Hunstanton

Friday

For our 40th Wedding Anniversary, we spent a long weekend in Hunstanton, on the North Norfolk coast.  The journey up to Norfolk was relatively uneventful, although we did stop at possible the worst designed service we have ever stopped at. FourWentWays is on the A11, south of Cambridge.  There is a lovely big roundabout, off which there is a tiny entrance, the road narrows as it goes through what appears to be a pedestrian area into a higgledy-piggledy car park that was partly flooded.  We snacked at Greggs, not a good choice, but perhaps the only option.  The toilets were awful, nowhere near large enough for the numbers passing through.

Arriving in Hunstanton in the early afternoon, we parked up by the theatre because we had promised not to arrive before 3pm. At the Princess theatre, we dropped in at the booking office and in front of a poster with the words "SOLD OUT" emblazoned across it for tonight's performance, I asked "You wouldn't have anything for tonight would you?"  We had interrupted him, he was just processing a cancellation.  If you don't ask - you don't get! 

We booked for the following night as well.

A quick sandwich and cup of tea in the 'cash only' sandwich shop meant we were fuelled up and ready for the rest of the day. We then drove to "Rosamaly" to book in and chose our room - "The Honeymoon", with a four-poster bed and very pink.  There was little space in the room, but plenty of storage under the bed.  We went to investigate the town.  It is a planned town and benefits from not having grown up randomly over many years.   

That evening we ate at Henry's, who claim to be the third-best Fish and Chips in the country.  They are good, but third best? - maybe, not.  The theatre is just around the corner, so on to see Gilbert O'Sullivan.  A very enjoyable evening and a good chat with the remaining 4 of the party of 6, whose cancellation we had benefitted from.  I remembered more of his songs than I expected to.

Saturday

After a lovely breakfast, we drove a little way up the road to Titchwell Marsh RSPB reserve and spent most of the day looking for birds.  Here's my list:

Canada geese
Mallard. m+f
Blue tit
Chaffinch
Common gull
Moorhen
Coot
Avocet
Brown bird, long pinkish straight beak, tip is black, white underneath - black tailed godwit
Brown mottled duck, black beak
Lapwing
Sandwich Tern
Pink footed goose
Great white egret

 

We had lunch at the reserve, but it was fairly basic, and not too good.  Following some ice cream, we left the reserve mid-afternoon and returned to the B&B.  There we ate salads that we had bought earlier in the day and got ready for our second theatre trip.  Marty Wilde also put on a good show, with lots of well known rock and roll songs.  But the mood in the theatre was quieter - the audience that bit older, so no tearing up seats and partying.

Sunday

Another lovely breakfast and an Anniversary card from our host made breakfast that bit more special.  Afterwards we walked up to the lighthouse and a little along Hunstanton beach.  The cliffs are amazing.

We got so far and then had to turn back to get to our Sunday Lunch at Legge Cafe.  On the way, we read the plaques about St. Edmund and the Wolf.  There was a classic Morris Minor show on the green in aid of the Air Ambulance. How these now ancient cars are kept is such good condition amazes me.

This one looks very like my second car, and is also an ex-police car.  However, they did a better job on this one, there is no dent in the roof where the blue light was removed.

Lunch was excellent.  There was a lot of banter between the regular customers and the owner.  You can tell a restaurant is good when it has regulars that return again and again.  Now very, very full, we walked around the parks and greens of Hunstanton for a while.  The town is well-kept.

There is not much to do in the evening.  We tried the other fish and chip shop because there was a choice of that of Pizza, nothing else was open.  It was not so good.  Then we went and had a game of bowls at the 10-pin alley.

Monday

Our last breakfast with Bob and Sandy, after which we headed to Ely and visited the Cathedral.  Deciding not to take an octagon tower tour as we were not feeling fit enough. Still, we wandered round and appreciated the architecture.  The place was full of school visits.  We had a very good sandwich, and a free cake (because of the wait) at "Marmalade and Jam" for lunch and wandered along the canal, getting ice cream from the historic ice cream van.  Ely is a lovely city.

We made our way home, but the warm weather and a full stomach meant I needed a break to wake myself up a bit, so we stopped in Saffron Walden for a cuppa.

A very enjoyable weekend.

