SteveO

I know of one U.K. shipping company who "flagged out" their fleet a number or years ago. What they forgot about was that they recruit their UK-based management from former seafaring employees. Things don't look so clever now that they struggle to recruit English-speaking managers who know anything at all about working at sea.

Colours: Maybe something that would once have been tar or pitch, interspersed with liberal streaks of rust. Norwich redevelopment: It seems that everything these days is subservient to the great god Housing, so I wouldn't be holding my breath with regard to fancy moorings.

We were there on Monday for the last day of the maggot-drowning season. Only about half a dozen boats on the staithe. Managed to fish out 5 decent bream in just over an hour.

This could be arranged...

Awoke this morning to a boat with dunes on the cabin tops and decks, and windows streaked orange. A couple of hours of cleaning later and we were back to where we were yesterday morning. Not complaining. It was a lovely day for it.

We have spent hours over the last 3 days getting our boat to a respectable state of cleanliness only to find half the Sahara on it this evening. It is raining very heavily now, so I hope it will wash most of it off before morning.

Mike won this evening's quiz by an narrow margin and will be QM next week.

You are skating on thin ice Biker. One of these days you will answer one question too many

Reminder

Topics for Friday evening's quiz are: Alias Cryptic Broadland Linkwords Food & Drink Rivers of the world Leftovers There will be a break at half time, so you can empty and refill. As ever, we start at around 8.30pm in the NBN chatroom log in at https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/ Enter your forum username so we know who you are but no password is required. All are welcome

Hope you are right. I don't much fancy a biology quiz.

I am intrigued. I had to look up "woam" and got: "a lazy way to spell 'woman' or could mean many things, the most common being lady or her lady parts." Not sure what to expect but will be there to find out this evening.

Actually quite pleased with the small increase in tolls this year. Was also pleased to see that my annual car insurance policy renewal (LV) came in at only£2 more than last year despite my claiming nearly £1000 for a replacement all-singing/all-dancing windscreen. As far as the rest is concerned, we have already adopted the "skint" mindset. Washer and dishwasher on Economy 7, heating on timer, thermostat turned down, clothes drying on the line rather than the tumble dryer, fewer/longer duration trips to the boat and bulk buying wherever possible.

Very provisional - Windmill Lady + 2.

I agree with every word you said Mouldy. It is the mirrored glass which is totally out of keeping. I can live with the rest of it.

Our daughter is visiting this evening, so very sady Nik and I will be absent too. Very sad because I was looking forward to the return of UncleMike and now we'll miss it.

We are looking after our daughter's chihuahua at the moment. She has ears like radar and barks when she hears the doorbell or post being delivered. Nik and I welcome this because we are both becoming slightly deaf and need all the help we can get. I have found that the best thing to do if she is naughty is to ignore her until she stops doing whatever she was doing, then praise and pet her. I am no dog expert, but it seems to work.

Sadly, we can't make it tomorrow as our daughter is visiting. Such a pity because the topics look interesting.

And the winner last night, by the shortest of margins, was SwanR, who will be QM at next week's quiz. In second place was Bern and third was NikO. Congratulations SwanR.

Bump!

Topics for Friday's quiz are as follows:- Food and Drink Watching the Detectives Cryptic Broadland Half-time break for refilling and emptying - generally just after wine-o-clock Places in Music Science and Nature General Confusion We start at 8.30ish in the chatroom Enter Username - no password required; https://www.nbnplus.co.uk/chat/ All welcome

On the subject of ham, we buy gammon joints, smoked or plain, from the supermarket. I put the joint in a large pan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and then chuck the water away. I then cover again with fresh water with half a dozen cloves and some peppercorns in it and boil for about an hour, skimming off any scum that may form. I then remove the gammon from the water and peel off the skin. The second cooking water can be used as the basis for soup - makes a good minestrone. I score the fat and paint with a mixture of mustard powder and brown sugar, then push a clove into each square of fat, wrap the whole lot in foil and bung into an oven at around 180C for 40 minutes. I then remove the foil and brown the joint for a final 20 minutes. Not had any complaints about the end result. Cooking times should be adjusted depending on the size of gammon joint. The ones I get are 1 to 1.5 kg.

Ahh all this tool porn. I just have the usual hand tools for wood and metalwork, plus a wood lathe, a compound mitre saw, a drill press, a bench grinder and a few more bits and bobs. I can do most things I need to with that lot.

If we have leftovers, Mrs O chucks leftover bird, stuffing, gravy, pigs in blankets, sprouts, chestnuts, bread sauce and cranberry into a dish, puts shortcrust over the top, whacks it in the oven and voila - Christmas pie! All the things you love about Christmas dinner but in pie-form. We have this every year and look forward to it.