Yesterday by having the jab I felt I had personally taken a step towards this. No side effects other than a need to go to bed at 8.30 pm last night and feeling cold and shivery, but that's certainly something I can put up with for the greater good - particularly when temperatures over the next week are likely to rise to a very pleasant 15 or 16 degrees.
So I felt much more chipper (that's a good word) yesterday and managed an eight mile walk. Having the jab seems certainly to have lifted a cloud. It got me thinking about relationships during lockdown and how strained they can become. I can obviously only talk from a personal point of view of being locked up with the same person for long periods over the past year - particularly when we both enjoy getting out of the four walls.
There have been times when the relationship has been put under strain and I realise now that over the past 12 months when I have accused the other half of being in a bad mood that it has probably been myself in a bad temper.
Anyway I thought I would list my 10 favourite places in Norfolk and then tomorrow my 10 favourite places to visit. Sorry if you are reading this and don't live in Norfolk but maybe it will whet your appetite to visit us once it's safe to do so.
So here we go starting with number one.
1 Norwich
Top of the tree has to be a visit to Norwich. As we are out on a limb and on the road to nowhere, we get many less visitors than we deserve. Norwich is one of the most historic and interesting cities in the UK. For many years Norwich was England's second city, only eclipsed in size and importance by London and you can see evidence of this at virtually every turn.
I am biased of course as I was born here, as were my children and grandchildren. But even now a walk round Norwich brings new discoveries and new delights. We have one street (Elm Hill) which is as picturesque as The Shambles in York but has very few visitors. It has been featured in a number of films and I believe Monty Python used it for a scene involving Beethoven in an upstairs room. Then there's the beautiful Cathedral set in its very own Close, the Norman Castle, the riverside walks and much more.
To get the most of Norwich, you have to venture a bit further than the City centre.
2 Wymondham
A visit to Wymondham always restores the spirit. It has been voted one of the best places to live in the country and the fact that it's just two miles from where I live helps. I often walk to Wymondham and that takes me past the famous Kett's Oak tree from where rebel Robert Kett assembled with his supporters and marched on Norwich in an attempt to overthrow the system of enclosure of common land.
Just walk into the centre of Wymondham and you get a feeling of history with the Market Cross, the Abbey (part of which is a ruin thanks to the efforts of Henry VIII), the excellent cafes and much more.
3 Cromer
Self-styled Gem of the Norfolk Coast, part of my heart will always be in Cromer. I worked there in the 1970s and loved living there. Today we visit it regularly. The iconic pier, one of the largest parish churches in the country, the fish and chips and much more. Plenty of good places to walk and I have a great interest in the now destroyed town of Shipdham which was Cromer before Cromer existed but which has long been taken over by the sea.
I have a standing appointment to visit Julie Davies once lockdown is over. Julie is the widow of former lifeboat coxswain Richard Davies and I lived next door to her for just over a year. I will be doing a feature for varies magazines etc.
4 Blakeney
There is just something about this North Norfolk town/village. Lovely flint cottaged narrow streets that lead down to a lovely wide harbour. Blakeney was voted one of the best 10 seaside places in the country but I wouldn't refer to it as seaside. But when you walk down the main street you come to a wonderful open space by the sea which on a sunny summer day is alive with people. There are excellent walks along a path that will take you out for miles.
This is a place to really unwind.
5 Great Yarmouth
Might be a tad controversial with this one as Yarmouth is very much a town that divides opinion. Some people love it and some hate it. I love it because it's in your face and doesn't have any pretensions to be anything other than what it is - an ice cream, kiss me quick hat kind of seaside place. I have loved it from the very first time I went there and have enjoyed many days out over the past goodness knows how many years first with my children and then grandchildren. I will do a blog about Yarmouth in the future. Suffice it to say for now that many of my ancestors come from Great Yarmouth and the immediate surrounding area. Oh and don't forget candy floss, chips on the market and much more.
6 Sheringham
Just a few miles up the road from Cromer, Sheringham was always looked on as the posher neighbour. Not sure that applies now but it has some interesting shops, good tea rooms, a lovely little theatre (aptly named Sheringham Little Theatre) and a nice promenade walk alongside some interesting buildings and we mustn't forget the North Norfolk Heritage Steam Railway.
7 Reepham
Reepham is a small town but well worth spending a morning in. After walking through the churchyard and church, there are tea rooms and a few specialist shops and plenty of history. It's just a nice place to be and you have a distinct feeling of going back in time.
8 Walsingham
I have only been there once but it's an intriguing place with its religious history and somewhere I will be revisiting.
9 Caistor St Edmund
Just outside Norwich is this historic former Roman settlement. There are some lovely walks and High Ash Farm is open to the public with walkways ideal for a picnic
10= Burnham Overy Staithe/Overstrand/Salthouse
Three very different places in North Norfolk, all with their own particular charm.
And did you know that there are places in Norfolk with the delightful names of Fusty Weed, Nogdam End and Nowhere?
Tomorrow I will look at my favourite individual places in Norfolk.
Honorary mentions for Southwold, Walberswick, Beccles, Dunwich and many other places that are disqualified on the grounds that they are in Suffolk!
* * *
I was very interested in what footballer Wilfred Zaha had to say about "Taking the knee" in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
For those in the dark, for months professional footballers have been going down on one knee before the kick off of matches in support of black lives.
Over the past few weeks I have found this becoming rather pointless and it was good to hear Wilfred state that he is a proud black man but believes taking a knee no longer has any power and has just become hackneyed and overdone. For that reason he won't be doing it anymore.
Personally I have no interest in the colour of a person's skin. All I'm interested in is what kind of human being they are.