vanessan

I haven’t seen the poppy shop before! I give to the British Legion on a monthly basis and have had a poppy pin for donkeys years so never had cause to look at much else. What a lovely wide selection of products, I can see a few things there that are going to make some nice presents and a bit of a hole in my wallet so thank you Ian for mentioning it. One of the most worthwhile causes to support imo.

And in this country too. I live in a very small village but our church has about half a dozen true war graves. I have seen the CWGC here. A while ago I visited one particular cemetery in France, on the Somme. I took a friend who wanted to find her grandfather’s grave, he lost his life on the last day of the battle of the Somme and is buried in the Regina Trench cemetery. We had quite a time finding the cemetery as it is one of those literally in the middle of a cabbage field - as so many of them are. As Grendel said, they are all so well tended. I believe they have since refurbished the Regina Trench headstones as they were becoming illegible. I am so pleased to hear that, long may it be so.

Wanna bet??!!

A number of times I have been at the Menin Gate in Ypres for the last post. It has never failed to bring tears to my eyes. The sheer numbers of names around those walls is mind-blowing bearing in mind they are the names of those whose bodies were never found. Around 20 years I stood with my father (who fought in the Commandos in Burma in WW2) looking over the graves at Tyne Cot. He said he was imagining a soldier rising up from beneath each headstone and falling into line to create a huge army. That memory has always stayed with me. My Dad returned to Burma several times to pay his respects to the pals he lost. On his last trip he eventually managed to get to the Arakan where many of them died. My dad passed away in 2015 aged 95, he had managed to join Remembrance Day parades until only a couple of years before he died. Something else that I remember. On a visit to one of the WW1 museums in France, they had a screen showing soldiers climbing over a fence rifles at the ready. They walked forward into a mist and then disappeared. This was shown as a constant replay and it was quite mesmerising. I hope our schools continue to take youngsters to the Somme and to Flanders and all those other places, they need to learn about the devastation of war. And we must remember.

I wish I could ‘like’ that more than once! I wonder how many couples can relate to it??!!

To be honest I don’t think HM has much of a say in who the honours go to these days. Seems to be the PM and associated hierarchy that make the decisions. Probably like most things, all agreed elsewhere and sent to HM for rubber stamping.

I somehow knew there would be such a comment sooner or later!! Glad you didn’t let me down Cap’n. 😁

I reckon there are loads of people who have Christmas early for one reason or another. Maybe visitors from abroad or family who have to get together in advance or miss out. At least they can enjoy Christmas food and that’s the reason for the early sell-by dates. Simples! Whilst I can never get right in the Christmas spirit too early myself, I can’t say the commercialism bothers me too much, I just ignore it all until I feel the time is right. (I do like M&S luxury hot cross buns all year round and mince pies too though.) It’s a tricky world out there now in the business world, dog eat dog and all that (horrible expression!) so it’s a free for all. I can understand why Christmas comes early in the shops now but nobody is forced to participate after all. One thing that does annoy me is that birthday and other greetings cards all seem to take a back seat when Christmas cards appear. If you need a birthday card for November or December, better buy it in September or there’s hardly any choice available. I get caught out every year!

Likewise, lovely background warmth. For the last 10 years we have had the radiator on very low all winter. Keeps any soft furnishings free from nasties. Doesn’t cost very much either.

That’s the way we go too, well my better half flicks the switch and makes the tea! 😁

That last one’s a cracking picture Mouldy, worth enlarging and putting into a frame on to a wall. As for duvets in colder weather, if you can stretch to it Helen, goose down is the answer. I can’t abide heavy bedclothes but I do like to be warm. We have 9 tog goose down on the boat for those cold months and I find I get too warm even then. Down tends to nestle round you much better than synthetic filling and, if you still need extra, a lightweight fleece blanket can provide that.

A nice thought but I reckon he will probably still be jetting round the world berating all and sundry for doing nothing about climate change! All the same, well done Lewis. Still young enough to smash Schumacher’s record.

Makes it all the more interesting! Thank you for your write-ups and the photos, enjoyed them. Hiring the day boat at PH was definitely the right idea, the seals at Horsey are well worth the visit.

Maybe I picked the right ones! 😁

I have been thinking about this and I have to take issue with this statement Vaughan. I travel the Ant very regularly and I cannot recall seeing a liveaboard and/or associated paraphernalia in that particular spot in quite a few years. It is seldom unoccupied because it is so popular. (I think people sometimes stop and moor there very often just so they can say they have done so!) Was the ‘staithe’ occupied when you walked there?

It’s not the best of webcams these days imo, the way it pans from the left view right back to the bridge is diabolical. Not a patch on the old system and certainly nowhere near as good as the Herbert Woods ‘guided tour’ webcam which is a pleasure to watch.

Welcome back! Who needs plans anyway? 😆

Thank heavens for a sensible report, thank you Islander.

I did think 15 mins from Barton Turf was pushing it a bit but thought you might be the ultra fit type and run all the way! 😁

Did you check out Gaye’s Staithe? Often room there. A good walk to Neatishead from Barton Turf, built up a good appetite for a good meal no doubt.

New one is rather different to the old one!

Hope the news is good, no doubt we’ll learn more in due course. Sounds like the child fell from a moving boat.

When we had ours, a couple of days before Christmas, it lasted for 4 or 5 days. Luckily we got reduced power back for those days, the oven worked fine (thankfully) but everything else was very poor - lighting etc. No heating because the circuit board had blown up, but the log fire did the trick. Our next door neighbours lost their power completely for the whole period.

We had a similar experience to Speedtriple a few days before Christmas about 5/6 years ago. Also due to lightning strikes. We lost quite a bit of electrical stuff and took the opportunity of replacing all extension leads etc with surge protected leads. Well worth doing.

I have also seen it in Massingham’s, the butchers in Hoveton.