Snake in the grass

Wednesday
The list of jobs to be done during my holiday is getting a bit smaller, but today I’ve got one of the messier ones. The garage needs to be cleaned up, and that guarantees lots of dust and a trip to the dump at the end of it. Although it’s a double garage, it’s a bit like the TARDIS in reverse in that the inside looks smaller than the outside. Quite how I manage to accumulate so much rubbish is beyond me, but I’m sure it’s my certain knowledge that stuff will always come in useful so why throw it away.
I get an early start, and after about an hour it’s beginning to look as if it might actually be a double garage on the inside as well as the outside, although there is no chance of getting two cars in there. I find an old shelf on the floor that came from one of the bedrooms, so I drill a few holes in the wall and put it up. You can never have too many shelves to put things on. For some reason we have 5 different paddling pools, including one like a fire engine and one like a castle. As neither of the boys would be seen dead in them, and there’s no-one else in the family to palm them off on, they go onto the pile for the dump.
By the time I’ve finished you could almost eat your lunch off the floor, I have enough rubbish to fill both the inside of the car and the boot, and I’m absolutely filthy. Still, it’s very satisfying having a sound basis on which I can start to accumulate the next 6 month’s worth of vital resources.
The staff at the local dump, sorry – recycling depot, are extremely fussy, insisting that everything has to go into the correct skips. Even to the extent that the cardboard boxes you put the rubbish in have to be emptied and put in the cardboard recycling bin, and woe betide anyone who dares to put things in the wrong place.
It takes over half an hour to get rid of the rubbish, but at least I can bask in the glow of efficient recycling, knowing I’ve done my bit to save the planet.
When I got back I started to tidy up the garden and noticed something under one of the bushes. I wandered over and was astonished to see a grass snake coiled up enjoying the sun. As I called out for the rest of the family to come and have a look, it suddenly moved and slid away. I’ve read that grass snakes can grow to a fair size, but I’ve never seen one before, so when this one opened up and was about a metre long and almost as thick as my wrist it was a bit of a shock.
The others arrived in time to see it slide behind the shed, so at least they knew I wasn’t making it up. It was clearly not going to come back for a while, if at all, so I carried on in the garden (being very wary around the shed just in case it wasn’t actually a grass snake!!).
A couple of hours later I checked the corner where it had been coiled up and it was back, as the following photos demonstrate.

It will be interesting to see if we have a new pet, if so then I’m not too hopeful for the frogs in the pond. It might also explain why I’ve not seen too many toads this year!

NorfolknGood

Holiday!!

Monday

First day proper of the summer holiday (you can’t really count the weekend), the sun is shining and there is a list of jobs to be done. We’re at home until Thursday, then off to stay in an apartment in a manor house in Dorset for the second week. Sounds grand, probably isn’t.

First things first though, breakfast in the conservatory and a chance to plan out the day. Basically, get the jobs out of the way as quickly as possible, and then get in the garden in the hammock!

First task is to finish off the oven that I cleaned yesterday. I left the runners in a bin bag overnight having sprayed copious amounts of Mr Muscle oven cleaner (other products are available but are probably not as good) on them first. The instructions say something about rubber gloves and not breathing in the fumes (or was that something else I was reading??), but in true bloke fashion it’s running water and a scourer. They have cleaned up really well, and look as good as new, so that should keep the household authorities happy for a few more weeks.

Next task is to clean the conservatory roof. This is definitely a job for a warm day as I can guarantee to get soaked as the water cascades down the steep slope. It’s good fun though, especially now I have my (almost) patented roof cleany thing (it’s a long mop attached to another broom handle, secured with garden wire), which lets me get to the very top.

By this time the sun has broken through the early cloud and it’s getting pretty hot.The roof’s not too dirty, but if you don’t keep on top of it then it gets covered in that horrible green slime. I spend a really happy hour playing with the water and getting very wet. Just a big kid, but the conservatory is looking great.

