It will certainly be our most colourful. I often get the same comment "How do you find the material and how do you find the time to do it"?
The answer is simple. It's a labour of love. There isn't a day goes by that I don't work on it and I'm as enthusiastic about it as I was on day one which was almost eight years ago. I am currently working on edition 92 and fast approaching number 100 and wondering what I can do to mark our centenary. Any ideas gratefully received.
I would love to get the publication better known, especially amongst people moving to the village and definitely need a marketing push and would love to hear from anyone who can help. I spend so much time writing and designing the publication that I have little time left to promote it.
Same with my other publication Good News which is church based. I would love to increase its circulation.
Yesterday on the way home from North Norfolk we stopped at the delightful village of Great Massingham. It wasn't actually on our way home but it is somewhere I have only driven through and just stopped once for a very quick walk round.
Great Massingham is one of the prettiest if not the prettiest villages in Norfolk. So here's a question for Norfolk people and any of you who have visited our county. Which is your favourite village and which is your favourite town. I'll start the ball rolling by saying that Norwich is my favourite City in Norfolk.
Yesterday on our visit to Great Massingham we went to the Dabbling Duck for lunch. Often we take words for granted. What does dabbling actually mean and is it only ducks that dabble?
To me the word means to try something at a low level as in "I once dabbled in collecting stamps." But as far as I know ducks don't collect stamps although I might be wrong there. They might be secret philatelists in the same way as I've always suspected that swans make art out of all the bread that is thrown to or at them.
I looked up the word dabbling and the definition is to take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way. That didn't help a lot as far as ducks were concerned but the second meaning certainly did.
"To immerse one's hands and feet partially in water and move them around gently." That solves a problem for me as I've always wondered what ducks do with their hands.
We had a roast dinner at the Dabbling Duck. It wasn't the worst I've ever had but it certainly wasn't the best. When you read about a restaurant they usually eulogise about the talents of their chef. The disappointing thing about this Sunday meal was that some of the real basics of cooking were missing. The gravy was very thick and very strong and some other things like the Yorkshire Puddings and roast potatoes were overcooked giving the whole thing a stodgy feel. We suspected that the roasties had been reheated which would explain why they were so hard. But as I said I've had worse although other people seemed to be leaving quite a lot.
And so to continue the travelogue. I am very aware that I am hugely behind with photos and need to catch up somewhat which I will try to do shortly.
*. *. *
As we have been travelling independently we have been receiving questionnaires to fill in as we go relating to accommodation.
To date the accommodation has veered from poor to good. That in Cordoba was rather eccentric, that in Seville was excellent, that in Lisbon was cramped and now in Porto we have a nice modern apartment. In rating places I take into account the comfort of the place along with where it is situated.
So laying in bed on a Sunday morning in Porto or Oporto as it used to be called, we received a questionnaire about the accommodation in Lisbon. It wasn't in the best area, there was a homeless village very close by and some of the surrounding streets were grimy. There are lots of broken pavements in Lisbon which are definite health and safety hazards but which nothing has been done about.
My main gripe was with the size of the room as I've mentioned before. It looked nothing like the spacious well lit modern room in the photos. But it was one question in the survey that had me laughing out loud. And here it is:
"The property was free of captive wild animals on display/ to be interacted with/for sale/consumed/harvested on site (eg elephant rides and lobster tanks)."
I spent a lot of time thinking about this. Had there been elephant rides during the night that we hadn't been aware of and had slept through?
As already mentioned we are now in Lisbon's second largest city Porto. We were told it's smaller and much more personable than Lisbon and first impressions when we arrived were very much of that ilk.
We stopped for a much needed drink at a cafe near the station and then walked pretty much in a straight line for 20 minutes to find our accommodation which is spacious and clean with a largish bedroom, a bathroom, a small lounge and kitchen and the delights of a much needed washing machine so we can clean everything before leaving and I won't have to buy additional underclothes.
Just round the corner from us are a number of bars and restaurants where we celebrated backing the winner of the Grand National which we managed to watch on my mobile. We backed four horses, three of which came nowhere but backing the winner gave us a profit of a whole £2.
I think we are going to like Porto as long as a herd of elephants don't pass through in the night.