To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone - Reba McEntire

A couple of weeks ago when I was chatting to my older daughter Emily she stopped in mid conversation and looked at my hands. She said "mum look at your hands, they've turned into Grandma's hands" and she took my hand in hers and looked at it closely. I can always rely on one or other of my offspring to tell me the uncomfortable truth. Some months ago my son had a word with me about my hairstyle, he warned me not to have my hair cut any shorter or I would be in danger of looking like a lesbian. I couldn't help laughing, I may have cared what people thought once, but not these days people can think what they like. 

I understood exactly what my daughter meant about my hands. You can try all sorts of lotions and potions to make your face look younger but your hands tell the truth, you can't stop your hands ageing. Several weeks ago my son asked me to buy him make up and a special sort of liquid to create scars ready for Halloween. I wasn't impressed, I don't approve of the Americanisation of our customs and traditions; as far as I'm concerned trick or treating is worse than begging because there is an element of threat. I managed to stop myself before my thoughts became words. Will knows my thoughts on Halloween and I knew he wouldn't be going trick or treating so there was no harm in him dressing up to go to a party. He has had a passion for dressing up ever since he was a little boy and in recent years he has become very creative with stage make up. It crossed my mind that if I'm not careful I will be like my grandma - she managed to turn disapproval into a performance art! When I was little it seemed as if she disapproved of everything that I found enjoyable and I don't want to be like that, so Will got his items for Halloween and he promised to send me some photos.

I used to enjoy bonfire night when I was a child but it seems to have got a bit out of control now. When I was growing up we just had a few fireworks in the back garden, Catherine wheels, Roman candles, screeches, traffic lights, jumping jacks, a couple of small rockets and some sparklers. It was all carefully supervised by my mum to make sure we stayed safe, and when our little display was over we would go back into the house and eat jacket potatoes to warm us up after standing out in the cold. Fireworks seem bigger and louder now (and much more expensive) and we are bothered by the sound of fireworks for days before and after bonfire night. It is very upsetting for the animals, so many dogs and other animals are terrified by the sound of fireworks. I think perhaps we need tighter regulation about when fireworks can be set off. I can remember my grandma saying that fireworks were a wicked waste, she said it was like burning money and I have to admit that she had a point. I haven't bought fireworks for over twenty years, but I think it would be a shame to see the custom die out completely.

The weather is finally getting a bit colder, not perhaps as cold as I would expect it to be in November but cold enough to make me want to wear a coat sometimes. At last I've packed away my summer clothes, dusted off some of my autumn and winter clothes, taken a big bag of stuff to the recycling bank and a few bits and bobs that weren't good enough for recycling were given a decent burial. I'm not usually very good at parting with clothes so I decided to reward myself with a couple of new items. I fell in love with a needle cord skirt which had a subtle rose pattern, but it was a little bit tight and much too long. I wasn't going to let a little thing like that put me off, I bought it anyway and made plans to alter it. It took a fair bit of planning and measuring, I unpicked the waistband, took out the zip, lining and part of the side seems, shortened it from the top then repositioned the zip, lining, side seems and waistband. It only took me a few hours and it was worth the effort because it fits perfectly and I like it. I guess the ability to sew is a very useful skill that both my mum and my grandma passed on to me, I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful for the example of my mum's determination and ability to cope with all the challenges that came her way. She has always told me that a woman can do anything that a man can do and we can do most things better because we take time to plan and we read the instructions! 

It was raining last Friday when I went to stay with my friend Clare but when I drove back on Saturday afternoon I was able to enjoy the beautiful Warwickshire and Northamptonshire landscape. As I left the A5 and joined the A428 at Crick the sun was sinking towards the horizon with a breathtaking display of deep fiery red colours. Ahead of me were deep, dark storm clouds but looking through the rear view mirror I could see clear skies, it was the sort of day when amid all the confusion you would expect to see a rainbow. On this occasion I only saw a faint one after I had driven away from the storm clouds, but it reminded me that I saw a very bright rainbow on another recent journey home from Clare's and when I was at her house in September we saw a double rainbow. I know it is only a natural phenomenon but I don't think it's possible to see a rainbow without feeling a glimmer of hope.

When I got home on Saturday the cats tried to lie to me, I knew that my daughter had fed them but they acted as if they were starving so I gave them some extra food and then went to sit down with a cup of tea. When I went back into the kitchen Dave the cat had vanished, I found him in a little den that he had created between the fridge freezer and the radiator. It is a fairly narrow space, I have several narrow storage boxes stacked there with brushes and mops standing behind. On top of the storage boxes I have a bag of reusable shopping bags and another bag full of carrier bags, Dave had made himself a cat nest in the bag of carrier bags. He has several cat beds, igloos, blankets etc, but he was a stray for a long time, old habits die hard and he likes to find his own comforts. I couldn't resist taking a photo of him with his 'poor pathetic me' face. I wouldn't let him stay on his nest of carrier bags, but maybe I will buy him a radiator bed instead.

