You see most Mondays I walk to Wymondham from Hethersett to have coffee (and scones) with Cousin Belinda. That's a round walk of about five miles and then there are two or three miles around the town that we add on making a total of about eight miles. Anything less and I feel cheated.
Due to the weather I only did 4.58 miles - so I feel deprived of four plus miles! Did enjoy meeting up with an old (hey not so much of the old) colleague from my days at the police - Peter Fraser. We chatted about his involvement with the St John Ambulance (note it's St John and not St John's if we are being pedantic). Mainly we spoke about the possible start-up once again of the SJAB hospital library service which sees volunteers taking library books around the wards of Norfolk hospitals.
COVID put the kibosh on this but it is hoped to re-start it early in the new year (restrictions allowing). I will be putting a feature together for my Hethersett Herald e-magazine and possibly the local Media appealing for volunteers. In the past the service has worked more like a library with books being returned, but now patients will be allowed to take the books home and keep them if they wish as the volumes will be donated by Norfolk Library Service. I will return to this topic in a future blog.
Rather than walk home I had to cadge a lift, thus wiping a few miles off the walk.
When I'm writing these blogs, strange words seem to pop into my head. Today it's been kibosh and cadge. To kibosh something is to decisively end it or reject it. In other words put the mockers on it. To cadge something according to the dictionary is to obtain something you are technically not entitled to.
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Celebration time. Our horse won (They're in the Money I hear you sing). We have a 1/3000th stake (or should that be steak?) in a horse by the name of Miranda. I may have mentioned this before. Miranda was running yesterday at Ludlow in a race she won last year. Miranda started as what is known as a red hot favourite at Evens money. Now I know some of my readers don't know anything about horse racing or betting. In simplistic terms Evens means that if you wager £1 and the horse wins you receive £1 and your stake money back i.e £2.
The betting shows that Miranda was expected to win, but it all started badly when she turned round at the start and looked like she didn't want to race at all. This has never happened before. But she quickly caught up with the rest of the field and, in a very close finish, won by a nose which is the shortest winning distance possible (never say you don't learn things with this blog). It's only a nose away from a dead heat. Mind you a horse's nose seems to stretch some way.
I must admit I had a little flutter on Miranda and, with the prize money, it looks as if we won the masterly sum of £9.80. I promise I won't spend it all at once. Basically it's just a bit of fun.
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Yesterday, I received my December edition of Norfolk Ancestor which is something that doesn't excite me when it thuds onto the doormat. I never read it but I probably read it more than anybody else on the planet. That may sound like a contradiction so let me explain.
I am editor of the magazine which is the quarterly publication produced by the Norfolk Family History Society. So before it goes out I read through the information sent in, re-write it where necessary and design the pages. It means that before it comes out I have read the whole thing three or four times. So when it arrives I have no reason or wish to read it again and just give it a cursory flick through.
The magazine is distributed to members of the society and if you have an interest in family research in Norfolk you can join by going to our official website at https://www.norfolkfhs.org.uk/
The website has millions of Norfolk records on it. Something to keep you busy on a wet day.
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Not too long ago I wrote in my blog about England's oldest living cricketer Eileen Ash who was 110 years young. Eileen was living in a care home in Norwich. Over the weekend came the news that Eileen has died.
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Amongst my birthday presents was a helium filled balloon with the words "Aged to perfection" on it. Now of course that's a matter of opinion. Originally this balloon hung suspended somewhere between the floor and the ceiling. It was suspended on a string or something similar with a small weight on it. Now the string or whatever it was has come off and the balloon is stuck firmly on the ceiling. I wonder how long it will be before it comes back to earth?
I'm not sure just why I shared that with you but hey ho it's my blog and I am well known for writing absolute rubbish!!!!!