SteveO

Was that you we moored near to at Ranworth last Saturday? If so, good to put a name to a face. You said you followed the NBN forum. I should have asked your username. Dohhhh.

Always fancied playing bowls in my declining years. They do short mat indoor bowls in our village hall but I would prefer to be out on a bowling green - ideally next door or attached to a good pub.

https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/uk-flags/the-union-jack-or-the-union-flag/ Sheds a little light on the subject of jack versus flag.

I don't think Nik and myself will be able to be there, sadly. We have visitors this weekend.

Last couple of times I moored at Salhouse I have paid by card. Very convenient and saves having to be constantly looking for cashpoints, which are being removed left right and centre. No doubt also from the land owner's point of view, they reduce the risk of pilfering by those sent to collect the fees - not that this would ever happen.

I am so pleased that this has landed in safe hands. Shout if you need anything.

Chin up Arthur. Hope to see you quizzing soon.

Do you need a chef to make crisps? I would have thought that a good process engineer would be able to do that.

"Hot" boating is not something I enjoy. The worst bit being when you have finished cruising for the day and the 2.5litre "lump" under the cockpit floor starts radiating it's accumulated heat into your already hot living quarters. Looking on faceache today, though, I feel real sympathy for those narrowboaters, who's steel vessels were registering internal temperatures in the mid-50's centigrade. I don't suppose you can wind the roof back on a narrowboat.

OK badly trained. The owners seem to want to keep them in a constant state of heightened excitement. I don't blame the dogs.

26 degrees last night and spent a night of fitful sleep until 7.30 when my neighbour let his large, loud and highly reactive labrador retrievers out into his garden to bark. Why anyone with no interest whatsoever in shooting, and living cheek by jowl with others on a housing estate would want to own animals like that, I will never understand.

It reached 31 here on the SE coast today, cooled by an onshore SE breeze. Pleasant for sitting in the shade and perfect for a visit to Hythe beach and a dip in the sea this afternoon. Will do the same tomorrow and maybe drive up to visit our boat once things cool down a bit.

I remember those days. I had a Puch MS50 and did an 18 mile round trip 5 days a week for that sort of money. Mind you I was only paid £12.50 a week. Beer was 25p a pint. Lunch at the college where I worked was 30p and my weekly rent was £4.

We usually bring a frozen quiche and a pre-prepared meal such as chilli, bolognaise sauce, stew or curry and this covers us for 2 days and keeps our cool box cold whilst in transit. We supplement this with salad on board if it is warm, and use the boat oven to cook if less warm. There's usually a Chinese takeaway and possibly fish and chips on the menu too. We tend to eat out no more than once or twice in a week due to the ridiculous cost and unreliability of most of the broadland pubs.

Still £1.99.9 at Tesco here for diesel. Coincidentally (ha ha) the two cheaper independent garages that I use round these parts are both undergoing upgrades to their forecourts.

Great Quiz SwanR. Nik and I laughed the whole way through. Great questions. Plenty of clever people "doing a Biker" and getting extra points for anticipating the answers and plenty of good banter and bonus points.

We'll sit and watch but doubt if we will be scoring many points, music being not one of my or Nik's strengths. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

I tend not to have a cooked breakfast because I can't face the washing up and am too tight to go out for it, so I tend to have toasted crumpet or hot cross bun in season. On the odd occasion we have a "fry-up" we usually cook the mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon, sausages and black pudding in the oven and just do the beans and eggs on the hob. Black pudding is de-rigeur . If I'm going to kill myself I'm going to do it properly. I can 100% recommend the Fruit Pig brand, which is made from fresh pig's blood, as opposed to the dried stuff used in most other black puds nowadays and the taste is all the better for it.

We walked past Flavours too. Not the most inviting place and I thought the menu looked quite limited and expensive for what was on offer.

Odd that, we keep the used stuff in a plastic lidded box with a plastic bag liner and empty it every time we get rid of rubbish. Either we don't seem to get the bad smells or my nose can't detect it any more.

We noticed last week that there were fewer boats about than normal for the time of year. I think that the cost of living, and specifically the price of road fuel, must have given a lot of people pause for thought. We are doing fewer visits but longer ones and cooking on the boat most of the time in an effort to contain costs. We visited the Ferry Inn, Horning for a drink one night last week and at 8.30 there was literally nobody but us and a few pub employees about.

Tesco's white. Double size rolls. Goes in the bin - think Greek holidays. Jabsco manual pumped heads x 2 and no problems to report.

Oh dear, just seen this. Hope you are on the mend Bern.

We moor in Horning and I get a decent signal with Vodafone. Not quite as good on Ranworth or Salhouse though.

I recycled an old quiz from 2020 this evening to keep us entertained. Mike was the eventual winner on 9 points with SwanR and Grendel in joint 2nd place. Strangely enough I think Mike won it last time I ran it too.