Vaughan

Interestingly, the Griffin is just within the BA planning area whereas the Buck, on the north side of the Yarmouth Rd, is not.

I was going to mention Pinebanks. A very large house, with a tall brick and stone tower known as Jarrolds Tower, which was very prominent on the skyline and was said to be a folly, built so that the Jarrolds could see the sea. That got demolished by the developers as well, after it had been "rendered unsafe" by "vandalism".

That was my old prep school. Beech Hill House, then Langley Junior School, which merged with Taverham Hall a few years ago. Now owned by a developer and now sure enough, about to be demolished as it is now "insecure" from vandalism. The same sort of thing happened to Thorpe Old Hall when Jenners closed down. It seems that "vandalism" can be convenient sometimes.

I have no memories whatever of that place! It used to be a frightful dive. Even my father wouldn't go in it and that's saying something! Its big attraction to developers is that it has a back garden the size of a field, but planning for houses has been a problem as there is always pressure to keep it as a pub. So as Smoggy says, this may come as no surprise . . .

I have no doubt that this will be an annual jab, just like the flu jab. And we already know that the flu jab is only effective against certain mutations of the flu. And by the way, the flu is also a coronavirus.

I have just "liked" JM's post as I have just read the prospectus, projected profit and loss accounts and the business plan. I am afraid I still feel that to invest in something which will give me no return on capital, will not increase in share value, cannot be sold or transferred, may not be able to be recovered, even after 3 years, except by permission of the committee and may be lost altogether, even before the business has raised its full capital, sounds to me more like a donation to charity than a business investment. I also note that each investor gets one vote, no matter how many shares they own. At least liability is limited to the value of the shareholding in the event of bankruptcy. Like Paul I wish them well but I am afraid the proposal would not interest me personally.

Frankly, if I were going to invest my hard-earned in any business right now, it would not be a pub. And that has nothing to do with the virus as the pub trade has been in free-fall for years. So I have not read the prospectus but I have read the comments here, and I wonder what is being proposed? If it is investment in a business, where the shares have no return on capital, then I can't see it at all. So is this to be in the form of a charity, in which case should it be registered as a charity? If the aim is more to preserve a piece of Norfolk history, a bit like a wherry or a wind pump, perhaps that is something to consider, but it doesn't sound to me like a "business" investment.

I think this may be right. I thought it might be because one still worked with a scoop wheel but I see that both are now fitted with the Appold turbine pump, as is Stracey arms. I understand that these pumps were capable of lifting water up to 12ft. This is Oby mill, which shows the casing of the turbine pump, with driveshaft removed. In the brickwork of the tower can be seen the brick arch of the original scoop paddle wheel.

Not necessarily. I have found that if your paint and varnish are in good condition, they will survive the freezing. If your varnish was already weathered, then the water gets under it and freezes it off. In which case, it needed stripping off and re-doing anyway! One of the joys of classic boats. At least with no overall cover, there is plenty of ventilation through the boat. To cover or not to cover, has always been the question!

I think it was Somerleyton as well. It's a pity about the way some yards stained the varnish in those days, though. It was known as "Turkey Umber" and made everything look like brown paint. A good example of why you should always stain the bare wood, but never the varnish! In the section taken in GYYS, there is a quick shot of a Woods yacht "dropping down" through the bridges by drifting stern fist with the mud weight dragging over the bows. The current going under the boat allows you to keep in the centre of the stream, using the rudder. An old wherryman's method!

Just like when something happens in the airlines and you get a report from "Julie Autocutie ; BBC news ; Heathrow airport". She has not been allowed in the airport, so she is doing her "piece to camera" from the room balcony of a chain hotel on the other side of the A4 outside the airport boundary, with a view behind of the taxiways. I have seen them doing this. This could just as easily have been done from the studio with some archive film of an aircraft taking off. I think we would have got the message.

When you buy a pot of yoghurt, or perhaps a chocolate mousse, there is a strip of tinfoil on top, that you peel off to eat it. This comes printed with the name of the product and a logo. Sometimes butter will come wrapped in tinfoil, with the logo printed all over it. There is a company in Thetford, Norfolk, who manufacture and print out this foil in huge rolls, about 5ft wide, with the little logos printed millions of times and weighing one and a half tons each. I have delivered these rolls, probably hundreds of times, to food processing factories in several countries, sometimes 13 tons at a time. That is what I mean by the supply chain!

