SteveO

A gnat's whisker is what we used to call it in polite circles.

Seems to me that here we have too many appointments. Scenario 1:Visit GP for 6 monthly medicines review. Get referred to Cardiologist for 5 minute consultation. Cardiologist prescribes minor change to medication. Try to order new medication from pharmacy only to be summoned for a further review with GP, which adds nothing to the process. Raise questions about changes with GP, only to be told that the Cardiologist knows what he is doing and if I have questions, I should take them up with him. Scenario 2: Referred to Consultant for scan. Attend consultation. Get appointment for scan. Attend scan. Receive results by post 3 weeks later. 3 months later, receive invitation for a meeting with Consultant to discuss results of scan (which you already know). Attend consultation to be told what you already know by a different Consultant, who knows nothing about your case (the original having moved on). When you mention that there might be waste somewhere in both of these processes. All involved shrug their shoulders and explain that this is how the NHS works. Meanwhile those elsewhere in the system struggle to get the appointments they need. Grrrrr

The good news is that oop North, you can buy Lion midget gems, which still have the liquorice and Zoflora flavours of our youth. I realise that this is only one ray of sunshine in a heaven full of dark clouds, but every little helps.

The loss of moorings to which I refer are those which have been leased from local landowners where, when the lease is up for renewal, BA decides that the amount of money required is too much. The decision not to renew these lease arrangements is surely within the remit of the BA.

If the BA would do something to address the chronic shortage of moorings, then I think a 3% increase would be forgiven.

Windmill Lady , SteveO & NikO - Saturday

Debbie McGee won't go far - she's too O-L-D dahlings. Don't tell me that the BBC don't "fix" their competitions - it's in their DNA. Not sure why I watch, but Mrs O seems to enjoy it. Cheers Steve

Sadly no pics, but what a great weekend! We arrived on Thursday afternoon after a leisurely drive and a lovely lunch at the Walnut Tree at Thwaite on the A140. We spent Friday at Salhouse, where we walked up to the Fur and Feather for a pint of Norfolk Nog and an early browse for Christmas presents in the brewery shop. We then spent an hour or so to good effect, maggot drowning and Mrs O caught herself a very nice perch. On Saturday, we pootled down to Ranworth, where we mudweighted, had lunch, read the papers and watched the antics on the staithe, which seemed every bit as busy as it had been in the summer school holidays. It was quite gusty and clouded over in the afternoon so we headed back to the shelter of our moorings and a quick trip to La Tharmes to pick up some essentials. After that, I tackled a job I have been putting off for a while, which involved chopping out some rotten wood from the corner of our upper rubbing strake, several coats of Cuprinol to discourage further rot, splicing in a new piece of sapele and re-coating the whole Port side of the strake. It took a while but the end result was well worth the effort. Sunday morning saw me progress work on the rubbing strake, followed by a stroll down to the Horning Ferry for lunch. We saw a couple of familiar faces there in the form of Simon and Kate from Cerise Lady so went over for a chat. After that it was back to the boat for an intended trip to How Hill. We got as far as Ranworth Dam and found the river infested with sailies who were racing downriver en masse. Rather than spend the next hour playing "dodge the sailie", we decided to change our plan and head for Ranworth, where there were several spaces on the Staithe- no doubt recently vacated by sailing boats. We moored up under a cloudless sky and walked up to the conservation centre, where I was fortunate enough to spot a kingfisher speeding across Ranworth Broad just a few feet above the water. This morning we took the car up to Potter and set off for a walk on the Weaver's Way around the Southern margins of Hickling Broad. We came across a couple of sweet chestnut trees which seem to have done well this year, with a good crop of larger than usual edible nuts, so I quickly filled all my pockets. Then it was back to the boat for lunch and a little more essential boat-work. The afternoon became progressively hazier and the sun turned red, which we later learned was caused by Saharan dust and smoke from Portuguese forest fires which had been brought up to the UK by hurricane Ophelia. Then sadly it was time to pack the car, put Windmill Lady to bed and head homeward. We left her snugly tucked up in her new cover, ready for our next visit in a few weeks time. The weather over the weekend was extraordinary for mid-October with days spent in T shirts and shorts and nights sleeping under a single blanket, rather than the usual duvet. I can't help feeling sorry, though, for those folks on the West side of the British Isles who were clobbered today by the tropical storm. Cheers

