Jump to content

SteveO

Full Members
  • Posts

    1,762
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by SteveO

  1. Viking 23, you forgot to say that, if you pack your waste into heavy duty construction waste bags, as has been suggested on here, and they miss the BA's open top floating skip, they may be robust enough to eventually wash out to sea before bursting open and spilling their contents. Steve
  2. A great loss and untimely. Saw him in Bradford in 1976 or thereabouts in his Ziggy Stardust incarnation. An absolutely superb musician, creative spirit and consummate performer. Whilst i think that his early stuff was the best, he is one of the few artists who has continually innovated and re-invented his music, rather than just sit back and re-hash early material. Steve
  3. We moor in a small private basin in Horning, where there are no waste disposal facilities whatsoever. Even the owner of the place doesn't have a bin, so the boating waste bins in Horning were a lifeline. I am not prepared to drive home 170-odd miles with a stinking sack of 1-2 week old refuse in the back of my car, even assuming that there was space for it. Nor am I prepared to spend my time on the water worrying about rubbish disposal. As well as waste disposal facilities, Horning used to have recycling bins for bottles and newspapers, which would have made things easier. These were also dispensed with a couple of years ago - no doubt as a "cost-saving" by the same brainless weasels that are behind the present debacle. Frankly, it's not just the rubbish, it is the pervasive "war" against private boaters, the removal of public (Perci's island, Woodbastwick Staithe )and wild moorings (pick where you like) and the denial/destruction of good fishing spots such as those around Hoveton Great Broad and Wroxham Broad that annoys me. I am left with the feeling that the only thing anyone wants from us is our tolls and the money we spend in the often overcrowded and mediocre pubs. Owning a boat on the broads is a big investment and up to now I have had big returns in terms of pleasure and relaxation, but I sense that the wind is now blowing against us. I will give it one more season, but if things don't change for the better, I may as well go and spend my leisure where I feel wanted. Regards Steve
  4. I think this year will be make or break for us as well. Sadly, I don't think anything will be done about this stupidity before we have black bags of rubbish floating down the Bure, by which time the waste facilities will have gone and it will be too expensive to reinstate them. Horse whipping is too good for the people who thought this one up. Steve
  5. So by tortured logic, waste from hire boats can be classified as "trade waste" for which the council does not have a statutory duty to provide disposal facilities. By the same token, waste from private boats is domestic waste, which the council has a mandatory responsibility to dispose of under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. I will be interested to see how NNDC and others plan to discharge their responsibility for removal of waste generated by private boat owners. I may be wrong, but I am sure that some forum "blowhard" will pop out of the woodwork and tell me so, if I am. Seve
  6. The idiots at NNDC have classified paint as "Hazardous Waste" so you can't just chuck it into the bin or skip. I understand they have several "amnesty days" each year, when paint can be handed in at their waste disposal centres. You need to get there early though, because there can be very, very long queues. If you go by car, you can be sure that their CCTV will capture your vehicle registration and your name will no doubt then be held on a list of "enemies of the state" and may be put forward for "re-education". Steve
  7. This toxic mixture of Lefties, Liberals and Greens are the idiots who classify paint as a "hazardous waste" and only allow you to dispose of it on special "amnesty days" when the whole of North Norfolk queues for hours to dispose of a part can of brilliant white emulsion at a designated waste disposal site. More seriously, I have written to North Norfolk District Council to ask how I, as a private boater with a "home" mooring which has no waste disposal facilities and nowhere to even store rubbish, is supposed to have a week's holiday on my boat. I eagerly await their response, but suspect that I may be waiting for a very long time. Grrrrrrrrr Steve
  8. If I look closely at the palm of my left hand, I can still almost see the imprint of a 1ft steel ruler, with the markings in white against a red background. The implement was wielded by my woodwork teacher. The crime: leaving a plane sitting on its sole on the workbench. Knowing now, what is involved in keeping a plane sharp, I don't blame him. Seve
  9. Ours came down Sunday and are now boxed up and back in the loft. 3 section artificial remote controlled pre-lit tree makes it very easy. Steve
