Mornin' Cdr Nerys,
Trust all went well at your unscheduled hospital visit.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for both of you🤞
'At the rush', as I believe our antipodean RAN colleagues would say😉

Sailing here is On Hold due to sub-zero temperatures and first snowfall ❄️❄️ this winter on Monday night. I'm thinking of looking for an Icebreaker kit, or maybe I should bite the bullet and finally get my hovercraft going?
Difficult enough to steer on water, skidding about on ice should be hilarious, until the first collision with the indigenous population💥🤔
🤞 for your Saturday meet,
Cheers, Adm Doug 😎

To- MSM Thompson. Sorry to hear that training had to be curtailed at the lake this morning, but most probably a very wise move under the circumstances, hopefully it will be better at the weekend, I have seen rumours of a heat wave of 11 on Saturday. All being well, we will see you at Cwm Ciddy for breakfast and the committee meeting and hopefully a bit of a sail to follow.

Lt.Cdr. Nerys

Hi Cash. Good to see your report on happenings in your part of the world and also that you and Lt.Errol were able to repel the boarders or invaders, whichever you want to designate them. Pleased to hear that progress on the new flagship is coming along too.

Thanks for the health check. Think I'm going to be out of action a while longer, but what is worse, is that Alice is somewhat under the weather too. And, that's a disaster.

Lt.Cdr Nerys

Quick update from Western Squadron, Texas
The newest flagship of the Western Squadron is coming along nicely..need some advice on protocol. Although she was originally designed for the JNDF, and came to Texas via Germany, would it be remiss to fly the Texas flag on her fantail .vs the Rising Sun? Will acquiesce to Fleet’s and higher HQ recommendation.
Also, our barracks was invaded Thursday morning. We think the invader was sent by the Oklahomans to get data on our new flagship, however, with the help of LT Errol, the invasion was put down. I regret to report that our assailant did not survive the struggle, and it’s body went missing some time after 1300 CST Thursday. There is one picture snapped by surveillance cameras just before the ensuing fight, and we did get a code name: “Butterball”

End of message-attachment follows

Hope everything’s well Nerys.
Cash

Sorry Ken. Hospital problems, will not be able to meet you Saturday.


Cheers, Nerys

Hi Colin,
I gave up purchasing tools for my wife years ago after a got her a Trolly Jack for the car LOL!
You can image her response!!!
I end up doing all the jobs anyway.

Martin555.

To- MSM Thompson. BC Patrol

HQ are requesting that all patrols should formulate plans for a return to active service. I suggest that we convene at our HQ on this coming Saturday 30th November in order to put together a possible plan and timetable. Bear in mind that my new command the LFG Baruc Sant needs slipping for bottom cleaning and other maintenance.

Lt.Cdr. Nerys

Thank you Lt. Cdr Nerys,
Await further reports with interest.
Apropos 'Baruc Sant', did you celebrate appropriately on 27th September?
A sad tale 🤔 and just for forgetting Cadoc's newspaper!
FLEET// 😎

To- Fleet Admiral RNHQ Munchen.

I will be conferring with MSM Thompson on Saturday 30th November to discuss plans for Bristol Channel patrols to commence on my return to duty which I can only say at the moment will be quite soon.
The LFG are lending me their fast patrol boat 'Baruc Sant' She will require slipping and a little maintenance, which the yard should complete within a couple of days.
Will keep you fully informed.

Lt.Cdr. Nerys

FLEET TO CO'S OF ALL COMMANDS
PRIORITY: IMMEDIATE.
Following a period of inactivity (Inclement weather, R&R, Recuperation etc) and not withstanding microwave cooking recipes 😉
Command would appreciate receiving your Patrol and Mission Plans by 0900 CET (0800 GMT, 0200 EST for our Western Squadron units).
Progress reports on the various construction programs underway would also be most welcome!😠
Data urgently required to be able to assess the readiness and capability of all units to enable planning and coordination of Strategic Operations.
Thank you.
FLEET OUT// 😎

I'll second that Nerys 😊
😎

To WO Cashrc, Lt. Erroll, Commodore and the Western Fleet.

May I extend heartiest Thanksgiving congratulations to you all.

Lt.Cdr Nerys and the Bristol Channel Patrol.

