We both play tennis and we both speak multiple languages.
One difference is I play old farts tennis while he is playing grand slam tournaments.
Apparently the man speaks 11 languages. I speak two fluently - English and Broad Norfolk. Novak can't speak Broad Norfolk so ya boo sucks to him.
He is a Polyglot whilst I'm more of a Wallyglot.
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I took the car to have its windscreen replaced and had over two hours to kill. My plan was to either walk or catch the bus into Norwich. Now I can understand catching a ball or even a pair of socks if hurled at you, but surely a bus is too big to catch and what would you do with it after you've caught it? Oh the wonders of the English language as a certain tennis player will know.
To get to a bus stop on the main road I had to cross over a number of times as footpaths either ran out or went in a direction I didn't want to go.
Then I had to go under an underpass splodged with graffiti. I made it to a bus stop but found that there wasn't one due for half an hour. Walking into Norwich didn't seem to be an option as it would have meant walking on grass verges with heavy traffic close to me.
So I decided to have a wander up a side road purely to get some exercise and pass some time. I had only walked for five minutes when I saw before me a vision of loveliness better known as a public library.
It technically wasn't open but I have this magic card called open libraries which gives me access seven days a week from 8 am even when the library is closed and even on Sundays.
So in I went. It was only 10 minutes before a very friendly lady came to open up for those without open access cards.
I got a breezy "good morning" and she spoke to every single person who came in, proving once again what welcoming places libraries now are.
At one point a couple were being quite loud in discussing something or other. I looked at them and smiled.
"Oh we are so sorry. We forgot we are in a library," they said.
"You can be as noisy as you like," I replied.
Gone are the days of silence in libraries. My own library in Hethersett is a community hub with loads going on and lots of groups meeting. There's always plenty of chatter.
During my stay a couple of people came in to join the library and the lovely assistant got very enthusiastic.
"You can let yourself into the library when nobody is here. Sounds mad doesn't it? You feel like you are breaking and entering but you aren't," she said.
She asked one gentleman to select a pin number for his open library access.
"People often choose a phone number as it's easy for them to remember. How about your date of birth? You'll remember that because you were there," she quipped.
She then got very enthusiastic about the reading habits of an elderly gentleman, suggesting new crime authors he might like to try and scurrying around to find the books for him.
It all made for an entertaining couple of hours as I pretended to read "Norwich The Biography" by Christopher Reeve and "250 years of Jarrolds Department Store" by Pete Goodrum. Actually I did read bits of each and took the Norwich book out.
I have been much taken by the story of the Earl of East Anglia Ralf de Guader who was a major landowner, Constable of Norwich and tenant in Norwich Castle. All this was bestowed on him by the King. Now follows a story of treachery and not knowing when you are well off.
Ralf married a lady by the name of Emma who was the sister of another Earl. You can probably see where this is going. Whilst William the Conker was away in Normandy, Ralph decided to plot with other Earls from other parts of the country in an attempt to take control of more land. A definite case of while the cat's away the mice will play. They reckoned they could do all this whilst in the words of Bonnie Tyler, William was 'Lost in France."
But a lot of people in Norwich supported William and one of the plotters was actually a spy and got word to the King about a possible uprising. Ralf was identified as a traitor and a price was put on his head (probably a couple of groats).
Ralf, being the good husband that he wasn't, decided to flee to Denmark to raise an army not realising that while he was away his property would be severely at risk. He left Emma behind to fend for herself probably not realising that getting back from Normandy for the King was a lot easier than getting back from Denmark for him.
Now these were the days before stress had been invented and it was just a matter of whether your head stayed on your shoulders or not. Emma feared hers wouldn't and so night and day she stared out from the castle wondering whether William would bring an army to storm his own castle. She watched merchants and tradesmen scurrying about their business. She probably would have entertained herself with Sudoku if it had been invented.
Eventually William did return and marched with his troops to the Castle and Emma was dragged off to the chokey or whatever they called it before Matilda The Musical took to the stage.
Occasionally the Normans showed some compassion (I think it was probably on alternate Wednesday afternoons) and so Emma was released on condition that she fled the country within 40 days. And so what did she do? Yes she fled the country, popped across the Channel or whatever it was called in those days, and was reunited with her husband in Brittany. He was presumably trying to get back from Denmark.
They subsequently joined the First Crusade. Ralph died somewhere in the Holy Land but nobody knows what happened to Emma. I'm surprised nobody has ever suggested that her ghost haunts Norwich Castle, or perhaps they have.
Well that's the little history lesson for the day. I hope the author who incidentally is the brother of a friend of mine in our village and also the brother of someone I used to work with will forgive me for quoting from the book but this description of Ralf tickled me. It refers to his decision to go all the way to Denmark.
"Perhaps he felt he had sufficient supporters in the city (Norwich) to defend his fortress. Perhaps he thought he had no alternative. Perhaps he was a coward who just wished to escape safely abroad until the hue and cry had died down. Or maybe he just wasn't very bright."
All this didn't end well for the good people of Norwich who were subjected to killings and much ado about plenty with the city ransacked.
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Well done to the eagle eyed amongst you who asked how I could have possibly been at a wedding in Hampshire on the same day as I went to the Derby at Epsom in Surrey.
My mistake of course. The wedding was on Friday and the horse racing on Saturday. Of course I was really just checking how alert you are!