'It inspires me, the sea, the limitless skies, the mud and the burning sunsets and the freedom of a place where more than 50% of the neighbours are fish.' - Raffaella Barker

Thursday 8th August

We'd planned to go to Cromer today, but it was such a beautiful morning that we decided that Cromer could wait and we would enjoy the sun and the beach. This is what I dream of all year, the luxury of time, freedom from routine and the peace and tranquility of the Norfolk coast. The huge Norfolk sky reaches down to touch the sea and rhythmic sound of the waves rolling on to the beach and the cries of sea birds are the mood music of the day.

We walked on the beach. I splashed in the surf and looked at the beauty of the sea washed pebbles glistening in the sunshine while Robbie took photos. The beach is a lot lower this year, it is a long time since I can remember the sand being this low. The beach is different every time we come, the level of the sand changes, sometimes as now the tide leaves pools behind at the back of the beach. My children loved the pools when they were little, and seeing the beach like this again brings back so many memories. 

We sat in the garden all day, enjoying the sunshine, reading and relaxing. I wrote all my postcards and caught up with one or two other bits and pieces of writing too. Despite the factor 50, I still managed to catch the sun a little bit, I have stripes on my legs because I was wearing shorts so I will have to try and even it out in the next few days

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan - Eleanor Roosevelt

One of the nice things about Robbie working for himself is that sometimes he can have a day off during the week. It makes up for all those early mornings and late nights. Usually when he has time off we try to enjoy the day together, but that wasn't possible today because this is a very busy week for me, so work had to come first. 

Robbie had an appointment at the Apple shop in Milton Keynes, to have his i-pad checked out, but he didn't fancy going there by train because it is a very long walk to the shopping centre. He decided to take this chance to try out the Stagecoach Gold (Enviro 400) bus service to Milton Keynes. He wasn't impressed with the design he said it was a bumpy journey and the seats creaked and rattled, but he liked the free Wi-Fi.

I didn't hear from Robbie for most of the morning then  I got a brief text to say that his i-pad problem had been resolved. A bit later I logged on to check my email account and then I had a quick look at facebook. Robbie had found his way to the Lego shop and he'd created 3 'unique' Lego figures, the evidence was posted on facebook for all to see. I was deeply troubled by his creations, the first one seemed to be a short legged version of Robbie, the second was a colour blind woman armed with a circular saw and the third was a man apparently wearing a hard hat and carrying an implausibly large banana. It left me wondering what goes on in Robbie's head and I remarked to the cat that he could probably keep a psychiatrist fully occupied for years! One of his friends commented that counselling is available, but another friend responded "I think counselling is a little late. Besides who would want to change Robbie? We need a few Robbies in the grey old world".   

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It Wasn't Me!

Well this must be the longest gap in writing since I started writing the blog. Partly it is because I have been involved with an interesting little project which I should be able to write more about in a day or two. Mostly it is because I have been feeling absolutely dire for weeks. It sounds so pathetic to be moaning about having a cough, but this really is a hell of a cough. I have had it for at least four weeks this time and I only had a gap of about four weeks free of the previous cough which lasted for twelve weeks. The doctor says that my lungs are clear the problem seems to be higher up, but we are still investigating the exact cause. It always seems to happen when I get a cold and then I just can't get rid of it. Maybe I have to accept it as a very annoying symptom of my asthma, but to cough to the point of passing out or actually making yourself sick from coughing tends to limit your social life as well as scaring people who witness it. Anyway that is quite enough moaning for today, in fact I have probably used up a whole months ration of moans!

Robbie has been at home for three weeks or so and it has been frustrating that we haven't been able to enjoy doing more things together, but coping with the 'killer cough' and the fact that I still had to go to work got in the way of Robbie's plans. It is a bit of an exaggeration to say that he has been at home, Robbie gets withdrawal symptoms after one day without trains and I start to feel exhausted after a couple of days with Robbie, so when he asks for a lift to the station I am always ready to oblige! He has spent a lot of time on trains in the last few weeks and lots of numbers / routes have been ticked off in his little book!

This is his last week of freedom and he intends to make the most of it. On Sunday he had an HST day travelling to the South West and back. I love the sea wall, but I don't love HSTs so I decided that I would be happier at home. That turned out to be an inspired decision because when Robbie got on the train he discovered that one of the cats had vandalised his best Sennheiser headphones. When exasperated with the cats he always resorts to alliteration, when Oreo upsets him he is a 'furry, blank, fatherless, feline; but this time Bernard was under suspicion so we had a rant on the theme of 'B'.  

He managed a whole day without trains yesterday but he will be heading off on a train later today and he will probably fit several in several more trips during the week. On Friday we are going to York then at the weekend Robbie is off to a special event at the Bodmin and Wenford Railway. 

Delaying Tactics

The alarm roused us at 5.30am and by the time Robbie emerged from the shower I had the car packed and I thought we were ready to hit the road – we weren't!  Still in a state of undress, Robbie decided that this was the moment to catalogue his Hornby magazines. I must be mellowing because instead of wanting to harm him I smiled indulgently at him sitting in the middle of the lounge floor like an eccentric garden gnome surrounded by magazines. I took the time to check through my packing list once more to make absolutely sure that we had not forgotten anything. 

