LizG

I had spent most of my free time in the last few days, making Christmas nibbles for the freezer. So it is well stocked with sausage rolls, cheese straws, chicken goujons and satay, mini quiches and a nice raised meat pie! We had also had our sausage delivery and from work I get a turkey - as usual we ordered large! The plan was it would be me, husband and middle daughter who is still staying with us. My brother would also come down on Christmas Day for the night and this year for the first time as we felt it was her safest option mother in law! Then youngest and husband decided they would come to us before going to his family in Kent and return my car! Everyone visiting was planning to isolate for 10 days..................... So we are now in Tier 4, as is daughter and husband. Mother in law will go to a different family in Norfolk and my brother will be home on his own! Today we made a quick run to the Beaconsfield Services on the M40 to reclaim my car from daughter 3 (long story) and give her some Christmas nibbles for the freezer and two crackers! We had already swapped presents two weeks ago before they decided to come - the services was very busy this morning with many other people doing exactly the same! We had brought forward our Welsh visit to last Sunday thankfully so they all have presents and some nibbles for the freezer! Apart from some presents and cards being in the wrong place, things could be a lot worse and I now don't have to make any BREAD SAUCE!!!! Nor do I have to spend the next week making beds, washing sheets and remaking beds! And although I had several people offer to take some of these boxes off our hands, I have been assured they won't go to waste - the delivery arrived on Saturday so a few more days before they can be tested!

My daughter adopted a rescue cat that certainly had been on the streets (certainly just before being rescued). She adapted very well to living in her 4th floor flat with no outside access apart from a balcony. The cats joints are pretty wrecked so she can't jump up and over the balcony thankfully. She is currently living with us and is again quite content to spend most of the day asleep on the bed, be fed and watered, use a litter tray and go back to sleep or sit on the window sill! She is behind a stair gate in a bed room and is allowed to wander around upstairs once or twice a day and then happily goes back to her room. She has made her own decision to be totally anti-social with regard to the other four cats, and just spits and hisses at them if by chance she encounters one. Her name is Grumpy Marge..............but she is capable of purring, biting and scratching!

Moored up in Ware today - a bit too far away to get any detail and a bit cluttered. Saw several today that would impress MM worrying about putting a bike onboard!!! Didn't dare take a photo though!

We did go in but both daughter 1 and myself are working in Covid secure environments and son in law on furlough so grandad read a story

We had socially distanced hugs of our knees

Barton during Regatta weekend, all rafted up and cooking roast pork on WR!!!

Made an early Christmas present run to see daughter 1 and family in Barry Island, Wales before the border gets shut and we/they get re-tiered! In Wales 2 separate households can meet in a restaurant for a meal ( no alcohol allowed). It rained all the way there and back and back from the restaurant! Long day but worth it to see my grandson

Getting out will improve your confidence including mental confidence! Giving you the encouragement that will help you feel determined to get better and return your life to normal - if that is possible considering everything! Take care, take it one day at a time but onwards and upwards!

I knew 34! Some I had forgotten, some I didn't know!

I got quite a few but helped as they are in alphabetical order!

Jenners??

I make a big batch and freeze them for home use as well! I just say how many Yorkshires do you want........and go to the freezer!

I like the Ranworth Church and Belaugh Church photos. My father liked painting watercolours and we have almost two identical views that he painted in the 1980s

Lovely memories!

http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki2018/index.php?title=Boatyard_Details&YardId=42 Pages 2 & 3 have the majority of the late 1970s ex NBYCo fleet listed among some later arrivals that I don't remember. I remember the Naiads, Ambassadors, Envoys and some other ones. I stopped cleaning in I think 1980 and moved away from Horning /stopped working for Beardshaws in 1981

Hello Robert I assume this is how you acquired President? https://www.nottinghamtothemedwithcancer.com/the-president In the 70s I worked for Beardshaws and cleaned the Compass Craft Boats on Saturdays so I got to know the boats quite well under their new names!!!! Liz

Because I wanted to get back to your topic of people's attitudes to the virus and taking it seriously (or some not!)

I'm back at work in the opticians. Yesterday a young woman very proudly/smuggly announced she had exemption from wearing a mask. She has asthma and wearing a mask has made it worse - her doctor had apparently told her that not wearing a mask might improve her asthma but that would be outweighed if she caught Covid! She was seen by the optometrist (although some will not!) - who in return is wearing a mask, safety goggles, gloves and a surgical apron. We have to go to work in ordinary clothes, change at work and then change again before leaving. The clothes I wear are bagged up at work and put straight into the washing machine when I get home. A mask is worn at all times including entering and leaving the premises. The only time we can take one off is when eating lunch! All patients have their temperature taken on arrival - yesterday a 16 year old set of the thermometers alarm and the family was asked to leave - the mother was not aware that the girl had a temperature! All children unless very young also have to wear masks. We have to allow longer between tests so that the optometrist can clean their room between patients/families. We have perspex screens at the reception desk and in the dispensing area and screens between the three seats available for patients to sit and wait! We allow patients to try on spectacles without a mask outside only! We have mirror set up outside by the side door! We are seeing considerably more people with eye issues as they can't get to see their doctors or have follow up appointments at the local hospitals. Also its possible that the wearing of masks is causing additional eye complaints/infections. I know that mother in law was exempt for two weeks following a cataract operation Hopefully I work in a safe environment! We know that our patients appreciate the precautions that we are taking! Liz

Really pleased it's sorted whether a long-term solution or just short term

I watched it the other day and enjoyed it!

Personally I think this is a wind up! Everyone is frustrated at the moment by Lockdown2, the implications and the rules, the suggested rules, the possible rules, the maybe rules or the made up rules so this post is just appealing to the masses - its all been discussed to death so just ignore it!

Vaughan mentioned earlier in this thread the Four of Hearts being lost as a result of a coaster hitting them whilst moored. He may have more info! Is there anywhere a log of the coaster passages up the Yare and the names of them all?

She appeared to be smiling though? Did enjoy it by the way!

3RR is definitely scheduled for the 5th June/6th June next year - hopefully it will go ahead. My suggestion is that you just stay in the basin and wait for the fun to subside. Just take yourself off to the bridge and watch! The river will be almost back to normal by Sunday morning!

So true - we love the Broads for their beauty but that wasn't why they were created!