  10. The Bridge at Wroxham used to fill the "riverside" brief. Whilst not exactly upmarket, it was pleasant to sit by the windows there and watch the antics at the bridge. Folks used to turn up for meals in open boats, which they could moor next to the restaurant. Always highly amusing if it rained unexpectedly. Steve
  11. It can't come too soon for me. I retire at the end of March. Steve
  12. How about the "re-branding" of the Broads as a pseudo National Park for starters? Biggest waste of Lotto money has to be the funding of the further sequestration of Hoveton Great Broad. I suspect that the present owners could have well-afforded to pay for the job themselves. Incidentally, can someone please explain why bats might need bridges? My biology qualifications might only stretch to an honours degree, but I always thought that the little blighters were quite capable of flying. Steve
  13. They look good. Ghost Ship beer; potato crisps. What's not to like? Steve
  14. Not forgetting the stunning success in not negotiating renewal of mooring rights and riverside footpaths around Horning or the highly cunning strategic coup of standing back whilst local councils weasel their way out of any responsibility for collection of waste from sites used by private boaters. What ho, I am sure he is on our side, despite outward appearances . No doubt Pikeman richly deserves his Christmas bonus - and the knighthood. Steve
  15. I remember the winter of '63. We had 10ft drifts on the moors in Yorkshire. There were no buses, so we had to walk the 2 miles to school. After the first couple of weeks, we were allowed to wear long trousers. Steve
  16. I was going to have a "dry" night this evening, but having seen the smug, self-satisfied Dry Decathlon advert on TV just now, I have just poured myself a glass of Bishop's Finger. Mmmmmmm nice. Steve
  17. We were by the sea at Hythe today. Bright blue skies, warm sunshine, lots of people around, kids playing in the sand. Beautiful weather for 2 days before Christmas. Steve
  18. I fail to see the point of dry January. I have two or three "dry" days a week for the sake of my liver and my waistline, but I enjoy a moderate amount of alcoholic beverages otherwise. Sadly, mainly consumed at home these days, because you wouldn't want to spend too much time in some of the pubs round here. That said, I patronise licensed premises whenever I can. Steve
  19. A very Merry Christmas to all forumites! Steve
  20. To say nothing about all the large quantity of rich food and alcohol consumed over the festive period, the stress of having to "get on" with family over an extended period, the loss of productivity whilst shops and factories are briefly closed, the environmental impact of disposing of all that wrapping paper and the fear of possibly offending someone for whom celebrating the birth of Christ is not their religious preference. It is a wonder that Christmas hasn't been banned. Steve
  21. Some good points have been made on here. Another observation I would add is that the pubs which seem to be struggling are often run by people who either don't have the faintest idea how to run a pub, who leave the running to clueless staff or who are not sufficiently interested in their clientele to provide something which differentiates their offering from everyone else's. How many times have I seen the frozen food vans delivering ready meals to such places! Frankly, if I wanted to, I could eat "ping" food more cheaply and of better quality at home or on the boat. And yet they wonder why they struggle. We visited a pub in Faversham the other day. Nothing fancy, just a shop premises which had been converted, with a little bar in one corner and a few small tables down either side. Good selection of local real ales, ciders and wines and no food to speak of, save for perhaps a pickled egg. The place has been there for about a year and was absolutely packed. Friendly and knowledgeable staff, lovely atmosphere. We will certainly be back there. Compare and contrast to the "local" in a village near us, which offers food of the Brakes variety, where "real ale" means Sharps Doom Bar - 300 miles out of territory and where conversation, amongst the 2 or 3 hard bitten regulars that somehow keep the place alive, stops when you enter. The smoking ban must impact on both of these, yet one flourishes whilst the other limps on. Steve
  22. I mowed mine two weeks ago. It was difficult because the ground was wet, but if I hadn't done so, it would have been over 6 inches long by now. steve
  23. My thoughts exactly....... Steve
  24. In all my working life, I have never managed to be sacked for incomptence and after reading the posts above, I feel the poorer for my failure. Steve
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

For details of our Guidelines, please take a look at the Terms of Use here.