SteveO

I saw a nice little boat moored at Fleet Dyke called "The Cod's Pollocks". Liked that one. Steve

I loved the series but have to say that I was slightly annoyed by Mr West's attitude to Ms Scales' disability. He and his son banged on and on about how it was such an inconvenience for them that their wife/mother had early stage dementia. Not sure he meant to come over like this but he went down in my estimation as a result. Steve

I have never fallen in in the UK, but came close to drowning on a lake in the NE USA a few years ago. I had hired an open aluminium canoe one Saturday afternoon and paddled about a mile down the lake. Just as I turned to come back an idiot in a speedboat came by at full speed. I lined the canoe up to cross his considerable wake perpendicularly, but the wave came straight over the bow of the boat. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on the bottom of the lake looking up at the swamped canoe. I swam back to the surface only to find the canoe with about a foot of water in it. Very un-cleverly I had been using my life jacket as a cushion, rather than as a life preserver. I had no way of getting the water out and me back into the canoe whilst in the open water, so swam with it for a quarter of a mile until I reached a slipway where I could haul the boat out, empty it and re-launch. Whilst I was in the water, people motored up in boats to see if I needed help (I thought) and then waved and drove away. Fortunately I am a good swimmer, the water was warm and the canoe had some built in buoyancy, but the passing boaters were not to know any of that. Ever since then, I have always worn a life jacket when out in a small boat. Steve

Hi and congratulations. I saw her in NYA the other weekend and she looked very handsome. Enjoy! Steve

You were lucky Tim, to see any evidence of animal life on a Norfolk Broads nature trail. I spent ages in the hide at the Hoveton and saw nothing. When we left, we moored up for a spot of fishing and spent the rest of the afternoon watching 2 kingfishers coming and going on the main river. When will they learn that all the wildlife prefers to be out on the rivers mooching bread and other "unsuitable" food from the boaters. Steve

I am becoming rapidly disenchanted with Sainsburys of late. Not only have they increased the amount you have to spend there in order to get Nectar points, I had an experience there today which really pi**ed me off. I wanted to buy a new phone for Mrs O, and noticed that Sainsburys were offering to double the redemption value of their Nectar points. I looked on their website and found the phone I wanted, albeit at £10 more than the same phone from Amazon. Never mind, I would be able to more than offset the extra cost with the double Nectar point redemption value. However, their website would not let me redeem Nectar points online, so I went into out local store at lunchtime today. I found the "Customer Service" desk and said to the assistant that I had seen this phone on the Sainsbury's web site and asked if they had one in stock. The clever-clever reply that came back took me by surprise. "Website", he said, "We don't have a website". "Ahem, yes you do" I said (or slightly less polite words to that effect) "I was on there last night and I saw it". That took the wind out of his sails momentarily, but then he played his trump card. "Well let's go and look" he said, coming out from behind the counter and leading me to the phone display. "If we have one in stock, it will be out there" he said, a note of triumph now in his voice. Of course, he knew bl**dy well that they didn't have the phone I wanted, just a stack of empty boxes and an "out of stock" label. He shrugged, turned his back and went back to the peace of his "Customer Service" counter. And they wonder why they are struggling! Steve

We have a GRP motor boat and a small sailing dinghy/tender I enjoy taking on practical projects, despite limited DIY skills. The only publication that remotely meets my needs is PBO and I am a subscriber. The magazine is heavily sail oriented and seems to be centred around the South coast and Scottish islands to a large extent. As a result, much of it goes well beyond my sphere of interest. Some of the technical articles are also downright geeky - I consider that the use of lasers to align prop shafts is beyond most people's skill set (or interest for that matter). There has to be a market for a publication that is aimed at the practical boater, both motor and sail, covering mini-projects, seasonal tips, informative articles on places of interest, boatyard blogs, local history, exploration of little-known waterways and reviews of new and used boats to name but a few. I am far less interested in who won which sailing regatta, articles that stretch the definition of "Anglia" reports on yacht club and trade association dinners and the like. I think that, at its best, Anglia Afloat met many of my needs, but it seems, sadly, to have lost its way over the last few years. AA, the ball is in your court. Good luck!.

Shares in Tescos may well be cheaper than socks soon. Steve

Rather than Acle, I would press on to Fleet Dyke on the way into South Walsham Broad. Steve

Well there I was sitting and minding my own business when I felt the warm rain the back of my neck. Funny thing is that it wasn't raining and my coat has not smelled the same since. Steve

We were supposed to be going to a combined Halloween and Bonfire night celebration at a pub in the next village, but when we got there, the place was absolutely rammed. Mile long queue for beer and hog roast and couldn't even park the car. We turned round and came home via Sainsbury's where we picked up a £12 box of fireworks, a lump of pork shoulder in BBQ sauce, some Shepherd Neames Spitfire at £1 a bottle and some bread rolls. Then it was home for an impromtu firework display, which greatly impressed our 4 year old grandson and amused the adults, followed by very tasty pulled pork rolls and beers. All in all, a great night, but not what we expected. Steve

It is always easy to sit on the sidelines and chuck bricks. If the issue is lack of credibility due to a small voter population, you know what you can do about it next year. Join up and vote! It costs nothing and it is an opportunity to both recognise good service and promote deserving Broadland businesses. No-one is claiming that the system is perfect but, as MM says, it is well-meaning and it has to be better than doing nothing. Steve

I like to go somewhere warm for a week a year, ideally in early June. This serves to remind us how lucky we are to be able to spend the rest of our holidays on the Broads. Steve

Talking of primitive bogs, I went to primary school at a little place called Wainstalls, near Halifax in Yorkshire. Outside the Methodist chapel, by the school bus stop, there used to be a little public privy. It was basically a plank of wood with two holes cut in it side by side, so you could chat to a friend whist "at throne". The whole thing was positioned over a "long drop" earth closet. "Paper" was either sheets of newspaper hanging on a nail on the back of the door or dock leaves if no-one had replenished the newspaper sheets. After that, putting used toilet paper into a bin holds no horrors for me. Steve

I find that the padlock on the seat cover works very effectively in this regard, Steve

I trained as a scientist and everything below half a pint, I measure in ccs. For linear measurements, anything below about a quarter of an inch, I measure in mm, for weights, everything below an ounce I measure in g. For everything else, it has to be good old imperial system. Napoleon had a lot to answer for! If you can't get on with fluorescents or LED lamps, the Rough Service incandescents are a good idea. Roys of Wroxham DIY sells them. At home, we tend to use the low energy lamps for most things because we have just too many lights to be able to afford to use incandescent bulbs. My biggest irritation is that few of the "new" lamps work properly with the old light fittings and that there are very few affordable light fittings made for low energy lamps. Steve

Better a master baker than a banker. Steve

Thought it was Monday

I'm up for it. Steve

Whatever happened to the idea of a quiz? Steve

This account is tugging at my heartstrings. As an ex-resident of North Yorkshire, albeit t'other end, I have many happy memories of Whitby, Brid and Scarborough. Agree the weather can be bl**dy awful though. That's one of the reasons we moved "darn sarf" 27 odd years ago. Steve

Great film. Very interesting and brought back many memories of those times. Steve

Sounds a bit like Mrs O, but she's spoken for. Steve

We were fishing on the Bure just south of Salhouse, and very pleasant it was too. Caught some good roach and a few nice bream as well, just to put a cap on the day. Steve

No indeed Labrador. Although Norwich Bitter was near ubiquitous, the Black Horse sold proper beer. I think it was Adnams or Greene King when we last visited.