Number one son pops out and wants to know what’s for lunch. I put the oven on and find some pasties and chips. Once the oven gets to temperature I put them on a tray and open the oven door. Oops! the runners are still sitting on the draining board, so there’s nowhere to put the tray! I can’t be bothered to wait for it to cool down again so I decide to perform in-flight repairs. It’s amazing how 180 degrees centigrade concentrates the mind when you are trying to work inside an oven fitting rails, especially if you are only wearing shorts and no shirt. Managed it without any damage to myself or the oven.

Once lunch was cleared up it was time for some serious hammock testing. The temperature was up in the 80’s, but it seemed a shame not to lie out in it. The best bit was that all the jobs had been done for the day so the authorities couldn’t find me anything else to do.

Forced myself to lie there for a couple of hours catching up on various pod casts I’d not managed to listen to last week.

This is setting up for a good couple of weeks off. Don’t suppose it will last though!

NorfolknGood

Strategically Lost

Tues/Wed/Thurs

On the course for these three days.

Up early on Tuesday morning, still pondering about the loss of my wallet and Blackberry yesterday. The main thing on my mind is about the loss of my driving licence and the possible ID theft implications. Not much I can do about it though, so no point in worrying. If I suddenly find I’ve taken out bank loans in Nigeria or bought apartments in South America I’ll just have to deal with it at the time.

Breakfast at the Hilton is an eye-watering £17.95, so I do my best to get some sort of value for money, but even with my appetite that proves a challenge. As I said on Monday the hotel knocks spots off the one in Croydon, the breakfast is excellent, all of the staff are pleasant, bidding you a good morning at the slightest eye-contact and the set out is first class.

The hotel is directly opposite Canary Wharfe, and there is a ferry running across the river which seems to be used by commuters as well as hotel residents.

The other surprise is how busy the river is with fast catamarans running all day carrying people from past Greenwich in the south all the way up to Chelsea in the west.

It good to catch up with the rest of the delegates (there are 16 of us all told), and even better to hear that not only are we all still in jobs but that a couple have even managed to get themselves promoted.

This is the final third of the ‘Best to Lead’ course, and for the next three days we’ll be learning about strategic thinking and being creative. Should be a challenge for someone as practical as me.

Rather than giving a day-by-day account I’ll just pull out a few of the highlights (most of which will probably revolve around food).

A key test for any hotel hosting courses is the quality of the snacks at break time and the lunches. Whilst not wanting to labour the point (on the other hand why not?), the previous venue failed miserably on both counts. This time we had a choice of pastries and croissants at each break, and they were always there on time. Lunch was really good, with a selection of hot and cold offerings at a help yourself buffet, and desserts that really tested your resolve to only try one per sitting! The waiting staff were spot on (as they were at breakfast) with empty plates being smartly cleared away ready for the next course (if there is one thing that winds me up in hotels it’s when they ignore your empty plate and you have to rearrange the table to fit the next one on. It’s waiting 1-0-1, not rocket science – quick aside, what would rocket scientists say if something isn’t difficult “it IS rocket science”? Dunno.).

The first day of the course was all around the theory of strategy so by 5 o’clock the brain was pretty dead. The keen ones were planning to go over the river to sample the hedonistic delights of the new financial heart of London, with £22 to my name (and beer at £4 a pint) I decided to give it a miss and go for room service and the hotel bar (all charged to the wife’s credit card – only seems fair).

As I’m without the Blackberry I’m suffering from e-mail withdrawal syndrome, so I try and connect to the hotel wireless network to log into work. It only took 75 minutes to fight through the connections and the office security, which wasn’t the slowest ever, but was pretty close. One of life’s mysteries is why computers, which less face it are stupid things that just do as they are told, still manage to come up with multiple different ways of reacting to what you think are the same commands. Most of the first hour was spent trying to persuade it to connect to a network that was clearly visible and available. It then got bored and I was hooked up inside minutes!

