SPEEDTRIPLE

Hi Riyad, Karen had a cateract removed from her right eye 6 weeks ago, and has not had any problems. It`s a really straightforward thing to do these days, so much so, she was in the operating theatre for less than half an hour. She`s very sensative around the eyes, so they did a general anesthetic, which was`nt a problem. Because Karen is short sighted, they even put in a lens to correct her sight, and now she does`nt need glasses, but in her right eye only. However, the consultant did say they will do the left one (which is`nt as bad as the right was) within a couple of months or so, because of the imbalance between her eys, and she cant wait either. There really is absolutely NOTHING to worry about. I forgot to mention, Karens cateract was at the BACK of the eye, and they had to go through the eye to get to it, but when she came around, there was no pain or anything, just a slight bit of discomfort for a day, which is eased by the eye drops she had to take for a month.

What do you get when you cross a hovercraft with a fighter jet?. Totally awsome or what?. I can just imagine seeing one of these whizzing across the Breydon mudflats?.

Can you still hire boats on the Lea and Stort?. Might make a nice weeks holiday if the weather is nice.

I have to admit to being in total disagreement in the past with Marshman, but your post above is very enlightening. I know the BA lease land for 24 hour moorings, but did`nt realise why some of these moorings have been withdrawn, so thanks Marshman for bringing this to our attention. As for landowners who refuse access to their land, although i think it`s not exactly the right thing to do, i do respect the fact that it IS their land, much like i would`nt like anybody walking around our garden. It`s a real double edged sword this one, and others in the same vein, but now after reading Mm`s post, i will not be so keen to critsize the BA.

I can understand the EA being out on patrol, but Broadsbeat and the BA?, a total waste of toll payers, and tax payers money. It`s the EA`s responsibility to police license dodging, not the police or the BA. If we had elected bodies, this sort of thing would`nt happen, because they can`t honestly justify the financial costs.

The problem is Strow, if the management of the BA follow the same lack of foresight as the company i work for, logic will not come into it, and when everything is gone, they`ll wonder why and blame everybody else for not going along with their much flawed plan. The simple logic is, more, and bigger boats, with fewer moorings just does`nt add up, and never will, but will they listen to those in the know?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, No, because they adopt the attitude, it does`nt matter how many of you are right, we don`t like it, so it won`t work. Pretty typical of British university bred management.

typical misleading estate agents. When Karen and i first got together and started looking at properties in Christchurch, we looked at one which was registered as "Mudeford", not far from the Quay. The truth is, it was in a side road off the main road through, but in a local area of Christchurch called "Purewell", which is far less desireable. On top of that, the photograph of the front of the property was taken from the other side of the road, yet when we saw the bungalow, there was a massive factory roof towering above the smallish trees in the back garden, something the agents must have edited out of the sales literature?. I don`t trust estate agents, Unqualified, untrained, and legally alowed to estimate your proerty at a price it most likely is`nt worth, purely to gain a bigger percentage. Thieves and robbers all of them.

more wild moorings?. Seriously though, i totally agree, where on earth are we all going to moor?. It`s getting to the point where the BA will have done away with the vast majority of 24 hour moorings, so where will everybody moor?. With fleets like Richardsons investing very heavily on a larger newer fleet, with the loss of many moorings, people won`t be able to moor, so what effect will it have on any fleets buisness?. If somebody wastes half of their fuel, and their week trying to find one of fewer and fewer moorings, they will more than likely give up on hiring on the Broads. I did say tongue in cheek some time ago that it would`nt surprise me to find out the BA are trying to push boating away from the broads, so they can have a much cheaper policy on maintaining the rivers to a non navigable standard, Maybe that really IS their ultimate goal, and doing away with moorings and failure to maintain river depths is certainly a way to do just that.

Well, only a week away now, and looking forward to it. If the weather is bad, we might just stay at Brooms and use her as a houseboats and go out in the car. I`ve discovered some disused WW2 airfields which look like you can drive onto them, so even if it`s bad, we`ll have an alternative.

Is that set in stone though Alan, as i`d hoped to book Swallow for a week so as to attend the autumn meet. However, we`re going to my nieces wedding that weekend in Gravesend. It seems every time there`s an event i`d like to do, no matter where or when, we`ve always got something else planned. P....s me off some times.

Hi Les, welcome from me too. Whereabouts "near" Irstead are you staying?.

No, you`d get your feet wet when you go to the pub.

What about Royalls?. I`m sure they hire out of season, maybe Howard (Norfolk Nog) will know, because he always hirres out of season?. As for the boat, a Bounty 37 bath tub will be good because of the layout.

I may be wrong, but i think ALL these bridge strikes are done on high top boats. What i find irritating is when they report that "this recent spate of colisions is very worrying to the fleet operators who have these boats". Well, surely if they put these boats in their fleets, they know the risks, and can`t complain when they happen?. Yet again, back comes my same arguement, if the fleet operators did`nt introduce these boats tinto thier fleets, theses incidents would`nt happen. Then they would`nt be able to put the blame on hirers. Also, lowliners would be able to navigate all bridges (except for PH) at 90-95% of the time, irrespective of tidal direction.