Where do I start? People who think supermarket car parks are race tracks and drive round them at 30+ mph. Automated supermarket checkouts that announce "Alcoholic in the bagging area" when you try to check out a bottle of alcohol-free lager, people who ask if it's OK before they do something that will greatly inconvenience you, then do it anyway when you say no. Soppy, politically-correct, virtue-signalling millennials, people who inflect every sentence they utter to make it sound like a question (see previous category), automated switchboards, unnecessary OTT online security - do I really need to provide 3-factor authentication in (username, password and a 6 digit code delivered via mobile phone) in order to check how much credit I have on my PAYG dongle? IT companies that force you to divulge huge amounts of personal information from you as a condition of doing business, then fail to protect it properly so that it ends up in the hands of spammers and scammers. Social Media. Business people who go into "officious pr*ck" mode when you have the temerity to challenge the way they do business. I could go on, but it is probably better if I don't Grrrrrr

Wonderful news. Congratulations to the parents and grandparents! Cheers Steve

By 'eck, it certainly does grow in t' Halifax area. In fact in the remote parts of Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge, swallowtail cobbler is a renowned delicacy - when the folks are not eating dock pudding, that is. Nice daub by the way. Cheers Steve

He'd better not fall in. We all know what happens when gingerbread gets dunked.

I used to fly into Heathrow regularly and there was always a BA Concorde parked near the end of the runway. The joke at the time was that Tony Blair kept it there in case he had to make a quick getaway. A truly elegant plane in my view, but spartan inside, or so I heard from one of my work colleagues who managed to wangle a trip across to New York in one. Steve

If you are using W10, don't forget to set your internet connection as "metered". This will prevent updates from downloading in the background without your knowledge/permission and eating all your data allowance.

In my view, a tenner a night is a bit rich for a mooring with no facilities, except for a few posts to tie your boat onto. It might be OK for a bunch of lads on a once-a-year holiday, but for a couple of pensioners who spend 5-6 weeks per year afloat, you could be looking at serious money for something that, until last year, came as part of your annual toll. unimpressed!

Flown Ryanair once, will never fly with them again! Pity about Monarch. We have flown with them many times over the years and always found them to be decent. Steve

The East Angelia version was about punts- very interesting. As well as the 'college' and Thames punts, they covered gun punts and Norfolk sailing punts. I am still not sure how a boat with a flat bottom and no keel, center board or larboards can point up into the wind, but that's probably down to my lack of nouse as a sailor.

Mmmmmmmm spare ribs......

I watch TV all the time. Can't tear myself away from it. Sod all the reeds, water, ducks and whatever might be out there. If it's on, I'll watch it.

This reminds me of a documentary I once saw, involving an attempt to introduce an American style pseudo-customer service culture on the Deutche Bundesbahn (German Railways). The consultant running the programme was addressing a roomful of middle managers in full lecture mode. When he said "and remember, the customer is always right", a chap (honest but probably foolish and likely now out of a job) stood up at the back of the room and said "No, the customer is not always right. In fact a lot of the time, the customer is a downright idiot". As someone who worked in various customer-facing roles in my early life, I can only sympathise. Cheers Steve

Sorry to hear your news John. Our thoughts are with you at this sad time. Glass to be raised this evening. Hang on to the happy memories. Time will heal. Regards Steve

I always get my Aunt Bessie to make my Yorkshires. Works every time. Cheers Steve

Hot Lemsip with a tot of cooking whisky in it is a good morale booster Polly. Talk of "delicacies" such as pork tartare reminds me of stories that my dad tells about his mother. When dad and his brothers came in hungry and pestered my grandmother for food, she would send them away with a raw pork sausage each to chew on. That wasn't anywhere foreign and exotic, but Halifax in Yorkshire. Dad is a very fussy eater, but he loved the raw pork sausages. Cheers Steve

We moor at Horning and have been very annoyed to have inflicted on us some kind of very loud drum and bass marathon over the last two nights, not finishing until around 2am. And here was me thinking that the Broads were meant to be an area of peace and tranquility. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

He's probably a homing pigeon.....