High6

I began my employment in computers in the early 60's when they were still built from cogs, levers and springs. For the next 50 years I worked in hardware and software development and design, and spent my final 10 years teaching computer science at Uni. I have just utterly failed to register my change of address online with HMRC. I provided my Government Gateway number, my NHS number, old and new addresses, date of birth, password, mother's maiden name and my inside leg measurement. They required me to insert a special Pin number sent to my phone. It could not go to my land line because of my call blocker. I have no cell phone signal at home, so was allowed 20 minutes to drive up the road, pick up the code and get back. After all that, the website went off to check my credit rating, and came back with the news that it could not complete my change of address because it did not have enough information about me. There is no address anywhere to notify them by post. Santander also refused to process our request by post. I am not registered with them online and held no credit card with which to register, so we had to make a round trip of 20 miles to our nearest branch. Ye gods! What have we done? We have a new generation of undergraduates who have never read a book. From primary school onwards they have been taught to submit assignments which are 100% cut and paste and sign them off as being their own work. They can neither construct sentences correctly nor spell with any reasonable accuracy. I have to share responsibility for chasing our technological dream, although in truth it is the world's largest and richest corporations who have benefitted most by creating a perceived need for their wares. It may well be that in the end hackers, viruses and cyber warfare will create such global havoc that we will no longer place so much reliance on technology. I very much hope so. It may be quaint, but it is an abhorrence that our libraries have been reduced to phone boxes. Remember, books do not crash. Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

A mile out among the reeds on Hickling wildlife reserve today I got full 4G on O2 and EE. Back in the village next to nothing. Zilch. Nada. Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

Traffic news: "due to an earlier accident". Of course it was earlier, otherwise it wouldn't have happened yet. "Coffee?" "No thanks, I'm all right." "Whatevva". Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

Don't you just hate it when they don't wave until they're level with, or even just past, your eye line? Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

On a hire boat it is always gratifying somehow if a privateer waves back. It's been a long time though since we got a salute from an AA man on a m/c combo. Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

On foot at Wroxham bridge two days ago I had to help a longish bathtub trapped on the pilot's pickup point by the wind. It was their first time on a boat and they must have been terrified by boats coming through the bridge while they struggled to get away. I wish the introductions could explain how to get the stern out in a breeze, and that hire boats had a decent (blue?) fender on the prow.

Never mind. There's always John Kettley! https://g.co/kgs/egBztp

Aah ... the voice of reason. How rare and delightful!

My wife Jenny was taught to drive by her Dad, who drove buses around Hammersmith and Kensington all his life. A few dozen years on, her driving is impeccable - until she sees a bus stop.

No doubt all the scrapes and dents were made by men after she parked at the hairdresser's.

Power = work done, therefore less power = less work achieved. The energy required to achieve that power may be reduced by better design, less friction etc., but at the end of the day you wouldn't use a toothbrush to paint the Forth bridge.

A quote from Pistonheads forum: "I'm not sure that Briggs and Stratton would recommend Castrol R in your lawn mower engine but I finished a normally tedious 90 minute weekend mow with a big smile on my face today... " Sorry, ChrisB, I mispronunciated Castrol R as Redex due to advanced years. Can't remember when I last had Alzheimer's.

Quite right, Chris, and outside the Ace cafe on the North Circular. Hit the jukebox, round the roundabout and back before the record finished. Never did make that, though, on my Arial Leader. Now that was a smoker! Did manage to destroy a piston, though, from the Saltbox Cafe and down Death Hill. As I recall, there were no nanny regulations then to wear helmets or seat belts, but I'll allow them those two. Biking and even motoring today is just too tragic.

I didn't believe it but, yep, there it is https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R4.TR4.TRC0.A0.H1.Xstrawberry+oil.TRS0&_nkw=strawberry+2+stroke+oil&_sacat=0. Some may be old enough to remember "Four gallons and four shots" - Redex of course, the distinctive smell of Brands Hatch with John Surtees against Geoff Duke, but thanks, Marshman, I'll look out for Aspen. My strimmer is nearly 20 years old and has never failed to start immediately. At 100 yards it is quieter than the wind turbine 300 yards away, certainly less than local traffic and frequent helicopters (perceived noise level halves with distance). There is little or no noticeable smoke once the choke is pushed in ( I have emphysema so that would be a serious problem for me). As for a few 2-stroke motors raising the temperature of the universe - don't get me started! WIth vacuum cleaners, if you limit the power to half it will be less effective with stubborn animal hairs and deep pile dirt. You will have to spend twice as long pushing it around and probably use the same amount of energy. But really, my argument is with the "nanny" regulations. Do we honestly need the state to tell us the power of our vacuums or the efficiency of our outboards? To my mind the best regulators are customer satisfaction and price.

Well, they've killed off the decent vacuum cleaners. Now it looks as if your handy strimmers, chainsaws and hedge trimmers could be for the chop. http://joannenova.com.au/2017/09/update-malcolm-roberts-one-nation-explain-the-two-stroke-mower-ban-is-about-real-pollution-not-co2/

I'm sure I've met the same ones, almost invariably in a Micra. Never able to fathom why they brake going UPHILL. Grr.

We've seen a couple of hire boats smack the corner of the crane barge quite hard over the weekend, misjudging wind and tide.

Going in bows on is far easier, but climbing on the pointy bit when the joints don't work but the beer does is a bit treacherous.

In the Greek islands it is de rigeur. Drop the mud weight a length out and pay out the line as a brake and to automatically line up the boat. Seems to work very well.

Something here might appeal: http://www.ybw.com/features/top-ten/10-of-the-most-expensive-beautiful-sailing-yachts-in-the-world-58244#qkgorscbAYlXHXEZ.99

Apparently "Wash is the disturbed water caused by the propeller or jet drive. Wake is the disturbed water caused by the motion of the vessel's hull passing through the water". Is it possible to distinguish between them with regard to Broads craft?

Early 50s we kids sat outside the pub on a bench with a glass of orange squash, a straw and a penny arrowroot biscuit from the offy next door.

SSSIs can be of many different types, and each citation comes with its own set of constraints. It might be a historic landscape being left to degrade naturally - if a wall falls down it may not be rebuilt, or a disease must be allowed to take its course. Alternatively it might be land under productive cultivation; if it has traditionally been ploughed north to south it may not be ploughed east to west. The question is whether the site is being restored, preserved or improved. Interesting to speculate where the Broads fit in. Return to (dry) peat diggings, preserve the status as at what date, or improve to what condition and for who's benefit. None of these outcomes is "natural" insofar as they will require human intervention.

No conspiracy theory, Bobdog, merely an observation on powerful competing interests at work. Most people, I imagine, would fully support and appreciate the conservation work but there is a fine line between that and "improvement", which sometimes means artificially creating a new habitat and encouraging species that are non-native or became extinct hundreds of years ago, to the detriment of other participants.

I understand much of the dredging is connected with building up deposits around the margins and the use of goose-proof netting. I wonder if we should be concerned that these might surreptitiously turn into new fenland encroaching on the previously navigable area. I wonder, too, if the dredging would occur at all if it were not designed to enhance the wildlife reserve.