Fred is a lovely cat who lives down the road from us. When our cat was alive, Fred used to come up to the patio doors and peer into the kitchen but as soon as our cat sensed he was there (she was blind but had an acute sense of smell) she would growl and hiss in the general direction of Fred and he would back off.

When our cat died last year, we were distraught and Fred would come to the house and make a big fuss around us, helping us to get through the difficult loss. He was totally relaxed in the house as can be seen from the photo!

However, there is another lovely cat, Felix, who lives closer to us but who hates Fred and used to pounce on him every time he went down the road. Both cats used to end up with clumps of hair missing and bloody ears and they couldn’t seem to settle their differences. Felix used to hide in the hedge and wait for Fred to go by. Fred got wise to this eventually and used to take a detour over fences and through gardens to avoid Felix.

After nearly a year, Fred stopped coming to see us – he was getting old and obviously didn’t want the aggravation of having to ‘run the gauntlet’ every day. We still see him, rolling around in the sun outside his house but he doesn’t venture far these days.

Felix has taken advantage of the situation and now spends much of his day in our garden and kitchen. As soon as his owners go out, he is under the gate and at the patio doors and you can guarantee that he will be fussing around us within minutes of hearing our car arrive home. Felix doesn’t have such a nice nature as Fred – we think he must have been ill-treated in a past life as he will suddenly hiss at us and either claw or try to bite us, for no reason, sometimes if we move a bit quickly. He knows it’s wrong as he’ll shoot out of the door when this happens.

We are just grateful to have a cat visit us – we get the pleasure without the pain!

Unusual boats

I have recently started putting photos on Flickr – just snaps taken around the Norfolk Broads when we have been out on the boat.

Purely by accident, I have become fanatical about snapping old or unusual boats as there is a small but tight-knit circle of 'otaku' who know EVERYTHING about EVERY boat on the Broads and they will pounce on my photos to see who can be the first to identify the boat, even having arguments over the year of build etc.

The trouble is that now I am constantly scanning the passing boats or those on the moorings to see if I can find something unusual to keep these good people on their toes.

The photo is of one boat which beat the experts as, although I knew the name of it, no-one could come up with any history. Hah!

Three Rivers Race

This could be a bit of a rant due to massive disappointment at the weekend.

The Three Rivers' Race is a famous annual 24 hour endurance race on the Norfolk Broads and for the last 13 or so years we have had a perfect vantage point on our moorings to watch the yachts, big and small, coming down on to the broad, sometimes under very difficult and interesting sailing conditions.

The race starts and ends in Horning and has to visit the Rivers Ant, Bure and Thurne, being checked off at specially placed marker buoys, which the yachts have to circumnavigate.

We start looking forward to the race at the beginning of the season and follow the plans and discussions amongst the sailors (open forum) with great interest. Tactics are discussed, based on tide and wind conditions and 'red herrings' put out all over the place. Deciding which river to tackle first can make the difference between winning and actually managing to finish the race!

This year we organised ourselves to be set up in our vantage point, cameras at the ready, wine chilling, snacks made but by 12 noon there was still no marker buoy on the broad! The race starts at 11.00 at 5 minute intervals (139 yachts this year) and we would expect the first fast boat to reach our broad by around 12.30. To cut a long story short, we eventually discovered that a last minute decision had been taken to have the turning point down the long and twisting dyke which leads to the broad and not to visit the broad itself! We were gutted, as were many other people who had turned up specially to view the spectacle.

Our neighbours on the mooring were heading down the river in their yacht (under power I hasten to add!) and offered us a lift which made us feel a bit better but it was still very disappointing after all the anticipation. Consequently, we were unable to get very many photographs.

Apologies to anyone who reads this, for the rant, but I needed to get it off my chest!

Avian activity

There hasn't been a lot of boating activity near the mooring over the last couple of weeks but the blackheaded gulls and herons have been extremely active. There are three herons on this stretch of river and they are very territorial, spending most of the day flying up and down, chasing each other off and screeching very loudly!

I expect things will change on the boating front this weekend and there is a regatta nearby where it will be interesting watching the big river cruisers - let's hope there's some good wind. However, about four boats had broken masts last weekend in the very strong southwesterly wind!

Anyone know what duck this is ..? How cute are these!

At this time of year I become totally preoccupied with ducks, coots, grebes, geese, herons, kingfishers, cuckoos, penny wagtails, pigeons and finches. I'm really not that interested the remainder of the year but love to watch and listen to the courting and nesting rituals and the produce of this.

Coincidence or what?

In today's local paper .... it would appear to be a countrywide phenomena :-)) unless of course she decided to come south where the police often turn a blind eye to speeding! Looks like I was right and she is a 'boy racer' - she obviously had the scooter ' sooped up' ;-}

Dangerous times

I was nearly knocked down three times today whilst shopping! Not, as you may think, by a car but first by a mobility scooter being driven at a manic rate of knots by a very large lady. She came round the corner at the top of the street, which has a hill (Norfolk standards!) so to give her the benefit of the doubt, she may have been freewheeling but she must have been doing nearly 10 miles an hour ;-). I jumped out of the way just in time but turned round to see people flying off to left and right to get out of her way so I think she was just a boy racer at heart!

The second incident was as I carried on up the incline to be faced by a wheelchair being pushed very fast by an elderly man. The occupant was clinging on to the armrests for dear life so I think he might have been taken by surprise by the incline, which I am sure has got steeper over the years – I am certainly more out of puff when I reach the top than I used to be 10 years ago. I do hope he and his cargo reached the shops ok as I didn’t stop to look. I was quite traumatised by this time.

Carrying on a bit further up the road towards the bus station I came up behind a lady with a walking frame on wheels. She was travelling very slowing (probably exhausted after the hill) so I felt I was safe to overtake but as I did so she suddenly, without warning or signals, veered to the right – into my path. I just managed to stop in time but she continued to the crossing, oblivious to my plight.

I drove home very carefully!