 

 

 

Flixton, 15 October 2021 - Green, yellow and grey

This morning we found all the car windows at the same level, about half open. We are mystified by this, we cannot explain how it can happen. 

Today we 'did' Southwold properly. It was a beautiful day, only a few clouds in the sky, and the sun's heat was a joy to feel. We took a gentle drive to Southwold, and on arrival found a parking space in a local street without meters.  

We walked toward the beach, ending up on Gun Hill - real name St Edmunds Hill.

Gun Hill

In both WWI and WWII the cannons were buried, because the enemy attacked the town believing it to be fortified. A serious intelligence failure.

We discovered that dogs are allowed on the beach from October to March.  The first order of the day became Brody on the beach.  He played with the ball for a short while, and then his back legs became unstable, so I put him in his push chair, and we hauled him across the soft sand to the promenade.

Brody, not wanting to leave the beach

There followed a long, slow queue for a cup of tea.  Then across the road to the free, very well maintained, public conveniences. After that, we made our way in to town for Fish and Chips from "The Little Fish and Chip shop".  We ate their produce last time we were in Southwold,  it was very good then and remains so today.  Again, there was quite a queue.  What must Southwold have been like in the summer at peak season?  We walked to the top of the cliffs and sat in a seat close to the one we had sat on last time.  Sitting watching the grey sea and listening to the breakers is a timeless activity, I could stay there all day. By now the gulls were gathering, as they swarm and perch on anything they can find I am reminded of scenes from "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock. They leave us alone, which it better than last time, perhaps they're scared of Brody.

Now for a walk along the 'prom' to the pier.  The most interesting thing about the pier is the clock, there is a short video here:https://youtu.be/4xuIPusRDlA.

On the pier, the wind is strong and cold, and clouds cover the sky. People are walking up and down one side, the protected side only. At the end is a platform for fishermen, it is surrounded by rusty piles topped with concrete. They are entirely functional, but in some people's minds they also appear to be wishing wells!

We went back into town, where I bought some walking boots, then walked south along the coast for a mile or so to the Alfred Cory Museum. Sadly, it was closed, so back again and get some soup for tea, before leaving Southwold once again.

 

Booton, 10 July 2021 - Brody's swim

We decided to go for a walk along the River Wensum, which flows through Fakenham.  There is a guide book of walks in the house which is quite old.  We found the car park at Bridge Street without any problem, but then the instructions just didn't work.  There is a path leaving the car park which could be construed as a right turn, so we followed it.  We came to the river, but which side to follow.  There were no way markings from the street.  Some investigation eventually led to the waymarked path.  Thankfully, the course of the river changes more slowly than towns develop, and we enjoyed our stroll along the river bank.  There are places where the bank is clear, and the water is easy to access.  Brody had already found a ball, so at one of these points I threw it in the water, and he had a quick swim.  The days are long past now where he would happily swim up river, so it was a quick circle and 'help me out' at the river bank.  There are some places where the river is overgrown and covered with fallen willows, at one of these points we came across some swans.  Here they are struggling through the detritus.

 

Eventually we came to the disused railway arches where the path turns, and we headed up a slight hill (this is Norfolk, remember).  Then we lost the path altogether as we found ourselves walking through a new housing estate, so we followed the road out of the estate and onto the main road back into Fakenham.

In the car park there is a fish and chip shop called 'Mr Chips'.  We ordered our lunch, two portions of plaice and chips and two cups of tea, which by this time we were in need of.  We sat in an undercover area outside the shop.  The portions were huge, so we did not finish all the chips.  As the rain was now starting, it was time to say "Goodbye, Mr Chips" and head back to Booton.

A little way along the road, a yellow light appeared on the dasboard, indicating that there is an exhaust problem.  We should take the car to a garage.  That scuppered plans for tomorrow, which are revised to 'stay in the cabin'.  Oh well, these things happen.  Yes, they do, but they should not to a car that is barely three years old and has less than 12000 miles logged.

 

New Car - Sharan

A few weeks ago we said a sad goodbye to this:

It had served us well, exceptionally well, for 12 years and in many ways we were sad to see it go.  There is however good reason.  With over 100,000 miles on the clock it is coming to that time when the big failures occur - 110,000 to 125,000 you can expect gear boxes and engines to fail.  Other things were also badly worn.

