So we sauntered down to Sheringham nice and early in order to miss the rush. Tesco's on Cromer Road lets you park for three hours until May 1st when it becomes two hours. That's plenty of time to do a full shop, have a walk along the prom prom prom where the brass band plays tiddly-om-pom-pom (except yesterday there was no brass band).
Incidentally the song I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside was written by that well known composer Anonymous according to one website. He's the same guy who wrote so many classics as well as being a spiffingly good poet and artist.
But then I did a bit more research and it was actually written by a cove who went under the name of John Glover Kind. He wrote the ditty way back in 1907. It was recorded by another household name (not) Mark Sheridan in 1909 and tells of the longing of the writer to be (yes you've guessed it) beside the sea.
I could quite see why old JGK would want to write such a song. Staring wistfully out to sea from the prom at Sheringham made me want to be beside the seaside until I realised that I actually was! That was quite a shocker I can tell you.
Sheringham at 8 am on a Spring Saturday morning is relatively quiet and peaceful. By the time we left armed with sun cream, coat hooks and other strange stuff, it was heaving. Getting out of the car park and turning right was a nightmare and I was glad to get away to the relative peace and quiet of further along the North Norfolk coast.
But back to the chairs. They are a deep shade of red, easily folded and packed away and Tescos was selling them for £9 each or £15 for two. What a bargain. And when we examined our receipt we realised that as long as you shop wisely your weekly spend doesn't have to be horrendous and break the bank as the inflation hike suggests.
The thing is - always look for the bargains. They are there. Every supermarket will have special offers and if you shop wisely these can lower your bills. Second piece of advice - buy the supermarket's own brands. These are almost always much cheaper but, in most cases, just as nutritious and just as good. In fact half the time they are either well known brands re-packaged or identical to those brands.
My mantra is - always shop savvy and never shop stupid (who are you calling stupid?).
* * *
As you know I always have a song going through my head. Every day brings a new song. For some reason Friday's song was Fools Overture by Supertramp (one of my favourite all time bands). Today it was July Morning by Uriah Heap. No idea where this came from but the lyrics seemed to speak in a kind of "I need the freedom of the open road) sort of way."
There I was on a July morning
Looking for love
With the strength of a new day dawning
And the beautiful sun
At the sound of the first bird singing
I was leaving for home
With the storm and the night behind me
And the road of my own
* * *
On our trip to Sheringham yesterday we found a very interesting blue plaque which you can see in my photographic gallery. It was on a large house/building near the war memorial and read:
"In this house Ralph Vaughan Williams one of Britain's greatest composers lived and worked during 1919."
So something else I needed to look into. Vaughan Williams was a great collector of English folk songs and travelled extensively in East Anglia. Visits to places such as South Norfolk, King's Lynn, Sheringham and Southwold saw him collect songs, many of which were included in his 1906 Norfolk Rhapsody. Sheringham has a great history of sea shanties and their association with local fishermen. Even today there is a group called the Sheringham Shantymen who are well worth catching if you can find them.
Vaughan Williams was 42 when the First World War broke out and, despite his relative age, he volunteered for the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Private and drove field ambulances in France. What he witnessed and experienced stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Now you know how much I believe in co-incidences and how visits to virtually any part of the world throws up interesting snippets and possibilities. Usually because I am looking for them. Well how about this one? My paternal grandfather Arthur Steward served in the First World War in the Royal Army Medical Corps, also as a Private. Is it possible that they served together and knew each other? My grandfather never talked about either World War so I have no way of knowing whether they met unless records exist on the internet and in Ancestry and you can bet your life that I will check that out and let you know.
I hope you like today's photographic gallery of pictures taken yesterday in Sheringham, Weybourne Woods and Sheringham Park.