SteveO

I raise my glass to Iain and to all of our absent friends and relatives who are so badly missed.

I guess with commercial catering, you can't be too careful, but I've got stuff in my freezer that goes back 2-3 years. Whenever I am brave enough to defrost, cook and eat whatever it is, it seems to taste OK. Of course if something looks or smells wrong once defrosted or after cooking, it goes in the bin.

Merry Christmas to all my friends on the forum, to Admin who keep the wheels on and to Arthur who feeds the chat-room hamster without which we couldn't hold our weekly quizzes.

Well done Andy! I retired 5 years ago at the age of 63 from a job that involved a lot of pressure to meet deadlines. It took me about 18 months to slow down and realise that you don't need to do everything every day. As well as the boat, I have many hobbies and interests so have no problem keeping myself as busy as I want to be. It sounds as though you have lots of good things lined up. Enjoy!

I am watching with bated breath to see what the unintended consequence of this "bio-manipulation" will be. When you tamper with nature on this scale, there almost always is a price to pay.

We had another good turnout and the eventuall winner was Tigerhawk on 11 points with NikO and Bern in joint 2nd place on 8 and Bikertov on 7. The rest of the pack were not far behind. Congratulations to TH , who has the honour of hosting the first quiz of 2022. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our quizzers.

Bump

Topics for Friday's quiz are :- The car's the clue Cryptic towns and cities The "C" word Half time break, around "wine o' clock" Food and drink Cats and dogs General mayhem We will kick off at around 8.30 in the chatroom - you are all very welcome to join. Enter Username - no password required; https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/

Against my better judgement I watched the race yesterday. For me all it did was to remind me why I don't follow F1.

I remember Pan Yan very well and think there is a gap in the market. There are plenty of Indian-style curry pickles out there but nothing that I could find in the "British" style. I have been making my own, based on tomatoes, cooking apples, curry spices and chillis, for the last 12 months or so and giving it to friends and family as presents. From the feedback received it is extremely popular, especially with cheese and cooked meat.

Sorry we had to bail out last night. I was only seeing every other question on my phone. Was fun while it lasted though. Thanks Polly!

They look great. Almost too good to use.

When a sensor went on my CRV, I was told that it would cost me £125 for the dealer to plug the car into the diagnostic computer, plus the cost of the replacement sensor. I pointed out that the car was under warranty and had the fix done free of charge. My worst experience was when the combined satnav/radio/reversing camera screen stopped working. I took it into Honda, just out of warranty, to be told by a straight-faced "service" manager that a repair was not possible, but they could fit a new unit for me for £8000!!!! When I picked myself off the floor and regained the power of speech, I said there must be a cheaper way and the guy then offered a reconditioned unit with a 3 month guarantee for £4000. I then asked them to contact Honda, as the unit was only just over 3 years old, to see if they would help with the replacement cost. Eventually after many phone calls I was told to bring the car in and they would remove the unit and send it back to the manufacturer to see if it could be mended. After driving about with a 10 inch square hole in the dashboard for a couple of weeks, the dealer called to advise that the unit had been repaired and that the cost would be £200. The problem had been a "faulty rotary actuator" which I decoded as the on/off/volume ****. Needless to say, I moved the car on a few weeks later and no longer drive a Honda.

Pfizer for all 3 jabs here. First one, last February- no symptoms other than a sore arm for a day. Second one, May - sore arm for 1 day plus transient "flu" symptoms the following day. Booster, November - sore arm for 3 days plus felt very tired for 5. On masks, everyone seemed to be wearing them in our Sainsburys this morning with the exception of the security man who's task was to stand by the door telling people to wear masks! I think someone must have complained because when we came out of the shop he was gone, replaced by a female member of Sainsbury's staff who was handing masks out to anyone who arrived without one.

I used to make my own floats out of balsa, cork, reeds, goose quills and elder pith. I glued discs of whichever flotation medium I was using onto a bit of stick - lolipop, kebab, coctail or whatever depending on the size of float I wanted, clamped the end of the stick in my dad's electric drill and then sanded the float to the desired shape before painting the body, whipping a wire eye onto the bottom and adding a tip of hi-vis paint to the top. They worked well, only cost me the paint I used and I still have most of them.

I hit the bank hard every time I visit the chandlers

I had to buy a can of premium petrol the other day because I've been told that my lawnmower, hedge trimmer and generator won't like E10. The only place I can buy it round here is our local motorway services and I didn't get much change from a £10 note when filling a 5litre can.

We have used telescopic rods on the Broads for years. Cheapo ones that we got from L'tharmes for a few quits each. Very handy on the boat because you can slide the leads and float down towards the hook, attach the hook to the reel seat and stow them easily and safely when not in use. I also have a 5M elasticated whip which serves well for still water fishing, a large good quality landing net and a couple of cheap reels. With this simple and inexpensive kit, Mrs O and I have had many hours of angling pleasure and, between us, some very respectable fish. Keep expensive accessories to a minimum. A wise friend once told me that most of the stuff you see in tackle shops is there to catch anglers, nor fish

Ours is white Formica laminated onto half inch ply. It has been there for 40+ years and still provides a durable, clean and cleanable surface. I have thought of upgrading to something more modern but then why change if it works?

Always liked The Yare and found the place characterful and the food decent. As for it being unwelcoming, it was always way better than the pubs round where we live, where the conversation stops the moment you walk in. I hope it is back on its feet as a going concern soon.

Can't say I blame them. Many's the time we have visited in winter, to be the only customers in the pub.

I wonder what your average Dutchman would say about "managed retreat"?

I fitted a rear view camera on my boat a few years ago. The unit cost around £50 all up, including a transmitter/reciever kit to avoid having to run a cable from the stern to the helm position. I thought, when I installed it, that the unit would be very flimsy and not last long, but it still works as well today as it did when it was new. It is very useful for stern-on mooring, but also gives good general visibility of activities astern.

I think a lot depends on where you live in relation to where your boat is moored and arrangements at your moorings. We are 170 miles away and tend to take a "belt and braces" approach, which has been repaid a couple of times - once because the power supply to the moorings was disrupted and the second because a well-meaning individual slackened my mooring ropes but forgot to allow sufficient scope for the shorepower cable to move with the boat. We drain down the domestic water system. disconnect and drain the water pump, open all taps and use anti-freeze in the engine cooling water. We also have tube heaters on a thermostat set to come on at 4 degrees C but, to be honest, I don't think they come on very often as, in a normal winter, it doesn't get that cold in the bilges. If we lived closer I would do a "light" winterisation and rely more on the heaters but would couple this with visits to the boat to check the power supply and make adjustments if the forecast was for really cold stuff.

Was staggered to find the New Inn closed for refurbishment this week during one of the busiest weeks of the year. They must have had one hell of a good season to be able to afford to do this.