We replaced it with this:

 

A very similar vehicle in many ways, but so much more modern.  It is a 1.4 litre turbo, rather than a 2.4 litre.  It should do significantly better than 12 MPG, I'm hoping for 2.5 times that at least.  The Toyota allowed for the removal of seats, giving the car a van like appearance.  The Volkswagen does not, although they all fold flat, it does not give the huge open space.  It is also a more up-to-date car, with start-stop technology (why isn't it called stop-start?) and various other automatic driver aids.  The anti-rollback and automated hand break feature is great for driving, but makes backing out of the garage downhill interesting, especially when next door's car is directly in the path it wants to take.  I'm not used to it yet.   I'm not used to the 'connected' car yet, either, so there is lots to learn.

We are looking forward to many years of great service from this vehicle, I hope it lasts as long as the Previa (at least).

Staycation - Gardens and Cars

After dropping Brody off at the vets, we drove to Colchester to visit the Beth Chatto gardens. 

The main garden is the water garden, where there are not only plants, but all sorts of wild life.  Above is undoubtedly my best picture of the day.  The gardens are well-kept, we saw a small army of ladies working hard on one of the beds, and pleasing to the eye.  It is also very peaceful before most of the visitors arrive.  Unfortunately, it is also quite small for a garden, and I can't help but feel they could make better use of the space and open more of it.  The Beth Chatto gardens is really a large garden centre with the gardens attached, like a lot of large garden centres it has a huge café, so we had a cup of tea and planned where we would go for lunch.  If the gardens had been bigger, we would have lunched there.
We decided to visit the Wooden Fender, just a few miles away down a twisty Essex country road.  We sat in the garden and had a lovely meal - the food and the service was excellent.  Then we drove back towards Billericay, not knowing quite when we should pick up Brody.  We stopped at the Mini car sales place in Chelmsford, to look at a convertible mini - 4 seats, but only 4 people if the passengers in the rear seats don't have legs below the knees!  Still, it looks like a very nice car and would suit us and Brody, but we would have to find a way of strapping him in.
Back in Billericay, we visited the Ford garage to look at bigger cars - S-max etc.  Then there was an hour or so to wait to retrieve the retriever.
The poor dog is not at all comfortable after his knee clean, even this morning he is clearly in a lot of pain.  We have to go back to the vet tomorrow to see how he is doing, and are hoping to start hydrotherapy later this week.

Old dog learns a new trick (or Why men don't read instructions)

You would think that changing a bulb would be easy. After all I recently bought a couple of daylight bulbs, and installed one of them in seconds. The lounge is much brighter and the power consumption only a quarter of the previous incandescent bulb. So when Jo said the offside headlight had stopped working I was expecting few minutes work. How hard can it be? First find the book. OK, I lie! First open the bonnet and look at the connection, try to take it apart, and fail miserably.
There are three lights in the set, a side light, a dipped light, and a full beam light, each with its own enclosure. They are not visible, or at least not properly visible. I put the lights on to check that I was trying to disconnect the correct one - I was. The book says that disassembly is a three stage process.

• Unclip the power supply by depressing the plastic clip and separating the connection. 
• Turn the cover counter-clockwise and remove the cover.
• Remove the connection to the bulb, if it is stiff wiggle it.
• Unclip the bulb clip and remove the bulb.

(Count the steps carefully did you get three?) This process failed at the cover removal, until I realised that counter-clockwise meant clockwise the picture was from the back of the unit, I was working from the front. Once it was all removed I connected the circuit and the bulb lit. So I put it all back together properly, and the bulb failed to light.
Having no idea what the problem was, and having been working on it for an hour, I decided to go to Halfords to get a spare bulb. This served as a very good reminder of why I don't go shopping on a Saturdays. Queueing to get into the car park, and out of it is a big disincentive especially in March.
Once again I made a fatal error and looked in the book. I need a 472, but the 472s have three prongs and two filaments, the bulb I want has two prongs and one filament. I stood there pondering, and an assistant asked if she could help. I told her what I was looking for. "You need a 477." She found one and gave it to me, it was indeed what I was looking for.
Back at home I fitted it in 20 minutes and it worked. I had learnt just where to apply pressure, when and how far to turn the cover, the alignment of the prongs and a host of other things without ever seeing inside the bulb housing at all. I will probably remember 477 long after they've changed all the numbers too. I have also learn something about interpreting manuscripts, sometimes you can make sense of them sometimes you can't.

