Vaughan

I heard that! Pardon?

So do I. It was full of genuine antique horse brasses.

No problem! It's just that it was known, in its day, as one of the best small restaurants in the county, outside Norwich. A lovely little place for romantic, candle-lit assignations. That's why I remember it!

So do I. I guess this weekend will tell us more about law and order on our streets. I very much doubt that the boarding up of the Centotaph in Whitehall will be tolerated by veterans' associations for too long. I am feeling rather glad that I am no longer a special constable, in these fearful times for civil peace. I used to think having to patrol home games at Carrow Road in Norwich was a bit stressful. Little did I know!

How things come back to repeat themselves, even 3 years later. On the subject of Nelson and his statue, I recommend members to this thread, where we discussed it at length.

What about Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans to try and control the Hill Tribes. On second thoughts, after Brexit we might need to keep that . . . .

Old Timbers or Old Beams?

I suppose what TheQ is asking is : once you have started down this road, how far do you go and where does it stop? Having read the papers this morning I don't at all like the way local councils are meekly acceding to the demands of a social media "petition". Signing a petition does not just mean "liking" a post on the internet.

Thank you for that Q and I liked the reference to Braveheart. I have always believed that good satire is never far from the truth.

If Man is still alive . . . .

Sorry again for the drift but worth mentioning Olivier Chauvin. He worked for John Riddel before he became manager of the Crown base at Jarnac on the Charente. He is the one who assembled all the cruising information and detail for the du Breil maps, by travelling all over France on a moped. He, like John and myself, was later forced out by company age-ism after the yuppies took over, but he still writes regular articles for "Fluvial" magazine.

Oh yes! Must be a different edition- I didn't recognise it. The owner of Editions du Breil (the village near Castelnaudary where he lives) is John Riddel, who was the managing director and one of the founders of Blue Line. My old boss and a very good friend. He is also still known in local folklore, as the man who saved the Canal du Midi from closure.

Excuse us for the thread drift but I feel very lucky, looking at that map. In my job, I think I have cruised around two thirds of the rivers and canals shown, as well as in Belgium and Holland. I assume the map comes from the Guides Vagnon?

I have several friends who have done that and always wanted to myself. It takes a minimum two weeks to get to Calais or preferably, Ostend. If you have a serious sea boat you can also get out on the Somme, via Amiens. Would that count as isolation, I wonder?

Not in the least! It sounds more to me, if you want an analogy, that you have all your ducks in a row!

At the moment that would be our only option but I rather doubt we would get away with it! Especially as the Portsmouth ferries are only carrying freight.

No, the rest of them were crowded on the beach.

I normally avoid these nightly TV briefings but I have just sat through tonight's, for what it was worth. I think the obvious answer is that I should contact the Broads Authority and re-register my motor cruiser as a "support bubble".

Absolutely gorgeous!

Bring it back! That's what I call a pub lunch!

Actually I am qualified to comment on this one. I spent several years in and out of Belfast as a soldier in the early 70s, at the height of the recent "troubles". All I remember from those times of civil war, is hatred. But it was blind hatred, as at least the last 3 generations of the local people had totally forgotten why they hated each other : all they knew was that they hated. If you asked them to explain it, they would just fall back on William of Orange or failing that, Oliver Cromwell. Hence the "marching season" and the Orange Order which in today's society are just meaningless provocation. My point is that if we are ever going to have peace with each other in our inner cities then me must learn to live together now, in the present day and not blindly blame it all on the past. Pulling down statues simply ignores that nowadays, we should be intelligent enough to know better. What worries me, from that experience, is that I can see all the symptoms here, for the "troubles" to break out in our mainland cities. If we want to see troops on our streets, then I don't think we will have very long to wait.

Have I argued with any of that? In any case, historic slavery is not the point. The mindless rioting and blind hatred which is now out of control on our streets, is the point. The reason for it, is what people like me are objective enough to try and discover.

Not in the least! I am simply trying to analyse where it all comes from. In particular because this has now been turned by rent-a-mob into a historical anti slavery rally. What about all the other racism against other ethnic minorities such as the Chinese, the Pakistanis or the Muslims? Did they come here as slaves?

You beat me to it! I read somewhere that they reckon there are now more people of Irish descent in America than there are in Ireland. But their forefathers were not transported there as slaves : they "crossed the Pond" looking for a better life in hard times of famine and blight. So what would have happened if the native black Africans had not been sold as slaves and had remained living in Africa? Would they, by now, have also crossed the seas looking for a better life and would they not, by now, be forming the same large proportion of "western" society? In which case, who would we be blaming now, for the same level of present day racism?