addicted

Not in the least surprised it's exactly that point I was trying to make. Carole

I always think it a mistake to judge a restaurant on it's roast dinner, it's never going to compare to a home cooked one and because it doesn't it's easy to judge the rest of what it offers unfairly.Regarding the"as long as long as it's on the water and not cooking myself"sentiment, I don't mind cooking on the boat- it's the washing up I hate! Carole

So it's not just me being picky then. Your opinion is exactly in line with mine. The p!ace is like a third rate cafeteria. I also don't rate carveries. I've seen many a good venue ruined by switching to this format Carole

Having had such a ghastly meal ourselves the reported dodgy breakfast was entirely plausible. Obviously you had a previous experience which makes this thread more personal to you. We also had another, newly opened business bad mouthing us but on being informed about it by loyal customers I paid the offending people a call and told them in no uncertain terms what the repercussions would if they continued. We had no more problems and they shortly after went out of business. CarolE

When we moored in Ely on the Great Ouse, the reception was diabolical. We were recommended an Ariel which we bought on line for something like £25.00 It worked a treat. I don't know what it's called, and as. it's fixed on the roof of the boat I can't get to it to find out. It's appearance resembles a squashed cycling helmet, if that makes any sense. Until this year it's been great, but for some reason we've had trouble with losing the signal , we,don' know if it's relevent but we've got a sailing boat with a huge mast recently moored opposite and we're wondering if that's the cause could it be interfering with the signal. It's only on our berth that we have trouble out on the river it's fine. Carole

Guess we'll just have to agree to differ on this issue Charlie. There was nothing about the place that appealed to me other than it's position. My favourite venue at Oulton was the Red Herring, unfortunately it stopped serving food for some reason. It had resumed when were there last year but under different ownership and not as good. I have to say that when we retired to East Anglia from North London the thing we missed the most was decent restaurants. We were rather spoiled in London I suppose, but is really hard to find anywhere that has the combination of good ambience, good food and acceptable non-pretentious pricing. CarolE

Wouldn't know Charlie, Tony says the breakfast I cook is better than anyone else's so we've never been there for breakfast can only repeat what the people next to us said. They had guests on board and were embarrassed by the poor quality of the food that was presented to them maybe we were all just unlucky. Quite often the quality - or not, of food in restaurants depends on which chef is on duty. CarolE

We had a meal served to us at the Werry that was so awful, the waitress professed embarrassment and wouldn't charge us for it. Also some people who were moored next to us went off in great anticipation of a Sunday morning fry up and returned bitterly disappointed, saying it was probably the worst breakfast they had ever been served CarolE

That should read 30 years of cruising tablet strikes again! Caro!e

Clearly you've never spent time in the right place with the right people on a motor cruiser, such pleasant times are by no means exclusive to a sailing boat I can assure you. During 3 years of motor cruising we've been in some absolutely beautiful places at all times of the day and night, met some great people seen some wonderful sights. It's got nothing to do with the craft you're on it's the ethos of being on a river. Carole

One man's meat I suppose, Carole

I can think of few more pointless exercises than sitting in a sailing boat on a totally windless day going nowhere. Carole

Sorry have to disagree this older generation person loathes the Werry. The Commodore is OK if you aren't very hungry and are happy with small portions I believe it's "stingy" masquerading as nouvelle cuisine, having been served the smallest Sea Bass I've ever seen at a far from good value price. Carole

It's no wonder we mobos ignore shouted instructions from sailies, we're too dumbfounded at receiving any sort of consideration or courtesy from them! Carole

Don't worry about the weather everyone! All I have to do is to get sufficiently brassed off with it and go home and the Summer will return in all it's glory. It's what's known as sod's law! Carole

We fancied another visit to Surlingham Ferry on Saturday but couldn't get a mooring because the Water Rats were playing there and it was heaving with in some places triple rafting. So we moored at Coldham Hall instead, having no idea that the Water Rats were due to arrive there later that evening. A boat that was part of their entourage moored next to us and as you do we got chatting only to find that we had mutual acquaintances and the chap had actually attended the same school as me, although not at the same time. Made me wonder if there are any forumites who went to Downhills Central Caro!e