'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

Timing is Everything

Our Sky Box is making some very ominous noises and  every so often it decides to record oddly so that part of every sentence is silent. Clearly it is on it's last legs and we need to replace it very soon. Yesterday the Sky Box was humming again and Robbie decided that we couldn't go on like this, so he started to research the likely cost of a replacement. He mentioned that this would be a good time to move to Virgin but I wasn't convinced, we have our internet and home phone from Sky and I rather like them. We had such a bad time dealing with aol, and at least since we have been with Sky we can speak to people who speak English and who can respond to the problem without reading from a script. I told Robbie that I had to get on with my work and we would have to talk about it another time.

When I got home from work yesterday evening I spent two or three hours in the lounge with Robbie, then I went to bed because I was tired. At about 1.30am I woke up and went downstairs to get a drink, then on my way back to bed I took a detour via the the bathroom. Within a couple of seconds Robbie knocked on the door and asked what I was doing - what did he think I was doing in the bathroom at 1.30am for heaven sake! Surprisingly my response to him was polite, I explained through the door that I was 'using the facilities'. He replied that he thought now was a good time to discuss what to do about the Sky box. I am afraid that my response was somewhat short and tinged with menace. I reminded him what the time was and I told him in no uncertain terms to go away. He may be a slow learner, but he got the message loud and clear, when I got out of the bathroom he had vanished!

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover!

I wanted to have a quieter day on Tuesday (holidays with Robbie are exhausting!) and Robbie needed to have his hair cut so we decided to have a lazy morning and then head into North Walsham for him to 'get his ears lowered'. It didn't take very long and they did a good job, so after having a quick look at the shops we drove to Mundesley because Robbie wanted to try out a new coffee shop.

The coffee shop, called The Corner House looked promising, when we drove past it but sadly looks can be deceiving. My grandma would occasionally describe people 'as all fur coat and no knickers' meaning that they may put on a good front, but that beneath the window dressing the person was 'cheap' - that is exactly what we found with the Corner House, the food was putrid and it was our worst eating experience in Norfolk. I ordered a pot of tea for one and a jacket potato with cheese and Robbie had a coffee with a cheese panini, so there wasn't a lot that they could get wrong - or so we thought! My tea was served in one of those pots that fits into the tea cup, with a silly little jug of milk that did not contain enough to drown a gnat. It is all very well having fancy tablecloths, but if your teapots dribble it really spoils the experience for the customer. I would have been much happier with a normal functional teapot, I would have also liked a jug of hot water so that I could vary the strength of the tea. There were sugar bowls on the table, with disgusting, hard crusty bits of sugar on top, but there were no sweeteners. Thankfully I had my own sweeteners, but the tea was disappointing, like bad railway tea. Robbie said his coffee was OK, but he would have liked sweeteners not sugar. 

My jacket potato arrived before Robbie's panini, it looked alright but on closer inspection it was ruined before it even go to me. When you order a jacket potato with cheese you don't expect someone to contaminate it with onion, but that is exactly what they had done, what passed for a side salad had been scattered over the plate and that included chopped onion and pepper as well as coleslaw. I picked every bit out and heaped it on the side of my plate but it was too late, the taste of onion had tainted the whole meal. There were no condiments except salt (in a dirty salt cellar) and pepper, I would have liked mayonnaise, but there was none available. The potato itself tasted foul, it was powdery and disgusting, I got Robbie to taste it to prove that it wasn't just me moaning, he said it was horrible. His panini was thin, flat and seriously anaemic, he said it was just about edible but only just.

The food wasn't the only problem with the Corner House, the music was absolutely dreadful, I don't want that sort of row when I go to a coffee shop. The seating was very uncomfortable and they allowed dogs in the coffee shop. Over all it was a very unpleasant experience.

We enjoyed a nice relaxed evening at the bungalow, I love the big Norfolk skies and the red sky in the evening is beautiful - 'Red at night shepherd's delight'.

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.

My connection to the earth is reinforced through the rhythm of the waves - Mike Dolan

It was another lovely sunny day. I was up before before Robbie and I wandered out into the garden and stood looking over the gate at the waves lapping up the beach. It was a very special because it is rare that I have the time to just stand and enjoy the moment without having to dash off to do something more important. The most precious thing about coming to Norfolk is being able to take time to do nothing and to recharge my batteries.

By the time Robbie emerged to face the day I had already done some washing and hung it out, and been for a walk along the beach. The tide was in so there wasn't much beach but I like to look at the beautiful colours and shapes of the sea washed pebbles and with the sun shining on them they almost sparkle. A percularity of this beach are pebbles with holes worn all the way through, I am not sure why it happens, but when the children were young a friend told us that they were special because the ones with holes all the way through are wishing stones.I still look out for them, I need all the wishes I can find and it brings back happy memories of collecting shells and pebbles with the children.

