addicted

I am beyond sorry to hear this. He has fought all the afflictions that have befallen him this year with such determination. I can only endorse everything Gracie said. All our prayers are with him and his family. Carole

As always on Christmas day let's take a moment to raise a glass to our still much missed Pesky - Ian Broadscott. RIP Ian never forgotten. Carole

Hi Sam. Luna shows very well. She is a lovely boat and I hope you get a buyer soon so that you can go shopping for that Hampton in earnest. Carole

Glad to hear the side effects are not too dire Ian. Hope that continues. My mother had diverticulitis for at least 20 years before her death at 95 and it never gave her too much bother.Believe me had it done so, my mother would have made sure we all knew about it! Hope all this doesn't interfere with your enjoyment of Christmas and you and your family have a really good one. Carole

Thank you Griff for taking us on this journey with you and what a journey it's been and continues to be.A heart warming tale of triumph over adversity which has been so engaging. Along with all your forum friends I very much hope Shaun continues to recover and soon shows that blood clot in his arm the door. Carole

When my father developed Alzheimer's he became the opposite of what he had been. From being a fairly quiet man he became outrageous. And while in the care home in which he spent his final years was removed from the lounge one day while a visiting choir gave a Carol concert because he insisted on singing rude words to the carols at the top of his voice. The staff were not annoyed with him they thought him hilarious. Carole

Received an e mail from the marina advising us that the water had subsided enough to allow us access to the boat. So we drove up today to clear off those things we take home and to winterise the engine etc. We were very relieved to find no water ingress in the boat (the low bathing platform makes it vulnerable when on a fixed pontoon) The marina had thoughtfully moved it along to a more accommodating mooring. The whole marina is in absolute chaos as they are doing major works to the road to alleviate the risk of flooding in the future and there is no mains power available. The boat is absolutely filthy particularly our beige, 18 months old canopy which is liberally splashed with mud and the Spring clean promises to be a really hard task. We got everything done and because the Ferry looked as if there was no access we decided to drive to the White Heron for lunch. I must say the decor is more welcoming than when we went before. The meal was first class but the wait for it to arrive was far from first class - almost an hour! Carole

Well, thanks to the flood water that is still impacting on Ferry marina, there''s no hi jiunks to be had on Hi Jinks as there's no chance of getting to her . As it's been so long since we were able to go we got a bit anxious and phoned the marina manager to make sure the boat was safe and very reassured to hear that they check the ropes every day. Good service. What did rather shock us was to learn from him that the pump that was installed to combat flooding on the marina had been sabotaged - twice, with a large lump of wood having been jammed into it to prevent it from functioning . The only possible reason we can think of for someone to do this if it isn't just mindless vandalism is if the noise the pump presumably makes was annoying someone. Even so a pretty vile thing to do. Carole

We're waiting for the flood waters at Ferry marina to allow us access to our berth to wintertise . It's very frustrating .We don't have the boat lifted each winter as we used to. We think it's better in the water than out. So it's just anti-freeze through the raw water system, and a little down the loo, stopcocks to engine and loo turned off.drain down the domestic water and leave the taps open. Tube heater in engine bay with thermostat set to kick in below 4deg. Bedding soft furnishing wrapped in plastic bags, cockpit upholstery put in saloon, numerous damp traps. If during the winter months exceptionally cold weather or prolonged freezing weather is forcast we'll go and put a couple of oil filled heaters on board set to kick in below 5deg. We go and check over the boat about once a month. Carole

No even worse then that you put it in writing. Carole

Having been based on the Ely Ouse for a while we were surprised to find the route into Brampton lock changed when we went not having been for a few years. We much preferred the old route where you went straight ahead across in front of the weirstream. The new route down that narrow channel to the left was a bit of a challenge it you met a narrowboat coming the other way plus you had to enter the lock pen from the side instead of going straight in and if the wind caught you as you were manoeuvring. it could be really tricky. The temptation was to take the old route across but they stopped dredging that area and it got very shallow. Carole

We ere heading from bBuckden to Hertford marina in our Shetland 760 (1 of only 3 built. She had a Mercruiser 898 engine. The river had been in full flood a few days earlier and the locks had only just reopened. When we got to Brampton lock we saw a large crowd of people had gathered in the car park of the Brampton Mill restaurant just where river craft were exiting he lock pen. In front of us were 2 much large bots than ours a Birchwood and a Fairline Sedan. This exited the pen 1st . The weirs stream on the port side caught it first smacking it u p against the bank then carrying it across the river and doing the river thesame thing on the opposite bank. The Birchwood following suffered he same fate. Tony hungback till both these boats had movedclear of the pen exit, then gunned it a tiny flicker of hr stern as the weirstreamhitad that was it we were safely on our way to huge cheers from the watching crowd. Carole