Eventually we were ready to go but Robbie demanded a diversion via Mc Donalds to pick up some breakfast for him (I would rather starve than face that first thing in the morning). Finally we were on the road when Robbie startled me by shouting out to express his pleasure about something.  I was confused because we were nowhere near the railway line so he couldn't have seen a train, apparently his whoop of joy was because his sausage egg and cheese bagel had been constructed in the correct order. Oh well whatever floats his boat.

Despite Robbie’s delaying tactics we were early enough to get a good run and soon after 11am we were in Walcott. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely relaxed lunch at the Beach Café in Mundesley, looking out across the beach. After all that had happened in the last week or so it was hard to believe that we are finally here with two whole weeks of freedom stretching ahead of us. We drove back to Walcott and set about unpacking. At last everything was put away, we were both exhausted and we had a very early night.

'I am still reeling with delight at the soaring majesty of Norfolk.' John Betjeman

It feels as if things have been tough for a long time, worries and problems seem to pop up like mushrooms. Mostly we can deal with them, I'm a fighter, I don't give up, but I do get tired sometimes. It is hard to watch the gradual decline of a family member and it is even harder to to find the time and energy to offer appropriate support. Other problems are a different sort of battle, time consuming, exhausting, but with right on our side, dogged determination and persistence, I am sure that things will work out in the end. Worries or not we still do our best to enjoy the fun  and challenges of family life. Life is here and now so we can't let it slip through our fingers.

We has some exciting and unexpected news last weekend. It will be possible for us to go to Norfolk on holiday after all. When we went to the bungalow last year we thought it would be the last time we would be able to stay there. The person who owned it, a family friend had been very ill for a long time and his family were not sure about the future of the bungalow. Sadly he died recently but his wife has offered us the chance to rent the bungalow again this summer. It has really cheered me up, it is lovely to have something to look forward to, I love the bungalow and that part of Norfolk holds a very special place in my heart.

Robbie is very excited about another holiday in Norfolk, he loves it there too. He has already planned a couple of trips to the North Norfolk Railway, a trip to Norwich to have a look at Crown Point, a day out 'doing the drags' on the middle weekend, the list goes on and on! I have already had to remind him that there are only 14 days in a fortnight and he has to leave himself time for his other favourite pastime, watching the ship with his binoculars. Once a 'spotter' always a spotter!!

He Got The Call!

It has been almost a week since I last wrote the blog. Robbie and I have had time off work together and it has been really special, we have had such a good time that the blog just had to wait! So I have a bit of catching up to do...........


Saturday
I was determined that I would not let the day slip through my fingers as so often happens on a Saturday, so I set my alarm to wake me up at a reasonable hour and I made my mind up to enjoy the day to the full. The alarm went off and as soon as I popped my head out from under the covers I knew that it was distinctly chilly. I managed a brief dash to the bathroom before retreating back under the covers. It was nice to sit in bed snug and warm with my laptop while listening to the radio. There is something very special about the luxury of time and the freedom to do whatever floats your boat. In my life, time is a rare commodity so it is extra special to have days of total freedom stretching ahead of me. Robbie made good use of his time - snuggled under the covers exploring the land of nod!


After a very enjoyable morning and a lazy lunch the phone rang and Robbie's eyes lit up when he realised who was calling. It was the optician to tell him that his new glasses were ready for collection. I have never seen him move so fast, one minute he had been trotting around the house in his 'smalls' Homer style, the next he was 'fully booted and spurred' and ready to go and collect his glasses. We rarely go to town on a Saturday (I don't cope well with crowded places) but it was a very pleasant couple of hours. Robbie's choice of glasses was fairly reserved by his standards, both pairs have a little hint of the unconventional, but you have to look carefully to spot it. Once we'd collected the glasses we had time to visit the bookshop and then enjoy a visit to Costa. 

On the way home Robbie spotted a sign for a shop that sells vinyl records. The excitement was almost too much for him, it was too late to visit the shop that day but it is high on his 'to do' list for the week ahead. 

Stopping to Look Both Ways

We have had a lovely Christmas this year, nice food to eat, nice presents, but most important of all we were able to enjoy time with the people we love. We always have good intentions but life can be so busy that far too long can slip by without us spending quality time with family and friends. So the Christmas break has been especially important to us, we have enjoyed special moments with our wider family. It is rare that we are all together at the same time so that makes it extra special. After all the activity and chaos of Christmas, Robbie and I appreciated a few days of quiet with nothing much to do and all day to do it. Usually our days start very early, so not being ruled by the alarm clock has been fantastic and I think it has done us both good to have time to unwind. Despite all the pre Christmas stress, I have really enjoyed this Christmas break and I will be sorry to see Robbie return to work tomorrow.


