vanessan

They never did that on ‘Hornblower’!

‘Can you tell, I enjoy the journey south but coming back that long slog on the bottom end of the Bure seems to go on forever.‘ I used to find it rather like that too. Nowadays the time is used for showers, a bit of cleaning, cooking and generally anything that needs doing. It makes the time go quite quickly although if you solo helm there is no simple answer! We share the driving on those long stretches so it’s not so bad.

Our dog’s plastic bone. I decided to give his blanket a shake and over the side went the bone. That put me in the doghouse instead!

When I first saw the title of this topic, I thought perhaps it related to Robin’s ‘Independence’! What a fantastic sight all those sails on that ship. It could certainly tempt me although I would want to join in with deck duties etc. Sadly I am far too old now to contemplate climbing rigging etc!

I think there are something in the region of 6500 private boats. That was roughly the figure the BA was quoting when the tolls review was carried out in 2015.

Welcome to the forum and the ‘empty pockets brigade’! Funny how any boat seems to be a sponge where spare cash is concerned. Seriously though, I hope you get a lot of pleasure from your boat and enjoy many happy hours on the rivers.

Yes, this is a subject that has been done to death but it will always encourage more discussion and new opinions. Our home mooring is in the north and we love it. Being able to cruise the northern rivers in March/April and October/November when it is quiet is magic (the boat has a well deserved rest between December and mid March!) but the rest of the year we journey south on each visit. Much quieter and, IMO, better moorings. There is a more ‘spread out’ feel to me in the south and I suppose it is more of a challenge with the stronger tides. Both north and south have a lot to offer and crossing Breydon is just part of the trip.

I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this! It’s like sharing the adventure with you, ups and downs, good and bad, highs and lows - although happily it is mainly all good. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Several times this year I saw Silver Melody being single handed. Being an aft-cockpit cruiser it does look well suited to the solo helmsman.

Having googled it, all roads were first made subject to a max of 70mph in July 1967. It looks like there were several changes during the 70s resulting in a permanent 60 on single carriageway roads in 1977. I guess being younger I only remember the more recent limits..... Going back to the original post, there will always be drivers who will speed regardless of anything done to discourage them. Just like those who will continue to use a mobile phone whilst at the wheel. However, if a Community Speed Watch happens to deter just one or two drivers, that’s got to be good hasn’t it?

Has that sign ever really been ‘no speed limit’? I only ever remember it being ‘national speed limit’ which was once 70mph but is now 60mph on single carriageway roads. I totally agree about lack of concentration being the main culprit in an accident, you only have to look at some of the trucks hammering down our motorways and see what the drivers are doing!!

Love the pictures of the interior of the boat, I’m smitten! Robin - with all that gear left on board and the posh cabins, I reckon you are well kitted out to do some charter trips. How about ‘Rascal’s River and Coast’ skippered charters? The Yare and Waveney then out to sea weather permitting. Problem might be finding someone to do the cooking............

I was surprised at what the previous owners left on our boat when we purchased it but it is nothing like your findings Robin! Sounds like you will need a big skip by the boat so you can sort it all out. Lakeland sell something called ‘sticky stuff remover’, it is very good at removing what is left behind after pulling up items which have been secured by glue or sticky pads. You will have to be careful of the teak though. Good luck with it all.

Great looking craft Robin. I have never been able to understand why some folk think a boat is ‘stunning’ as beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. To me a boat is seldom beautiful but I do like the look of this one I have to admit. As for the interior, well that to me certainly does look stunning and I would definitely be wanting to live on it permanently! I’m sure it will be a head-turner up here on the Broads. Enjoy your dream. I hope you will find very few problems once you start delving but, if you do, rather than treating them as problems treat them as opportunities. Will you need to run a ‘crowd-funding’ exercise to allow you to fill those tanks?

I see I am not alone in bemoaning the deterioration of our lovely language then! Speaking of ‘Americanisation’ of things, it always bemuses me to read that ‘someone went out the door’ rather than ‘out of the door’. And talking of anecdotes, I think it was George Bush who said ‘ hell, the French don’t even have a word for entrepreneur’. I have just thought of something else that gets to me too - about to be served in a shop and the assistant says to me ‘y’allrite?’ What happened to ‘can I help you?’

How true and how sad.

I think I remember removable sleeves being used way back in time, certainly for chocolate and biscuits. People are probably too canny these days for retailers to get away with it. I have noticed how early Christmas food gets onto the shelves these days and much of it has to be used by the middle of December. There comes a time when turkeys or hams have the use by date of 25 December, that’s when you know it’s almost upon us.

They do indeed but, listening to tv interviews and the like, you can clearly hear ‘should of’. People actually write it too, couldn’t be much clearer than that. I’m really interested to know if folk think these things matter or should we just let our language deteriorate? After all, the main thing is that we understand each other and can converse easily. Answers on a postcard please...............

You bin on that their red vino agin Gracie?

Oh dear made me think of one other thing I constantly hear - ‘I should of’ rather than ‘I should have’. ie ‘I don’t think I should of started this topic’!!

I think so but others may not - we will see. Maybe..........

I bet that’s confused some even more! It certainly wouldn’t incur my wrath. I should add that it is when I see for example a menu board outside a pub or that sort of thing where incorrect apostrophes are rampant. Punctuation, spelling and grammar seem to be becoming less and less important in this day and age. I haven’t yet made up my mind if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It puts everything/everyone onto an even keel but is slowly destroying our language. It almost seems to be the norm now to use was instead of were, there instead of their, no rather than know and so on. I hope this doesn’t start another argument but it would interest me to no wot ovvers fink.

Gee, that’s fighting talk!! The bit about Man U I mean, having a fan in the house I wouldn’t dare agree with that.

At the risk of raising the old chestnut, apostrophes (or should I say apostrophe’s!!). I know it can be a difficult subject to grasp but it seems to me that folk just put an apostrophe in before an ‘s’ on every occasion just to be sure. I must add here that I was not a good academic, didn’t behave very well at school and accordingly didn’t do well in exams so can’t claim to be an expert in the written word. (Not in anything actually.) But I do know where apostrophes belong and it ain’t before every darn s!

I saw a boat from BBC moored at Potter fairly recently. It had a very long lead running from the shore power onto the boat through an open window. The lead looked very new and, rightly or wrongly, I assumed the hirer had supplied it himself. Best thing would be to check with the boatyard though.