I well remember the first time we ventured down to St. Ives from our berth in Ely in our newly acquired Sheerline 950 aft cockpit. We arrived at St Ives bridge having been told that boats like ours went easily under the bridge wth the canopy and radar arch in place we approached the bridge which looked intimidatingly low and at the last moment Tony bottled out and said **** this! I am not taking Hot Gossip under there! Fortunately there was room on the quay for us to pull in, tie up and dismantle everything top side and we cruised under happily. We moored in the basin next to the Dolphin where we had a very good view of the bridge and boats passing under it and had the reasassuring sight of boats like ours going under with canopy etc. in place with plenty of clearance. Carole

There's no avoiding the C. word now it's official! the Christmas decorations committee were out and about in our high street with their trusty cherry picker on Sunday morning. Our town is renowned around the Fens for the spectactular show of decorations around the town centre each Christmas. They are switched on on the last Saturday in November when the high street is closed to traffic from noon and and then a superb funfair is rapidly assembled that goes on till very late in the evening. Once you see the lights going up you know Chrisrmas is just around the corner, Sorry to drag all you bah humbug people out of your denial but there it is! Carole

Congratulations. This marks the start of the rest of your life which will now change for the so much better. In no time you will wonder what you used to do with your time (and money!) before you became a boat owner. Happy days. Carole

My mother died many years ago, but before she did so she moved into residential care. She made the arrrangements to do so herself and I had no doubt she would be very happy in the home of her choice as my father had spent 3 years there prior to his death so my mother was already very familiar with it and knew most of the staff very well but to be on ther safe side I left it for a year before disposing of her home. When I did so, because she was still very much alive I felt very uncomfortable sorting through her possessions it felt so invasive and disrespectful. I'm so sorry for your loss Smoggy It must be a very painful time or you. Carole

You should never to hesitate to do a log Sam, they are always very readable rest assured. That last lot of photos were particularly stunning . I do envy your photography skills. We're heading for the boat tomorrow. I don't know for how long it depends on the weather with our heating being on the blink if it gets really chilly we'll need to be always able to hook up as we'll have to rely on our ceramic fan heater until we are able to get it fixed. But if we get a second bite of the Iindian Summer cherry that is being mooted we'll stay for a week or more. Carole

Hi Sam, again a very entertaining read and stunning photos , thank you. I was wondering when you would produce a Luna's log from your recent trip. Carole

Sorry to hear you've been under the weather Ian. Hope you are feeling better very soon. Carole

Thanks so much for the response. Its got an eberspacher timer control but it doesn't seem to have shown any error code although I know it does have that feature. I must admit we haven't looked for one but have looked at the control when its malfunctioning so feel we would have noticed an emblem that isn't usually there Carole

We've been having a problem with our eberspacher heating for a while. It's been serviced and thoroughly checked but the problem persists. It will run perfectly normally the day after being reinstalled then only for short periods before cutting out. It starts at the correct time and stops much earlier than it should. Penks have had it running for hours on the bench then once its 'back on the boat it stops again sometimes after as little as 6" and then sometimes for as much as 40". Anyone got any ideas as to what could be the cause? Carole

We can endorse everything you have said about Sheerline. They have been looking after our boats since 2008 and we simply wouldn't have any one else. Carole

We went to the boat on Tuesday Sept 5th arriving mid - afternoon. After unloading we spent a leisurely afternoon and evening settlling in just having a light meal in the evening as we had a full lunch on the journey there. Wednesday was spent pottering about on the boat getting little maintenance jobs done. Thursday we noticed while buying our morning papers in Horning that there were spaces on the staithe so returning to the boat we wasted no time in pushing off, mooring on the staithe about 20 minutes later. We stayed there watching the world go by until early next morning when we set off for Potter Heigham. Arriving there we were luck enough to secure a mooring and get plugged into the power supply although we were dismayed to note how many sockets were out of service. Just putting a bag and tape over them rather than doing the required repair strikes me as a very poor level of service. We met and chatted to several very nice people while we were there, staying till the next morning. On our way back to Horning about a mile or so from our mooring at Ferry we came across a boat broadside across the river. We slowed down as we approached and enquired if they were in trouble and indeed they were having run out of diesel! We roped them to our starboard side and took them to Ferry marina, dropping them of onto the bank by the fuel pumps. They got fuelled up and an engineer promptly arrived to clear the obligatory air lock that had naturally followed running out of fuel, top marks to Ferry marine for the level of service. We spent the next couple of days doing very little as the heat left little energy for anything else! We returned home today as we are due a trip to London this week to see the family who have just returned from holiday in Spain. Carole

We're off to the boat later this morning for a week. Hoping very much that the weather holds as our heating is on the blink. Carole

When my daughter was in her teens I had spent a long exhnausting day restoring some semblance of order to her room and I resolved to find a way to make her keep it that way.. That evening just as she was about to sail out the front door on a date a quick glance through her door revealed the room was decidedly messy so I hiked her back to tidy it before she left. That didn't go down too well. The following evening just as she was about to go out I again had a quick look intending to do the same again however the room was immaculate. This situation cointinued for about a week and I and really thought I'd cracked it. Then I noticed something odd about her bed which was a 4 poster with a canopy over the top which had a large bulge in it. Investigation revealed that this was caused by all the detritus she had been tossing on it to make her room look tidy. Back to the drawing board! Carole