earlier on this site

Pleased to welcome new advertiser Unfolding Enlightenment who have a Mind Body Soul and Craft show this March in Woodbridge.  More info on advertising here.

WELCOME to 2017: what a miserable soggy day ... the year can only get better.

In this no man's land between Christmas (hope you had a good one) and New Year we've been testing and hacking in the background trying to fix some web site issues like /stradbroke+ above ... still hacking.

Didn't like the Flickr checkerboard top left and it slowed the page load so we've replaced it with recent uploads to our Alamy stock image account.

Another photo licensed on Alamy ... always cheers the day  

Life Skills 12: When opening a bank account online, say hypothetically a TSB cash ISA, check how you can get your money out again, you may be told you have to visit a branch and the nearest TSBs to near the coast are Stowmarket and Ipswich ... we do like the tv ad with the little dog though.

Hopefully you've noticed we've had a slight makeover?  Very regrettably we've had to let Betty go, increasingly she seemed ... well a bit random.

The year moves on, it'll be the autumnal equinox Thursday.

Nine years ago today we inherited the bulletin board from another place (they didn't like people saying things ... you know ... saying things).  Though most of the board's function has understandably gone to the evil Facebook the board still serves a useful if diminished use.

Yes we've had some issues but it's nice to be back, still getting sorted.

A few days later than expected but our PhotoBox pro gallery has now CLOSED.

Some recent licenses means this is already our busiest year ever on Alamy

Life Skills 11:  Unless you live in the countryside there will be one of these near your house though the yellow paint will be long gone.  It's a fire hydrant.  When the fire engine's water tanks run out as the brigade try to put your house fire out they get more water from the hydrant.  If your fire hydrant is in an unmade road not a good idea to bury the hydrant when you're filling in the potholes.

We're nine years old today ... thank you, you are too kind.

Time moves on and for historic reasons we've had to reset the passwords of a few bulletin board users.

Framlingham lady in Crown and Anchor Alley.

07:47am:  The bulletin board unavailable for maybe thirty minutes whilst the software is upgraded ...

08:13am:  ... that was painless bulletin board back again.

This web site is now NOT closed 2:00-5:00pm for staff training ... Sandra threw a sickie.

This web site will be closed tomorrow 2:00-5:00pm for staff training.

Maxine Roper ran the London Marathon in memory of two lost friends including our chum Fish and has raised over £2,000 for the mental health charity Mind.  You can still donate (if only just) as today's your last chance.

Framlingham in 2015 now has its own page.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th ... it's the only one this year so probably a good idea to be extra careful ...

Yesterday after ten months we fixed our server side link checker and as a result we spent most of yesterday and this morning fixing bad links and we expect it will go on ... and on.

That's heartening, the most clicked in yesterday's digest was the link to our still missed friend of ntc Fish.

Our very best wishes to Maxine Roper running the London Marathon today in support of the mental health charity Mind and in memory of two lost friends including the still very much missed here Fish.

Life Skills 10:  Don't travel on a bank holiday, definitely don't travel on a bank holiday that's a nice sunny day and absolutely absolutely don't travel on a bank holiday that's a nice sunny day and the forecast says it'll be the only nice day of the weekend.  (Our journey last Good Friday took over eight hours rather than the usual four.)

The clocks have gone forward ... we wondered why Just A Minute was on so early.

7:05pm: The bulletin board will be unavailable while we upgrade the software.

7:32pm: The bulletin board is back.

Life Skills 9:  Supermarkets that have a world food section (the Norwich Hartford Bridge Tesco has Nigerian 6% Guinness!) may have those large cellophane bags of ground spices at a pro rata one fifth the price of Schwartz refills.  We decant them into large one time gherkin jars and even then the jars aren't big enough.  Couldn't see any large bags in the Martlesham Tesco today but not surprisingly the Hackney Tesco does stock them.

 BE WARNED!  It's Mother's Day Sunday.

We've licensed our first stock photo of 2016 on 

We've removed the AddIt toolbar that lived just above because it was really slowing the web site down, it might return if AddIt sort themselves out.

We've merged Facebook album Framlingham 2004-2010 with album Framlingham 2011 to create ... Framlingham 2004-2011.

Today is Twelfth Night when traditionally Christmas decorations are taken down.

In 2015 there were over 5,000 attempted spambot registrations on our bulletin board.  It takes time to deal with them so we've made registering a little more complicated.

WELCOME to 2016: as you can see we've had a little bit of a makeover ... still working on it.

   Have a good one and we'll see you on the other side.

 TIME TO PANIC   Today last day posting for Christmas first class.

It's now too late for Christmas posting airmail to just about anywhere except Western Europe, drop dead date for UK second class is Saturday.

Life Skills 8:  Proving identity can be difficult especially if it's your elderly mum in a care home and oddly enough she doesn't hold a firearms license.  Web printed statements from paperless utility accounts won't satisfy Barclays but surprisingly although a lot more than a few months old a council tax bill will.

Yes! <power crunch> Linda gets Guess Who 36? thank goodness.

Prompted by Linda some clues for Guess Who 36?

The clocks have gone back an hour.

We now have over 2000 images on Alamy, it's taken eight years.