Wednesday was the fun day. This is when the role players turn up and we have to work through some scenario or other. These guys are all professional actors who have to play a number of different characters and react to how we work. It gets really intense as you have a project to deliver, but at the same time remember you are there to learn stuff, and it is very easy for one to overshadow the other. One of the actors was at the previous two sessions and his ability to fly into a rage at the slightest provocation (if the role requires it) or to be the biggest charmer on the block had already passed into legend. This puts us all on edge as we have no idea what to expect over the next 6 hours. I volunteer to lead our team as there were a few things I wanted to test myself on, the rest have no objection so off we go.

This creativity stuff is really difficult when you are used to working in a structured environment. It’s one thing to say ‘think out of the box’, it’s something else to actually do it. I can see why I don’t work in marketing. The two role players behave themselves (or we just did a brilliant job of managing them), but there were a couple of curve balls to keep us on our toes. It’s full on pressure until just after 2.30 which left us 30 minutes for a rehearsal.

By the time we deliver our presentation at 3 o’clock I’m totally knackered. We’ve all pushed ourselves really hard, and we’re pretty happy with what we’ve achieved. Unfortunately the other team’s offering was chosen as the best, although it was a close decision.

After the wash-up session, I head back to my room with a thumping headache and collapse on the bed. Next thing I know it’s gone 8 o’clock. Probably a combination of the day’s activities and the legacy of Monday evening. Watched Chris Moyles discover he’s from a poor family and fall asleep.

Thursday is mostly about summing up what we have learned over the 9 days, with a few gentle exercises thrown in to get us thinking about what comes next. It’s interesting talking about career paths at the same time as you don’t know if your job is safe, but I guess that’s Banking in 2009 for you.

I had a hire car booked for between 2 and four, but because of the traffic he didn’t get to me until 4.30, by which time it was serious rush hour in SW London. As I might have mentioned previously I have the world’s worst sense of direction, so I asked the guy from the carhire company for the quickest route to the Rotherhithe tunnel (I had a set of instructions but I’d forgotten to print off the map that went with them! Doh!) and according to him it was turn right out of the hotel, keep going straight and you can’t miss it. Hmmm. From there, A13, A12 and M11, how hard can it be?

Ten minutes later I’m on the Jamaica Road, and pretty sure I’ve gone wrong! I’ve seen one fleeting sign pointing to the tunnel and then nothing. I keep going and then see the sign for the Congestion Charge and Tower Bridge. Seriously not good, as I know I should be well down river from the bridge. I turn into one of the side streets and head back the way I came. The downside is that half of London is heading in the same way. The ten minutes heading east turns into 45 minutes heading west. I finally get to the tunnel, and then continue bumper to bumper for the next hour. It takes me two hours to travel the 16 miles from the hotel to the M11. By the time I get up to 70 miles an hour it’s half six, and had I left the hotel and caught the train home I’d now be pulling into Norwich station. So much for Mr Clarkson and his races against public transport, I knew they were all fixed.

I finally got home around eight o’clock, and then had to turn out again to fill the car up with petrol!

Still at least I’m working from home tomorrow so I can have a decent lie in.

NorfolknGood

A right pain in the Tubes

Monday

On a course from tomorrow for three days, so it’s a taxi down to the station this morning (the suitcase won’t fit on the scooter) to make sure I’m on my normal train.
Fairly quiet Monday, just the usual range of meetings and other tasks, and as I’m going straight to the hotel I work through to just after 6 o’clock. It’s a fairly convoluted route to get to the hotel which is in Rotherhithe (other side of the Thames from Canary Wharfe). Circle line from Barbican to Moorgate, Northern line to London Bridge, Jubilee line to Canada Water and then the hotel shuttle bus to the Hilton. According to TfL it should only take 30 minutes if the connections all work, plus a few more for the bus.

