YnysMon

Oh the joys of changing your phone. I've been struggling to post reactions here on NBN today. Even my WhatsApp went wrong. Bad tech day! I think I'm sorted now though. In the long term should be worthwhile. My compact camera stopped reading its memory card shortly before the end of our last Broads trip. I had thought to replace it with a newer version. I consulted Malcolm (Mouldy) as he's into photography. He commented that those compact cameras aren't that sought after nowadays, given phone cameras have got so good. So, after a lot of dithering, I've bought the same phone that my son has, as his photos have always been good quality. I got mine second hand from Handtec though, and so far am very impressed. The phone I got is like new. I got a Google Pixel 6 Pro, which doesn't seem to be available new now. Replaced by the next generation, which is way over my budget. I also bought a second hand zoom lens for my SLR, which had been sadly underused to date. It was my birthday last week!

Yes please! When I do non-Broads blog I usually stick it in the Members out and about section.

My condolences. It’s never easy, even when the passing is a gentle release after suffering.

Oh flip…it’s August! Can we just quit the Christmas chat until later in the year. We don’t want to be the online equivalent of Latham’s do we?

Beccles boat show? Have a great time!

Reminds me of an episode in the series 'Ever Decreasing Circles' starring Richard Briers where his character hired a skip only to find that it had filled up before he could use it.

I saw a Bittern today! Well, sort of. It was actually a stuffed specimen in the Oxford Natural History Museum. We had a family day out, as Harry had the weekend off work and Alec said he'd really like to visit the Pitt Rivers Museum that adjoins the Natural History Museum. He had visited Oxford recently and wanted to revisit that part of the Museum. The Natural History bit has lots of very interesting displays and the building itself it pretty special. The Pitt Rivers bit is an anthropological museum that has a fascinating collection of all sorts of things collected from all over the world. Anything you can think of: pottery, clothing, weapons, musical instruments. You name it, they have it. I didn't take a photo though, as the light it fairly low. We had the dogs with us and before travelling into Oxford stopped off for a good dog run. We went to Godstow car park, at the northern end of a very large area of open land on the north west side of Oxford, Port Meadow, which is bounded on its western side by the River Thames. As well as being popular with dog walkers, it seems to be somewhere that canoeists and paddle boarders are drawn to, no doubt because of the river. After that we drove into Oxford and parked in the Westgate multi-story (the shopping centre that has a John Lewis), so that the dogs wouldn't get too hot. We went to the Covered Market for lunch. As mentioned, Alec had visited Oxford a recently to say farewell to a friend who has gone off to Japan to teach English and the friend had taken him to a tiny Greek café in the covered market called Georgina's. I'm sure we would never have discovered it by ourselves. It was upstairs, so the entrance was just a small door between other cafe's/shops. It was very reasonably priced, most of the dishes being under £8, had huge helpings and was good for meat eaters, vegetarian and vegans. I had their hot mezze platter, Graham had spanakopita, Alec had moussaka and Harry a (huge) meatball wrap. All the dishes, apart from the wrap, had a good portion of salad included. We had originally planned to travel to Oxford yesterday. I'm so glad we put it off, as the weather today was so much better. Mind you, when we came out of the museum we could see that we had missed a heavy shower. that was lucky. We had brought brollies but left them in the car. Typical!

Thanks for the photo of the new cooker Malcolm. That's a vast improvement on the old one!

I'm pleased to report that another MS share sale was concluded recently, without the share being advertised other than being mentioned on this forum. We also have a name on our waiting list again. I think that's good news for Broads syndicates generally. It's not surprising I guess, given the way that the cost of hiring has inflated over the past few years.

Is that definitely off the cards now? There are still signs about it at our end (MK).

Thanks Kate. It's a bit worrying that it's not busy given we are now into the school holidays.

We haven't hired from Richardson's but hired both Fair Regent 1 and Fair Regent 3 from NDB and had very different experiences. I can't remember exactly which was which, but on one we struggled to achieve the 3mph speed limit but had lots of oomph at higher revs. On the other we could pootle along at slow speeds quite nicely, but the downside was we couldn't get much power out of the engine to fight against the tide on the southern broads. I can remember turning out of the New Cut and having to retreat to St Olaves moorings to wait for the turn of the tide before proceeding up the Waveney.

Good luck for 22nd August Ian.

I’ve just been watching Fran and Rich’s latest YouTube vlog (they are regular canal boat vloggers…channel ’Floating our boat’) where they were saying that the government is due to slash funding for the CRT (Canal and River Trust) from 2027. I wonder if the BA might be similarly affected? Hope not!

Is the miserable weather getting to us? I haven't come across such nit-picky posts for some while. Interesting though....

