Bonzo

I love a roast dinner, however, only having two burners and a grill on the old tub it is not possible to do a proper roast unless you have one of those collapsible ovens you used to be able to buy to sit over one of the burners. Here is an easy way to do it without an oven: Buy some good slices of cooked roast beef, pork or whatever. Boil some floury potatoes such as Maris Piper until soft and let go cold or nearly cold. You can drop some parsnips and carrots in the pot half way through the boiling too. Make some gravy of your choice either from stock cubes, butter and flour or use a proprietary gravy. Drop the cooked meat in the gravy and keep hot. In a large pan heat some good cooking oil, enough to cover the veg until a small piece of bread dropped in fries in about half a minute. I use rapeseed oil. Take out the bread and add the potatoes and gently fry until golden, adding the parsnips and carrots a minute or two after the potatoes. Just be careful with the hot oil as you are not in a stable kitchen. When nicely cooked drain the veg on kitchen paper. Just assemble on plates separating the gravy from the meat so that guests can add to their taste. you can add any other boiled veg you want. I know it will never be the same as a real roast but it comes a darned good second place. I often do this when I am cooking just for myself and using leftover meat I have previously cooked and frozen. I have known commercial kitchens to cheat this way with roast potatoes as it saves a lot of time. Enjoy!

Sad news indeed. The profit margins for the publican (not the shareholders) are slim enough without that sort of thing happening. other publicans should take note and bolt the place up accordingly.

FLAPPY NEW EARS EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!. And for Broad Scott I will add.............When it comes. Lang may yer lum reek mate.

No problems with Christmas leftovers. Although I do not make stock out of the bones I do freeze the turkey and ham leftovers. Later, I make some hot water pastry ( pork pie pastry, recipe easily obtainable on the internet) and make a smashing pie with the leftovers and some made stuffing add some chopped smoked bacon for more flavour. When cooled down I make a gelatine and chicken stock mixture and pour it in the vent holes in the pie until it is full up. Let it cool and then refrigerate Wonderful! especially served with a big dollop of either mustard or Branston pickle.

Turning whatever larger craft depends on the number of boats moored up at Eastwood Whelpton's. It can be done with respect for moored boats and with care. With regards to expanding the existing public moorings it is not possible as the dyke is not wide enough to accommodate such moorings. There is only a small space for visiting private craft and variable space at EW's for hire craft depending on how many of their own fleet are moored there.

Thanks mjt for the input. I will take this into account when improving the setup. It will work ok as it is and there are much more things on the boat's engine that need attention. Unfortunately to put shrink sleeving on the cables requires dismantling of the existing setup so it will not be done in the near future.

Wagon Wheels! And giant arrowroot biscuits with a bottle of Vimto whilst mum and dad were having a drink in the local. Kids were not allowed inside.

Thanks for the tip C Ricko. Come to think of it I think I have some electrical shrink sleeving in my workshop. Will do the job when the weather bucks up somewhat and after my priority job of servicing the old egg beater.

Ranworth Breeze: No, we did not make rafts from the lolly sticks but we did used to make rough boats from any piece of wood, sharpening the front, banging a hole somewhere near the front of it and pushing a stick in for a mast. A piece of cereal packet served as a Viking type sail. We used to race our makeshift boats across the local park lake when the wind was in the right direction.

Iain: Dog's dinner indeed! Anyway, it's great to woof down in the morning after being in the pub the night before and you are feeling...................wait for it..................ruff. Boom boom.

Have a happy Christmas and a happy New Year. Best wishes to all.

What about what we used to call "flying buzzers" They were three lolly sticks stuck together with a bit of tar from the road in a triangle. They used to fly when thrown a couple of hundred feet. The roofs and gutters of the houses in my street were littered with the lost ones and kids waited for the next ice cream man on his back to front tricycle thingy to get more lolly sticks.

Good news indeed. Even more reason to walk up to the pub and get lost on the way back to the boat at night.

