MotorBoater

I knew I had some more pics filed away somewhere so I have included a few here. They include one of our favourite moorings (Wroxham Island), the new moorings at Paddy's Lane and the Norfolk version of "Head In The Sand" which I will keep handy I think.

I wonder just what the poets of yesteryear would have made of a 747 Jumbo

Absolutely love this picture, but surely it's less stressful to take just your dog for a walk.

Tailor made for a Top Gear drag race, I hope no-one gets ideas.

If I see a bin like that floating it will have more to do with the glass in my hand than the glass I am looking through

Youtube - Narrowboats - Broads Vlogs - Bushcraft - Given the recent videos I saw of alligators/crocodiles and leopards moving into Indian villages during their lockdowns, I guess this would be useful if lions are found in Ranworth Marshes !

I too have watched DW's stuff for a while and heartily concur with Broads01's comments. I understand from some of his narrarations that his day job involves transporting people who need help. Important as this no doubt is I do think he's missed his calling, he's a video genius. The quality is excellent and his experiments with more uptodate tech is sometimes hilarious.

This morning I had a letter from Mssrs Hancock and Jenrick telling me, as well as much else, to register on Gov.uk as extremely vulnerable because of my COPD. Obviously I'm doing as I'm told because I have to believe these people are doing their best but I have had numerous texts, letters and phone calls already and I'm starting to worry that there may be an element of duplication here. I get the idea of making sure all bases are covered but I'm now wondering if there really is a central direction on this. I am , or will be, covered by the County Council, The Borough Council and the government but I still can't get an order delivered by supermarkets who are actively encouraging online ordering whilst unable to service the customers they already have. All three agencies have now promised assistance "In the next few days". I'm retired and at risk, my wife works but is furloughed on 80%. The whole house is supposed to be in lockdown because of me. We can pay our way (On a level playing field) and the service offered to me could be available to someone in greater need but I can't get food into the house whatever I try so the wife has to risk it ! Medicines appear deliverable at least and I'll be testing that in the next few days. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking any of the efforts so far (Well, exclude the supermarkets from that), I'm just wondering about the joined up thinking. Hopefully lessons learned will be stored for the future and we never get caught out like this again. Paul, would that be the same supermarket with a TV advert telling people what measures they have brought in, showing a fully stocked shop bearing no relation to the situation in their branches near home ?

Another excuse for me to sit at the window looking at the garden instead of getting on with it. Wifey not so happy !

Nice looking craft, I suppose if they've been popular it must count as a success !

Are we getting fed drip by drip to condition us to the idea no-one is going anywhere this year ?

I set my TV box to automatically record lots of episodes of this program but I can't bring myself to start watching them. I'll probably end up deleting them. Used to be good, but then that's the BBC in general. I gave up on them for "entertainment" years ago.

Good pics, sad reminder of what we are missing

Did you ever actually identify a Carpenters Arms ?

We have a committee of judges deciding how long prison terms should be, irrespective of acts of parliament. We have a committee of senior police officers deciding which laws to enforce, and how, irrespective of acts of parliament. Now we have NICE and Public Health England to deal with. I see from tonight's news programs that a million "Instant" testing kits are on their way from China and should be here within a couple of days. PHE have said they have not authorised their use. Surely the only "authorisation" required is whether they work ? If they don't work how did they come to be ordered and surely the time for PHE to be involved was at the point of placing the order, not now. Virus testing is clearly a hot potato at the moment. Surely the relevant department were satisfied these tests work (I believe there is data from other countries to that effect). We need testing on the front line NOW and continuously, all we get is stories of "confusion" If this country is to be run by committee I offer my services to The Committee To Ensure Tottenham Hotspur Wins A Trophy Before Hartlepool Do, The Committee For The Restoration Of Real Fish & Chips and most importantly The Committee For The Abolition Of Unnecessary Committees. Rant over, toys and pram still intact.

From Historic England: The Old Court House, Court Road, Rollesby, Norfolk Photograph taken 02 April 2005 © Mr Michael Parker. Source Historic England Archive ref: 227708 This building was originally a workhouse. It was built in 1776 at a cost of around £2,300. It could accommodate 400 inmates. The architect was Charles Elder. In 1818 and 1834 it was enlarged, but in 1836 it was partially burnt down. In 1922 the rear wing was rebuilt. In the late 19th century and early twentieth century, part of the building was used as a courthouse. There is an inscription above the right hand door which provides evidence of the buildings previous use: 'For the INSTRUCTION of YOUTH, The ENCOURAGEMENT of INDUSTRY, The RELIEF of WANT, The SUPPORT of OLD AGE, And the COMFORT of INFIRMITY and PAIN'. That's what it was, as for now I've no idea. Maybe someone on here has been to Rollesby ?

I note from the papers today that senior police officers, and others, are appealing for continuity and joined up thinking in the way police officers apply covid-19 enforcement measures. This may be stretching the theme of this thread a tiny bit but I couldn't resist posting this in the light of comments above. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8169709/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-police-step-away-Creme-Egg.html Littejohn is a columnist on the Daily Mail I have followed for some time. Sometimes controversial but usually on the button. This was published yesterday, before today's hoohah.

