So I had a good look a day or so ago at how many visits my daily blog has been receiving on my new Facebook page which is available at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/486377568989294/
I now have 167 members and the highest daily read saw 145 view my piece yesterday which was primarily about the parish council's decision to withdraw funding for grass cutting in the parish churchyard. My average number of views for each blog is well over 130. I would love to have over 200 readers. In the future I would also like to start a Hethersett podcast but am not sure how to go about this. I do have a You Tube channel set-up so perhaps I could utilise this. I would love to hear from anyone that has experience of putting together podcasts and who could tell me how to go about it.
I heard with amusement and a touch of amazement about a statue of Alan Partridge being put up in Norwich. This made not only the local but also the national news. It's certainly lightened the mood at the moment and we all need a slice of fun in our lives.
It's also bound to be a tourist attraction as well (not that we have any tourists at the moment). Steve Coogan has given the statue a seal of approval and it's cast in bronze. It would be good if it found a permanent place somewhere in Norwich, perhaps not in front of the Forum. In fact I understand it's only going to be there today so I will, weather permitting, be popping along to get a photograph of it before it's moved away.
The story got me wondering if we should have a statue in Hethersett, where it would be placed and, most importantly, who it should be of? I'm happy to receive any suggestions. I suppose at the moment the leaders would be Derek and Rodney for putting Hethersett on the national map. If you aren't sure about who Derek and Rodney are where have you been for the last year?
Just to put a couple of people straight on a couple of facts on national television. John Kaye on Breakfast TV said the statue was outside a shopping centre (it's not) and Steve Coogan (aka Alan Partridge) spoke about the marvellous Town Hall when he should have said City Hall.
Yesterday I spoke at length about the decision by the parish council to withdraw funding for grass cutting in the churchyard. At the top of this blog you can see a cutting from the Eastern Daily Press of yesterday. Hopefully this can become a village talking point to see how people feel about the decision. I do applaud the fact that the council will discuss the matter again in January now that they have seen how high the feeling is on this matter.
* * *
This mask thing is all getting a tad confusing already. Yesterday I went for a cup of coffee to the Queen's Head with our county and district councillor David Bills. We wore masks until we reached our table which was all of seven yards. Once there we sat down and took our masks off. Licensee Richard Bond came to talk to us and was wearing a mask. Had he decided to sit down with us he presumably could have taken his mask off.
* * *
Yesterday was an horrendous day weather-wise in Hethersett. We had a zoom call during the afternoon with the rain hammering down and the winds howling. Meanwhile friends in Milton Keynes, Cheltenham and Wales were basking in sunshine!
I remember a few weeks ago in Liverpool there were red weather warnings re the results of a hurricane on a particular Tuesday. I have to say that Tuesday was nowhere near as bad as yesterday.
Below is a photograph of Southcroft which was once again flooded. This area of the village was notorious for flooding but remedial work seemed to have sorted the problem. Yesterday it seems it returned with a vengeance. There were plenty of people bemoaning a return to the "bad old days" and blaming the problem on the increase in the number of houses in the village affecting the water table.
Many feared that flooding in the village will get worse as drainage systems fail to cope when it rains heavily.
Below is a photo of the latest flooding in Southcroft courtesy of local resident Jo Adcock. I will have more photographs in the next edition of Hethersett Herald which will be out next Wednesday.