SteveO

If I'd known there was a cider shortage I'd have hunted down a couple of bottles of Biddenden cider. Made in Kent, extremely smooth and extremely strong. Unfortunately, the only shop I know which sells it round here closed half an hour ago.

Best drink of the day for me is my first pot of tea in the morning. Hot with milk but no sugar. Second best drink of the day is my mid-morning coffee - strong and made in the cafitiere. Again, with milk but no sugar. Of course I like a beer, a glass of wine and an occasional whisky, but somehow they don't usually qualify as "best drink of the day".

NikO is in the chair for our next quiz, which will start tonight at around 8.30pm Topics will be: - Norfolk - Geography - Food and Drink Half time break for pouring in and emptying out - Science - Dogs - General Knowledge Hope to see as many of you there as possible. Link to quiz chatroom is: http://www.nbnquiz.co.uk/chat/index.php Log in with your username but do not enter a password.

The last offering from Fray Bentos that we attempted to eat on the boat consisted of soggy pastry, gloopy gravy and little discernable by way of meat. It left me with griping indigestion, so is not an experience I will be repeating. There is another one in the store cupboard, which along with age-old cans of cassoulet and choucroute garni will, I suspect, serve more to maintain the trim of the boat than for any gastronomic purpose. When provisioning for a week on the boat, we like to buy cooked hams from Roys which keep for ages in the fridge and can be used to make sandwiches or salads, served up with an egg and some chips from a convenient chippy, be eaten accompanied by veg and new potatoes or even be added to an omelette. They are cheap to buy and very tasty.

We had a green car many years ago. It was a Ford Anglia.

Well at estimated on the road prices of around £65K , if and when they are put on sale in UK, and with only around 14 hydrogen refilling points in the entire country I won't be rushing to buy a hydrogen powered vehicle just yet.

I see that this year's warm dry summer has brought the climate change "experts" out in droves. Unsurprisingly, the latest "threat" they are bombarding us with is that of more hot dry summers unless we change our evil ways. I seem to remember that, a couple of years ago, the threat was cooler, wet and stormy . Funny how the threat is always an extreme projection of the weather we have just had, or am I being unnecessarily suspicious. Still, the good news is that with all that hot dry weather, we won't need to use nearly as much energy for heating and the surplus can be used to charge electric vehicles. I heard somewhere that, in order to power electric vehicles on a like for like basis, we will require between 4 and 6 very large nuclear power stations of the type we have so far failed to have built for us at Hinkley Point. Unless there is a breakthrough in hydrogen fuel cell technology, which seems unlikely given that the original concept dates back to the 1830s, I think that politicians and meteorologists are barking at the moon.

Mrs MB?

We have had a Triumph Herald called Red Rocket, an Austin Maxi called Bluebell, another called Foxy, a Citroen XM called Monsieur Pompidou and a Nissan X-Trail called Olive. Our last 2 cars - both Honda CRVs have not been named. Our boat has been Windmill Lady since she was launched, well before our time. So named, I believe, because she used to live in a boat shed behind the windmill at Horning.

We have rather posh waterfowl in our bit of Horning. Nothing less than organic ciabatta moistened with extra virgin olive oil will pass their beaks.

Love the old cars. Looks like the set of "shed and buried"

Errrr wouldn't that make it "The view from my orifice"? .

I have the log books for our boat which date back to the 1980s and they regularly refer to her going under Wroxham bridge. Now, with an "all down" air draft of around 7ft 3 in and a beam of 10ft 6in, I don't think there are many days when she would go under. The fact that bridge pilots are mandatory now for hire boats going under Wroxham bridge certainly suggests that something has changed and I'm pretty sure that our boat hasn't grown bigger in the last few years.

Sorry I missed it! Diary clash with our local history group, which meets on the second Tuesday of every month.

Just to let you know that we have been co-opted onto a team which is entering quizzes both tomorrow (9th) and the following Friday (16th) , so will not be available for quizzing here. Cheers Steve and NikO

Tried to order one today. Out of stock for home delivery or collect.

We were at Ranworth yesterday and at one point were the only boat on the main staithe. Plenty of room side on for people who can't normally moor there due to protruding stern gear or outboard motors. Not a bad day weather-wise either.

I remember the SOS board well. Always had a moral debate with myself to the effect that, if there was a notice on there for me, would I pretend I hadn't seen it?

Wonderful film. Interesting to see how much has changed over the years and what has stayed the same. Lovely to see Hunsett Mill and Cottage in their former glory.

Not to mention having to watch brain-rotting children's TV.

I am afraid that child-minding, Lego, steam engines and Meccano have taken their toll this week and I have only just got around to updating folks on the outcome of last Friday's quiz. Mike ended the day in 3rd place and Polly was 2nd. We had a tense 3-way tie for the winning position between Nigel, Tigerhawk and NikO , which NikO won. Unfortunately she will be busy next Friday as we have visitors, so Nigel kindly agreed to be QM. And that, as they say, was that. Steve

All seized valves freed off. New level plug fitted. New O rings for whistle and safety valve and boiler filled with water and then pressurized. No leaks, so we part-emptied the boiler, filled the burner with meths and fired her up. She exceeded expectations by running something like a well-oiled watch. A bit more vibration from the crank than I remember, but that was 50 years ago and I might have been wearing the rose-tinted spectacles of memory. Now all we need to do is clean her up. 56190919332__8D039732-D5CB-4E5F-AEB6-2AB58E7D57F6.MOV

I think there is a lot more by the way of good quality competition now than there was. We have a good tackle shop at Horning in Bass online and another at Ludham Bridge, both of which sell the same sort of products, often at better prices and with friendly service to boot.

I will pressure test the boiler with compressed air before I commit to adding fire and water. Judging by the way that the steam valve, piston and whistle valve are seized up, steaming could be some way away.

I found my old Mamod steam engine in the garage the other day when I was tidying up. The plan is to fire it up next week when our grandson is staying with us for half term. It looks basically intact although the whistle and steam valve are seized up solid and the water level plug (which I improvised when I was 12 after losing the original) has corroded away to nothing, The thread into which the plug screws looks ok so I have ordered a replacement - oh and the piston seems to have seized in the cylinder. Other than that the whole thing is covered with cobwebs, the brasswork is badly tarnished and the chromed strap that holds the boiler into its cradle is rusty. I have sprayed the seized valves and piston with plus gas and soaked these plus the safety valve with light oil and will repeat this treatment tomorrow. I must have been 14 years old or so when this was last fired up, so it has been laying there unused for more than 50 years. I will let you know how we get on.