dom

Back when I worked in yards, every boat was booked out every week in season, so there was no option but to move heaven and earth to get a boat ready for incoming hirers. Closures didn't happen in the same way back then, but if one had, the boat would have gone across with a yard worker and you'd either have gone with them or got a taxi and met them the other side. If you'd been held up and it was approaching turnaround, all your gear would have gone back to the yard in a pickup and you'd have followed in a taxi whilst a yard worker motored non-stop back to the yard - quite possibly with cleaners on board. The bigger issue was always damage. There wasn't the luxury of a standby boat, so it just had to be fixed. Worst one I saw was one of Summercraft's old wooden cruisers. It had a protruding wooden toe rail and the hirers had managed to catch it on something, peeling up and breaking off several feet of deck. Work started at 9am and she was back out on hire that afternoon with a newly fitted section of deck, albeit a few hours late. We never had a sinking, but I saw another yard have one, which caused major issues. They'd have no choice but to cancel a full season's worth of bookings. My mum worked for Blakes and no doubt had to deal with similar on occasion. These days, sadly, as Grendel says, they'd often have substitute boats available.

It closed earlier, but only for a fairly short time. It was published on BA's Facebook page.

The picture on Facebook shows it upright, but down at the bow. The aft well is all above water and it looks like a decent salvage pump in the front end might even have it afloat again. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10211337626512841&set=p.10211337626512841&type=3 Maybe just needs an airbag to get the deck above water level.

As long as the crew are all OK, the rest doesn't really matter. No sign of damage in the Facebook images so far, so hopefully Hunters might have it back afloat fairly quickly.

Probably rodenticides becoming more widespread. Either that, or gamekeepers shooting them. I shoot, so wouldn't suggest the latter happens amongst reputable keepers these days, but standards were different back then and Kite do seem to quickly build numbers and become problematic.

I did the same with the WV1, but still had similar issues. Not sure if the more expensive WV6 is better developed. Interesting comment direct from Karcher: If using the vac in another position than vertical the device has to be put in vertical position in between so that the water can flow into the tank. Ensure that the water tank is completely empty prior to using horizontally.

If you've not already got one, buy a sealant finishing tool before you do the job. I bought the blue pack of 4 off eBay for about a fiver and it makes the job so much easier/neater than a finger/spoon/etc.

One tip with most brands of window vac - try and keep them upright in use. If you invert them, water tends to make its way into places it shouldn't be, eventually resulting in premature failure. Not sure why it's so difficult to waterproof them properly, but they all seem to suffer the same issue.

That field is part of the farm which belonged to the late father of one of my best friends at school, who I knew from the age of 4 or so. They were Gedges - I suspect quite likely related to the Jimmy Gedge who used to work for Vaughan.

This time of year or later on, it'd normally be largely abandoned. This year though, the widespread flooding has meant that the sugarbeet "campaign" has been later than normal, so there's probably still lots of processing going on.

It'd be good to see more thought given to this type of thing with hire boats. If we're going to have huge boats which sleep relatively few people, could we devote less space to oversize cabins and bathrooms and instead incorporate a "garage" for full size bikes or kayaks?

Just checked and my mother's is within the alert area again The colour choice on that map is a nightmare for anyone with impaired colour vision.

If you see a bird of prey flying in the Cambridgeshire fens, half the time these days it's a Red Kite. Hamerton Zoo recently counted 42 at once, as they scavenge meat destined for the big cats. There's a waste site nearby and there's an almost constant cloud of them circling above it like vultures. Supposedly, there's something like 40-50 breeding pairs around here, but it's obvious that it's far more. It's easy to see why they became persecuted in the past, as no doubt they'll drive other bird of prey and possibly some corvids out.

Beccles mooring fees are now £20 side on, £15 stern on. Oulton Broad stern on with power £16, side on, up to £30. The surcharge for power at Oulton is £4.50 - £5.00. I'd question the legality of this, as it's obviously selling electricity on at a vastly inflated rate. It's not that difficult to come up with a route where a family on a larger boat could incur £112 in mooring fees in a single week.

Not strictly true. There are people who rely upon access to a water supply year round, and facilities are limited during winter months. During extreme conditions, people do tend to get left with a very limited choice, if any. I appreciate the capital investment issue - so let's say £4 represents a £2 surcharge for equipment. If a conservative 8 people use it: 8 x £2 = £16/day. £16 x 7 = £112/week. £112 x 28 weeks peak season = £3136 income. £400 for a meter, a very generous £1k to install = £1400 expenditure. £3136 - £1400 = £1736 profit, just in peak season, just in the first year and assuming only 8 users per day. I'd suggest a lot more people use it, others use it all year round, and the water used isn't anything like 1000 litres per user. Year two, the majority of the income will be profit, save for a small contingency for maintenance. We're also making profit of £1 per fill on the water itself. £4 in and of itself isn't a lot of money - but it's the cumulative effect for both private and hire boaters which is the issue. £4 for water, £30 for a pumpout, £10-15 per night to moor. Add that lot up over a week or two and it can be a significant sum on top of the cost of an already costly holiday. If you drive an Audi or BMW and hire a 40ft+ boat with 4 berths for 4 middle income adults, you probably won't care. But the hire industry relies upon the working class young family with kids, not only for immediate income, but also to introduce the next generation to hiring. Unfortunately "only £10 to moor", "only a few quid for water" and "£30 for a pumpout isn't so bad for an unpleasant job" does seem to be creating a death by a thousand cuts for boating.

