Yes you read me correctly. The thought came to me on a visit to the Holkham estate in North Norfolk. If you are a duck you only have a few decisions to make. Do you have a waddle over some green grass, go for a fly or have a swim in the lake? Of course there's the occasional spat with another duck but it can't be a bad life can it?
But enough of that. Yesterday we walked about 13 miles. That's probably 12 and a half too far. By the end of that we could hardly stand.
It doesn't matter because our feet and legs might hurt but our batteries are recharged as they always are in North Norfolk.
The Holkham estate is wonderful - another epic landscape partly designed by Capability Brown. None of the twee flower gardens for Mr Brown. He dealt in massive vistas.
I do have a very very loose connection with Holkham Hall. It is the ancestral home of the Coke family who became Earls of Leicester. The estate was built up by Sir Edward Coke, the founder of his family's fortune.
When I was at grammar school in Norwich I was in Coke House (I have never really worked out whether that's pronounced coke or cook). In my days at school it was pronounced Cook House, which completely threw my parents.
In those days (and we are talking about 1963ish) parents and children were interviewed by the headmaster to see if they were suitable for the school. I got a scholarship to Norwich School and that involved an interview with the then head Andrew Stephenson. Let's just say that Mr Stephenson is not somebody I remember with any fondness. I don't remember anything about that interview but I do remember my parents being told I was in Coke (pronounced Cook) House. They thought I was going to have to prepare the lunches (seriously - I'm not joking on that one).
Then we had to be kitted out in school uniform and each house had a different logo on its caps. I can't remember what the Coke House logo was. Apart from Coke House there was Valpy, Brooke, Nelson, Cavell and School. I may have missed a house or two. School House was for the boarders.
We went along to Rumsey Wells outfitters in Charing Cross, Norwich. The shop is now a pub imaginatively called The Rumsey Wells.
The outfitters was a rather stuffy place - rather old fashioned. I got kitted out with shirts, trousers, blazers, shoes, ties and caps. It must have cost my parents a fortune. I remember the sales assistant asking for our address. "157 Reepham Road, Norwich," my parents replied for that's where we lived at the time. He looked at me with a question designed to see if I knew what was what. "NR" he said expecting me to give him the postcode.
I misunderstood him and replied "NORWICH" spelling out the city's name. I think he thought I was trying to be funny. It's the kind of thing I would do today in an attempt to be funny. But on that day I thought he was genuinely asking me how to spell Norwich. I have to say that at the time I thought he wasn't very bright.
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My photographs today are Of Weybourne, Holkham and Wells. Hope you enjoy a few of them.
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I am now friends on Facebook with John Lees - make of that what you will but it makes me happy. Maybe I'll explain sometime.