Islander

Just a couple of rings and press the button on the steering wheel and talk. All this without looking down or taking my hands of the wheel and this is a 10year old car. Blue tooth headsets are dirt cheap now at only a few pounds so no excuse. Should you be taking calls...... Why not, no worse than talking to the other occupants in the car. My first mobile came with a shoulder strap and 2 batteries that only lasted 4hours each but even that had hands free. If you don't want to get caught then get hands free or leave it on the back seat. Colin

Whoops, forgot to add, fed from from a cheap indoor plug top type timer set to what ever times you want. personally I would just use this unit without the timer and power something like a 25w LED flood and add an outside switch to over ride the sensor. Colin Err, where did my edit button go?

Hi MM, have a look at this. I don't think you will need a timer if I have understood it right. http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-140-standalone-pir/11291?kpid=11291&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product Listing Ads-_-Sales Tracking-_-sales tracking url&gclid=CLjJmtKlvdICFccy0wodSKoHtg Colin

Ah, but the glue was good from what I can remember! Colin

As I'm never going to own one of these and as it will never ever go under Thorpe railway bridge, on a need to know factor...I don't know! I do have a book that answer all of this but It being 20 miles away and me having just demolished a nice but cheap Italian bottle of red I'm not going to go and get it just to keep Vaughan happy but top gallants, royals and sky sails come to mind but the standing rigging I'm failing at, but I didn't go to a naval school but trained as a TV engineer so what should I know, a pc88 and an el84 were more important to me. I have enough trouble rigging a mirror dinghy. colin

If someone can post a link for one at £30 I will gladly buy them a drink. The cheapest I've found is £120!!!.. If that's what I have to pay so be it. The cheap pressed steal one I was told has a small condensate drain hole. Colin

I had to google that! Thank god I retire next year. Colin

Hi Berney Arms, glad to hear the place will be used again. A cafe with shop sounds a wonderful idea. Maybe with a license for off sales . Hopefully a good basic menu with a breakfast option. Wish you every success and can't wait to hear more detailed plans. Colin andRuth

Look forward to seeing you both again. Colin

Hi Vaughan, will you get as far as Thorpe and will it fit under the bridge?, if not we may have to come and find you. hope you had a good Christmas and new year. Bob, hope you have a good trip, should you get this far(Thorpe) stop at the green and look for two boats double moored opposite the church and we can have a chat. The kettle is always on here but the beer chest maybe a bit low but we have a good choice of pubs here. Colin

Hi Alan, I hadn't realised how tall Ranworth was and I've seen her at Bramerton too. As Mark says, the cut moorings are good and only a shot walk to The Rush Cutters but you have to use the footbridge to get to the road, not very friendly for anyone with a disability. It's a shame the ferry service is not likely to operate this year as I'm sure they could do a pickup and drop off service as well. should the ferry service run this year then whitlingham mooring would be another option as it runs from there to the green. Maybe a C in C with a friend with a dinghy. Colin

So what's your airdraft Alan? Over 8ft you may not get in (or out again for a while). You could always try whitlingham and bring an inflatable but if you come in from the city end you will have to pass the Town House and The River Garden before you even get to the green with The Buck and The Rush Cutters (book early, good food) and then you have to row back. Time Ranworth Breeze had some davits and a small rib? Colin P.S. Don't tell everyone what we have here, they will all want to come south.

You have to pay for every little pleasure in life Marshman. Forgot to say the £10,000 is to be an annual put aside. Precept went up 9% last year this year will be the same...ish. In line with inflation of course plus a bylaw enforcement officer who may hand out on the spot fines for allowing your dog to foul the area (ok), dropping a fag end or sweet corn tins( beware fisherman). Having said that, this is a lovely spot to visit and well worth trying to get under the bridges. We are 8ft airdraft and can get in and out on most tides so those a bit lower should have no trouble. We have several nice pubs and eateries close to the green from simple to some of the best on the broads. So come and visit. Colin