Summer time and the weather is awful

That must be because I'm on holiday. It's just some time to catch up with life - repairs and things I've been promising to do for people.

Liz has a new car. The bank of Mum & Dad has helped with the purchase, but its one of the few banks that does not lend to unreliable customers, so that should be OK. She had tried to buy a slightly cheaper one, but they sold it before she made up her mind. Still its good news - she had lost faith in the other one - too many creaks and groans.

I spent the morning researching broadband contracts for friends at church. Where have all the small specialist providers gone? There used to be loads. I guess the industry is maturing.

Yesterday I travelled home by bus from the garage where we bought our car - it was in for its four-year service (1st year for us), and back again in the evening to pick it up. The car was due to be ready at 5pm, I arrived at 5pm EXACTLY. Two buses, and a stop in the middle to buy the season ticket for getting to work. I was amazed. The service went well and the MOT was passed, so it is all legal.

I was going to go out, but it is still raining - I'll just have to shop on-line!!

I drove the RX8

Andy has included me on the insurance so I can drive the car. It must be said that this is in no way a second car for me (shame), but is a practical arrangement for moving cars around the top of our road and other things we have to do occasionally.

It is a lovely car to drive, but the short circuit to the motorway, and back could never do it justice. Being a rotary engine it is made to operate at higher revs that a normal car. That takes a bit of getting used to - I stalled it coming up a hill to a roundabout. Apart from that it accelerates quickly, as you'd expect, its also smooth and comfortable - even on the poor quality Essex roads. The only difficulty I had was keeping it to the speed limit - it seems to always want to go faster. There were a couple of junctions where I stopped and I needn't have, because this car would easily get you through the gap. We were on public roads in the day time, so there was no chance to try out the traction control, or really push the acceleration. Visibility while driving is surprisingly good. With the shape of the car I expected large blind spots, but there are only couple of places where you could loose another car.

My 'old man' test for a car these days is "Can I sit in it and drive for 3 hours without getting uncomfortable?". For my two cars the answer is different. For the Previa - yes its very comfortable. For the Micra no - no more than 30 mins before I start to have so shuffle around.

For the RX8, I suspect the answer is yes. It is incredibly comfortable, and the seat can be reconfigured in many ways.

I'm looking forward to another go.

25th Birthday Celebration

Yesterday we collected ourselves together and made our way to Milton Keynes (MK) -"the land of the concrete cow", to celebrate the birthday of my nephew. He's 25 - that makes me feel old! He has a two bedroom flat that he is in the process of decorating, and although he's been there quite a while, its the first time I've travelled to see him. We all went (except Jo, who has a fever, and was not well enough), and collected Karen on the way.

Holmesdale Tunnel
There are two tunnels on the M25, between the junctions of the M11 and the M1. The second is the Holmesdale Tunnel, when travelling anti-clockwise. For the last , I don't know how long, it has been undergoing refurbishment. This journey was the first time through for me since it re-opened. The lighting has been significantly down graded - I had thought it was temporary, but apparently not. Here's a clip, which shows the patchy lighting - watch from about 2 minutes in. I found driving through at about 65 MPH that the lights appeared uncomfortably flickery. Does anyone think its an improvement?

Celebration, TV, and Wii
Anyway we got lost in Luton! How many times have I been there? So Liz phoned Karen and got directions. We found our MK destination easily enough. As you enetr his flat, the first thing that greats you is a huge TV. It really dominated the room. His flat is quite spacious, and a very respectable for a 'first time buyer'. He is inevitably doing lots of work, and most of it is still in progress. None of that spoilt the celebrations. It is an ideal lounge for playing on the Wii - the strangely named games machine that gets you up and active, and all the 'children' really enjoyed themselves. If the children are happy, then their parents have no cause for concern - so it made for a relaxing afternoon. No, in case you're wondering, I don't join in with the video games. New hand-eye coordination skills, especially those with a 'digital delay' do not suite me at all.

