I lived there once. I have always liked the places I have lived, even when I hated the job. To be fair that's only happened once when I was working in Nottingham and I detested my work.
Places I have lived are: Norwich (Hellesdon), Harlow. Lowestoft, Cromer, Beccles, Long Eaton and Hethersett.
We last went to Lowestoft to have a look round and go to a football match at Crown Meadow. It had changed considerably from the place I remember from the early 1970s. In fact the roads had changed so much that I couldn't even find Crown Meadow let alone St Margaret's Road where I lodged.
For some reason whilst I'm writing this, a stupid memory has entered my head. One night I drove to Oulton Broad to get some fish and chips for tea. It was in the days when the food was wrapped in newspaper. And the guy in front of me asked for his not to be wrapped. As the chips were shovelled onto the newspaper, which happened to be the Lowestoft Journal, I saw he was eating chips off an article I had written and there was my name on it. Don't know why I wrote that but it's strange the things that enter my head when I start writing.
But back to the present. Our journey to Lowestoft didn't go quite as expected. Armed with our free bus passes we never have to worry if we miss specific buses on our days out and sometimes we simply re-route. We got the bus into Norwich and literally missed the connection to Lowestoft by a matter of seconds. But instead of waiting we decided to get the bus to Gorleston via Great Yarmouth and have a coffee in Gorleston High Street.
We were just looking for an independent coffee shop (never use a chain when you can use an independent) when the Lowestoft bus arrived, so we hopped on.
It was an interesting journey to Lowestoft, going through holiday park land including Potters Resort at Hopton where many years ago we watched the world indoor bowls championships. Then onto Gunton which is home to Pleasurewood Hills theme park where we used to go when our sons were small.
In Hopton we passed a derelict ruin of a church which looked intriguing and which will be well worth a visit sometime.
St Margaret's Church was destroyed by fire in 1865 when a stove in the church for heating was left on after the morning service on Sunday 8th January. It was allowed to remain alight. It over-heated and caught fire. The thatched roof provided combustion, and the church was unable to be saved.
The church lay in ruins, and was rebuilt elsewhere in the village.
On the way to Lowestoft we passed The Foxborrow which is now a Beefeater eating house but was once quite an upmarket establishment where I have downed quite a few pints in the past.
Back at Great Yarmouth I noticed a couple of interesting figures just over the bridge in Southtown. They were a couple of bears on a building owned by Hughes Electrical. They had their names attached which were Anna and Nelson.
Apparently the Hughes store is on the former Two Bears Hotel. When Hughes moved there they gave the bears a new home and asked local children to name them.
The judges picked Nelson after Horatio Nelson and Anna after author Anna Sewell who was born in the town.
And so onto Lowestoft. It has changed a lot but I really don't like the main shopping area or the dock area. The newspaper office is no longer a newspaper office and I didn't actually find it although I didn't look that hard.
Things improved once we got to the South Pier, somewhere I spent a lot of time when I worked in Lowestoft and somewhere I have many memories of. Some of these will be featured in my autobiography.
I have kept a diary since the December of my time at Lowestoft, missing out my first two months there. I must refresh my mind about the place and what I did.
We stopped for lunch at a garden cafe where the menu was very limited but the food fine. We then walked to Pakefield past some old style beach huts and some bright blue new ones which you can purchase for £30,000.
I don't think I've been to Pakefield before and it was quite delightful with its dunes giving it a wilder look and feel than that of the main beach at Lowestoft.
We walked to the bus stop and missed another bus by seconds.
Noticed a couple of interesting bits and pieces as we drove back towards Norwich. Firstly we passed a road in Beccles by the name of Eileen Crisp Court. Suddenly the image of a lady with jet black hair and glasses came to mind and I realised I knew Eileen Crisp from my time working at Beccles.
Eileen was twice Mayor of Beccles, a town and district councillor and champion of youth. It's good when a name prompts a memory. Eileen Crisp Court is on a piece of land that used to be a petrol station.
I would love to see a road in Beccles named after my old boss at the newspaper Tony Clarke. He was an absolute delight and great fun to work with and did so much for the town. It would be a just honour for him.
A bit further down the road was a stop called Ranters' Row. We had a Ranters Row in Hethersett at one point. I wrote about Ranters in a blog on 14th January, 2021. you can find that on my website in the blog section. Just go to www.peterowensteward.weebly.com and hit the blog button.
Of course it's from these people that we get the word to rant. That's enough for today. I hope you like my photos of Lowestoft which I have posted separately.