marshman

I also remember the days when the lads from the village rowed round asking for mooring fees - and departed my boat with a flea in their ear!!!!

This is how the Forum operates!!! And it revolves around a dirty smokestack!!!!!! Was the Q of the B steam powered? As a little boy I just kept out of the wash and did not delve into what powered it and the man shovelling below ( if there was one! )?

Its a pub I never go to these days even though its pretty local to me - never been the same since they were taken over!! And the food is vastly overpriced for what it is. Classic example IMHO that it is one of those places that took a long time to build up a good name, but oh so easy , to lose it!

Interestingly enough thats the perception of VW, but the facts are very different. The fault they made was to try and hide it - it was not necessary as their engines were always a lot cleaner than many others and indeed still are - look at the Which reports to see that many well known manufacturers are a lot lot worse! Bit like driving a Skoda - people still come out with the old jokes about skips etc - they are 60 yrs old now but people still remember, thinking they are being original!

In all honesty, I think the real issue is that most people expect "free" moorings - Salhouse is a charitable Trust and not only do they have to pay for the attendant for the summertime, they also have to repay to renew the moorings, which they have done to a fair bit. We cannot in one breath complain there are insufficient moorings and then refuse to pay the going rate for providing them!! I very much doubt that the charity breaks even on the money it collects so lets hope the Cators still support it!!

Cannot believe that discussion got off the ground - there are so many obstacles that it must have been a bit of a waste of time ! Perhaps there was little other news to discuss...!!

Thats certainly the date - and as usual plenty to see and do!

Alternatively you could lay a few MPs in the road and drive around them - oh no some might just not do that!!!

Just be mindful too Robin, if you keep the car, of Mercedes garage bills or rather the potential for bankruptcy!! Some old dear (young I should say) I know was quoted just over £500 to replace a coil spring on the front, reduced to just under £100 by the garage round the corner!! Enough to make your eyes water.....!!!

Wroxham was not too bad after the rush hour - the little men were operating them manually and going north there was only minimal delay this a.m. around 10.30 - has the potential to be horrendous but we shall see............!!

Any dredging down Fleet Dyke should be easy to bypass - or it should be! Its only narrow just around the bends. To be fair you have hired in a period when most yards have not even started! And there is a good reason for this as the weather in mid March out here can be atrocious. Last year as you will recall we had the notorious Beast from the East and you would have been hard pushed to have progressed even out of the yard because of ice - similarly most hoses are turned off on public staithes to prevent frozen pipes. You probably noticed a lack of boats - there is a reason for it I am afraid and you probably were a victim of it. You could say the yard could have warned you and probably they should, but whilst a very few stalwarts hire from early March, there is generally a sound reason why you might only see a few intrepid travellers!! Are even the Yacht Stations open? Probably not as most employ seasonal staff and I doubt they are yet on duty and there was not a day last week that I would have felt very comfortable with crossing Breydon on - indeed it is not allowed by most yards yet as they know in reality it is still winter. Equinoctial gales are a pretty common feature and are more prevalent now than later in the year - probably! I hope you enjoy your September holiday rather more but once we get to the end of September, that too can bring more unacceptable weather conditions - unfortunately!

In some respects I have to agree with my mate Mr Waller - I love those open landscapes but in many respects those open landscapes were the result of bored wherrymen who took it upon themselves to keep the tree growth down in the winter when they had no cargo - but now, who takes responsibility? Landowners certainly are not really interested these days and farmers no longer have the manpower and the marshes are generally just too too wet for machinery. Sadly I think it is now even too much for the BA who battle on but even their new tree shears require man power to clear up behind them - free manpower is just not available these days! Even volunteers have to be regulated and now the BA seem unable to attract a decent volunteer force to go out and scrub bash marshes. OK they do a bit but if you don't scrub bash, they soon become trees and the battle is then lost - sadly! On the more positive side I am delighted to see this winter that the wildlife trust on Hickling have removed a large part of the silver birch stand between White Slea and Heigham Sound - this had grown up on old dredgings dumped years ago. It was always an incongruous addition to the skyline but the bodies are not there to manage marshes - ok you will say it is not natural to control marshes but with only trees to look at and no marshes, it would lead to an entirely different landscape and one I would not welcome everywhere. Still I am only an old git harking back to the past for some things and more open river and reed landscapes are one of them!!!!!!!

Only the market will judge if it is expensive! I know for certain that out of the Ferry boats and I expect elsewhere the most expensive boats let the most, especially over the shorter periods. As someone says its what people want and to say you have been on a boat with a tele in every room, may feel like kudos to some!!

Equally the cleats are only an alloy I suspect - if people can demolish those metal ladders, then what hope is there for a measly cleat???

Don't forget also its in two halves - the newer bit is the pontoon which indeed was added fairly recently but the original bit also needs tarting up a bit!

So what it says on the sign is about right? And as its Norfolk, nothing has changed either???

Commissioners Cut is a BA mooring but the ones through the bridges belong to the Town Council - the BA gave them up. I think the BA moorings at Stokesby are a bit further upstream, nearer the playground I believe on all the BA 24 hr moorings they will have leases in place and none will be "just because there is a piece of grass" !!

It is a BA mooring and is shown on their list of 24 hr moorings - currently! Perhaps the Parish Council intend taking the mooring back and ending the lease? Lets all just wait and see what comes out - it will in the end! And if the BA are in negotiation they are unlikely to disclose exactly what is going on at the moment methinks!

Lets be honest it could be anywhere on the Broads as it does not contain any clues!! Remember its also a bit old and any trees may have grown a bit!!

Both Loddon and Pyes Mill are shown as BA moorings - perhaps they believe that they will earn more by turning it into a parish Staithe like Womack?

What??????

Depends when on the 15th it begins!

It will be close season after Wednesday so they will not get in the way for a bit! And equally we should all remember that any costs for doing any unnecessary enforcement falls directly on the toll payer - there are no fixed penalties and like speeding on the river require a court case to pursue and what with one thing and another, costs quickly accumulate. Rangers have better things to do than enforce relatively minor infringements, indeed in the winter can often be found clearing trees and river banks. It not that I condone any infringement, but we have to remain realistic!

Quite surprised at this time of year that there is any real pressure on moorings!!! Does it really matter too much??? No of course it doesn't!

So then by that precise calculation Norwich is in the north eastern quarter???