It all went smoothly and I was in the hotel lobby just before 7. I went to get my wallet from my rucksack and it wasn’t there! With increasing panic, I checked all of the pockets, plus my suitcase (no idea why as it would not have been in there), and realised that the Blackberry was also missing. That left two possibilities, either I had left them on my desk (possible) or they had been stolen (more likely). I rang home to let the household authorities know I had arrived safely, but would be heading back as I might have left my wallet on my desk (or that it might have been stolen). She immediately assumed the latter, and there ensued a brief discussion about looking after things and paying attention whilst on the underground.
I decided the best option was to go back to the office as in any event if they had been stolen I’d have to get the credit cards canceled and the Blackberry disabled and that would be easier from my desk. A further problem was that the only cash I had apart from a few coins in my pocket was in the wallet.
Before setting off I rang the office and one of the guys was still there, he checked my desk and also went down to ask security whether the cleaner had found them and handed them in. No joy on either front.
I retraced my route, still hoping that by some fluke I’d dropped it under my desk. I got back to the office around 7.45, checked with the security guard to see if they had been handed in in the meantime. No such luck, so I went upstairs to have a last look. No sign. I rang home to tell my wife to cancel my personal credit card, and I rang to cancel the Corporate card.

Those phonecalls confirmed that the wallet had been stolen as attempts had been made to use both cards in an ATM at ten to 7. Luckily both had failed (not much of a surprise given that the PINS were not with the cards!!). With both cards canceled that was one less thing to worry about. I rang the IT department to get the Blackberry zapped, which totally wiped the device leaving it as a brick. So that was all the security things handled that I could. My driving licence was also in the wallet, so there is a concern about that being misused, plus a few loyalty cards (don’t mind if they added points to them).
My colleague was still there and he very generously lent me the spare cash he had, so at least I now had some money.
The next challenge was with the hotel. I needed some way to pay the bill! I rang the reception and a very helpful chap told me not to worry as there were a number of options open to me, and to ask for him when I got there.
I set off again, it was now around ten past 8, and tried to work out when the theft could have occurred. As I went down the escalator at Moorgate I remembered that it had been really busy. I’d had my suitcase on the step in front and my rucksack on my back. A short way down I had felt a push in my back and as I turned round the man behind had deliberately looked away. That was the only time on the entire journey that I’d been in any sort of crush with my bag on my back, so I reckon that was when it happened. My plan was to report the theft to the Transport Police, but I didn’t get a chance until I got to Canada Water where I went to the ‘assistance’ kiosk. One of the staff asked if she could help and when I explained what had happened she rang her supervisor who took me into his office and rang the police for me.

I then recounted the entire story to the police lady, providing all the details I could remember. Full marks to the TfL staff, really pleasant and really helpful. I guess they see a lot of this, but nevertheless I was really appreciative.
I finally got to the hotel around 9 o’clock, asked for Khanesh who immediately came over, remembered my name and put me at total ease saying that there would be no problem getting it sorted. The solution in the end was for him to fax a form to my home, for my wife to fill in her credit card details to guarantee my stay and then fax it back. All sorted inside 20 minutes and I was guaranteed a room and food for the next three days.
By this time I was feeling totally shattered. I’d been across London three times, I had been robbed (although thankfully it was a peaceful pickpocket and not some mugger), I’d had nothing to eat or drink since lunchtime, plus I had a three day intensive course to look forward to.
I bought a cold beer from the bar, and wandered outside to where some of my colleagues were already drinking.
Not a very relaxed night’s sleep, but although it could have been better, it could certainly have been much worse. It’s interesting how you play things over in your mind. I’m not a great worrier, and have a fairly fatalistic view when it comes to things, but even so the frustration knowing that a couple of steps up or down the escalator, or even simply being more aware and none of this would have happened was very real. Hopefully I’ll never have to find out how I would react to a really serious event, but it was an experience.
Lets see how the course goes, hopefully this hotel will be a better advert for the Hilton chain than the last one.