I am not a fan of new year celebrations. It always seems rather sad to be closing the door on the old year and I look ahead to the new year with a certain amount of trepidation, wondering what new worries and challenges it has in store. It is odd really as I am not a pessimist and I tend to take most of the ups and downs of life in my stride, I think mostly it is just fear of the unknown. Every year the world changes a little bit, situations change, new people come into our lives and some become very important, and sadly other people are lost from our lives. As the year draws to a close we remember the familiar faces no longer with us who have brightened our lives in various ways. We may not know them personally but we are touched by their loss and we will miss them. Perhaps I am just getting old but it seems to me that we have said too many goodbyes in the last year. Among those that I will miss most are George Baker who brought Inspector Wexford to life, Jimmy Saville because there was no one quite like him, Peter Falk because I loved Colombo, David Croft who wrote Dads Army as well as other great comedy shows and brought so much pleasure, Billie Jo Spears because I loved her voice, and Edward Hardwicke who I will always think of as Dr Watson.

'The Norfolk landscape sends a shiver through my soul....' - Raffaella Barker

Our holiday in Norfolk had been planned long before our recent woes and despite the huge black cloud of worry hanging over us we decided to go and make the most of the peace and freedom that we always find in Norfolk. These things never work out as planned and before we could pack and get ready for our holiday we had to address the pressing issues that were crowding into our week. Robbie had important deadlines to meet at work, but he also needed to see the GP urgently, and just to confuse matters further he had to take time out of a very busy week to deal with three totally intelligible letters sent by CMEC/CSA which no one dealing with his case could explain. They couldn’t even tell who had sent the letters or why, I in these days of austerity I can’t help wondering why a government agency would send out three different letters to the same person on the same day in three different envelopes and then waste hours of staff time responding to frantic phone calls from intelligent people who are totally baffled by the correspondence. What I wonder has happened to plain English and what on earth has happened to customer service?



Robbie arrived home from work at 11pm on Friday evening; I was tired, frustrated and still packing. Robbie was so tired that he was like a zombie and so challenging that if I hadn’t sent him upstairs to sort his clothes out I might have harmed him! It was heading towards 3am when I went to bed and Robbie was even later because he was dealing with final bits and bobs of work that had to be done before we could go on holiday. I knew that would fall asleep but I was too tired to wait for him, in the past Meg would have woken him up and sent him to bed when she got sick of his snoring, but now he had a stark choice, find his own way to bed or stay put.


The alarm woke us at 6am and ‘sleeping beauty’ reluctantly plodded off to make a cup of tea. Within half an hour I was up, washed, dressed and packing the car. I wanted to be on the road by 8am, but Robbie trotted around in a state of undress and showed a marked reluctance to get himself organised. He still had to finish off some bits and bobs at work and this was delayed further by computer problems. The clock ticked on, 8 o’clock came and went and by 10 o’clock a near naked Robbie was still messing around with work matters and I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep my temper. I finally chased him off to get ready and at 10.50am I went to sit in the car to wait for him, at least I could listen to the radio while I waited. At 11.30am he came out to announce that he was on his way before scuttling back in to do a few last minute jobs. At 12.OO I was parked outside Marks and Spencer’s waiting for Robbie to buy himself a coffee and a breakfast baguette. Then at long last we were on our way.


Considering the late start we had a reasonable journey and made good time. Before we had even left Northampton Robbie did his usual trick of squealing with delight at something that he had seen from the car. This time it was not a train, it was two traction engines in the car park of the rugby club, he was very disappointed that I refused to stop for him to take a closer look. One day he will cause an accident by shouting out like that. I got my own back on him later when I told him that I had caught him out in a bit of mischief (yet again), it is one of the few occasions that I can recall Robbie being completely speechless. He should know by now that I don’t miss much!


We arrived at about 3pm and began the exhausting process of unpacking and putting everything away. I was exhausted and all I really wanted to do was to make the bed and crawl into it, but suddenly we were thrown into panic mode – it seems I had forgotten to pack the coffee! Robbie was very good, he managed not to stamp his feet, but the arms were folded and the bottom lip was sticking out as if he was a sulky toddler. So, before the unpacking was completed we had to get back into the car and head for Tesco in order to find the correct brand of coffee. By then I was far too tired to contemplate cooking, in fact I wasn’t even sure I was awake enough to eat anything, but Robbie’s rumbling tummy led us to the fish and chip shop. I found that I was hungry after all and I managed to clear my plate before sleep finally caught up with me.

Look Who Came Down the Chimney!

I first wrote about the bird that came down the chimney over two weeks ago. We could hear the scratching and fluttering but despite pulling out the furniture and opening up the sealed off fireplace we could not free the bird. It seemed to be stuck on a ledge about a foot above the fireplace and there was nothing I could do to get it out. Robbie didn't seem too bothered about it, but every night I would lay awake in bed listening to it scratching and wondering what more I could do to save it. I had almost given up hope, but at lunchtime on Saturday there was an almighty bump and the most enormous pigeon landed with a thud in the fireplace. The poor thing looked rather tatty, but I am amazed that it survived. It eventually flew around the room a few times and we threw the window open to allow it to escape. It didn't seem too keen to redescover the great outdoors so we left it shut in the bedroom with the windows open and when we went back an hour or so later it was gone.