"Book lovers never go to bed alone" - Unknown

Tuesday 13th August

We'd planned to make an early start this morning because we were going to Cromer, but it proved harder than expected to get up and get organised, so it was 10am before we left the bungalow. It didn't really matter, we had an enjoyable drive and we found a parking space without too much difficulty. 

Our first port of call was the tourist information centre, it has an Internet hot spot. We have missed having a reliable Internet connection while in Norfolk, so we took the chance to catch up on email, facebook etc. While there we bought a pile of railway poster postcards - Robbie likes to collect them. 

 We wandered in the direction of Jarolds, but we didn't get that far, I had forgotten about Robbie's need to stop and photograph every bus that he sees - he even used his phone to take photos as he was crossing the road! I had also forgotten  about the hardware shop, Robbie absolutely loves that shop, he has a bit of an obsession with crockery. I waited and waited until I was so bored that I told him that I was going over the road to the second hand bookshop. I was in heaven! I had forgotten about this shop and I spent a very happy time looking at all the children's books. When Robbie saw the Ladybird books I thought he was going to burst with excitement. He bought the Ladybird book about the railway, he had a good look at the railway book section but he didn't buy any, instead he chose two hardback Snoopy books - one of them is in French!

We finally got to Jarolds where Robbie indulged his passion for pens and erasers as well as books, Playmobil, purses and postcards. We were hungry by now but Robbie still had another bookshop on his list so we walked across to the bargain bookshop and Robbie checked out the transport section - they had bus books as well as railway books so I knew I was in for a long wait! I found a fantastic book which contained all the Britains model catalogues of the 1970s. We bought that book as well as a railway book that Robbie just couldn't resist. 

At long last it was time to eat, we found a little restaurant called the Garden Street Grill. I loved the meal, the service was prompt and friendly and the toilets were excellent. It was good value and I would definitely go there again. 

Enjoy the little things, for one day you make look back and realize they were the big things - Robert Brault

Today has been a day of noticing small things that I would usually be too busy to notice. To be strictly accurate something not quite so small nearly came to public notice this afternoon, but more about that later.



It was a nice morning, sunny but breezy, not a chilly breeze, a warm comfortable breeze. Robbie had missed his mouth and spilled coffee on his pale lemon coloured T-shirt yesterday, so I soaked it overnight and washed it out this morning. Robbie grumbled when I asked him to hang it out on the line, he was missing the tumble dryer, but having time to line dry clothes is one of the pleasures of Norfolk for me. Robbie spent the morning spotting ships (or perhaps they are called boats I am not sure) from the lounge window while I was fascinated by the t-shirt dancing in the breeze, it was dry within a couple of hours and so and it didn’t even need ironing!

Robbie’s excitement about ship spotting gets a bit exhausting after a while, so I left him with his binoculars and wandered down to the garden gate to look out across the sea. The sky seems to stretch on forever and the power of the sea can’t be ignored even on a fairly calm August morning, but then as I looked down at the rough grass by the gate and I spotted a ladybird scurrying about doing whatever ladybirds do. It reminded me to appreciate the beauty in small things as well as the more obvious things.

After lunch we went to North Walsham in search of razor blades for Robbie. Until now he has worn shorts, but he decided that jeans were the order of the day for a trip to North Walsham. He was dressed and ready to go when he discovered that he had not packed his belt. I thought it would be OK but as soon as we started walking around it became clear that it was only a question of time before his jeans fell down, he kept stopping to hoist them up, but it did no good. We had to buy a new belt to preserve his modesty. Ok I know modesty is not a word that most people would associate with Robbie, but you know what I mean. Even in North Walsham he found time for a bit of bus spotting – he never gives up!!


Robbie took a lovely moody picture of the sea as he walked along the coast path this evening, being here overlooking the beach really makes me appreciate the beauty of the world around me.

Last Day

Friday rolled round far too fast, and sadly the last day of our holiday was here already. It was another lovely sunny day and I was determined to enjoy the beach. I took my camera with me and took lots of photos as I wandered along the beach enjoying the sunshine.

Robbie came out with me but he was a bit out of sorts and as the day progressed he developed a bad cold. I tried to be tolerant but he refused to take any medication and by the evening he was wandering around like a zombie making terrible sniffing gurgling sounds. He obviously feels rough, but if he took some medication it may help and it would certainly make me feel a little less irritated.

When I was in the garden a butterfly settled right in front of me as if it was posing for a photo, I am so pleased that I had my camera in my pocket. Everywhere is still covered in ladybirds, it is impossible to walk without stepping on them and when you sit down you can see them all flying around, they even crawl all over the washing on the line!