We were happy to stay at the bungalow to enjoy the sunshine and the luxuary of time, it was a lovely relaxing day. We popped out to Stalham briefly in the afternoon to get milk and a few other bits and bobs and then back to the bungalow to enjoy a nice quiet evening, just us and the bats - they really are amazing. The sunset was amazing too, it looked as if the sky was on fire, there is nothing quite like a Norfolk sunset.

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.

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.

Robbie's Rucksack

It rained this morning, it was a shame because it stopped Laura and her friend from enjoying the beach before they headed back home. The thing about being here is that rain really doesn't matter, there are still plenty of things to do. I love looking out across the sea when it is stormy, the colours in the sky are amazing and the huge Norfolk sky looks awesome whatever the weather. I have seen some incredible rainbows over the sea, I don't mind the rain because without a bit of rain you don't get rainbows.

When the girls had gone we went for a drive along the coast road to Horsey Mill, it a really nice drive and the windmill is very impressive. Robbie seems to be doing a survey on street furniture paying special attention to postbox design. I am used to his random enthusiasms, but the excitement he displays when he finds an unusual post box is rather disconcerting. It all started when we went to Waterstones the other day, I knew it would lead to trouble when I pointed out the I Spy books - he took a particular interest in I Spy In The Street!

Robbie is getting ready for his train journey tomorrow, as I write he is sitting on the bedroom floor sorting out the contents of his rucksack. I have never seen so much junk and I have no idea how he gets all that stuff into one rucksack, even Mary Poppins couldn't fit that much into her bag! I am really going to miss him, but I'm pleased that he will be enjoying himself and he will be back before I have a chance to miss him too much.

Head in the Clouds

Robbie was very late home last night, so he met me from work to get a lift home. Guess what he talked about on the way home - trains! Apparently there are plans to electrify certain routes and Robbie has big reservations. He probably has good reason for his doubts, but I was tired, hungry and not in the mood to hear a detailed comparison of the merits of diesel against electric. I was just thinking that for once it would be nice to talk about anything but trains, when Robbie did one of his famous conversational U turns and began talking about clouds. He pointed upwards and said "look at that cloud formation". I was tempted to remind him that I was driving and it was fairly important to keep my eyes on the road, but as usual I couldn't get a word in. I thought it was nice to hear him talking about something that had no connection at all with trains, you could almost call it romantic (well, as close as Robbie gets anyway). Then he spoiled everything by telling me that there was a list of cloud names in that dreaded book of his, Shott's Original Miscellany. He started to list the various different types of cloud and I made a mental note to burn that book. I love books and I honestly don't think I could destroy any book, but in Robbie's hands that book becomes an offensive weapon!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/5892821/Electrified-rail-network-the-benefits.html

Mystery Men

Robbie was at work until late in the evening yesterday because he had to work from home in the morning while waiting for the Sky repair man to come and replace the sky box. We had no TV over Easter because the sky box turned up its toes, I didn't miss it that much but certain other people were having withdrawal symptoms. I am fairly happy as long as I have my radio, I can't survive without Radio 4. The Sky man turned up eventually and everything is back in working order, so when Robbie got home last night he parked himself in front of the TV and watched junk until 1.30am.

Talking of Radio 4 it was responsible for a serious rise in my blood pressure yesterday. The You and Yours program had a 'phone in' about rail travel, George Muir from ATOC, Nigel Harris from Rail magazine, Tom Windsor a previous rail regulator and the dreaded Iain Coucher from Network Rail were all there to answer questions. The first three sounded sensible and plausible, but yet again Iain Coucher sounded totally insincere and complacent. Someone who rang in had been prevented from getting to work that morning because of an engineering overrun at Shenfield. He did his usual splutter and stutter, then explained that the planned engineering work to work on signals had been completed on time but it just so happened that the very next signal to where they were working developed an unrelated fault and this caused the delay. Whatever! When Sam was younger he always blamed the squirrels for whatever he had done wrong, he was very convincing, but that didn't mean I believed him. The calls to the program were overwhelmingly critical, the only company to receive any praise was Virgin; whatever you think about their service you have to admire their PR!

I overheard Robbie making a series of work calls during the morning, he kept talking about Craig and Timmy and I began to wonder who they were, a gay couple perhaps? Did Robbie have a secret life? Eventually I asked about them as I hadn't heard him mention either of them before. It turned out that he was actually referring to a place, Craigentinny nr Edinburgh, apparently it is the place where the trains 'go to bed'.

East Anglian Daily Times

Norfolk Sky

Sunday 12/8/07 Norfolk Sky

It is so nice to be here, we had a lovely restful day today. We made a brief trip to Stalham to buy groceries then this afternoon we sat out in the garden enjoying the sun. It takes time to unwind and forget the everyday concerns of home, but relaxing in the garden looking out across the beach with only the sounds of the sea in the background feels so good. There is something about the huge Norfolk skies and the power of the sea that helps to put everything back into perspective. I took this picture this evening, the sunset was amazing.