Here is a lovely easy meal for boaters: Boil some waxy type potatoes and lightly crush them. Fry some mushrooms and onions. Combine the above ingredients in a good non stick frying pan and add some chopped tomatoes. When all is combined add a can of good quality corned beef and mix and season to taste. Personally I like plenty of black pepper in mine. Serve with a nice free range fried egg on top. I have given no measurements, just do it to your own taste. If you need some good free range eggs have a look in Kens Shed, just past the Dog pub at Ludham Bridge. He sells good produce at a reasonable price.

I am not that fond of sprouts unless they are shredded and stir fried with bacon. Now if you make bubble and squeak with them that is pure heaven.

Poppy. Stop it stop it! I remember all those things. I realised I was getting on a bit when my, at that time, three year old nephew was sitting on my lap. he looked up at me and asked what all the little red lines were on my face. I told him that some people get that when they get older. He sat there and thought for a few seconds and then said "you are old aren't you". The cheeky little blighter is now fourteen. A couple of years ago I took him to a museum. He said to me "I am not letting you go into the fossil room uncle, they might not let you out again". No respect for his elders and the trouble is that I can't run fast enough to catch him, and he knows it. Bonzo.

Andy. Here is a photo of one of the reclaimed cable clamps. Now that the rain has washed off the grease I will put a spot of silver paint on the clamps to smarten them up. If I find something better to secure the cables in my travels I will buy it. However, these clamps are quite robust and serve their purpose well.

Andy. (FBH). Swage the ends? No problems. I just made new clamps out of some small bolts, a bit of braising on the bolts and the old rusted parts of the original clamps. I also used the original thimbles to wrap the cable around for clamping to new springs either side of the attachment to the outboard. I suppose that I could have spent a load of time searching out for clamps but as an old 1960s motor cyclist with a workshop and a welding set that was no problem. Us old bikers know how to sort most problems out. Snagging? No, it does not happen. The whole shebang is good for another twenty years. Hopefully, so will it's owner. Bonzo.

The best bit of the Broads IMHO. Unfortunately (some may say) Potter Heigham Bridge does not stop this member of the hoi polloi from getting there. The boat goes under with ease at any state of the tide. I love it up there and always spend a few days of my trip enjoying its splendour. When you come to think of it, Barton Broad is not ruined by "hoi polloi" and we can all get there. : Bonzo.

Oh dear. Joke? yes? Bonzo.

Suggested new design for Potter Heigham Bridge after demolition.

Essential equipment for dealing with Potter Heigham Bridge:

Hi there. Finally sorted out my profile picture. Here I am just having a spin up river in my little run about. Anybody for scrambled egg? What What? Bonzo.

Hi everybody. Since the boat's old steering cable was getting a bit tatty (the old wire and pulley type) I decided to renew it before it broke. Knowing my luck and being a firm believer in Murphy's Law it would probably break whilst shooting the rapids through Gt Yarmouth! So, I trotted down to my nearest swindlery. I showed the assistant the old wire and said I wanted some new wire."Hump! Washing line steering! No, we don't keep that, its obsolete, I havn't seen that for years" he said sneeringly. No doubt he wanted to sell me a complete new steering system. In my experience this (washing line) type of steering is very reliable if maintained properly and cheap to repair. The existing wire had been on the boat some twenty years so I was a bit taken aback by the man's derogatory comment. Off I trotted to the next swindlery. They didn't stock it either. I could have just used ordinary rigging cable but that was not plastic covered and would have chewed up the plastic pulleys. A visit to B&Q solved the problem. They stocked two thicknesses of the wire plus all sorts of braided rope etc. Well worth a visit for this item and many other items useful to us boaters. Bonzo.

Samuel: Yep, that little boat would go through PH rather than under it. Moreover it would take out those flipping bridges at GY and do us all a favour. Regards. Bonzo.