Young versus old has been a bit of a minefield for generations. As parents we have to believe we do what we do for the sake of our children but we have to accept that when we hand over the baton we may not like where they run with it. That doesn't mean we stop trying to guide their footsteps. I usually find that if an argument is put forward quoting examples of previous experience I am at least listened to, even if they then go off to find a different approach. No bad thing. Whether the Broads change or not is not the issue. First we should be trying to ensure the broads exist and only secondly should we ask in what form. If, as seems to me may be the case, the broads are shrinking in terms of navigable area, we should be allowed to consider if this is due to insufficient or misdirected resources and/or regulation. Even if it is there may be little we can do about it. I think it would be very remiss not to try. However the point has been made elsewhere that this is not the time. Monitor the situation by all means, pass any misgivings to the Broads Authority, if you wish, but lets cut some slack in terms of keeping things going for now. Marshman, I realise you were trying to make a point but the fruit (And vegetable) situation is not, I suggest, the best example. Even if we were still fully in the EU travel restrictions would still be making that particular issue a problem. Brexit was indeed a generational battle to some degree and I recall disagreements with younger staff I was managing at the time, but as I pointed out above, arguments based on experience can win the day. I was able to admit to being around pre-EU and regale them with tales of life then. They only knew life in the EU. Mind you I had to pick examples carefully!

This thread does make me wonder how many people are attracted to the Broads by the fluid under their keels or the fluid under the bars !

BBC Website this morning: A driver flouted the coronavirus lockdown to pick up £15 windows with his wife in the boot of his car. The man, who had bought the windows on eBay, was stopped by police on the M6 in Cheshire on Sunday after collecting his purchase in Salford. Police said his wife had to sit in the boot as she "could not fit in the vehicle" for the return journey to Coventry. North West Motorway Police issued the man with a traffic offence report. I think the windows will now cost a bit more than £15 ! Perhaps his wife should be commended for a novel approach to self-isolating

I've had the TV License emails (Amongst others) several times. I have evolved various methods of exposing email and phone scams over the years but there is a major problem in sharing these because to publicise answers is to expose them to workarounds. I usually ring around friends and family when a new angle appears, but I do feel for other ancient (?) individuals living on their own or with partners who for one reason or another are not aware of these people. We pay our TV license annually so it's pretty obviously a scam when I get an email about monthly or quarterly payments. I'm probably not giving too much away when I point out the amounts requested do not match said payment periods as there are other equally obvious errors too. I always forward such emails on to the companies phishing addresses as requested but of course you are never really sure if it has any effect. TV Licensing and Virgin Media do seem quite hot on this though.

A few pics from Oulton Broad today and a windy day at PH - Look at those flags ! Those flagpoles occasionally bend quite a bit.

Is it too early for the telephone wires ?

Vaughan, you have no idea how relieved I am to find I'm not the only Night Owl. That said, I'm off to bed !

Prior to my return to the Broads after many years of wishing and hoping, I discovered this forum, not the only but in my opinion the best. I have picked up an enormous amount of up to date information both directly and by inference and for this I shall be eternally grateful. As a still relative newbie I am wary of jumping into ongoing debates, feeling as I do that I may not have enough experience or historical information. This is changing at a fair rate of knots as I delve deeper into life on the Broads and the opinions expressed on this forum. However since recent posts elsewhere on this forum seem to be ignoring a basic principal of life in this country I will risk putting my head over the parapet, so to speak. Democracy exists as method of reconciling opposing views by DEBATE. If one side or the other runs for the hills that could be interpreted as losing the argument, whatever the validity of their point of view. Equally, attempts to stifle such debate by denigration or highlighting another issue should not be acceptable either. If you have a single issue forum that is one thing. If you have a multi-threaded behemoth like this one you have to choose which issues are important to you and which to ignore. If you want a single issue blog then start your own. If democratic debate is boring try moving to North Korea. Me ? I follow ALL the recent posts with avid interest. I won't be throwing my toys out of the pram if someone posts something I don't like or agree with, or calling for a guillotine. We know we live in very uncertain times right now. If I catch this bug I probably won't survive it. My priority is my son and (I'm dreaming now) any grandchildren. That doesn't mean I'm not watching what else is going on in this world, and having an opinion on it. For the record, if I was keeping score, I would have to say that as far as the Broads Authority is concerned they are clearly doing their best to maintain some kind of status quo in this situation but they don't do themselves any favours by the occasional shot to the foot. Whether or not this is down to arrogance or subterfuge or stupidity is a matter of personal opinion that MAY be settled later. It may be true that this NP issue could be taken up later. It may also be true that to not monitor or continue the NP debate now allows opposing forces to overly force the issue one way or the other. We need to be discussing the virus, and perhaps the stupidity of some peoples reaction to it. Likewise we can surely discuss and highlight other matters, especially in relation to the Broads we all profess to love. As I say, said toys and said pram will remain intact.