We eventually left, and the worry about the car got worse. I think the blow-out at the beginning of the month has caused some more problems - may be damaged the shock absorbers. Cars are great when they're working ...

We got home without incident, and I can confirm that the tunnel is no better at night.

Eastbourne, old friends, good night, tyres, daughter

So that's it then read no further, it's all said in the title. (or not ...)

Tuesday we travelled to Eastbourne to see an ex-member of our church, who is now settling in nicely there. What is really amazing is that her new house downstairs is the same layout as the equivalent rooms in the old house! It was good to see her, and to catch up with her, and most importantly, to hear that she is settling into a church which is relatively easy to get to, and not so different from the one she left. We drove over the foggy downs to East Dean, and had lunch in the Tiger Inn. Lovely setting, even when dark and rainy outside. This is what English pubs are supposed to be like, indeed this is what English villages are supposed to be like. Then across town to see other friends, who we hadn't seen for ages. All that way to hear news of people who live in our own town! They have settled into quite a different style of church, and there was some discussion about the relative merits of the styles, but the most important thing is that people feel 'at home' where they are. Then it was off to Sovereign Harbour, on their recommendation, for something to eat. As Pablo's was closed we ended up here, for a nice meal, and then off to the B&B for some well deserved sleep. Very comfortable, if slightly small, and a very nice breakfast. At breakfast we asked "What are we going to do today?" No idea, and its still raining, and it's going to for the rest of today, well at least the rain will give way to showers late. We decided to go and look for a vineyard to buy English wine for Christmas, but were pointed at a farm shop at Middle Farm by our host. It was a good decision, a reasonable choice, and we have our wine (and one or two other things!).

Then off to see Karen. Driving on the M25, there was a loud pop, and then the sound I first thought was large lorry with problems. It wasn't a lorry, it was us. The off-side rear tyre had deflated. I pulled up on the hard shoulder, and started the process of changing the wheel. Large articulated lorries passing inches from where I would work. The I couldn't find the jack. It wasn't where the book said it should be. So we called recovery. 30-60 minutes to wait, as the sun went back behind the clouds. We were stood behind a chest height crash barrier watching our car sway as the traffic went passed, and looking into the distance for some sign of a recovery lorry. We talked for a bit, I counted cars for a minute - 96 vehicles passed us in that minute.
It started to rain again, not very heavily, but the clouds were still getting darker. I changed to a waterproof coat, and Jo added my hooded coat over hers (I should have taken a picture, but somehow it didn't cross my mind). She had forgotten her hat.
The man arrived after less than 35 minutes (or was that weeks?). He decided that it was too dangerous for him to change the wheel there because the hard shoulder was too narrow. He put our Previa on the back of his recovery vehicle and moved us to somewhere safer.

Karen was on a tight schedule, having just a 4 hours between work and her evening meetings. Jo had kept in touch with her by SMS messages, so that she knew what to expect, we arrived only 20 minutes early. We went for dinner at the Halfway House in Dunstable. We have a lovely time chatting with Karen, and agreed that already we don't see her often enough. The halfway house is nice enough, but a few little quibbles took the edge off the food. Dry cheese with the fajitas, cheese cake still frozen in the middle, and the items on the bill we didn't have. Never mind, the company is what counts, so we left happy enough. I picked up a few books on prayer, and it was back home.

A good couple of days.

Another car day ...

The Micra has been fixed. The door mirror has been replaced. It was not cheap. I was only slightly hopeful that it would be.
The Peugeot's petrol leak has been fixed, but was delayed as when I cleaned the car out last night, I also took the special wheel nut for unlocking the wheels. We have it back. Its a standard problem on Peugeots, the pipe from the tank to the supply line is made of rubber and doesn't last.
We don't know the cost yet because the accounts man has gone home, but we'll pay him tomorrow.

Herne Hill

Yesterday I took a short trip to Herne Hill (I'd never heard of it either) to look at a car that my daughter was interested in. Unfortunately it turns out that the car has been an insurance write-off, so she will not be buying it. Sad really - its just what she wanted.

So I saw part of London that I'd never even heard of before. It doesn't look as impressive in real life as it does on Wiki, but then we didn't really spend time looking at the station!

As always it was lovely to see Karen, and catch up with her news.

21st Party

Mike returned with the car (still intact, for those of my readers who might doubt that), 5 minutes later than requested, with his excuse ready.

