BroadAmbition

My Tiger has it's own plate too, closest I could get for it was T9GCR which is good enough for me. The Tiger comes with it's own anti pond life defence system Griff

My 'GriffTile' van is supposed to be noticed, stand out etc, it's my mobile advertising board. It has a private plate on it, it's my Lads saves him putting it on retention as he has a company car. I do get asked about the reg number from time to time. If anyone wants to clone my van, graphics n all then they are welcome. I wonder if anyone would clone 'B.A' as her model / type / colours / Reg number are also well known Griff

Heads Up, my Cherished plate is to be removed from my Jeep. Reason is that me n MrsG have at last come to our senses and will soon be selling both the Jeep and her Focus to be replaced by just the one vehicle. (Probably a Disco 4 SDV6 HSE) I have my van of course and sometime maybe next year my Dutton Pheaton will be back on t road not to mention the Tiger is always available. We are spending far too much brass on keeping vehicles on the road and hardly using them. Too much of an extravagance. So before I go and advertise properly sometime in the next few weeks both the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Focus 1:6 Diesel will be offered for sale in here first. Prices? - Not a scooby right now, but I expect they won't be a fortune, both of them are well past their manufactures warranty periods shall we say. Both vehicles are reliable and regularly serviced clean examples etc Griff

On Flea Bay, nowadays you can purchase magnetic sump plugs for most engines, helps if you know the thread used on the sump though. I fit them to all my vehicles including, Tiger and Beta alike. Another standard application I do is to administer 'ZX1' to engines, gearboxes, differentials and also upgrade air filters to K&N type, they save a fair bit on never having to buy any more air filters during servicing along with improved air flow = improved mpg I fitted a K&N example to 'B.A's Beta - that was one air filter too far as the induction noise was unacceptable so off it came to have the manufactures one put back on Griff

I was wondering, hire boats can't travel after sunset but do any of the owners here travel on the broads after dark? What problems have you encountered? Where did you travel from and to.? Yes, often onboard 'B.A' None really other than fog - that's awkward in daylight even worse at night Various points to and from. The furthest one non stop being from Stalham to the breakwaters at GYA harbour mouth, departed the wet shed at 2300-ish, Arrived in Ipswich sometime the following afternoon. I've done various sections of the Ant, Bure and Thurne many times. Never crossed Breydon at night onboard 'B.A' although I have done so on a Brooms Admiral many years ago. The longest night nav I have done onboard 'B.A' was from West India dock in London to Oulton Broad via Lowestoft. We sailed at 1500 from W.I Dock and arrived at Lowestoft at 0700 the following morning. Griff

At 1100 - ish we stopped for elevenses - somewhat of a coincidence there then! We were served with Gin n tonics, cold meats etc at the drive lodge. I was later informed that my dress code was out of order as my tie needed adjusting. Just look at the view in Gods back garden Griff

Shoulder etc all fine and dandy tks, I never seem to have any twinges in that department no matter how many shells discharged on any given day. This coming Saturday is a freebie 100 bird sporting clay shoot I've been invited on, B'fast / lunch / clays provided, Prizes for top three (I won't be one of them) at Hayton Castle which is close by. Just need the wx to play ball. Proper heavy rain here this morning again Griff

I'm so chuffed it is now in your ownership / care, coming from Moores what with you also owning a genuine Moores woody to - Fantastic combination. As you say more research needed, hopefully an ex Moores employee maybe able to help. Griff

Looks great on the photo, the two larger areas right the the point bit though are not there on the full size version Griff

What a day, what a day! It started off Foggy at home, 57 miles later and we are at Raisthorpe Manor, near to Thixendale and Malton. We were greeted with tea / coffee then bacon rolls in the reception gun room. A quick brief then off into them there hills. The sun came out, the scenery was fantastic as one would expect in this part of Gods Country, jackets off all day long. We each expended around 4-500 cartridges each over the day, (21g 7 1/2 's Fibre) We shot in pairs one shooting and one loading. One of my mates who is a very good shot was loading for me, I just had to comment that I was so chuffed that I had a millionaire loading my gun for me - he took it in good spirits and could not deny it either. I had another mate driving me in his very nice Range Rover, another millionaire chauffeuring me for the day too! Both of them advised me not to get used to the idea, I kinda liked it Lunchtime - Back into the gun dining room, a huge round table with a train on it that was going round n round with sloe gin / condiments on it, the opulence was everywhere. Apparently a days game shooting per gun when in season would cost about £2'400, can't see me booking one of those anytime soon then In the afternoon it was announced we would be split into three teams of four - competition time then. over two disciplines of 200 clays per team. My main concern then of course was to not let my team down, I was team three. At the end of the day the scores were announced and team three had won! I could not believe it. We had a combined total of 165, so only dropped 35 clays between us. I have never won in a team shotgun event ever, been close a couple of times. This was the icing on the cake. As a result I now have a cheap 'Top Team' trophy and a bottle of sloe gin which I have of course given to MrsG. I'm going to be dining out on this one forever! Apparently the lot of us have decided - although to be fair I can't remember agreeing to this one - that we are to repeat the day out sometime this year but take along our wives as non-shooting guests with a bbq in the evening to round it off, that'll knock it up to around £450 mark I'm duly informed Shooting and rubbing shoulders with this lot is all very well but one has to be careful with the open wallet surgery. Tomorrow morning, it will be back down to earth, chin down, derrière up, tiling a kitchen floor. Griff

