dom

I'd failed to spot that, which is a bit embarrassing, seeing as I only took this last week!

Just discovered this one from the 50s which I'd not seen before. Surprisingly good quality for its age. Long before my time, but gives me a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach watching bits of it with unspoilt sections of the Broads which I remember from my youth. At 19:00, you can see the bit just above Wroxham bridge which I always go on about which was green and picturesque before they allowed houses to be built there in the 90s. Just a shame they didn't capture more of the boatyards, or those along Lower Street in Horning. And check out the height of the outer arches at Potter around 8:20!

Whenever I see photos like that, it always has me frantically scanning the boats in the background. We used to regularly take one or two boats down to Salhouse sunday afternoons in the 80s. Our spot was always mudweighting in the bay at the back - it wasn't unheard of for me to go swimming on warmer days. I've only got one photo of my dad's boat and live in hope that someone took another at some point.

If you look at old maps, there were multiple boathouses on both Salhouse broads up to at least the 1950s.

I've met the bloke who developed and marketed "Muck Munchers" in my previous role. Their products for domestic septic tanks break down solids and extend the interval between empties. I've often wondered how it'd work if added to a boat black tank. I suspect it might be a good thing to add to the tank over winter if nothing else.

The positions of the various Broadland organisations seems to be polarising, which I think may hopefully be a good thing in the long run. The odd thing about the mailing situation is that it seems to suggest BA have been doing it for free in the past. With a co-mailing situation like this, you'd expect either a commercial charge, or a reciprocal arrangement of some description. If BA have included a flyer, typically, they might charge 10p per customer, so NSBA might get a £1k bill, but it's still way cheaper than doing a dedicated mailing themselves. Maybe NSBA have included some sort of PR in Green Book mailings in exchange - if not, BA would be remiss to be doing things for free.

My route to work used to take me across the Fens by Pope's Corner, where the Cam and Old West meet. The farm there used to be constantly pulling preserved trees out of the peat soil there. They're generally something like 2,500 to 5,000 years old, sometimes older. There's a bit of a burgeoning trade in furniture and artworks made from it. The original cast iron post (supposedly from Crystal Palace) is currently about 4m above ground level.

It's really interesting, if you look at the 1885 map, Hoveton Hall lake connects all the way though to Burntfen Broad. It looks like that would have connected to either Hoveton Little Broad or Crabbet's Marsh at one time. Crabbet's Marsh almost looks like Crabbet's Broad back then!

I'd planned a day out yesterday. First thought when I opened the curtains was my day was ruined by the weather. Second thought was I bet you're annoyed too! She's definitely looking a lot better from the gunwales down. We always used to cover boats topside in winter, but it seems less common practice these days.

Looking at the anode on A Frayed Knot, I just wonder if that positioning could potentially encourage prop cavitation. Not sure if anyone on the forum's more up these things, but it would think it may be better to go further back if fitting a new one - or possibly a rectangular one off to the side?

Somehow I never got fully into dinghy sailing, which is surprising, as one of my uncles was heavily involved in a lot of classes and was, amongst other things, responsible for approving the later Morrison Wayfarer design. He was one of the early pioneers of metal mast technology, joined up with Ian Proctor to develop them and ran Proctor Masts for many years. Ironically, he and Proctor (who sailed together extensively) were also very closely acquainted with Jack Chippendale, who I got to know in his days at Wroxham Barns. I only ever saw my uncle at Earls Court boat shows, but I suspect if things had carried on as they were, I'd eventually have ended up joining him on the Hamble for a sail - he was later a director of the RYA and Olympic team manager, so it could have opened the door on all sorts of adventures but, sadly, my dad died young and I lost touch with that part of the family. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have gone to Southampton Uni, as my dad's life policy would have paid my costs and I could have spent all my free time on the water - but no-one had the sense to point that out to me at the time

We must have started at Stalham at the same time in that case - just with you going in a year above me. Was that a Stalham school activity with the NSSA? Jon looks vaguely familiar.

I think you were probably one year above me in that case. I joined in year one with maybe a dozen other kids then the majority joined in year two. I'm sure I was in the first year to do GCSEs (but had moved to Broadland by then) and I think we left 1988. Only name I can remember from the year above was one of the Derisley sisters who lived opposite and half the school fancied!

When were you there?