You need to do it sometime Jean, you might love it. I wasn't looking forward to our first crossing, but nowadays I feel a bit cheated if the tides prevent us from doing the crossing. As long as you pay attention to the advice about tides and keeping within the marked channel it's a doddle. Just turn right at the yellow post once you've passed the yacht station and not left toward the sea!

You poor wee doggie needs a better vantage point! But then, we are used to Seren who just has to keep an eye on where we are going.

You are obviously taking us all too seriously (or not).

You are naughty...and what if he was caught in the act??????

Lots of people have wondered where I'm from, as they can't place the accent. Whereas most of population of Anglesey has a strong Welsh accent, the Holyhead accent is a bit different. Probably because it's a port. It's a melange of Welsh and Liverpudlian with probably a bit of Irish thrown in.

I love that kneeler in Dilham church. That's a church I haven't yet visited. Must make the effort next time we are there!

I just love how an innocent thread about St Alban's has turned into a nostalgia fest for people of 'our' generation. You're welcome guys! Carry on!

He, he...thread drift already My first job when Graham and I moved from Anglesey to Milton Keynes was in Watford Railway Station ticket office. I really struggled the first few weeks as I couldn't make out the local (and ethnic) accents and wasn't that familiar with the local station names. They must have thought I was a right numpty!

I agree with the cat pee thing. I’m also wary of being licked on the face by a dog that sticks his nose into every other dog’s scent. Even worse, our previous dog Marvin had a penchant for eating horse poo. Euck! On a different tack, why is it that most people nowadays seem to have some allergy or what not, whereas (for those of us who are getting on a bit) allergies used seemed to be a fairly rare thing when we were young. I read about a study that suggested that avoidance of nuts during early childhood resulted in an increased risk of allergy, rather than the established view. Are we all being too cautious? I was going to say this thread is going downhill, but have managed to add to the momentum.

My weekend at St Alban's Cathedral I was very fortunate to be able to visit St Alban's Cathedral as part of a 'visiting choir' this weekend. The choir boys are on holiday, so over the holidays cathedrals rely on a variety of choirs from all over the country (and further afield) to fill in. We were due to cover three services: Saturday evening, Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Saturday We had to be there by 1.30pm to do some final rehearsals before the 5pm service. The choir stalls... First we rehearsed in a room in the Chapter House... which was at the very top of the building adjoining the Cathedral, up a lot of steps. Here (see arrow): Quite a small room, with no seating, so not just steps to contend with, but lots of standing up! (Oh, my legs!) After 3pm we were allowed to go an rehearse a bit more in the choir stalls, so we could get used to the acoustic. The service (Evensong) wasn't until 5pm, which is a bit later than other Cathedrals. It went okay...well our conductor seemed pleased and the Dean of the Cathedral (a very friendly New Zealander) was complementary. She had also invited us over for drinks in the Deanery garden. After drinks we split up to go to a couple of restaurants. Most people went for a Thai meal but, as the lady who had given me a lift didn't like Thai food, I ended up tagging along with a smaller group of seven to Zizzi's, which was fine by me. It's easier to chat in a smaller group anyway. Most of us travelled back to Milton Keynes for overnight. Sunday In the morning we had an early start as we needed to start rehearsing at 9.30 for the 11.15 service. We got to St Alban's in good time, plenty of time to visit Gail's Bakery to pick up a coffee and some freshly cooked cinnamon buns. This morning we again started off up in the lofty rehearsal room and them finished off practising in the choir stalls. This service was live streamed and is available on the Cathedral's YouTube channel. One thing I've learned from having a brief glance at it...I need to hold my music up and not look down so much! We had a good amount of down time after the service, as the next service wasn't due until 6pm. A few of us (including me) had lunch in the Cathedral café. It was fairly simple fare (I had a quiche and salad), but reasonably priced and with quick service. It had started raining, and I hadn't brought a rain coat, so it seemed the best option. One thing I noticed about the Cathedral is how doggie friendly it is, not just in the Cathedral but also in the café. Lots of people were there with very cute dogs. After lunch we sat chatting for a bit, then I went off to look around the shop and the Cathedral, just in time for a free tour, which was very informative. St Alban's really is a history capsule, with the initial architecture being Norman, then two distinct phases of medieval gothic architecture, lots of Victorian restoration and now modern touches. The tour handily finished just before we were due to rehearse again (up all those steps again!), and then we had a rehearsal in the choir stalls again. The service was celebrating the installation of a digital lighting system that makes the statues above the altar look as if they are painted, as they would have been in medieval times, and there was a reception afterwards (more drinks) for those involved in the project and the people who had attended the service. We are a motley crew... I didn't get home until after 9pm...completely exhausted.