Well that's a belter of a photo for the family archives eh? Well done you Griff

Today is a big day out for 'Our' lot. ten guns heading off this morning to Raisthorpe Flyers near Malton for a days driven clay shooting. This is an expensive day out by my standards £360:00 but B'fast, lunch, dinner are included as are cartridges and the owner / organiser tells us that we should expect to shoot between 250 - 400 cartridges each (Probably waste in my case). We shoot in pairs apparently, my 'Boy' Dale is with us, so we had best avoid being in the same pair then (Don't want to embarrass him now do I?) Anyroadup, been looking forward to this one for a while now, Griff

My Bro' his MrsG and another couple are doing the Canal holiday on a hire boat this Summer for either ten days or a fortnight I think Griff

Another well liked and respected forumite now in a safe anchorage. Condolences to Richards family Griff

Thanks for the advice / replies. Seven guns / crew are now sorted. Taverham it will be Griff

We too have left a dog behind although not in a pub. Called into Boulters for diesel / water etc and off we sailed, we got past the Ferry Inn before one of our crew realised his Springer 'Molly' dog was not onboard. Back to Boulters we went to find her sitting patiently on the quay heading glaring at us. On no end of occasions during many Lads Weeks we have left crew members behind from various craft. A memorable one was the 'youngsters' boat, we all sailed in company from Brooms bound for Surlingham Ferry with a crew member from the youngsters boat left ashore. No one on the boat realised he was missing until he turned up on another boat that he had thumbed a lift from! In 'B.A's well deck there are two rubber mats, one is usually put ashore when stern moored. At least three times every year we donate yet another rubber mat to some fortunate crew that moor in the spot we have vacated. To date we have never worn out any of those mats as they never stay with us long enough to get past their best Griff

Another great thread. Proper interesting and thanks for taking the time to share this with us Griff

The thing is, if you don’t tell your land lubing domestic plumbing fittings they are to be employed in a Marine environment then they won’t know. Water is water after all no matter where it is stored / provided Griff

Common knowledge Griff

We too have breakdown and fouled prop cover with Boulters for 'B.A' but are also considering using Sutton in future Griff

No reason whatsoever. Ours onboard 'B.A' is a land lubbing house type domestic thermostatic shower mixer affair. Been working fine over 11 years now Griff

I once left my clipboard onboard 'B.A' - That clipboard has my whole working life on it and some social stuff too. I also left an envelope with a substantial amount of cash in it (Well substantial to the likes of me that is) I did not discover my error until I was unpacking my gear here at home. About turn then, had to drive back down to Stalham and home again. Each round trip is 320 miles and I ended up doing it twice in one day, the second trip was of course overnight into the early hours of the morning, before a normal days toil. Well chuffed wi mysen I was - Not! Griff

I've said it before, and no doubt I'll be saying it again, but the problem is one of perception. The 'proper' live aboard cannot be recognised as being one. No mess, no overstaying and a boat looking like it just came out of a mooring and the owner is on holiday. There are quite a few about, but you wouldn't know them as such. The live aboards we know and see, have scruffy untolled boats, piles of crap on the bank and are unfriendly. These people respect nothing and only have time for themselves. These are the people who make the lives of the likes of Ricardo hell, and it's these people who give the whole live aboard community a bad name. MM - Bang on the Money or a Spot on post - I like it, like it a lot and agree 100% Griff

Advice please, Some of 'My' shooting mates have been toying with the idea of attending a clay shoot in Norfolk local to the Broads (Northern Side) on a Saturday then on completion combining it with an overnight stay onboard 'B.A' that would entail a cruise to a riverside hostility for an overnight stop in the normal manner, then drive home Sunday. I have found a clay shooting venue at Taverham (Mid Norfolk Shooting Ground) but was wondering if any of you locals knew of any others? Thanking you in advance, Griff

This morning at 0700 - heavy rain. 0715 - Sleet, now it is snowing. My farmer friends are proper struggling and are way behind themselves on the land with the amount of rain that March produced up here Griff