We used to be allowed out at lunch from Stalham High School some days (possibly just market day?) and I can remember going to the market to get a burger for lunch. It was great, but the noise and smells from the neighbouring abattoir was a bit off putting on days when the wind was wrong! A mate and I once bought an old 12v car battery powered lawn mower from the auction, which we stripped down to make an electric go-cart. I learnt what a coccyx injury is shortly afterwards.

When I was a kid, whenever we went into Norwich, we'd tend to park in Malthouse multi-storey car park (my sister and I often going to the now long closed Noverre cinema on Theatre Street for the Saturday matinee whilst my mum shopped). I can still remember the smell from the old chocolate factory as you approached down Chantry Road. My dad worked for the GPO and on one occasion went in to do some work, coming home with masses of rejected chocolate, which the workers were sick to death of eating. After leaving the GPO, my dad became Norwich Union's Chief Telecomms Officer - in those days, they had their own internal mechnical telephone exchanges and my dad did a lot of the changeover to newer System X and Y digital systems. Several of my school friends also went to work for NU. It's very sad that they were eventually rebranded to Aviva when they merged with CGU, as I think NU's reputation gave Norwich a bit of national credibility.

I was lucky to grow up in Wroxham with Eric Stevenson, one of the last of a long line of blacksmiths living at the bottom of my road. I suspect there's probably a fair bit of his handiwork around Wroxham and Hoveton and in surviving wooden broads boats. He also did a lot of work for churches and cathedrals, including wrought iron for Norwich Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Aside of being a proper old craftsman, he was a lovely old boy and I can remember him teaching me and my sister how to craft a proper bow and arrows on one occasion.

If anyone's travelling that way this afternoon, the A14 eastbound carriageway is currently closed at Rowley Mile near Newmarket. A car has hit a petrol pump at the services causing a fire.

States the place is dying, yet pictures a stand-alone butcher's shop and independent hardware store. In my local area, we lost most small businesses like that 10-15 years ago. As I understand it, Nicholsons is getting a Morrisons Daily store soon, so there's obviously some support for investment. I know at least one local business has also just moved into larger premises. The drug issues probably wouldn't have been so prominent in the days when Stalham had its own police station, but obviously it's far from alone losing that. There have however always been drug issues in surrounding areas, including Hoveton. I think a lot of social issues in the area can probably be traced back to the appalling standard of education provided by the high school for many years. I only went for a couple of years, thankfully moving to Broadland High for the last couple - but, when I was there, kids basically did what they wanted in some lessons and bullied some weaker teachers into allowing them to skip any sort of meaningful education. I think a lot of kids left with woeful exam results, inevitably getting stuck locally and in low salaried employment.

Cambridgecabby has suggested that a monthly payment schedule may not show up on the Toll Checker (which is down anyway), so the current situation is unclear. I think this is actually an interesting point. Elsewhere on BA's WhatDoTheyKnow freedom of information request list several questions have been asked about what ERP system the authority uses. The responses stated that they do not have an ERP. For those not familiar, an ERP is a comprehensive software suite, often referred to as a company's "single source of truth". It generally streamlines efficiency, reduces the need for staffing (often dramatically), gives ad hoc financial reporting in a few clicks and allows easy publishing of account information, etc on websites. The fact BA don't have one appears to be a massive shortcoming and suggests those in charge have a poor grasp of technology. It also suggests there may be cost savings to be had by reducing staffing, and explains why clear financial reporting can be less than forthcoming. Either way, if an owner has a payment schedule in place, queries on the toll checker probably ought to show a more appropriate response. Returning a response saying it's untolled for an owner adhering to an agreed payment schedule appears to be potentially defamatory to me?

Google demonetize videos with violent content, copyright violation or profanity. Sometimes the process is automatic, sometimes it's triggered by signals like people disliking or reporting it.

See 1st post on this page.

I know a lot about two of the individuals involved.

Do you have anything at all to substantiate that these are the same anglers? The boat owner has been charged with abusive/threatening behaviour towards BA staff recently. It's no issue to mention this, as he posted the charge sheet himself, as some sort of apparent brag. To me, the fishermen look like a couple of old boys who are unlikely to go looking for a confrontation - and, more than likely have been told to f'ing move or similar and unfortunately now put themselves at risk of similar charges. Have you honestly never got into a similar confrontation in the pub, on the road, or similar?

That's usually the case - one of the local day boat hire places was using the countdown to the close season as a marketing tactic the other day. Knowing a few fishing obsessives, it seems like the close season is akin to quitting smoking or drinking for some.