BroadAmbition

Yes I know he cannot but he can make it unpleasant for people..... Those 'People' can in return make it unpleasant for 'He' whilst legally exercising their navigational rights. It's ages since I went up from Wayford to Honing lock in a dinghy with an outboard on it. We managed the trip there and back no problem. (Got some photo's somewhere of the trip) I wonder what the water depth is now? 3ft or more and I could take 'B.A' to Honing lock and back. That would really upset 'He' Btw Marshman - does 'He' own the land both sides of the waterway? does he own the land right up to and next to Honing Lock? Griff

More's the pity none of them were 'B.A' with me onboard Griff

I'll purchase an extra Euro lottery ticket on Tuesday. If the jackpot comes my way, then you will have your tupperware Alpha 32. There, I've said it and it's in writing Griff

Jeremy Clarkson’s words of wisdom : Fishing. It’s not one of my specialist subjects. I do not want to stand up to my gentleman’s area in an icy Scottish river and I’d rather spend my spare time in the pub, with friends, than sitting, by myself, on a damp canal bank with a bag full of maggots. Fishing, really, is for people who hate their children. But, this morning, I feel duty-bound to come to the defence of the nation’s anglists, who are being blamed for an alarming drop in salmon numbers in Scottish rivers. There used to be a time when 25% of all the fish that left their birthplace came back. Today, it’s just 5%. Those who enjoy animal rights say fishermen and fishermen women are to blame, along with farmers and bankers and possibly Mrs Thatcher, and conveniently fail to mention a couple of important points. Almost all the salmon caught by anglers are allowed to resume their journey after they’ve been landed. And, more importantly, the mouth of every Scottish salmon river is patrolled these days by an armada of hungry seals. You want to get the salmon numbers up, you must do something about the number of seals. But what? Seals have big doe eyes and puppy-dog faces, and no one wants to see them being beaten to death with bats. This, then, is the problem with conservation. Protect one species — and seals are very protected — and it’s going to have an impact on another. It’s all a question of balance and being sensible. Which, I’m afraid, is hard when our government is being advised by a Swedish teenager and Chris Packham. Packham is a wildlife presenter on the BBC, and I like him. He’s a good communicator, fun to be with, hugely knowledgable about punk rock and able to tell a corn bunting from a reed bunting at 400 paces. He’s also a fine lobbyist. So fine, in fact, that, having teamed up with a former conservation director of the airborne wing of the Labour Party, the RSPB, he was able to convince the government’s conservation watchdog, Natural England, to announce that it is now illegal to shoot pigeons. Now I’m not going to be silly about this. Last weekend, as the sun blazed down, I very much enjoyed sitting in the garden listening to the wood pigeons cooing away. It’s a sound that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. And I don’t hold with the argument that town pigeons should be hounded to extinction because they crap on your car. They do, but it’s not a big issue to get a hosepipe and wash it off. However, I’m a farmer these days, and one of the things I grow is oilseed rape. I grew enough last year to make 100,000 bottles of vegetable oil. This year, though, things are tricky, because a weed called black grass, which is immune to herbicides, is ravaging the crop. And what’s left is being half-inched by pigeons. I’m told that I can try scaring them away with loud bangs and kites and statues of Jon Pertwee, but I’m also told by the Viyella army of local countrymen that none of these things actually works. You have to shoot them. And now we can’t. Score one for Packham and Corbyn’s RAF. But hang on, because if there’s less oilseed rape, that means there’s less vegetable oil, which will drive demand for alternatives such as palm oil. And palm oil production is what’s destroying the jungles of Indonesia, and with them the orang-utan. So what the do-gooders have done by helping the pigeon, which is as prolific as nitrogen, is kill more of Borneo’s endangered orange monkeys. And that’s obviously idiotic. Happily, there seems to be a solution. For nearly 40 years farmers have been using a so-called general licence to shoot pigeons, because they’re protected under wild bird legislation, drawn up to save important stuff like the osprey and the golden eagle and so on. In short, you could get permission to shoot certain kinds of common and unimportant wild birds, such as pigeons and crows and magpies, if it was bleeding obvious they were stealing eggs, pecking out the eyes of lambs or devastating crops. Well, thanks to Chris Packham’s lot, that permission has now gone. There is one idea for keeping the pigeon under control. Simply remove it, along with the crow and the magpie, from the legislation covering wild birds. Then no special permission to kill it is necessary. It’s not as if this minor shift in the law would cause millions to take to the countryside each weekend in weirdo NRA combat strides, because to shoot a pigeon you need a gun, and you still need a licence for that. But will the government allow a pigeon free-for-all? It should. It makes sense. We live in weird times, though, when governments in general and ours in particular are entirely detached from the real world. They seem to live in a universe full of unicorns and magic fairy dust. So there’s no way Michael Gove, who’s running the countryside this week, is going to say, “Lock and load, Farmer Giles. Let’s waste the motherf******!” So what about this for a plan? We pat Chris Packham on the back and say, with a magnanimous smile, that he has won. A bit like remainers are being urged to do by Brexiteers. But then we carry on as before. A bit like Brexiteers are being urged to do by remainers. Seriously, can you see the police being that bothered? Really? About the death of a pigeon? And how would they ever know? A shotgun is noisy, but it’s not so noisy that it can be heard in the nearest police station, which these days is usually 20 miles away. And only open from nine to five. On a Tuesday. Plod isn’t interested when I have a gate or a quad bike nicked, so I can hardly see a Swat team coming through the door with an enforcer ram because they suspect the pie I’m taking out of the Aga has four and twenty pigeons in it

