. O risen Lord, O Shepherd of our dead, Whose cross has bought them and Whose staff has led, In glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land Commits her children to Thy gracious hand.

Even though many of us had family that served in The Great War and other conflicts. We cannot even begin to imagine what these young men went through. We owe so much for their supreme sacrifice

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. John McRae

Hired her many times single handed when she was in her previous guise as Aston Broadsword. As you say, as long as you have the forward lines brought back alongside the cockpit she is dead easy to manage on your own. Plus with that large aft steering position stern on mooring is a doddle. If I get a chance to get on the Broads again I may well consder hiring her from Andy.

I totally agree with your comments regarding Vauxhall Bridge Alan, After all they removed the old bridge further upstream that used to carrry the railway line to Yarmouth Beach.years ago. I can understand the occassional error when trying to negotiate arched bridges like Potter and Wroxham where the width is also a significant factor. However this has been long recongnised and the pilot has been required for hire boats at Potter for many years and more recently at Wroxham. A lot of the more recent bridge strikes seem to involve hirers either misjudging the clearance or I am sure on some occassions not even looking at the gauges. I hired from Aston Boats for many years and all of their boat carried the boatyard penant on a flagstaff mounted on the bow of the boat. This was deliberatly set at the height needed for the boat to safely clear a bridge. Ie if the flagstaff hit the bridge then the boat would not pass through. Even if you did not get close enough to the bridge to put it to the test it gave a very good indication to the helmsman when approaching.