You just get used to something and it changes. Supermarkets are a perfect example. You just get to know where the breakfast cereal is and it gets moved so you can't find it without a lot of searching and wasting of time.
The Supermarkets will claim that this pays off as people will look at things they wouldn't normally tarry around and will be tempted to buy. In other words if the usual place for cereals is replaced by chocolates, they reckon you will buy chocolates as well as the cereal which you will eventually find.
In my case that's certainly not true. It just annoys me and doesn't want to make me buy chocolate.
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My idea was to stop the Steward strolls once I had completed my aim of 100 miles during lockdown. But now I seem to be in the swing of things and can't stop.
At the weekend we had a lengthy walk around the grounds of Felbrigg Hall and you will find some photos of that with this blog. Yesterday I had to drop my car off at Busseys on Whiffler Road in Norwich for a repair. The drop off was at 8.15 am and the pick-up time wasn't until 4 pm. So I decided to walk into Norwich. It was a little over three miles and it gave me the chance to re-trace the route taken on the bus every day that I went to grammar school.
My 2020 route was along Aylsham Road, across Anglia Square, down Magdalen Street, round Tombland and across Castle Meadow and into the city centre. Then at the end of the day I walked back - healthier than taking the bus.
Unfortunately they didn't have the part needed and I will have to return before Christmas - so a bit of a pointless day, although I did sort out my phone (and have lunch with my wife as she was quick to point out).
While she shopped in Tiger in Norwich Chapelfield Mall, I popped into the O2 shop to change my sim card. It seemed like a no brainer to me. I am happy with the O2 service and coverage but I only have 1gb of data. Yesterday I updated this to 120gb of data for the same price. I think 120gb of data, unlimited calls and unlimited texts is a pretty good deal for £20. We scarcely use our landline now (just for incoming calls) and I'm sure many people no longer even have a landline.
I am still gobsmacked that with a subscription to Spotify I can walk around the village listening to a new release that comes from goodness knows where.
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Today I'm going to be a little controversial in talking about dementia in sport. Whilst writing this I am listening to a former professional rugby player talking about having early onset dementia. He is just the latest in a long line of sports people to talk about this and there are a group of former players now threatening to sue.
I have had family members where dementia has been a big contributory factor to their deaths and I am a founder member and regular helper at the Hethersett Dementia Support Group, but to hear that sportsmen and women are taking legal action is, for me, a nonsense.
Rugby at the top level is a brutal sport. Players know what is at stake. They must have known for years that continual blows to the head certainly won't do them any good. They play the sport with this knowledge. They know the risks (although admittedly they are now only being highlighted). But to consider taking legal action against something you enter into voluntarily is, shall we say, difficult to comprehend.
If these sports people are successful in any court action it means that certain sports will have to be almost re-designed. Contact in rugby will have to be severely restricted. Perhaps we should have boxing with no punches - that would certainly make it safer.
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My pieces on the retirement of Dr Nikky Morris and the Hethersett Bauble and Window displays have both appeared in the local press. If you want to see them on the EDP 24 web site the links are:
Hethersett lights up for festive season | Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk) and
Humbleyard Practice GP Dr Nicky Morris retiring | Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk)
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This Friday an announcement will be made on whether Hethersett is the Norfolk and Waveney Village/Town of the year in the competition organised by the Eastern Daily Press newspaper. I was one of a number of people who nominated Hethersett and I'm sure we are all keeping our fingers crossed. Whatever happens, we know that we are champions.