Bat Watching

Sunday was the most amazing day, hot, sunny with just a slight breeze, it was a real beach day but I wanted to fit a couple of other things in as well. We went to have a look at the car boot sale in Stalham, it was a bit too hot and crowded for comfort and despite his protests that he was okay, I could tell that Robbie was in a lot of pain, so we didn't stay too long. We didn't buy much, but I couldn't resist buying a couple old annuals. Treasure was one of my favourite comics when I was little and 50p per annual it was a small price to pay to rekindle old memories. 

After the car boot we took a drive to Mundesley for a wonderful roast dinner at Jonet. I had a feast of vegetables because Robbie only wanted a few peas and carrots so I had all his cauliflower, sweet corn as well as my own vegetables. There is something extra special about a roast dinner when you haven't had to cool it and I really enjoyed it.

We spent a little while in Mundesley, enjoying the beach and soaking up the sunshine, then we took a gentle drive back to the bungalow. We had a walk on the beach and we sat in the garden for a little while. I didn't stay outside for too long because I was afraid of getting burnt, I had sun block on but I still caught the sun a bit.

At dusk we stood outside and watched the bats flying around the garden, I love watching them. They are so quick that it is hard for my eyes to keep up with them, but there is something soothing about watching them

Sunday Lunch

We were up bright and early on Sunday. It was a warm and sunny day and we had time to enjoy the morning before going to a car boot sale in Stalham. Robbie bought a couple of dvds but I steered him away from the books and magazines – we have more than enough junk at home already. After the car boot sale we took a drive into Mundesley and enjoyed Sunday Lunch at Jonet, one of our favourite restaurants. It was lovely, roast lamb with cauliflower, broccoli, peas and carrots as well as roast potatoes. Robbie isn’t really into vegetables so he had a few peas and carrots and left all the broccoli and cauliflower for me, it was beautifully cooked.

We came back to the bungalow for Robbie to watch Andy Murray win the gold medal in the men’s singles. I am not into tennis and very definitely not into the Olympics but I was quite contented sitting in the other room writing another chapter of my ‘memoirs’. Then in the evening we enjoyed a walk along the beach, there is something so special about the sounds and smell of the sea, and the sky in Norfolk is beautiful.

The sea hath no king but God alone - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

According to the forecasts Friday was to be wet and miserable but Norfolk weather has a mind of its own and the ominous dark cloud was chased away by the sun leaving a lovely bright sky. We decided to make the most of the nice day and had a wander around the car boot sale, Robbie bought a cd but apart from that we enjoyed looking at all the goods on sale without giving in to temptation. By the time we had finished at the car boot sale Robbie’s tummy was rumbling so we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the beach café in Mundesley. There were lots of people on the beach and we enjoyed looking out at the sea as we ate our lunch. To my considerable relief Robbie passed on the onion rings this time, I can’t stand the smell of onion.



After lunch Robbie suggested that we should take a drive to Horsey Mill. It is a nice drive and it takes us past the lighthouse at Happisburgh as well as several beautiful churches and other buildings of interest. Horsey Mill is rather spectacular and Robbie darted about taking photos before his attention was taken by the shop – they had several interesting railway books! We took a gentle drive back towards Stalham so that Robbie could buy supplies for a packed lunch. He was determined to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to go and play trains – again. I was equally determined that I wasn’t going, but I didn’t mind dropping him off at the station.

'You either get Norfolk, with its wild roughness and uncultivated oddities, or you don't. It's not all soft and lovely. It doesn't ask to be loved.' Stephen Fry

We woke up to a lovely quiet and sunny morning, I felt much better after a long sleep and after a refreshing shower and one of Robbie’s legendary bacon sandwiches I was ready to face the day. I finished off the unpacking while listening to the Archers and Robbie had a shave and shower, then we were ready to go to the local car boot sale. I love car boot sales, but we only go when we are on holiday because we already have far too much junk in our house.



Robbie had very bad cramp in the night and it had left him with a very painful leg, but he managed to walk around the reasonably well. He didn’t want to buy much, just a couple of music cassettes and a book of railway postcards, but he enjoyed searching through boxes looking at old die cast vehicles and various model trains. I bought several cds including Summoned by Bells, the verse biography of John Betjeman, we enjoyed listening to the first part of it when we got back to the bungalow.


It was mid afternoon when we got back from the car boot sale. It was nice to have time to just sit and look out across the sea and enjoy the calm that time away from reality brings. There was plenty to see first of all we saw a life boat travelling at speed along the coast, Robbie went out to take a photo, but his blackberry was not powerful enough so he dashed back for his camera. Then there were two lifeboats and a little dinghy type lifeboat and then he said that there was a fourth boat. I wonder what was going on.

Robbie had only just settled down again when another boat came past, it was fairly close and Robbie rushed out again for a better look. He said he thought it was a customs boat and he came back in to look on the site he uses to identify the shipping in the area. It was a nice relaxing evening, we watched DVDs, and enjoyed the unusual feeling of having nothing pressing to do – I could get used to this!

Just Looking

Friday

We had to get up earlier this morning because we wanted to go and have a look at the car boot sale and it started at 11am. It wasn't such a difficult target when you consider what time we get up on weekdays when we are at home, but still we had a last minute rush, in fact it looked as if Robbie would be attending the car boot sale in his lounge wear!

It was a sunny and very warm morning and we enjoyed walking around looking at all the stalls, it was fun. In the end we didn't buy anything, I think we both know that we have more than enough junk in our house and we need to be getting rid of things not buying more!

After the boot sale we went to Mundsley for the afternoon we enjoyed the beach and we had a lovely meal. I am so sorry that we are going home on Sunday, it has been such a wonderful holiday that I would like to pause time for a while and just enjoy being together - but I have missed the children and I am longing to see them again.