Mornin' Marky,
"when we were wee boys my mum made it that thick you could dance on it ."
Brings back memories!
When I was a kid Mum was ill (an exceptional instance!) and Dad took over the 'cooking' for a week or so 🙄
First attempt at porridge he offered us "One slice or two?"😮
Same thing happened on Sunday, roast beef and potatoes were acceptable but the gravy was again "One slice or two?" Dear ol' Dad, Gone but not forgotten 😊

I soon learned to make creamier porridge myself. My Sis and I used to fight over the cream off the milk (top o the milk) to put on top of the porridge with a splodge of Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup. Back in the days of real milk in bottles on the doorstep, before the thin homogenised stuff packed in cardboard boxes.
I still make it the same way, in a pot on the hot plate, and with cream (now sold separately!) and brown sugar, or when I can find it here, Golden Syrup😋😋😋
Microwave porridge? No! But scrambled eggs go pretty well once you get the timing right😋 Otherwise it can quickly become another case of "One slice or two?" 😁
Here endeth the culinary dissertation from Munich for today (tonight!?)😉
😎

"But I don’t think my wife would appreciate what I had in mind for her!"
Ye Gods and little fishes Ken, what sort of tool shop were you in!?😮😁
"She can strip any household item to bits with any dinner knife"
Leads to the question; can she put it back together, in working order, with a dinner knife!?😉
Seriously tho folks! More power to your collective elbows Ken👍
Keep your head Ken "whilst all about you are loosing theirs"!

Have to admit that, on a slightly different level, several decades ago I made the fatal mistake of buying my second wife a sewing machine for Christmas!
Went down like a lead Concorde.🤕
Turned out she was more into anything she could easily turn into cash!
That was my second and last experiment with marriage.
My 'female companion' of nearly 25 years now 😊 Gisela (girl friend sounds kinda wrong somehow at our age!😉), came with her own basic tool kit and is perfectly capable of mounting shelves, (almost) all the irritating fixes that can occur around the house and even assembling IKEA furniture!!
I get only get involved when it comes to electrics / electronics / PC or the HEAVY stuff!

Colin; If I needed someone to help me strip down and rebuild an engine I'd have to turn to me dear old Mum. Going on 95 and still going! She spent most of WW2 doing just that for army trucks.

Apropos clamps; some of you may remember the Colin / Nerys thread(s) on Workshops a month or so ago, both were building new ones.
I posted some pics of mine and commented on the STUFF clogging up my construction bench, including a box of clamps.
Since the sort out and clean I can't find the damn box and it's driving me quietly bonkers - now, after turning the place upside-down, soon to develop into screamingly insane! 😜
So come on guys, a joke's a joke! Which of U 'orrible lot has nicked it or hidden it for a bit o fun? 🤔
Ramble ramble ramble .....
😎

I like your post about your wife's welding ability Colin. It's very encouraging, Alice purchased an old milk float a little while ago, with the intention of restoring it and converting it into a mini camper van. However, the chassis needs some welding and that's something she knows nothing about. Reading that your wife has acquired the art, no doubt taught by a master welder, will encourage Alice to do likewise. Perhaps you would tell me what kind of welding equipment you would recommend.

All the best, Nerys.

Porridge, I agree that it is an essential part of life, as for cooking methods I'm willing to try them all.
Back in the 60's I was going out with a girl from Burrow Head on the West Coast of Scotland.
I stayed with her family a couple of times and her dad used to do a 20 gallon couldron full every Sunday, we all had a bowl with a spoon of honey, the rest was poured into trays lined with grease proof paper and stacked in the larder.
Then each morning it was sliced and we had it grilled with butter or fried with streaky bacon and egg and mushrooms, with a great splodge of brown sauce.
I wasn't keen on the grilled version but the fried was lovely.
I suppose its a bit like marmite you either love it or hate it.
Cheers Colin.

Well Nerys, if Caroline says she can't use my tools then I get her some she can use, earlier in the year our son needed some welding doing on his Mercedes after a pothole ripped his front suspension out, problem was I only had industrial equipment that was too big to take to the car. So on the understanding that I teach her to weld she bought us a portable gasless mig welder.
She can now lay a fair weld with mig, a usable weld with my old stick welder and is now learning to braze and gas weld with my oxy acetylene kit. I may even become redundant in my own workshop as she can already use my combination mill/lathe and pillar drill. She now wants a lightweight router as mine is just too heavy for her modelling, I'll have to ask santa.
Cheers Colin.

Would appear that Colin has a good sensible wife too.

Cheers, Nerys.

Perhaps I'm the lucky one then, if I said I was having a scroll saw from Axminster for Christmas, my wife, Alice, would go out of her way to encourage me, and the joy, if I said I was buying her a pillar drill. Unimagineable.

Nerys

Hi Martin, I bought my wife some power tools as she always moaned about mine being too heavy. Now she has a scroll saw, bandsaw, model makers lathe and other small cordless items such as sander, drill, plus a variety of normal modelling hand tools.
At least I can now always borrow her tools.
Cheers Colin.

