So today it's a mixture of photographs and chat. So I hope you don't mind. Started yesterday by taking our American guests into Norwich. Originally we had considered going to Great Yarmouth but the weather didn't look good, although it did improve considerably during the day.
We poked around the St Benedict's area of Norwich where the shops are individual and slightly off the wall.
That's after a quick visit to Norwich's Roman Catholic Cathedral which is an impressive building, particularly when you take into account that St John The Baptist Cathedral was built between 1882 and 1910 - in other words it's a modern building, although it looks for all the world like something from much earlier times. It was built on the site of the former Norwich City Jail.
Couldn't help my mind floating back to the Second World War when Norwich was bombed by what became known as the Baedeker Raids. How much of a miracle was it that the Castle and the two Cathedrals weren't damaged in the raids? I can't help wondering whether this was by design or the Germans were just bad shots.
After gelato in Opie Street (if you want a laugh or be slightly shocked Google the former name of Opie Street in Norwich), we had a poke around Jarrold's department store. I particularly like looking through the local books. But no they weren't there. Well actually they were. They had moved the book department from the basement to the top floor. Why do shops do this? Ok I actually know the answer to this as supermarkets do it as well.
They stupidly think that if you can't find something you will pass lots of other things as you search for its new home. You know the kind of thing. You go in for the latest novel by Lee Childs and buy an expensive bottle of perfume because it's where the novel would have been six months ago. For me it just doesn't work that way. I get annoyed that the books are no longer in the basement and decide to go to Waterstones instead. But wait the history section at Waterstones has moved! And the local book section which used to be on the ground floor just inside the entrance is now tucked away in a corner upstairs. You just can't get away from the shifter brigade.
Each time I go to the Jarrold's book section (and yes I do still go there despite what I have written), I dream that one day my book on the Le Paradis Massacre will be on display there. The only problem is finishing writing it. I have now given myself a deadline of the end of July. I need a deadline to work to.
After grabbing a large sausage on Norwich Market (oooohhh Matron) and wondering what has happened to Reggie's mushy pea stall (does anyone know what has happened to Reggie's mushy pea stall?) we moved on to a quick squint inside the Assembly Rooms and the Forum and then a visit to the amazing Asian museum and shop which is next to what used to be the Bethel Street Fire Station but which is now the Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form Centre.
This is worth a visit just for a browse. It's difficult to comprehend that this was once an ice rink.
The evening was spent at a Friends of Hethersett Library presentation by Georgette Vale who this time was portraying the Widow Kett. Georgette does presentations featuring a number of famous Norfolk women. Widow Kett is a new one and she held everyone spellbound with an hour's dramatic performance about Kett's Rebellion. This was featured in the C J Sansom novel Tombland and that's a good place to start if you want to learn more about the rebellion in a kind of story tale kind of way.
Hope you enjoy some of the photos of our day.