I always find what other people are talking about fascinating and often you get the wrong end of the stick.
So there we were in a cafe in North Elmham (excellent Bangers and Mash by the way). There were a couple of ladies sitting in a table near us and one said something along the lines of:
"Yes he's a lovely man and so humble." I thought she might be talking about her father or a brother, a neighbour or somebody else she knew. But no she was talking about somebody off Strictly Come Dancing. I never did hear who it was but I hope it was Dan Walker. Dan Walker should win Strictly and become Prime Minister. He's such a good egg.
Then I heard the same couple discussing how much fun another man was. I assumed they had moved on to talk about a father or a brother, a neighbour or somebody else they knew. No this time it was Giovanni who won The Great British Bake Off.
I stopped listening before they got onto the attributes of Roy Cropper on Coronation Street.
* * *
The trip to North Elmham was on the way home from our latest sojourn in North Norfolk. Strange word Sojourn. I seem to be always using it although I don't start most of my sentences with the word SO as SO many seem to do nowadays. So Sojourn means "a temporary stay". I remember it from the LP by the Moody Blues entitled Seventh Sojourn which was slightly misleading because it was their eighth album. I reckon they used the word Seventh because of the alliteration.
I thought North Elmham was the place where I was involved in some English Heritage filming a long time ago when I was working for Norfolk Police. Turns out this wasn't North Elmham at all but Castle Acre. So another place on our list to visit. I spent a couple of days filming with them. Can't remember the name of the programme but it surrounded using modern day policing methods to discover the past.
On Wednesday, we ventured to the Wild West (of Norfolk). It feels like a different county out that way - somewhere that is still Norfolk and isn't if you know what I mean.
Had a very nice walk around Snettisham village and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds land which took us out to some desolate seaside and mud flats with plenty of bird murmurations. This is probably the wrong term as murmurations is usually only applied to starlings and I'm not sure these were starlings.
Most of you will know how much I enjoy collecting useless facts. Apparently the Pink Footed Goose loves Norfolk. They fly over from Greenland and Iceland every October/November, presumably to spend Christmas with us. How and why they came to Norfolk is a mystery but apparently 30% of the world's Pink Footed Goose (or should that be Geese?) population find their way to our county in our winter because food here is plentiful. All I need to find out now is how they came by their name!!!!
Before going to the RSPB site, we had a good look round Snettisham Church. I love it when local people take the time and effort to share some of their history with visitors. Snettisham Church was outstanding in this respect with a host of large folders covering everything from the church to village sport, the 1953 floods to the discovery of treasure in the locality. I could have spent hours reading it all and inwardly digesting.
On the way from Snettisham we took the Norfolk Coastal Road. In the winter it's easy to negotiate and get through places like Cley Next The Sea which are so stressful in summer thanks to the volume of traffic.
We stopped at a gift shop in Stiffkey and bought a few things including some flying saucer sweets which I am partial to. Who remembers these? They have a thin coating of rice paper on the outside that dissolves in the mouth to leave you with an explosion of sherbet. Except with these there was no explosion of sherbet with just a few grains in each. I think the flying saucer police have been at it limiting the amount of sherbet. The only similarity they have to the sweets of the past is their flying saucer shape.
One thing I dislike about being in North Norfolk is the television news. Unless you have Sky which we don't up there, you will get Look North. That's all very well if you are interested in a fire in Bridlington, problems on the Humber Bridge or Boston's attempts to become a city (ha ha to that one), but I'm not. I have no interest in local news from East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. I want to see Look East and Stewart White (oh sorry forgot he retire a couple of months ago). I want news from Norwich and Cromer not Scunthorpe and up north up north.
* * *
Yesterday I had a bit of a rant about Norwich City's new crest. Today I must mention their proposed Christmas extravaganza which takes place in front of the South Stand at Carrow Road between December 20th and 22nd.
I may be doing this event a disservice but it doesn't float my boat from its advertising. They promise that they will transform Carrow Road into a Christmas wonderland. Here's what they have to say:
Guests will be able to enjoy heaps of festive fun as we bring you a range of attractions throughout the 3-day extravaganza.
So what will this festive fun consist of? Well you can enjoy a view of the fair from the only ice rink in Norwich this Christmas. You can meet two of Santa's reindeer at an "exclusive reindeer pen," which is only available on the Tuesday and Wednesday. You can singalong to the Joe Ringer Band and Sons of Mark who will both be preforming two sets a day. You can also meet Father Christmas with Under-12s receiving a free gift.
So far so good, but then you come to the prices being charged for this extravaganza. Standard adult tickets are £10 with 13 to 17 years olds being charged £5. Admittedly Under-12s and junior club members go free. A family ticket for two adults and two children costs £46 but does include an hour on the ice rink. Limited car parking will be available and will be charged at another £5.
If you don't take the family ticket option you will have to pay £14.50 for an adult and £8.50 for a child for a session on the ice rink.
I'm sorry to sound cynical but this doesn't sound like a good deal to me and the promise of "an exclusive reindeer pen" doesn't really tickle my tonsils.
I would much prefer to see Santa travelling around Hethersett as he is scheduled to do on December 18th.
* * *
Finally today some sad news. Heard yesterday that Keith Benjafield has died. Keith was a regular reader of my blog and, along with wife Janet, said on a number of occasions how much he enjoyed it.
Keith's death comes as a complete shock. He was involved in many organisations in Wymondham and was one of those people who gave up so much time for the community.
I only met Keith and Janet once and that was a few months ago when the former Regal Cinema in the town had a special exhibition. That day we were in a hurry to get to Norwich. Janet said how much she enjoyed the blogs and felt from reading them that I had so much in common with her husband. I only had time for the briefest of chats with Keith and looked forward to some longer talks in the future. Sadly that won't now be the case. My thoughts are with Janet and Keith's family on such a sad occasion.