This is old news. Not one tree but SIX trees were felled to make way for yet another First World War commemorative garden. There will be FIVE new trees planted in a crescent with a poppy garden. This is all part of the 'improvements' to River Green by the town council. Better waste bins collection and access to the western end would be money better spent. Interestingly this work has only required a tree order and not planning permission but the placing of a bicycle rack for a handful of bikes (5 I think) had to have a full planning application! Thorpe river green is being handed back to the council this year as the BA consider that the lack of use makes it not cost effective. The council have decided that £10,000 needs to be put aside (raised) for future repairs to the quay heading and steel piling. There MAYBE charges for mooring over 24hr but this will appeal to some as the green is a perfect spot to moor and bus into the city. Watch this space. Colin

Andrew, the maggots would be more than happy on our back deck at the moment. 4deg this AM. That would keep them calm. If I put them in our fridge then it may cost me another expensive divorce. One was enough and I really want to keep this one My Bud ( sorry Norfolk Nog) was at perfect temp. The Merlot lives next to the warm battery charger, a bit warmer there. The port is on the Christmas shopping list with the spiced rum and a bottle Bombay Saphire for Ruth. Colin

So what is wrong with putting the cans or white wine (not for me) in a net bag over the backend to cool when moored. Keep the fridge for more important things in the food line! Having said that, we have a good fridge that I accidentally left on for ten days! Our batts (360 amp/ hrs) were quite happy to continue and a pack of frozen sausages were like granite. Save the energy for the food, the beer and the wine can be easily chilled by the river. Personally I like my red at room temp to get the best flavour from it? Life can be a lot easier if you stop and think for just a few more seconds. My beer lives on the back deck and at this time of year is well chilled. Colin

You should never go to bed on a crossword or was it one of those black and white things with squares? Colin

Peter, I think the public were better behaved than the BA members. As you say, apart from a short acknowledgement to our presents we might just as well not been there. Although the meeting went as expected at least one member questioned the need to railroad the tolls review through this meeting. Well done Lana. Could it be that they would have to answer more questions from the toll payers if it dragged on to the next BA meeting. It can't have a thing to do with admin as it will only take seconds to adjust the tolls to the new rate and post the bills out. In fact just before I left I asked Joel about reclassifying our main boat as a house boat and how much notice was required. He said they may require some proof as to the disabling of the propulsion but it could be changed on the day we pay next years tolls. You use an expletive Peter, surely not. I thought you liked us stinkies Colin

Peter, apart from a short section to do with ferry/commercial boat licensing I thought the whole thing had been to a script carefully managed by the chair and ceo. I could not believe the members, as good as, gave john full power to change the tolls for the ferry/commercial without first putting the changes to the BA members for approval. The whole thing was railroaded through. I do wonder if any of the members had read the entire document before hand. The members had over 200 pages of reports etc for this meeting 50 for the tolls review alone so I'm sure a certain amount of skimming was done. All praise to a certain young lady who voted against the proposals. It was nice to see the public area full but we might just as well not been there for the difference it made. I would have liked to stay longer but it clashed with Ruth's birthday. Colin

Well, did you go? Was it what you expected? What are our potions, if any, now. I did attend but had to leave promptly after the votes as needed to be else where it being my wife's birthday, so sorry unable to introduce myself to many others there. Colin

Stuart, please be aware that should you go down the microwave transformer route that salvaging them from scrap microwave ovens can be deadly!!! Having worked on Panasonic and Sharp ovens most failures were caused by diode shorts causing fuses to blow. This more often than not left the large capacitor in the high volt circuit fully charged. This can be lethal if it discharges through you. This capacitor can hold its charge for weeks in some ovens so please be very careful. We don't want a fried fuzz on the forum! my qualifications will now be out of date but then only commercial ovens get repaired these days where as scrapped ovens were put through our workshop and made safe before sending for scrap, most now are dumped or taken to recycling centres. I must admit this method will be amazing to watch and with care I'm sure you will succeed. Colin

Single bins at various locations may be successful but multiple bins in say Yarmouth market place that self communicate with the depot will never work. Three bins will fill at different rates so unless they check all the bins after the first one 'rings in' then multiple trips will be needed to maintain them! Waste of time and money. Don't fix what ain't broke. Colin