Your right Nery's ,hob and pot and stirred with a wooden spirtle ,i can't remember not having porridge 🥣 not everyones taste though my wife cant stand it.when we were wee boys my mum made it that thick you could dance on it .
Cheers Marky

Hi Ken,
I was going to see if me wife would like a lathe and a pillar drill for Christmas but after reading your post i don't think i will risk it LOL!

Martin555.

The woodburners great and it does all the hot water central heating and the cooking, I couldnt imagine life without it, I was the same with the microwave, tried cooking with it but all the food tasted like warm cardboard lol, but just discovered you can do poached eggs in it and they are marvellous

I'd love a woodfired rayburn or even a solid fuel one or aga, but I doubt if I'd ever become converted to a microwave. I admit you can heat things in them, but I don't do that sort of cooking.

Nerys

Old fashioned gas cooker. LOL, I cook on a woodfired rayburn, I use my microwave for making porridge, and heating things up, its great, wouldnt dream of cooking with it

Why all this dependency on microwave cookers? We have one but it is very rarely used. I like my good old fashioned gas cooker, you get far superior results, most things are better cooked. I never get explosions in it like you seem to in those other funny things. Can't stand porridge, but that can only be made properly on a hob. Now shoot me down and call me a dinosaur.

Cheers, Nerys.

how long are you zapping your porridge for ? I do mine every morning in a cereal bowl no lid for 2 mins and its perfect no spillage at all

Like I said Marky, add the whisky AFTER the warming 😉
BTW: Boiled or baked eggs in the micro - also not a brilliant idea! 💥
BTW2: there are also some good plastic 'Fallout Shelters' available to put over the top of 'stuff' in the micro👍
😎

Never try making porridge in the microwave it explodes everywhere and takes a lifetime to clean 😂,even bought one of these cups with the lid on and the porridge managed to get fired through the vent hole and pebble dashed the inside of the microwave.
Doug,you need that extra we dram as the alcohol gets burnt off 😂😂when its heated.

Ouch!
Know what ya mean Ken, had a similar experience several years ago.
Back then we still had an 'English Shop' here where I could get some. Now long gone 😭😭
Problem is the mince fruit has more wet stuff in it than the pastry (or should have!)
I found it could be done safely by poking a small hole in the top to let the steam out and turning the oven down to 100W. 20sec was enough - BUT wait a few minutes before noshing!!🔥
Sometimes I carefully take the top off and put a wee dram (as Marky would say) of Teachers in it 😋😋 AFTER warming of course!
May I be (probably😉) the first to send you Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas?😁
Cheers, Doug 😎

Thanks for your encouragement Ken. Alice is, although I say it myself, remarkable, she can turn her hand to anything and make a success of it. Being just the two of us, we don't bother about huge Christmas meals. A few mince pies and dare I say it, some sausage rolls and that's about it.

Cheers, Nerys

Yes Ken, I'm looking forward to our breakfast meeting in a couple of weeks time. Missed the last one as we went to Warwick and the one before was the mercy dash to Norfolk to see Alice's mother. Will be interested to see what boats are left for disposal, not that I have room for any more. Want to build at least one more barge after the current project, then there's the Mickey Finn hull that I bought to rerig. Perhaps if there are any unsold, he should leave them with you in case the foreign mission ends with him coming home defeated.

We will have to have a discussion on plans for the Bristol Channel Patrol as my return to active service is on the horizon.

All the best,
Lt. Cdr. Nerys

Thank you Ken for your offer of help with the Dragonforce. Alice is pretty confident she can manage the repair but if anything unforeseen occurs and she needs help, she'll contact you. Must say. it inspires confidence to know we can call on someone with your ability and experience should we need assistance or advice.

Many thanks,
Alice and Nerys

Hi Ken,
Thought you may like to know that Kevin successfully followed the navigation instructions and duly arrived at the Alice and Nerys moorings. Our fleet has thus increased by the acquisition of a Dragonforce 65 and a part constructed RAF crash tender. Both will, when they can be photographed afloat will be added to our harbour and the Crash Tender will be the subject of a reconstruction blog when there is space and labour available in the shipyard.

Cheers, Nerys.

MSM Ken - It is a pity to hear of the demise of another fleet, albeit a semi rival. Hopefully, some of them will see the light and agree to sail under our flag. If they have any useful equipment and are prepared to part with it at realistic prices then I am all for it. I take it they are giving you an inventory in due course which no doubt we will discuss at the next meeting of our Fleet Command.

Lt Cdr. Nerys

MSM Ken. Thanks for your information. I have contacted Kevin and he will ferry the new acquistions to my fleet tomorrow. I have given him full navigation instructions, so he should have no problems picking up our leading marks.