Come to think I have used pyrography, before now on 'B.A' when we added another support bow for the wheelhouse canopy. The original ones had been marked up in Roman numerals using sommat very hot, I did the same using a soldering iron to the extra bow. I just never knew there was a name for it. Way after then we have since altered / enhanced / replaced the lot of them. Then I marked them up with a dremel I seem to remember Griff

Memory? Who said that and when? Anyroadup, I agree, Yes the rivers do seem to get very busy these days Griff

Lovely descriptive photo. Ooooh, look at that, 'S105' reg numbers - Well within 2m of the bow I would say Griff

Back on topic (We need another thread re Catfield/Waxham) The shuttering is due to be removed today at about 2pm. Then the new concrete drop cill can bee seen in all it's glory. Of course, one the gates are in, it will not be seen again for some years, all being well. This drop cill and the stop planks which go with it have been placed there to avoid the need for there ever needing to be a bund again. Future maintenance work can be performed behind the drop planks, in the dry. Griff

perhaps I could use pyrography I don't know how you do it - Come up with so many good ideas. I've never even heard of pyrography let alone seen it used and to stunning effects too Griff

I wasn't so much concerned with turning 'B.A' around or not, warping or not. My question was water depth bearing in mind the levels would need to be lower than normal to get through that bridge in the first place 6ft 5" or more and I can take her through all day long Griff

Well the answer for us there then is not to bother turning but to come back out going astern. What could possibly go wrong? Griff

So, Catfield Dyke would be a tad difficult on 'B.A' then? She draws 2ft 6" but her skeg design means the prop / rudder is well protected Griff

How are things going at Ebridge Lock? See photo. The west wing wall is re-pointed. The shuttering is in ready for a concrete pour tomorrow. The brickwork repairs are well under way. The Stop Plank Grooves are in place, Finally, the Stop Planks are ready to collect from the manufacturers. Unashamedly pinched from their FB group Griff

Nice one Simon and Mary, very good of you Erm, any chance of a similar deal on diesel? Griff

Thanks JA, very good of you once again. We are looking forward to the whole weekend We are also looking forward nearly as much to emptying our wet shed locker of all manner of surplus boaty stuff. It'll probably completely fill up our Fwd Port cabin taking it with us, we need to get rid of it at the boat jumble whilst resisting the temptation to replace it with yet more boaty stuff and taking it back with us! Griff

How about whoever does it doesn’t use the university challenge quiz book Griff

And that’s a hammer squarely on the nail Martin. The weekly quiz for me hasn’t been fun for ages now which is why I no longer participate not being a member of Mensa Griff

That's me secured tickets for the Vue cinema tomorrow. Myself and MrsG going to see 'Rocket Man' Griff

A true Legend. Whether an F1 fan or not, the film 'Rush' is well worth seeing Griff

bad eggs provided! Preferably hard boiled with shells still on Griff

We woz at it yet again last Friday, had to change a couple of team members of 'Griff's Growlers' hence we scored much lower this time but still had a great day out. This time at Lambton Castle. Another team competition clay shoot. 7 x stands, 700 targets. I used 400 cartridges this time. Stopped off at the Ryther Arms for a team dinner on the way home, another 16 x hour day out. That's them done with for this year. A full year looking forward to them and they are over in a flash it seems. Oh well, back to my local small shooting ground come this Sunday as per the norm Griff

The scroat's that did it need stringing Agreed, but only after a public birching, that after a day in the village stocks Griff

More pics to follow There better had be - It's the Law Griff

Simon & Sonia + Dylan the dog & Red the pup. Now I'm even more miffed we wasn't there Griff