SteveO

With beer at around £5 a pint, main course meals - often of the microwaved Brake Bros variety - approaching £20 and more for anything half-decent, I am not surprised that some of the pubs are struggling. Couple that with the BA's mooring "pay-wall", the ever-escalating cost of boating, both private and hired, and the cost of living crisis, the future looks very bleak. Not sure what the answer is but if things go on as they are, we'll be lucky if there are any pubs left in a couple of years time.

We had a good turnout for this evenings quiz. The eventual winner was Arthur with 15 points, with Bern in second place on 12 and NikO third on 8. Congratulations to Arthur, who will be next Friday;s QM.

Topics for Friday's quiz are; 1. It's only money 2. Cryptic Britain 3. Animals Half time break for fluids in/out 4. Christmas films 5. Colours 6. The bran tub All welcome. We will start around 8.30pm in the chat room, http://www.nbnchat.com/chat add user name but leave password blank. Hope to see you there on Friday.

Completed ours earlier this week. Set and tested tube heaters, antifreeze into engine cooling system, drained water pump and domestic water system. I don't like doing these jobs as they mean we have to say farewell to the Broads for around 3 months. Still, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder and a few weeks hunkered down in front of our log-burner with Christmas in between isn't a bad thing.

Sorry to hear about Shaun's condition. We are keeping everything crossed and hoping that he pulls through. Our thoughts are with you and, of course, Mrs G.

Sorry we were not able to join for the quiz. Our family visitors arrived just as you were about to start. We should be available next Friday though.

Sorry we missed the quiz. It was our bowls club quiz night tonight and we had to do our bit to support the club. Our team came 3rd.

Thanks Arthur. A great quiz and a good evening's entertainment.

Not had bed bugs on the boat but we did have an infestation of ants once, which were hard to get rid of, and on one occasion a swarm of wasps tried to build a nest on one of my grab rails. Nothing there at 9am when I cleaned the boat, but a 6 inch diameter nest centred round the rail by 11.30.

Works fine for me thanks Arthur.

Last night's quiz was well-attended and closely contested, but the eventual winner was Bern with 10 points. Arthur was 2nd on 8 and NikO was in 3rd place with 7. Congratulations to Bern, who will be in the QM chair next Friday.

For my sins, I won on Friday by a narrow margin. Topics for next Friday are: Deep Underground Food and Drink Detectives Half time break Egad and Gadzooks! Rivers General Confusion All welcome - 8.30ish in the chatroom Enter Username - no password required https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/

We have a 500 Watt DimplexColdwatcher convector, which is intended for greenhouse heating but is great for heating the sleeping cabin on our boat. I bought it second hand on Ebay for the princely sum of £14.

Very sad to hear this. Sincere condolences to Auntie Pat from Steve and Nik.

What a day! First my laptop screen decided to die. I have been pushing the darned thing on for the last 6 months or so through numerous faults and minor ailments. The case is held together with gaffer tape and bits keep falling off. I really should have replaced it when it first started playing up. Next off, the footrest on my reclining chair decided that it wouldn't lock in the "down" position. I found a broken spring under the chair when I started investigating and have ordered a replacement. I hope it does the job. Thirdly, the bifold doors on our under-stairs cupboard went on strike and I had to empty said storage area and spider sanctuary in order to investigate and fix it. I had planned a quiet day, with perhaps a sedate afternoon of lawn bowls but the day turned into a repair-fest instead. The evening was spent with the laptop plugged into an old TV set that I was able to press into service as a monitor. At least this allowed me to recover my password database, photos and documents onto a portable drive ready for installing on my new machine when it arrives. What do they say about the best laid plans?

And the winner was....... Turnoar, who will be back on QM duty next week. I was in 2nd place and Tigerhawk was in 3rd. Thanks to all who joined.

NikO won on Friday so will be this weeks QM. Her topics are: Cryptic places Animal kingdom That's capital Half time break Kings and queens Food and drink General knowlege As usual we will kick off around 8.30pm and all are welcome to join. https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/ Enter your forum username at the prompt but no password is required.

Probably a bullace. They make great jam, if a little labour-intensive. My mother, who was of Austrian extraction, used to make zvechgenknoedel (plum dumplings) out of them. Quite delicious as I recall.

The signal at Horning wasn't much better, but just good enough for me to run the quiz from there. Mike was the winner by a margin of 1 point over Bern in second place and NikO in 3rd. Congratulations to Mike, who will be QM next week.

All being well, this evening's quiz will be brought to you from a wet and probably windy Fleet Dyke.

It's high time that Norfolk recalibrated it's thinking. To put a couple of two-a-penny seagulls ahead of the safety of people and the ability of local businesses to trade speaks to an incredible lack of judgement.

Signal willing, the topics for next Friday's quiz will be: Cryptic towns and cities Collectors Ye Gods! Wildlife Transport General knowlege All are welcome to join at around 8.30 on Friday evening https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/ Enter your username so we know who we are speaking to, but no password needed.

Our first encounter with the Broads was in the early 1980's, when we went for a holiday with Nik's parents who lived near Ipswich. We all decided that it would be nice to visit Norwich for the day and set off in father-in-law's Austin Maxi up the A140. It was a sunny day and I developed a splitting headache, which was not helped by a lunchtime pint in one of central Norwich's many hostelries - think it was the Lamb Inn on Haymarket. We decided to take a trip out to look at the Broads and so it was off to Wroxham. The in-laws went off shopping to Roys and so we decided to rent a dayboat for an hour from Faircraft Loynes. We only got as far as Wroxham Broad, but thoroughly enjoyed it and vowed to return for a boating holiday. Our first hire, the following September, was Wicked Lady III - a Hampton Safari from Crown Cruisers of Somerleyton. After our introduction to the boat and a cursory test drive we set off in the torrential rain, up the New Cut to Reedham. There was nowhere to moor even in those days and so in desperation we ended up tying up alongside another boat, which was already double-moored. We finished up in the Lord Nelson, or was it the Ship? Or was it both? Had a bite to eat, a few beers and carefully picked our way over slippery decks back to the Wicked Lady. We woke to weak sunshine, tied up next to the quay, the two boats inside us having departed early. In that week, we covered justabout the whole navigable system. By the end of the week we were well and truly addicted and have been back justabout every year since then.First as hirers and latterly as owners.

Great reads and a bit less bloodthirsty than the David Blake novels.