And we think trying to moor with an of shore wind is difficult! On a personal note we were recently in formed that a friends son had recently be killed in a small aircraft crash in wilts early this month. He was a Fl Lt Alex Parr and was a tutor at the empire test pilot school. His loss did not make the national news unlike some more news worthy items but until the air accident investigation service can tell us what happened we can only guess. The video shows how difficult it is to fly a modern plane but like my mooring, if no damage is done, it was a good one. Every respect for those that fly the planes we just sit in and enjoy the journey, even more that teach the pilots. Unlike my father who had a license to fly all airscrew aircraft I cannot fly being colour blind and now getting on a bit but there are other ways I can get up there. please remember just how much work the guy and his co pilot have had to do to be able to sit in those two seats they don't just renew their license at the post office every ten years having skipped through some of the video I think the young lady did very well. colin

I still don't see that burying stuff can be acceptable. Either it's recycle able or we should not produce it. Tetra packs come to mind, I was quite happy to get my milk or juice in a bottle that could be washed and reused. Unfortunately I'm not the one to change these things but I might just be able to make a small change by educating my grandchildren. Colin p.s. This world will find a way to get rid of us if it sees fit. There will be nothing we can do to stop it. The best we can do is not to take the p....and hopefully survive for a good few more generations. Colin again p.s. Going to have a few beers now. I will not be responsible for any further posts today!

I'm sure a lot of people are reading this thread with interest. I, for one, am sat here in front of my iPad while my good lady has just adjusted a summer top and repaired a hole in my overalls with the pocket off the back which I don't use. it came to mind that just a few years back we had to clear my family home when my mother passed away( it will happen to all of us). My son and daughter in law were looking to move to their own home and took ALL the brown furniture, all dated from pre and post Second World War, much better quality than now and with zero value at auction! While clearing the sideboard we found spare buttons for every garment that had been warn by the family in 50+years. There was even wool to repair my school jumpers. My fathers shed contained materials dating back to the end of the war. Our boats contain screws that were used to build Mosquitos and the remainder will defernately see me out. Ali beer cans were cut up ready to use and cellophane from packaging saved for windows on model trains or layout buildings. I, today, have just used the last of my sodium chlorate for weed killing under the veranda of my caravan ( now hard to get in dry form) We have to remember that some of the NON GREEN things we did in the past were because we didn't know better. I use to have a weed killer used by BR called 245T, it would kill anything (including people so I'm told). I spent most of my working life in the consumer electronics trade breathing in fumes from tin/lead solder and fluxes. Now I see lead free solder and fume extraction where anyone works. Pity they didn't do it in my day. I don't know if I'm going to be effected by that, but who could I blame, I was a smoker for many years( gave up, for good, a few years), was brought up just a spit away from A1 in Hatfield from the age of 1 and driving over a thousand miles a week while working, so car fumes come to mind too. Im sure there are others here that can add too this. No we weren't green in the way the young look at it now but one of my boats has just been repaired with mahogany from a wardrobe cleared from my sister's house 9 years ago. It would have become wood hip otherwise. I do not spend my life with my iPhone glued to my ear and in fact only just had to top up credit having nearly gone 2 years on £25! I, sorry, we, recycle as much as possible and I don't mean to the dump either, I have a shed full of useful stuff. I don't need a new phone, TV, car( this ones got to last 10 years). What I would like is a new back, knees, eyes and ears but that's not going to happen. I will continue to be as green as I can but I think I may be doing a better job than these youngsters. just to add that Ruth, bless her, has just cut the shabby end off a roller blind for the boat. We could have bought a new one!!! Small rant over best regards to all Colin and Ruth The Q,so what happens to the disposables, buried are they! Our nappies, made from cotten,. Were steeped in horrible bleach and boiled in a burco. Probably a lot less energy than even a modern washing machine. Viking23, wish you both well and hope your treatment is successful. There will always be substances and products that we will not fully understand until it's too late.What I find frustrating is the development of new treatment that takes years to approve or is not available to the NHS. additional small rant! C.