Lt Cdr Nerys

Thanks Ken, The weather doesn't sound very good for Saturday so if Kevin is going to be lateish, we won't hurry. If the weather is that bad, perhaps retiring to the usual cafe may not be a bad idea.

Have you received undercover information regarding hostile acts from the outer channel then? I'll be interested to hear what might be going on.

All the best,
Nerys

Thanks for your concern MSM Ken, but Alice is making good progress with her training and it is likely she will be able to resume treating me at home some time next week. I will then be able to return to active service joining the Bristol Channel Patrol with the fast patrol boat that the LFG are prepared to lend me. No doubt, together we will become the scourge of the coast.

Lt.Cdr Nerys

Hi Cash,

I'm not sure how we will get on with this dragon business if you want to induct them into your navy. I was not aware that there is a native American dragon, I know there are likely to be Chinese ones, but they are not renowned for the heat of their fiery breath as are our Welsh ones. I suppose they could be exported to the U.S. if the Welsh Government would grant a licence but I think your President may impose pretty hefty tariffs on them.

Cheers,
Nerys

Nerys, all talk of dragons, cats and rabbits aside, I do hope you’re feeling better soon.
Cash

I think farting and setting the sofa on fire might be a neat party trick, although it would be a one shot kind of thing...unless you have a really good fire extinguisher. Or a plentiful supply of sofas.
Hey!!! I got it, a literal stroke of genius! We can breed dragons to expel Co2 instead of flames. Shoot, feed them a steady diet of say, fish and baking soda you might even get a little foam! Would work great next time the LT and I go rabbit hunting in the lake. Think of it...one fire breather, one foamer, a couple of Bofors guns and a 6 pounder and we’re in business!
Y’know, Dragons are supposed to be pretty intelligent, they might decide they want rank and pay too. Just sayin’.

I know you meant the dragons Doug, but when I get home from hospital, I'm so weak and wobbly that I spend a lot of time on the sofa hoping that I'll revive enough to do a little boat building.
Tattersalls, I'm assuming they will expect payment in guineas as they do for horses.
It is well within Alice's capabilities to build dragon housing. Poor girl, her list of projects gets longer and longer.

All the best,
Nerys

I did actually mean the dragons not you Nerys 😔🤔
Great to hear you'll soon be fit for duty again😊👍
Let us know how you get on at Tattersalls, and with the stable building.
Will Alice be in charge of that or do you need a specialist Dragon Stall company?
Good luck to you both🤞
Doug 😎
PS Carry on dreaming up! 😊

Well Doug, I'm sure you'd rather I spent my time dreaming up fantastic schemes like this during my enforced absence from active service than as you say sitting around farting and setting the sofa on fire. Hopefully my daily hospital attendance is nearing the end, Alice is getting on well with training in the new technique and with any luck I'll be back, rearing to go by the end of next week.

All the best, Nerys

" I find my Dragon Roxy moves fastest on wild Italian Rocket"
Guess we all would stuck on a rocket Colin!
Is it wild cos you fuelled it with cheap grappa? 😝
😁😎

"to help in the reduction of green house gases from shipping"
That's what was worrying me Nerys, as methane is 20 times worse than CO2 for destroying ozone! But, thinking about it I guess he burns off his own methane supply. Neat, self-loading burner / weapon system👍
Better than sitting around at home, farting 😮 and setting fire to the sofa 🔥🤔
DON'T FEED 'EM BEANS COLIN!!!
Nerys, I trust that the stables will be built from the latest fireproof materials, as used to contain fire on aircraft cargo spaces and containers?
Good luck with the fire insurance🤞
FLEET// 😎

I am very pleased that so many people are taking my attempt to harness natural forces, the fire power of our national animal, the red dragon, to help in the reduction of green house gases from shipping, seriously Thank you Colin for agreeing to act as chief trainer, even if the position was dropped on you by Ken. You shouldn't have volunteered any knowledge of Dragons if you hadn't expected to be involved. I can assure you, most Welsh Dragons are multilingual in their understanding. I suppose the next move after designing and building a suitable vessel will be to attend the next Dragon Yearling Sales. I'll have to contact Tattersalls for the dates. We will also need suitable grazing and stabling.

Cheers, Nerys

Well Ken, I suppose Welsh Dragons are intelligent enough, just hope they can understand English as I have only trained the Australian ones so far.
Maybe I should ask Nerys to teach me Welsh.
Cheers Colin.

As a Dragon master I find my Dragon Roxy moves fastest on wild Italian Rocket. But the odd cat can help with digestion.
Cheers Colin.