Metered tap water costs around £1 per 1000 litres. I suspect there's probably not a hire boat on the Broads with a tank that size - most aren't even half that. Applying a typical retail markup to that £1, you'd be well under £2. £4 is just blatant profiteering. I'm surprised there aren't regulations to prevent this type of thing, as there are with electricity. Between that, and £30+ pumpouts, people are going to be killing the market. I noticed a comment on Facebook earlier from someone who'd taken up the 50% off deal from Ferry Marina. Someone else followed up to say they were apparently the only Ferry boat on hire this week.

One2one and BT Cellnet were both rebranded in 2002. A 22 year old sign isn't that unusual though - got to remember you're working with Norfolk time

It's always worth checking Screwfix for stuff like this - although, in this case, it seems like their cheap wellies end at size 13. They seem to be making a point of covering every base with their ranges, including workwear and footwear. They're also really convenient, as they seem to be setting up stores everywhere. I've got about half a dozen stores within a 10 mile radius.

Couple more appearances in another video from Horning too: Youtube link

I've got a pair of dirt cheap Dunlop wellies and they flatly refuse to die. They've now done something like 12 years on the allotment, plus a LOT of miles trekking round fields whilst out rough shooting. In the same period of time, I've had friends complain numerous times about Le Chameau or Hunters failing prematurely. Not sure if Dunlop's quality has gone down in recent years, but they still look the same so I know what I'll be trying when the current ones finally give up. Love the video of Finlay. Definitely 100% typical spanner behaviour. I'm a huge spaniel fan and it's a constant annoyance that I just haven't got the right home for one. I think if I do ever manage to get to a better position, I'd probably opt for a cocker. They're just that little bit calmer, and I'm not sure I've got the energy to keep up with a springer!

"If you know you know" has definitely now joined the ranks of expressions past their best.

I suspect dealing with a claim is hellish with everyone these days. A few years back, I was sat in a traffic queue behind a lorry turning right. As the lorry pulled off the road, I pulled away and carried on driving, but an idiot in a Range Rover had overtaken both the queue and the turning lorry. He then tried to merge back into moving traffic by driving over the front of my car. It was one of the scariest experiences I've ever had and I literally saw the underside of his car as it drove up my front wing. I was insured with the AA, am a gold AA member which gives you accident management benefits and the other driver admitted immediately that he was impatient from getting held up in traffic and it was a stupid move on his part. Despite all of that, I had to argue at length every step of the way. At one point, they insisted I hand back a loan car whilst I was at work 25 miles from home, then had to arrange another one for me so I could get home. When I pointed out that it was stupid to collect the first one, as I still needed transport, they threatened to report the car stolen if I didn't hand it over. To make things worse, they also insisted I use their approved bodyshop. The work done was appalling - the first time I went to check the oil, the bonnet was stuck shut (distorted catch not replaced). Rear elecric windows didn't work (not reconnected), half the interior trim rattled or fell off and I replaced about 20 exterior trim clips around the arch liners which they'd broken and just not bothered replacing. I suspect I probably called either the AA or the body shop at least 20 times, each typically taking an hour. Unfortunately, I think even if you opt for "premium" companies these days, standards are just woeful everywhere.

There's an extremely funny meme about the importance of grammar, but it's also filthy and I daren't post it here, even on the jokes thread. One branch of my family came from the Walsingham area. There's a sign on the way into the village from Fakenham which always used to drive me up the wall. I think it's probably elite level grammar pedantry on my part, so it made my day to discover someone else was obviously even more annoyed and had corrected the issue. I suspect it might have been the ghost of my great, great grandfather who's buried just up the road

Really jealous, I'd love nothing more than to be heading off onto the Broads - and have a bit of a soft spot for the Bounty 34. I've tried to find one to buy before now, but they seem like a boat owners tend to hang onto. I worked in a yard where all the boats were blue and yellow, so with you on the more traditional look! Just in case you're not aware, it's extremely windy in the east at the moment and the forecast is for 40mph winds until Sunday evening - so may be wise to have a contingency plan to stick around the more sheltered parts of the Ant for the first day. On the up side, the temperature is defintely on the up and looks positively warm towards the end of the week.

There are times when, despite the richness and complexity of the English language, only an F word can convey the true nature of the situation. Cars (and boats) are often involved in those situations