I don`t think we will be able to make the summer one, but will hopefully be able to book Swallow for the Autumn event. Swallow is a Friday boat, so would allow us ample time to get to the meet, even if up north.

I believe we`ll be on Lightning that week Alan, but will let you know later. It would be good if we are, as we`ll be able to come and say hello if we see you?.

I`ve been told that in reality he`s a very decent fella, however, i can`t get past when he was an obnoxious t..t on TFI Friday. I too will give the new series a try, but to be honest, i`m not holding my breath. Unfortunately, we don`t get Amazon Prime, so won`t be able to watch the three amigos new show, whatever it`s called. Never mind, i`l probably be able to watch it on Dave in a couple of years.

I would have thought the common sense approach would be to open when people need them. As said above, it`s more than likely that out of season, the majority of customers will be weekend sailors, so why not have maybe 3 half days on Tuesday, wednesday, and thursday?. Most syndicate boats are weekend based, and most private boats are weekend based.

Personally i loved it. Although i will agree, sometimes it looked like they were running out of ideas, some of the things they did were pretty spectacular. like the bikes through Vietnam, the endurance race in an aging BMW diesel, and lots more. I often did`nt bother with the road test around the track in yet another German super car, and often the star in a reasonably priced car was worth turning off. That said, on the whole, i found it very entertaining, and often watch the re runs of the good ones on Dave. One of the main reasons i was so pleased to see it being so succesful was that it was the last all male bastion to cocking a snoot to political corectness. That`s probably why the BBC hierachy tried so hard for so long to find a way of sacking Clarkson, because he flatly refused to tow the party line. Did i say party?, i wonder what i meant by that?.

Hi all, Karen and i will be on Lightning for this week, which will be the first time we`ve been on the Broads this late. Is anybody else going to be afloat the same week?. If so, we will be staying south and most likely be looking to moor wherever the leccy posts are. Seriously though, being our first week out of season, what pubs and shops etc are still open this late in the year?. Also, do the quay rangers still man the quays etc, and do the water hoses stay outside of the season?. As usual, if anybody sees us please come along and say hello.

If the engines and gearboxes work fine, then it`s worth spending a week washing out the inside, the bilges etc etc, and if the cushion covers are removeable, take them off and wash them too. That will allow the foam to dry too. Every bit of the inside will require washing down, then going over with anti bacterial cleaner. If you can leave the boat covered with a tarp, open at both ends, and with hatches and windows open (not wide open as it`s a security risk), this will allow the boat to air, and help with drying out inside. Disconnect the hoses from the water tanks and wash the tanks out thouroughly, also the same with hoses, pumps and taps etc. Tke off all electric switches and covers etc, and thouroughly clean, and spray with WD40. Check all through hull connections, and spray stop cocks with WD40. I`m assuming your partner has dealt with the fuel system, as he`s gonig to check the engines?. It will be a lot of work, but if the insurance co pay out on a total loss, and you buy the boat back, by doing a lot of the work yourselves, it will save a lot on engineer charges at a yard, plus you may have more than enough money left after buying the boat back, to pay for an engineer to do the few things you can`t do. As i said in a previous post, it`s going to be a lot of hard laborious work, but it`s definitely doable. One last point, if you go down this route, after all the work is done, don`t forget to have a full safety survey, or an RNLI sea check to put your mind at ease. If you do decide to sell, then it`s still worth doing a lot of the above to get an easier sale.

I hope he`s insured?.

My apollogies Strow, i thought the EA were responsible for all the canal network and the canal and river trust was a form of users group.

Absolutely spot on Strow. A finnancial write off yes, but definitely not a structural or mechanical write off. Yes you would probably have to have the electric and gas systems replaced, but the water system might only need a good flush through. The seat covers and foams might be rescueable after allowing them to dry out, and the engines will still be useable if drained of all fluids and left to dry, apart from some light oil in the bores. It would be a lot of work, but definitely doable. Just because something gets wet, it does`nt nessecarily mean its no longer repairable or useable, especially if it`s been in fresh water rather than saltwater.

The only things i really collect is mugs. I`ve got about 100 or more now, and at least 90% of them have been used many times. Karen collects fridge magnets, but they were stuck all over the kitchen appliances, so i talked her into putting them in a box in the loft, and will stick some magnetic sheet in the inside of the cuboard doors so she can have them out, but not all of them on show. As for my mugs, i said MUGS, not mug, most are in the loft, but some are in one of the cupboards and are used often. Iprefer to collect something that is, and will be used at some time. But it has to be said, by far and away our biggest collection is a variety of Penguins, from hot water bottle covers (which have been in my pictures on here), to china ones, to a penguin orchestra, to wooden ones etc etc etc, the list goes on, but many of them have names, and some only come out at Christmas. Did i say Christmas?, it`s not far off now, so out the little blighters will come.