SteveO

Yes, no chance of seeing glow-worms at this time of year. We see them round our moorings in the high Summer months, looking like little green LED lights in the grass. Actually the lady glow-worm putting on her "open for business" sign. I wonder about some of these nature organisations, having had a discussion with a highly qualified young man at the Hoveton Great Broad nature trail. I told him that we regularly see kingfishers out on the river and even on Salhouse broad from time to time. He told me that there are no kingfishers in the area because the banks aren't high enough above the water to allow them to make nests. Someone in that conversation wasn't right, and it wasn't me.

I think most people in the travel and hospitality businesses are desperately trying to claw back as much cash as possible to cover the earnings they lost due to Covid. Coupled with this, there are staff shortages in many areas, which means that, in order to fill vacancies, businesses need to pay staff more, the cost of which is incorporated into future prices.

Sorry to hear about your aborted flight Griff. As people have said, lousy customer service. The only upsides that come to mind are i) you will get another "go" in due course and ii) the fuel pump malfunction didn't occur during your bucket list flight, which might have made the experience a little too exciting.

Thanks Pauline, for a delightful taste of what it must have been like to holiday on a pleasure wherry in days gone by. It was great to catch up with you and the family on the Saturday evening. The weather behaved itself too, which is always a bonus. Pleased to hear that you are keeping the Whimp.

We had a superstructure cover made by Jeckells four years ago. They provided a wealth of experience and advice in the design phase and the finished product is very good too. The whole process from quote to final delivery took around 6 months but the end result was well worth the wait.

The rangers seem to be having a purge on numbers at the moment. I was quizzed on Saturday at Ranworth by one who couldn't see my stern number. In fact it is fairly close to the waterline and impossible to see when the boat is moored stern-on, which it was. I think he went away shaking his head.

Can you hear banjos?

We tend to do the slow cooking at home, freeze the meals (chilli, casserole, curry, ragu or whatever) and bring them to the boat frozen. They take a day or two to thaw out or can be kept frozen longer in the ice compartment of our fridge. Then it is only a matter of warming up the meal and cooking any accompaniments on the boat.

Delight XI is a beautiful boat, sadly being sold due to the owner's untimely passing earlier this year. She is immaculate and I doubt if she will hang about long at the price being asked.

Rest assured John, you are among friends on here. I don't think that anyone who has had the slightest acquaintance with you would believe anything that this loser has been saying. My advice would be to just ignore him, and I am sure that anybody who knows you would do the same.

No idea where this was from but the menu looks more than a tad pretentious. Interesting to see the use of "exotic" ingredients like kangaroo, shark's fin and "real" corn on the cob. Also surprising is that the ham and chicken Maryland cost more than the fillet steak.

Someone published what purported to be the wage rates paid by Eddie Stobart on FB recently, which came out at around £10 per hour. If this is correct, I am not surprised that there is a shortage of HGV drivers.

We had a good turnout this evening and the eventual winner was Tigerhawk, with NikO in second place and Bern and Santed in joint 3rd.

Bump!

Topics for Friday night's quiz are: Gardener's World Sport British Hams Half time break Link Words Backing Bands General Mayhem All are welcome to join. Hope to see as many as possible there about 8.30 in the chat room -see link below: Enter Username - no password required; https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/

I would agree that home made are best, but if I have to have bought ones, I go for the pork and apple sausage rolls from Latham's bakery counter. The plain sausage ones are not bad either. Due to cholesterol concerns and the fact that I am hovering on the edge of type 2 diabetes these, very sadly,can only be a very occasional treat for the foreseable future.

I think people's expectations regarding work have moved on. In the 1960's, my dad was a newsagent. Up at 5am to collect the papers from our WH Smiths depot, then sorting them out for the various paper rounds. Shop open from 5.30 to catch customers going to work on the early shift at the spinning mills that were a feature of our area. He stayed open all day until 8 or 9 pm and opened on Sunday mornings too. We lived over the shop and people would knock on the door even when we were closed because they had run out of cigarettes. Not sure many would want that kind of life nowadays. At least Dad was working for himself, not some grasping Pubco that jacks your rent up on the basis of a successful year and forces you to buy your overpriced and unprofitable beer.

After our experience of trying to eat at a number of pubs this week, we will be cooking and eating on board for the forseeable future.

I understand that mine host at the New Inn has another pub in Acle. Does anyone know whether that establishment also levies a service charge on its customers?

Got mine today

I'm staying in bed after reading this lot.

We had a good turnout last night and the eventual winner and our next QM was Bern with Polly and NikO in joint second place and Not_Dead_Yet in third. Due to boating and family holiday committments our next quiz will be in 2 weeks time on Friday 6th August.

Hahahahaha, that last photo of Desmond got me.

Just a reminder that topics for Friday's quiz, which was held over from 2 weekd ago are: 1. Food and drink 2. Rivers 3. Science Wine O'Clock - beverage and comfort break 4. Books 5. Corny and Cryptic Broadland 6. General Confusion All are welcome to join. Hope to see as many as possible there about 8.30 in the chat room -see link below: Enter Username - no password required; https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/

I got mine from Norfolk Marine. Good quality and not a bad price.