NorfolknGood

Lazy Sunday Afternoon (well all day really)

Got up at about 7 this morning, number 2 son is on a sleepover and the authorities and number one son are still in the land of nod. Too good an opportunity to miss for some quality peace and quiet whilst having my breakfast and getting onto the PC with no-one else queuing behind me.
No-one else make an appearance until half nine, and the delivery of a couple of cups of tea soon restored the downstairs P&Q. Unbelievably we have nothing to do today. No football, no housework, and no gardening. Number two son won’t reappear until later this afternoon and number one is round his granddads for tea, so we don’t even need to worry about a cooked lunch.
Settled into the conservatory for a coffee and a cake as elevenses, watched the birds fighting over the seeds on the feeders in the garden, it’s sort of organised, in that the sparrows are on the feeder throwing the seeds they don’t like in all directions and the doves and blackbirds are at ground level picking up the bits.
Not a bad avian selection today, blackbirds (including two juveniles being fed by the adults), sparrows (house and hedge (or Dunnocks)), blue tits, collared doves, a magpie, wood pigeons and starlings. The wood pigeons are a real pain, they hoover up anything edible and leave piles of poo all over the place, still I guess it’s all part of nature’s rich tapestry.
One o’clock saw us still in the conservatory, with cups of tea and a snack to eat, still not believing that we didn’t have to be doing something. Trouble is, even though it was a bit breezy and overcast outside, it’s so warm in there that you can easily doze off for the odd half hour.
We finally dragged ourselves out at just after two to go and put some flowers on mother-in-laws grave (the cemetery is just down the road, so we can easily wander down there, but as we need to get a few other things it’s the car today). Although it’s in a relatively built up area it’s actually very peaceful in there, and as the sun had broken through it was very pleasant.
Next stop was Waitrose and from there off to Notcutts for some more tea and cake! I can only say it’s a good job I’m not retired or my entire life would consist of moving between tea rooms sampling the wares.
We returned around 4.30, back into the conservatory and some more serious resting.
I’m on a course this week, so I had to drag myself upstairs to pack a suitcase and get my stuff ready. Left it a bit late really (had to watch Top Gear first of course), so it was all a bit of a rush, but I’m sure that if I need anything I’ll be able to buy it.

NorfolknGood

Parades, Motown and Fireworks

Saturday

Lord Mayor’s Procession today. It’s been an annual event in Norwich since the late 70’s, the first big one was for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 although I think there was one the year before that. Local organisations and businesses build floats (usually on the back of articulated lorries), and drive through the City centre collecting money for charity. You also have various local marching bands and dance groups strutting their stuff.

I actually took part in the first two or three when I was in the Norwich Leo Club (the junior branch of Lion’s International). For the first one we put a mobile disco on the back of a trailer and blasted pop music out along the route. After it finished we held an impromptu (and unauthorised) disco in Gentleman’s Walk. Heady days.

It was threatening to rain all day, so we delayed making a decision to attend until quite late, although number 2 son had arranged to meet his mates in the City which meant a trip in anyway. The official start time was 6.45, but years of experience meant we knew it would be late setting off, so by the time we had parked and found a spot in St Stephen’s street it was about twenty past 7 and we’d only missed about a dozen of the sixty odd entrants. Number 2 son disappeared immediately (watching floats is for the under 10’s and over 40’s) to go to the funfair in Chapelfield Gardens.

To be honest the standard was not as high as in some previous years, but there were a few really good ones (see photos), and a couple of the dance groups even managed to keep in step, not quite BGT Final standard, but good enough for the auditions!

Not having the excuse of kids meant I didn’t get any flags or stickers, but I guess we all have to grow up eventually.

We watched until the 64^th float went past and then wandered up to the Forum for a coffee. There was street theatre in the square in front of the Forum (an interesting retelling of Robin Hood using press-ganged members of the public as the actors), dancing in front of City Hall, and two guys on stilts pushing a 20 foot ball around (as you do). The Forum, (built on the site of the original City library after it burned down – don’t laugh but it is directly opposite the fire station) is one of the most impressive modern buildings I know of. It hosts the new library, Radio Norfolk and a couple of restaurants, and has a massive glass atrium, with the space in front that leads to St Peter Mancroft church. It’s one of those buildings that makes you feel proud to live in a place.