Robbie's Reply

I suppose its time I wrote another piece for the blog..... This holiday has been exceedingly challenging, not for me but for Christine and Sam, as at times I have been a totally miserable orifice! Despite all that, I have really enjoyed my holiday, especially the 'man creche' - How dare she call the BASTION of English Retail such a name! I love Marks and Spencers!

Every year when we come to Walcott, they have a car boot sale every Friday and Sunday. We love to have have a good forage around all the different stalls, this year I managed to find a cassette version of The Smiths - The Queen is Dead, quite a find these days!

The one thing I really find difficult on holiday is letting go of work, I know some people sometimes think work IS MY LIFE, and in some ways they are right, but this holiday I have actually enjoyed NOT thinking too much about work. Once I get back into it again, it will probably back to normal but with the caveat that I have to balance home life and work life better by a long way!

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!

Kept At Arms Length

We expected Friday to be dull and showery as predicted by the local weather forecast, but clearly nobody had told the weather what it should be doing and it surprised us with another beautiful sunny day. We went to the car boot sale again just to have a look around, it was fun, but we didn't buy much. Sam bought and ancient camera, he is becoming obsessed with photography and he liked this old camera because it is the box type where you look at a viewfinder on top in order to line up your photo. In typical Sam style, when he develops an interest in a subject, it takes over his whole life and he has to know absolutely everything about it!

We went to Mundesley for lunch, there were loads of people on the beach and it was nice to sit in the café looking out at the beach while enjoying our meal. Robbie's meal came with a pile of onion rings so I will be keeping him at arms length for a few days!!

A Near Death Experience!

I had a near death experience on Sunday. We went to a car boot sale and Robbie and Sam were in rummaging mode, Sam has a passion for buying old coins and he dragged me over to a stall to look at some Victorian pennies, he got chatting to the lady on the stall and before I knew it she was offering him a box of bits and bobs at a very low price. Our house is full of junk already, we don't need to buy any more, I think my look of horror said it all. Sam managed to restrict himself to individual coins and he bought a pocket watch and some other oddments too. Just when I was breathing a sigh of relief about Sam, Robbie found a huge box of railway magazines. I stood there growing old while he scrambled under the table to sort through the magazines in the box. The man tried to negotiate with Robbie to buy the whole box and my heart sank, I had visions of dragging that big box of magazines back with us, but thankfully common sense prevailed and he didn't buy it.

Common sense hadn't extended to Robbie's choice of shorts, he was wearing those lurid brown and luminous yellow/green shorts that look like a skirt. I did my best not to look at his lower half, but when I did glance down I noticed that his left leg was covered in blood! As usual Robbie hadn't felt any injury and had no idea how he hurt himself, but closer inspection revealed three or four long cuts to his calf, it looked as if someone had tried to chop his leg off! We went back to the bungalow to tend to Robbie's wounds, then we spent a lovely afternoon sitting in the garden looking down at the beach listening to the gentle lapping of the tide. The sun was lovely but the noise pollution wasn't so attractive, it was Robbie running through his repertoire of farmyard impressions in his sleep. Nudging didn't wake him and shaking him only brought forth insults, so I decided to take a walk along the beach to the shop. I invited Robbie to come with me, but he told me to 'go away' so I left him there. He woke briefly when I brought him an ice cream back, but only seconds after the last mouthful the snoring started again and he remained there in the sunshine for another hour or so. When he came in he had caught the sun on one side of his face, it was very noticeable, the left side of his face was red and the other side was white, to complete the picture he had glowing red knees, it made him look like a comic book character – I could just imagine him as one of Batman's adversaries!

Robbie, Where's Your Trousers?

There is one thing that Robbie just can't resist – the Marks and Spencer sale. He couldn't resist a diversion to M&S in Birmingham on his way back from the railway open day. He bought two new pairs of PJ bottoms, some socks and quite possibly a few other things that he hasn't admitted to yet. He got a train to Birmingham International and then he visited the loo before heading off to catch the replacement bus to Northampton. He was just washing his hands when a horrible thought struck him, his PJ's were still on the train heading for Bournemouth. He rang customer support and the absconding PJ's were apprehended and escorted from the train at Coventry so Robbie had to go chasing after his 'lounge wear'. It always seems to happen to him!

Walking Tall

Walking Tall Friday 17th August 2007

It was nice not to have anything too urgent to get up for this morning. We planned to go to a local car boot sale, but that didn't start until 11am so we had plenty of time to get ready without any great urgency. Sam and I managed to be ready on time, but when I was ready to go Robbie was still running around in his knickers and even when he was dressed and fit to be seen in public he decided that he absolutely had to choose that moment to stop to write a cheque and fill in an application for tickets to a Railway open day! We were 45 minutes late for the car boot sale but it was very busy with lots of stalls and there was plenty to see. We didn't intend to spend too much because we already have far too much clutter at home, but it is fun looking and I have to admit that I succumbed to temptation on a couple of things. Robbie and I bought a few old postcards for our collection and a couple of colour box cats miniature ornaments - I collect those too but I only bought these because they were ridiculously cheap.

Sam bought some stilts and spent the afternoon practising stilt walking in the back garden. I wish he had invested similar energy into keeping his bedroom tidy! His room here is bigger than his room at home so it should be easier to keep it tidy - that's the theory, but the reality is somewhat different. Over the last few days Sam has expended so much effort in avoiding the issue and hiding the mess that I was determined that it was going to be done to my satisfaction today. It took ten minutes to do it properly - he must have wasted hours in his efforts to dodge ten minutes work!!