We then left to go to my God daughters 21st family party. We met some old friends, and caught up with them, and sat in the garden chatting, until it was too cold. It was a lovely afternoon. I have quite a few pictures, but probably won't be able to publish them.

Insurance is covered

For once I am pleased with the insurance company. A simple phone call was all it took, they changed his details and he's covered. So much better than last time's fiasco, when you would have thought that they had never had anyone pass a test. So he's gone with the car on his first drive.

Christmas

I had expected Christmas to be quite difficult this year, but everybody seemed to cope really well. That is not to say that we didn't miss people, but we did have a good family Christmas. All the children that are away have come home, including my nephew, who now lives in Milton Keynes. It's great to see them setting up adult life for themselves, but I do miss having children around. However, with the very young ones running about and being 'all excitement', I realised why younger people look after young children. They are lovely, but they aren't mine, and I can't insist that they learn to sit in their seats and be (reasonably) quiet. I have to accept that different parents bring their children up in different ways, and that the focus on the role and demands of the child has changed a lot since I was one. I'm not quite old enough to have been a victim of 'children should be seen and not heard', but I'm not far off. Today they dominate. I suspect we have gone past the mid-point of the pendulum.

Boxing Day is the day when you are supposed to open presents, Christmas day is for Worship of the newborn King, we did just that - opened most of our presents. I have a very small, but nevertheless powerful digital camera, which I'm very pleased with it. Our friend also visited on Boxing Day - so no getting up late! It was good to see them, and some of our God-children.
The rest of the day (or part of it at least) was spent fixing a car. One of the side lights was not working. It wasn't as simple as a bulb. The power was not being provided to the end part of the circuit. A new radiator had recently been fitted, and as the wiring loom passes along the base of the radiator mountings, I assumed that the loom had been damaged. A new wire was fitted, and all the lights now work. She had been stopped by the police under the prevention of terrorism act, and is therefore now known to the police. Britain is becoming a police state by stealth. That should be an abuse of power, but the powers have been given by the duly elected government.

... and another change of car

This morning we were up and out early, as we dashed off to Colchester to get the latest car. I've been and seen it and driven it last week. It seemed OK, and didn't exhibit any problems. We agreed the window would be fixed, and it would have road tax for six months. We also agreed a payment method. So Andy was contacted and told that the machine had arrived, so they can do 'Chip & PIN' payments. All very good, all very secure. Andy's on a tight schedule. We arrive a little before 10am. The site is locked. Andy phones the man, and he says 5 minutes, same as last week it took 15.

We go through the registration information and sign the forms and then the machine is validated by the service providers (why wasn't this done during the week?). We pay the money - and I have to answer all sorts of security questions from the Halifax - because 'Chip & PIN' is clearly so secure!

 The car was left open last night, and the battery is flat. The booster device is flat. It's started from a normal jump start. The battery post does not connect to the car properly, and I have to tell them how to fix it. While all this is happening, I notice that the tax isn't there. He'll have to go and get it!! The engine management light comes on - probably because of the fiddling with the battery. The idle speed is not being managed properly, at idle the car is about to stall, and is caught by the engine management system, revs are applied to about 1200 rpm, and the cycle repeats.

 

Andy sits in the car and says, "A new car is supposed to be exciting, not disappointing. This was supposed to solve my problems, not add to them". He's right, of course. The whole experience leaves him flat, dejected almost. It has a similar effect on me. Driving home he brightens up a bit, but is listening to every tiny sound, and worried about different smells.

The problems are not consistent, sometimes after starting the car it's fine, others it isn't.

The problem with so many in the business world is their lack of effort, lack of customer focus. In one sense you pay for what you get, in another they get only what they work for.

A disappointing morning.

Let's hope this one lasts longer than the previous two, here's the last one.

New Car

Andrew has got his new car - well a replacement for the Corsa. It's an Astra, and its even older. I hope this one lasts longer than the Corsa did, but when you are dealing with 15-year-old cars you can never tell. Still it's also more powerful, and looks more like a 'boy racer' so he's quite pleased. I went for a drive in it last night, as I'm the 2nd nominated driver. I'm much happier driving that than the Corsa, there's a lot less obviously wrong with it.