After the relaxing coffee we walked past the fire station (bit of excitement as two engines went out on a shout as we passed – slight digression, but when I was young I would never walk past the doors to the fire station in case they opened and I got run over. What a wuss!), and up to Chapelfield Gardens.

This was the main reason I wanted to come out. There was a free concert all night, and from 9.30 it was the Motown 50^th Anniversary tour. I’ve been a fan of Motown since I was a teenager, and the reviews of the show promised an entertaining evening. The tour had about a dozen or so artists, and as they performed the different songs another combination of them would be on stage. So of the three women singing as the Supremes, one then came on as Gladys Knight (along with her Pips), and then one of the Pips was Jimmy Ruffin. Stevie Wonder was excellent as were the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye. Totally brilliant entertainment and all free.

The first set was 45 minutes long and then everyone trooped back to City Hall to watch the fireworks launching from the Castle. (For anyone not familiar with Norwich we have a Norman Castle, and a Norman Cathedral with the second tallest spire after Salisbury – quite why they didn’t continue for the extra few feet is a mystery lost in time). The first 4 fireworks looked as if they had some from the bargain bin at Aldi, then suddenly it all kicked off. Nearly 10 minutes of world class fireworks, totally in sync with the music (which given the distance between the loudspeakers and the Castle was a feat in itself), including a stunning Can-Can interpretation in the sky. Easily the best firework display I have ever attended.

We met up with number 2 son after the fireworks (turns out he had been at the front of the stage whilst we were watching the Motown acts, and managed to get himself ‘crowd surfed’ by some of the older lads – heaven help us when (if??) he gets older, he’ll be at the front at Glastonbury.

Unfortunately he was too tired to stay for the second set (no stamina these kids), so it was home for bed.

A really good evening, and a big well done to Norwich City Council for organising it, and I never thought I’d say that.

NorfolknGood

Strawberry Fields

Sunday

Father-in-law’s birthday today, so we’re all off out for Sunday lunch. There’s going to be 5 generations attending, with the youngest one only 2 weeks old.

Lunch is at Crown Point, a pub just outside of the City, £9.95 for two courses and coffee. Although we’ve been there is the past we’ve not visited for about 4 years, but it has a good reputation, and my in-laws go there quite often.

The choice is fairly limited, basically Sunday roast (beef, pork or chicken), with all the trimmings, but when it arrived (I had the pork), it was delicious. Piping hot and a real plateful. Too much really, especially with all the roast potatoes and vegetables, still, I managed to do it justice and clear my plate. The problem was that the dessert had to be tackled as well, a large slice of apple pie and ice-cream, washed down with the coffee. Good job I don’t need to diet. Well worth the money.

After lunch we all set off to the coast to walk off the meal. We went to Scratby and stopped off at a ‘pick your own’ strawberry field to get some fruit for tea.

There were plenty of strawberries on the plants, so we soon filled the containers, but it has to be said they do not taste as nice as they used to.

I’m guessing it’s because the farmers are going for quantity over quality, but there is no depth in the flavour. We had some last week at my cousin’s which she had picked from a small local grower and they were a real blast from the past. Very sweet, and intense. Not so these ones which are a bit watery.

We parked on the street in Scratby, and cut through the caravan site to the amusement arcade. We’ve been coming here for years, as it’s much quieter than Hembsy and Gt Yarmouth, plus my in-laws knew someone who had a bungalow on the cliff tops where they’ve stayed for the odd week in the summer.

A couple of quid on the 2p machines in the Pink Palace (don’t ask) to try and win something that you would not spend twenty pence on in the shops, but it a way of whiling away an hour. I’m sure the adults enjoy it more than the boys these days. I managed to win a genuine cut glass diamond paper weight (about the size of the Koh-i-Noor diamond), much to the disgust of number one son.

