So as the song says, let's start at the very end, a very good place to start (yes I know the lyric is let's start at the very beginning a very good place to start, but allow me some artistic licence here).
So Friday was spent in Wymondham and Norwich. It was the second visit of the week to Wymondham and the second of the week to the Courtyard Cafe where you can still get a two course meal for £8.50. Good unpretentious English food and I just love good unpretentious English food. After lunch and taking granddog Reggie for a walk, we decided to bus into Norwich to see the start of the Norfolk and Norwich festival (more about this in a minute).
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We got the number six into Norwich which was a big mistake. Usually this goes straight along the B1172 and into Norwich, taking about 20 minutes to the city centre. We got on to find the downstairs empty but opted, as usual, to sit upstairs. Big mistake. The upstairs was populated by about a dozen foul mouthed slobs. I tried to think of a word to describe them and the only word that came to mind was Neanderthal.
This lot were obviously on their way into Norwich to go on what is known as the lash. They were loud and brutish when they were sober so goodness knows what they would be like as the evening progressed and the sherbet flowed. But we could have put up with their boorish behaviour had it not been for a detour into our village which saw the bus for some reason enter the gates of Hethersett Academy where it was filled up by pupils.
This gave the Neanderthals the opportunity to prove just how foul they were by continually shouting at the youngsters and making jokes about "paedos" and "Jimmy Savile." Their language was a disgrace and I sincerely hope they were ashamed of themselves, although that is very unlikely.
I mentioned the start of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and our main reason for going into Norwich was to see a domino event which saw heavy breeze blocks set-up throughout the city over an area of around a mile. At 6 pm the plan was to set them off so that they would collapse in domino style, culminating in the collapse of a giant structure outside the Forum (or that's what we thought). The blocks were being guarded by numerous security staff. One lady was having a real problem as the wind kept toppling her blocks.
At 5.40 pm we set ourselves up outside the Forum to see the culmination of the domino effect (or should that be affect). I looked at the set-up and couldn't help thinking that it looked possible that things might not go according to plan. At 6.20 pm the domino effect came to where we were. A few blocks collapsed and a few ran along the top of the structure and that was it. To say I was underwhelmed would be something of an understatement. I did later see coverage on the local news and it looked as if the dominoes in other parts of the city were pretty impressive. I think it was a case of being in the wrong place to watch the event. At least the bus journey home was more pleasant than the one into the city.
Now let's start at the very beginning because that really is a good place to start.
Last Saturday we had a day in North Norfolk with Horsey Windmill as our base. We parked in the National Trust car park which is free for members (we really do get good value from our membership) and went for a rather long wander. When we started the sun was out. When we finished a sea fret had come in and temperatures had dropped considerably. The first part of the walk was along Horsey Mere where a number of boats were moored.
I have been along this stretch before and every time I find myself humming the pastoral section from Tubular Bells - the development of the piece after all the jingle jangle of the opening theme which was once used in the horror film the Exorcist which I remember from demonic possession making the lead character's head revolve in rather a revolting way.
We then walked along fields and onto the main coast road to stop at Poppylands Cafe - a rather strange place as I hope my photographs illustrate. It's a 1940s wartime themed cafe, although the prices are 2022. It was quaint in a sort of 1940s wartime way.
We then walked to the beach which had hundreds of seals on it. They don't do a lot. They bask in the sun or cloud, flob around a bit but generally behave in a seal-type way. It was a very long walk back to the car.
The following day it was off to Ketteringham Hall for their charity Bluebell event. We usually go to see the bluebells at Caistor St Edmunds but couldn't make that this year. So instead we went to Ketteringham which provided an interesting morning. Big hello to Warwick Cooper and Dani Champ who we met and a had a long chat with over coffee on the grass.
The photographs with this blog are from Norwich, Ketteringham, Horsey and Wymondham. I hope you enjoy them.
Just a correction for yesterday's blog - I said Nirvana played the Orford Cellar. That should have been Norwich Arts Centre.