12:05pm:  The bulletin board unavailable while we upgrade the software ...

12:29pm:  We're back.

63 years and 216 days ... congratulations your majesty.  Watching your coronation in black and white as the archbishop raised the crown giving it the full monty our great aunt Con lent over and said Here Lil, they're all actors aren't they.

Life Skills 7:  From today the maximum you can spend on a contactless tap and go card increases from £20 to £30 so now you can probably use it to buy lunch in Pret A Manger ... whatever that is!

We've added Dan Buster to our Suffolk gents page.

That's nice, licensed another pic on Alamy.  

Our pic of Saturday's bridal party waiting at the porch of St Michael's Framlingham has gone viral on Flickr, over 2,500 views and approaching 50 favourites.

12:55pm: Now the bulletin board needs updating, it'll be off line for a while ...

01:12pm: That was painless, bulletin board back.

Four years ago today we lost Fish, still miss him.

That's nice, licensed another pic on Alamy.

We're eight years old today.

You'll probably find your town or village on the A to Z page.

We've collected past astonishers on to their own page.

The Gentleman Plumber cracks Guess Who 35? 

Julia Middleton has suggested an almost there Guess Who 35? 

Nice try flinders but Guess Who 35? isn't Eric Morecambe.

♥ you democracy ... even when you get it wrong :)

It does matter ... VOTE!

Nice try flinders but Guess Who 35? isn't Eric Morecambe. 

Not Stirling Moss though Guess Who 35? was British and now Linda in Framlingham stationers knows he was in entertainment.

If you are registered to vote you should have received a polling card by now (you don't need the card to vote though it does make it easier).  You can register online but you have to do it by midnight tonight to vote this May.

That's nice, licensed another pic on Alamy.

Advertising slot available now ... we just missed 16,000 visitors last month.

The Vatican City has announced the excommunication vitandus of Hopkins Homes for engaging in joint commercial activities with Satan.  An excommunication vitandus barrs Catholics from dealing with the excommunicated which should slow the spread of Satanism within Suffolk.

175 years ago today Beau Brummell died in a French lunatic asylum ... it was probably what they made him wear.

12:10pm ...  no 01:10pm the clocks have gone forward.

Guess Who 35? on a motorbike he found in a hedge.  It was a 1926 New Imperial with burned out valves and no springs, but this is very unlikely to help you.

The clocks go forward next weekend and yesterday was the spring equinox when day and night are equal so we've added a graphic and backdated it.

From the Red Nose day before last Sgt Andy Buck gets a second fave.

It's taken three months but finally Guess Who 34? gets named by suffolkbornandbred and probably the Gentleman Plumber too.

Phoenix in Flames has joined our Flickr 1,000+ album.

Our attempts to please that nice Mr Google with how we look on a smartphone took if not a giant leap forward at least a significant step today.

5:45pm:  The bulletin board is unavailable while we upgrade the software ...

6:06pm:  ... the board is back (that was quick) and the board time is now right.

We're being a bit quiet because we're still trying to please that nice Mr Google with the mobile version of this website.  We seem to have achieved that but it's beggared everything else.  des' recursive axiom: Everything takes longer than you think even when you allow for des' recursive axiom which states everything takes ...

Not surprisingly what with Christmas, house sales at the end of last year quiet.

We got our first digital SLR camera in 2006, it was a Canon 300D (sold in the US as EOS Rebel) and second hand off eBay of course.  It had a screen on the back slightly bigger than a postage stamp and the following year we upgraded to a 350D.  Old digital cameras don't die as quickly as you might think, yesterday there were 7,690 uploads from 300Ds to Flickr.

Maximus Decimus Meridius:  My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius.  Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Starbucks:  ... I'll just put Max then.

Today we are still mostly fixing mobile usability issues to please that nice Mr Google.

Today we are mostly fixing mobile usability issues on this site to please Google.

If you think Mrs Brown's Boys is hilarious and Detectorists didn't make you laugh you probably won't think much of Up The Women (BBC 2 10:05pm Wednesday) ... mind you it's Jessica Hynes, the delicious Rebecca Front and Grumio from Plebs.

Surprisingly it would seem Guess Who 34? was a very early roller derby skater ... but it hasn't prompted anyone to make a guess.

The first house sales report of 2015 has a good handful of village sales.

Is this the future of the NHS?

We stick by the tradition that Epiphany is twelfth night so we'll be taking down our Christmas cards today.

Blimey!  There's been a bug and security fix for phpBB (the software that runs our bulletin board) for over a month now and we hadn't noticed ... did the 3.1.1->3.1.2 upgrade last night.

For the new year we've tweaked (not twerked) the on this day.  If you click on the day's date below the nearthecoast media bar top right it'll take you to what happened on this day in history.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  No doubt in 2015 Andrea Hill will return as County chief executive and sponsorship renames Suffolk as Hopkinshomeshire, it'll be cheapest to park in Essex and use helicopters to travel around ntc, finally roller derby in Ipswich and perhaps we get a record 20,000 visitors in a month, we abandon VeganB46 but still drop a dress size and despite the continual house building and bureaucratic BS near the coast remains a pleasant place to live ...