I celebrated my success with a large 99, and we walked along the cliffs to see the old bungalow. It’s up for auction with a guide price of £100,000, a (very) quick discussion of whether we could all chip in and buy it followed, and a rapid conclusion that it’s a lot of money for a wooden building that needs total refurbishment, even if it does have fantastic sea views.

Next stop is the café for a pot of tea (why does so much of my life revolve around food and drink?), and I end up feeding the baby her milk. Whilst babies are clearly very cute, as with last week it’s always nice to be able to hand them back before the messy bits start.

Back to work tomorrow

NorfolknGood

River and Bacon

Wednesday

Day off today. The original plan was to drive down to Southwold for a pub grub and a walk around the town but it’s such a nice day we decide to stay closer to home rather than sit in a car for an hour each way.

So it’s a pleasant wander down to one of the local pubs for lunch. I had Cromer crab cakes and salad, washed down with a pint of Adnam’s Broadside bitter (at least I managed a taste of Southwold), the household authorities had a vegetarian tart with salad and new potatoes. Both meals were excellent and really set us up for the walk that was to follow.

We crossed over the road from the pub down to the Yare valley walk. As I’ve said before, despite living close to the City, we’re only minutes from the countryside, and having gone under the by-pass we soon left the traffic noise behind us.

In years gone by I’ve walked along the path in water that threatened to come over the top of my wellies, but today the river is flowing calmly with hundreds of fish visible in the crystal clear water. The path itself is really well maintained by a combination of the Yare Society and the Council, with duckboards installed across any areas that might get a bit muddy.

We passed a couple of guys quietly fishing who seemed to be more interested in a pleasant afternoon than actually catching anything. Other than them we only saw two other people on the whole stroll.

Apart from the peace and quiet, one of the other pleasures of walking along here is the chance to look into the back gardens of the houses that run down to the river. Plenty of space for the chickens I speculated about on Sunday, just need to find the million to buy the house!

After about half a mile the river cuts away from the houses and it becomes totally wild. Really tranquil, with just the birds and insects to break the peace. It’s really warm as well, especially as the reeds are at head height, so there is almost no air movement.

After about 20 minutes, it opens out into the grounds of the University of East Anglia. The main feature is the University Broad, an open piece of water created when they built the University in the 1960’s. The University itself is a dramatic set of buildings looking like a series of ziggurats pushing out of the ground. I think it still looks really modern 40 years after it was built, if anything it seems to improve with age. The newer buildings are much less striking, but you can’t see them from the Broad .

The objective of our walk is the Sainsbury Centre (or to give it it’s proper name The Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts). Built 20 odd years ago as a permanent home for the art collection of Robert Sainsbury (of supermarket fame) and his wife, it’s one of those places that is on my doorstep that I’ve hardly ever visited. As I’ve said before, you never appreciate what is on your doorstep.

Amongst the many items on display are paintings by Francis Bacon and Picasso, a couple of sculptures by Henry Moore as well as artifacts from Pacific tribes and ancient Egypt.

We went to the café first for a pot of tea and a cake (we’d passed on dessert at lunch, so we deserved a treat), and then went to look round the exhibition.

One thing that always strikes me when looking at art collections (which is actually something I don’t do often enough to be honest), is that you are within touching distance of something that you normally only see in books or on TV.

As well as the (free) permanent collection they always have something else going on. At the moment it is a celebration of Polish art as part of a wider series of exhibitions in the City. Although we did not go into the main area, there were flavours out in the main hall. To be honest it was all a bit too arty and pretentious for me (maybe I’m just a Philistine after all). Having sated our artistic urges for a while we set off home by the back route. This takes us away from the UEA towards the ‘posh bit’ of the City. These are the houses that back onto the river, plus others that have a view over the valley. I really do need to start doing the lottery again.

We finally got home around 5. The feet were sore and the legs ached, but it was well worth it. It’s at times like this that I realise why it’s worth the commute into London rather than moving closer and living in some grotty suburb.