I remember there was a time back in the 80s when almost all the French trucks had a sticker on the back of the trailer which said : "Si vous l'avez, un camion vous l'a apporté" If you have it, a truck has brought it you. This applies to everything in your house, from the washing machine; to a table lamp; to a pair of shoes. They have all been involved in several journeys by truck, during their manufacture and in their delivery to retail outlets. When you get in your car to go shopping, I bet every item you buy in the supermarket has arrived in a truck ; sometimes involving 2 or 3 journeys between logistics hubs. It is a huge and complicated supply chain which only gets recognised as vital to our very existence, when someone throws a spanner in the works.

I am afraid that is not what it says in the papers this morning. It may be possible to create your paperwork on line but it still has to be physically checked by Customs before being cleared. There are no queues in the port of Dover, as all the trucks are currently overflowing the customs truck park at Ashford Waterbrook, waiting for clearance, while the ferries are running empty. The Road Haulage Association is quoted as saying "Trucks are sat there for hours at a time and not able to pass go. It's no surprise to us. The systems they are using are untested". The wait is at least 8 hours, at the last count. There are photos of the long queue of truckers, standing outside in the rain, waiting for their papers to be checked. It seems no different now, to what it was like on a Sunday evening in Dover 30 years ago, where we all had to queue in the customs building, standing on two flights of concrete stairs, almost angle deep in other peoples' fag ends, while we waited for some surly little customs officer behind a window to take at least a quarter of an hour checking each set of papers before he most grudgingly stamped them. And these are British customs officers, don't forget. Checking goods leaving the country, not entering it. Most nights, there were only 3 of them on duty in that building and you could expect to stand there for 3 hours at least. Truckers were always treated like dirt and it seems they still are. There is supposed to be a huge new customs truck park called the White Cliffs site in Dover, covering 50 acres but there are photos of that as well! The first spades are only just going into the turf. It is literally a "green field site". They say it will be ready in late June. Don't hold your breath!

How did you manage to slip that into the conversation ????

The B - word, probably!

I was talking on another thread about the need for freight forwarding agencies, to do customs paperwork for exports (and imports) in the way that it was done pre - 1993. I read in the paper this morning that there used to be 200 agencies in the port of Dover alone, to handle freight. I can believe this, as they had whole office blocks to themselves, which have since been pulled down. Now, it seems, there are only 15 agencies left in Dover. It seems there are no queues in Dover this week and traffic is moving. This is because all the trucks have not yet left their warehouses, as they don't know where to get the paperwork done. It also seems a truck can't get a permit to enter Kent, by barcode, until the load has customs clearance. That means inland clearance, which was very rare even in "my day". Surely someone should have seen this fiasco coming, and planned for it? It has been on the cards for the last 4 years, after all!

I am afraid it says it can't be shown outside the U.K. A pity, as this is the line that my model railway is based on!

I only have one old Hoseasons catalogue, of 1971 and here is a scan of the back pages. I am afraid all the rest of it is boats and houseboats.

If the gunwales went first that must mean there were no spreader bars on the crane slings. You don't even lift GRP boats, without spreaders!

A customs officer, of any European country (especially Austria) and very much including customs in UK, is the answer to that!

Funnily enough, there is an article on the EDP website about diesel pollution from a sinking boat in Thorpe. Sorry I don't know how to link it but it is another classic piece of Archant journalism.

In which case you are no different from anyone in H.M. Forces that I have ever met. When you get these silly reports saying "Julie Autocutie ; BBC East ; RAF Mildenhall", she is not in RAF Mildenhall, she is standing on the side of the road outside the main gate, in the rain, as the duty officer in the guardroom has refused to allow her or her camera crew onto the base!

Not forgetting Surlingham Ferry, Coldham Hall and the Beauchamp Arms. Perhaps that is why Maceswinger is suggesting 3 to 5 movements?

Belaugh I think. Or Buxton, on the way up river from Coltishall?