Obviously there are all types of sailing people out there. Sadly the majority of those we've met are the arrogant types that make things as difficult as possible. There are those that acknowledge a considerate manoeuvre we' ve come across a few of these , very few unfortunately.I' he often wondered how many of them actually know that they don't have carte Blanche right of way just because they're under sail. Carole

Last year on two occasions Tony had to get somebody out of the water. The first one was an elderly man who had fallen off the pontoon at the stern of his boat opposite our berth. He had a chap with him who didn't seem to know what to do. Tony borrowed a dinghy and went over to them. The man in the water was wearing several layers of very heavy clothing. The method Tony has always used is to, bounce the person in the water which gives enough momentum to get them into a sitting position on to the bank from there it's relatively easy.The other person was a young woman who had misjudged getting onto her bathing platform while boarding her boat carrying clothing and slipped down between the bathing platform and the pontoon, she deployed the same method bouncing her up and down in the water and fromvtherevinto a sitting position on the pontoon. It was a year forvrescues as we also had someone come banging on the boat at 2.00am wanting help to get her large labrador out of the water. Tony tied a rope round it's middle and used the bouncing method to get it out. All good fun! Carole

We have to go through Gt. Yarmouth and across Breydon water with the boat open and the tide this week isn't giving us enough headroom to even keep the screens up, so it really is too much hassel unfortunately,hopefully we'll manage it next month We had to leave it till August last year and had a great few days managing to moor everywhere we wanted to. We' ll make a big effort to deal with the wine cupboard but thanks to those of you who so kindly offered to assist with that, you were very brave to risk getting mown down by the steamroller that would be Gracie! To those of you planning a boat trip shortly enjoy! Carole

We were hoping to make a trip over to the Northern Broads this week but the weather forecast has kyboshed that. With lots of showers shown to be expected we've postponed it We prefer to make the trip before the schools break up so that its not so busy and there is more daylight so that the times can be a bit more flexible but this year it aint going to happen this month. So we're left with time on our hands and a full wine cupboard. How bad is that? Carole

Inge so glad Charlie was pulled out intact with nothing having fallen off, great relief especially with tbat otter about. Glad to see you back posting again Carole

Sorry to hear about your unscheduled swim Charlie hope the sore muscles don't give you a problem for too long. These things are funny when told but actually not in reality. The only time I went in the water was many years ago I got off the boat when coming in to moor not realising that the river had undercut the bank at that exact spot I stepped out in and the remaining bank was only about 4" deep it gave way taking me with it and I found myself layingin the water, parallel to the hull , between the boat and the bank, but to my credit I still had hold of the rope. Tony was a few years younger then and leaned in and just pulled me out by one arm. Carole

Whoever it is doing the filming, they most definitely need to get a life, if all they can think of to do while on a boat in one of the country's most beautiful areas is to film other folk going about their business they are pathetic! Carole

We were once told by a BA ranger who, even though we were not speeding, was complaining about our wash that such was the esteem they were held in by magistrates that if they took a speeding boater to court they (the BA) would not be required to prove that the offence was committed their word would be enough for the magistrate to convict! I hope not! Carole

Rowers on the River Great Ouse were a nightmare in particular the accompanying boats which went at whatever speed they fancied and any attempt to get them to slow down was met with foul mouthed abuse, they behaved as if they owned the river and on the Cam were even worse. We used to moor on the river front on Ely marina and the Kings school used to have a group of rowers supposedly under instruction, except the arrogant so and so who was supposed to be supervising them was usually off enjoying himself while his pupils were crashing into the hulls of moored boats Any attempt to make him do his job was met with rudeness. On the subject of young helms people, No.1 Granddaughter Mollie was 4 when granddad first allowed her to take the helm of our Fairline 29' under very close supervision of course, She actually made a very good job of it. Carole