NorfolknGood

The Good Life

Sunday

The meal last night was very pleasant. All the immediate family turned up (it’s always handy when you all live in the same city), but it’s quite shocking how infrequently we do get together given how close we live. Still, everyone caught up, and number one son was allowed a lager as he was having a meal (or to be precise he took mine that I’d just started drinking).

We’re all off to Suffolk this afternoon (passports and vaccinations all up to date), to go round my cousin’s who’s holding a garden party for my parents. Still not quite sure why we’re all going down there as most of those attending actually live in Norwich, but it’s a really nice gesture on her part.

She lives in a 17^th C cottage in a small village, and it’s pretty easy to find as long as you actually listen to the directions, which I obviously didn’t. Still we only got a bit lost (the clue we’d missed the turning was when the road started to have grass in the middle).

They have chickens, pigs and sheep, so as well as catching up with the extended family and a few friends, we also had a guided tour of the livestock.

Even with the few animals they have it’s clearly hard work combining the livestock side with full time jobs, but I was really starting to do the maths.

Free range hens for both eggs and eating, semi-rare breed sheep (Wensleydales apparently) that provide fantastic eating and luxurious sheepskin rugs (their wool looks as if it is in ringlets), plus various breeds of pig (bacon, sausages and hams), all of which would sell at premium prices. Is this the first inkling of the alternative job I’m looking for? Not sure that the household authority would be so keen on me exchanging a smart suit for a pig-stained pair of trousers and wellies, but maybe Felicity Kendall would consider a walk down memory lane! It probably wouldn’t be practical to have pigs and sheep in the Norwich suburbs, but a couple of chickens might be possible (I’ve noticed that Notcutts have started selling them).

Watch this space.

NorfolknGood

The Bee’s Knees

Saturday

No-one got up particularly early this morning. It had been number one son’s Prom Night last night, so I was on taxi duty waiting for the call at any time from 11 onwards, he rang at midnight, so it wasn’t too bad if still past my bedtime. It was a ‘dry’ party, but it was a pretty safe bet that some alcohol would be smuggled in, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. He’d gone for the full D-J look, with bow-tie and cummerbund, and from the photo taken before he left has clearly inherited his dad’s ability to look the part, well OK he looked the part.

I collected him from outside the University where the event was held and as he walked up the hill sans bow-tie, cummerbund and with his shirt half open I feared the worst, but it was just the effect of 4 hours dancing rather than 4 hours drinking that cased the unsteady gait, (clearly not such a chip off the old block after all).

We’re going out for a meal this evening as it’s my parents Golden Wedding today, so we had a fairly free day. Popped into the City for a couple of hours and we were back home just after 2. Sitting there at a loose end, I decided to make myself a ‘bee house’.

The bee site I link to from this blog had some photos the other day of nest boxes people had made for Mason bees. Basically these bees nest in holes, often in walls (hence the name), but also in holes in the the ground or in pieces of wood. Each bee lays an egg in the hole, adds some food and then plugs the hole up. The larvae hatches, eats the food and then eats its way out and flies off. The good thing from the gardening perspective is that they are fantastic pollinators, and of course bees are dying out all over the place so it’s a chance for me to do a bit of good and have the satisfaction of making something at the same time.

In true ‘me’ fashion, it will be a bit of a bodge job made from offcuts of wood I’ve got in the garage. Nothing as grand as plans or diagrams, just a rough idea based on the photos and then designed around whatever I could find.

A couple of hours later and I’ve got myself a nice new bee house, which if I do say so myself looks pretty reasonable and cost me £15 less than the £15 one I saw in a garden centre. I screwed it to the shed, and just have to wait for the residents to locate it and move in. It could be after the summer now, but at least it’s in place.

 

 

 

What with the new bird feeder and a few fatballs dotted around the garden it’s turning into a bit of a wildlife haven.

NorfolknGood