Anyway here are a few last photos of our time in Walcott.

My Favourite Holiday Photos

Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home.......

Sunday was so hot that I couldn't cope with being in the sun for too long. Sam and I went out in the morning, Robbie had decided last night that he didn't want to come with us, he wasn't in a bad mood he just wanted a quiet morning with his Sunday paper. Sam wanted to go to the car boot to look for books on photography and he found four really good books for next to nothing. We made a quick detour to Tesco to get a few essentials for Robbie and then headed back to the beach.

Robbie and I took a walk along the beach, there were so many ladybirds that it was making Robbie cross. They seemed to be attracted to his bright yellow top (perhaps they thought he was a huge flower!) He was fairly OK about them until they tried to go up his shorts, he took that as a personal insult and after doing an interesting little jig he called the insects some very insulting names! I paddled in the sea, I didn't have the excuse of paddling with children but it was fun anyway, the sea was warm and calm. Robbie sat on the beach and watched, he doesn't paddle, he prefers to keep his feet dry, after all if he got too close to the sea he would risk getting his favourite shorts splashed. Usually I pretend that I'm not with him when he wears his 'extra loud' shorts, but they have their uses, I have no chance of losing him on a crowded beach – however hard I try!

Getting There

It is increasingly difficult to get Robbie up in the mornings these days, but on Saturday morning I think my determined tone scared Robbie into action despite the early hour. We got all our last minute jobs done and with a bit of difficulty we crammed all our luggage into the car and closed the boot ready to go. Then Robbie suddenly remembered two more bags of essentials that absolutely had to go in the boot, and Sam had a 'man stress' because I had packed his laptop and his rucksack in the boot and he wanted it in the back with him. Very reluctantly I opened the boot, retrieved Sam's possessions, re packed the boot remembering to pack Robbie's last minute luggage and I closed the boot defiantly. I did not intend to open it again until we got to Norfolk.

This was my first real journey with the sat nav, I could tell that Robbie was feeling a bit edgy about being replaced and he was fairly close to a tantrum, so for the sake of peace I took a detour via Mc Donalds so that Robbie and Sam could indulge their passion for junk food. I couldn't face it and I made do with a hot chocolate. We made very good time and the sat nav was a great success until Robbie took an excessive interest in it as we drove through Norwich. Suddenly the sat nav was communicating with me in Cantonese and Robbie and Sam were convulsed with laughter, in fact Robbie laughed so much that he turned puce and looked as if he was about to burst. A couple more clicks from Robbie produced instructions in Dutch and then Polish, so I gave him one of my looks and miraculously the regained the power of speech in English.

We arrived before 11am, too early to pick up the key to the bungalow, so we spent a couple of hours in Mundesley, it was lovely and sunny, a really beautiful day. As we walked down to the beach we couldn't believe our eyes, there were more ladybirds than I have ever seen in my life. Apparently they have ladybirds in plague proportions in Norfolk, they are everywhere, but I don't mind, I rather like them.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204864/Plague-ladybirds-puts-families-flight-Holidaymakers-overrun-tens-millions-bugs.html

By the time we had driven back to the bungalow, unpacked the car and settled in, I was so tired that I fell asleep.

Going Going Gone!

I was very sad to hear that Woolworths has gone into administration and it looks as if their stores will disappear from the high street. I know they haven't been doing very well for some time, but it is very sad, it is like losing an old friend. I have so many fond memories associated with Woolworths, I remember buying records from there in my teens and more recently cd's and dvd's, when we were on holiday it was a bit of a tradition to go to Woolworths to buy a few dvd's for the children. They owned the Ladybird children's clothing brand and and their designs were popular with parents and children, over the years we have bought party dresses, coats and casual clothes as well as all sorts of accessories. You could always depend on Woolworths for wellies, plimsolls, trainers and the like, I can remember when the girls were little we bought them some trainers that lit up as they walked, they loved them. My favourite area was the stationary section – I love buying stationary and you could always find something slightly different and we would often buy pens and all the bits and bobs the children needed for school. They didn't have a huge toy section, but the children liked to buy things from there, and they had no difficulty finding things they wanted, they own the Chad Valley brand of toys and it will be a shame to see that go. Like most people perhaps my strongest memory of Woolworths is the pick and mix sweets, when the children were younger they loved to be allowed to buy pick and mix when we went to town on a Saturday. I think we will all miss Woolworths.

The furniture company MFI has also gone into administration , but I can't summon up much regret, it was good in it's time but in recent years it had lost it's way. The last time I purchased something from them I received very bad service and and to compound my frustration the product proved to be expensive rubbish. I think the demise of MFI is long overdue.