MauriceMynah

Have a care sir, this IS a family forum.

Little Nyx has joined me at commissioners cut, so there's now a pair of Nyx loitering about, near the River Gardens. Just shows, don't it. Be careful what you wish for. Just think... if I'd called my boat "Shoes" I'd have had Gracie for company by now. :-)

Well, here I am sitting in the commissioners cut. Little Nyx made it under the bridge and is moored opposite the Buck. I could have gone under the bridge but not necessarily back tomorrow. Walked back from the river garden, that being just about my limit these days. I seem to be suffering from a very worrying health issue of late. Real ale no longer sits happily with me, bringing on acid attacks. Luckily I can still drink Guinness in reasonable quantities so all is not lost, but at the moment, I don’t even fancy a G&T. Not good.

The second question I raised was, I admit, a bit vexatious. I noticed on my ordnance survey map (leisure 40) that the Broads Authority area includes a significant amount of the North Walsham & Dilham canal. Would that be considered a navigation?

Funny how suddenly more information makes the opening post more questionable. Now I have a selection of questions. Firstly, agreeing that planning rules need to be adhered to, should the BA be a planning authority? Second, if the BA has responsibility for navigation within it's boundaries, and a navigation is not at all navigable, what is the BAs responsibility for that navigation? And yes, I do have reason for asking. :-)

Ooo, "speed over ground" get you ! Or Soggy !

Taking it up the Chet. Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, both Nyx and Little Nyx will be heading to the southern waters, and probably heading up the Chet. With the departing of Rosey Lees, I have to ask, where best for breakfast?

In 50 years of driving, I don’t think I've ever used the horn on any car I've driven.

Anybody knocking can expect a small libation and a sprig of home grown moss as a souvenir.

The hire yards sometimes have boats for sale, I bought mine from Richardsons.

All this talk about advertising the Broads seems to be missing something. Unless I'm mistaken, wasn't the term "Broads National Park" permitted for advertising purposes,.. in fact ONLY permitted for advertising purposes. Maybe the BA should ask the RSPB to advertise Broads hire craft in their journal.

So you need to stick the shower door where the sun don't shine.

Twas ever thus, ever since man first trod on a banana skin. There is a value to those footages though, some people might actually learn something from them.

Rumour has it that some of the moss growing in Nyx's window gullies dates back to the dark ages.

The "fun" issue is an interesting one, which I suspect has been killed off by the very society that enjoyed it. Risk assessment, the litigation culture, and even big brother telling you to put on a life jacket every five minutes, are all contributory factors in the killing off, of the fun factor. Yes, there are other factors, but the Arthur Ransome mantra... "Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers, won't drown" No longer carries any weight. Personally I'd rather see a child in a dinghy without a life jacket, than one in a life jacket being told it can't go in the dinghy without a responsible adult present. Those are two extremes I use to illustrate my point. Fun means freedom to make one's own decisions, to do one's own risk assessments and to push against some boundaries. This is highly frowned upon by modern society Now come on, all together now... THOU SHALT NOT HAVE FUN.

When my parents hired Broadlander back in 1966, if I remember correctly, it cost about £100 for the week. Now, a comparable boat would cost about £2000. A 20 fold increase. The house we had just moved into had cost £4,250. Trust me, it's worth more than £85,000 at todays prices. So in real terms, has boat hire become more expensive? There are fewer hire craft than there used to be, and more private craft. Whilst I accept that money may well be one of the causes of the decline, I think there are many others. Society has changed and people want different things for their money. The "staycation" is a rarity now and where foreign travel used to be only for the well heeled, nowadays package holidays are given away free with a pack of cornflakes.

Add my vote for the Swan Stalham. Yet to have a poor meal there.

Does that mean that foreign holidaymakers pay VAT on holidays here, and that our holidaymakers travelling abroad pay the taxes at their destinations? If so, the playing field is still level.

Yes Vaughan, but don't forget that those sockets are low wattage and will only electrocute you a tiny bit.

I wonder if I could start a "Green grp" boat meet, a sort of 'patina party'

Does a skip make a good replacement roof then? Sorry, someone had to ask :-)

Now, here's a thing. I was sitting in the wheelhouse a few minutes ago, enjoying my morning coffee with it's modest addition of Lambs, when in flew a wasp. It started buzzing about causing me to reach for a folded Telegraph, my weapon of choice on such occasions. I was yet to find the newspaper when in flew a butterfly, little brown job can't say more than that. Well, I WAS planning to swat the wasp, but certainly NOT the butterfly. This got me thinking. Notwithstanding the risk of being stung, the wasp was doing no harm, also the wasp grubs do no harm either. Whilst the butterfly was also doing no harm, caterpillars do eat things that we want, so it made more sense to eliminate the butterfly than the wasp, yet I had no wish to do so. By this time two things changed. Firstly I was holding my rolled up paper and second, both insects flew out of the open cockpit window. I had actually decided that neither beasty was going to receive the journal but leaving as they did, ensured their futures, well from me anyway. Funny how these things pan out.

Got it!!! Very clumsy of me.

I don't think Richardson's have got it quite right on which boats they sell and when, but then again, I don't have their expertise. I'm not keen on the Ideal 45, but I would agree, selling them one at a time seems a better route. The larger 8 to 10 berth boats are selling quite well but the greater demand for the 30 to 35 footer exists for both the hire and the private market. I bought a 10 berth though never having the intention of having that many on-board at any time. One needs the space for the decanters, ice buckets and other essentials for entertaining.

Nope. Says they aren't, means they aren't.