I’m so pleased that it has started snowing and really hope that it will carry on until it lays on the ground. It’s been way too long since we had some proper snow in this region and let’s face it, if we have a cold winter, we may actually get a hotter summer this year.
Here’s some lovely weather from 2005…
I’m also looking forward to my birthday, with a trip planned to London to see Mamma Mia. I love birthdays, even though the last few have been a little overshadowed with other stuff going on, this one I think will mark the end of a quite sh1tty year and we can now look forward to this year being much better.
The thing I’d like most for my birthday, would be a brand new job that I can get lost in and enjoy for the sake of it. To be fair, a simple, honest job is something that I would love right now.
I can’t wait until the new E4 show Dead Set airs. I absolutely love Zombies, which may explain why I worked in a banking office for so long. I also love the Davina and like watching sad, reality TV wannabes which is why I’ve got high hopes for this. Let’s face it, I have spent the past few years screaming at Big Brother on TV at the housemates and, I think that it will almost be karma for a few of the most annoying housemates to be eaten alive.
A blonde girl (in the teaser trailer) says, “does this mean we’re not on telly anymore?”. Black comedy…, speaking of which, I knew a (home-dye) blonde girl who once asked me how many letters there were in the alphabet… That wasn’t a joke by the way – oh, and she was my manager at the time. Her best guess at the answer was 21. We laughed too. A lot! Although, I don’t remember smiling much, except at her chosen ’shade’ of blonde, “Labrador”.
I know…, I cannot believe that Kath & Kim has been remade into an American version. Kath & Kim is iconic and truly Australian in ‘umour. The comedy translates to us in the UK simply because the Australians share the same sarcastic, self depreciating humour that other parts of the World don’t get. And we love Australia. But where’s Sharon? Everyone needs a Sharon!
The only saving grace is that Gina Riley and Jane Turner are the Executive Producers for the show. I just wish that they would make another Aussie series for us to watch.
I love ebay. I hate ebay. Ebay is all consuming and addictive and evil and fun all at the same time. So far, we’ve made a (relative) fortune selling old tat to people all over the world and have been ripped off myself with the inflated postage fees by Royal Mail and have taken abuse by stupid people who can’t read how much it will cost them for me to wrap and send stuff. Jeez – if you “win” (ha ha ha) something that retails at £5 for 99p, don’t moan when the postage is £2.00. Maybe the stupid don’t read postage and packaging costs. Bubblewrap, paper and tape ain’t free honey!
I think that I will keep selling all our tat used items, after all, it’s kind of recycling in a round about way.
Funny though, I can never find the kind of bargains that I end up selling. Must be the curse of ebay. Maybe it’s the way stuff is described – who knows! After all, the tag, ‘Addams Family’ on WordPress somehow gets the most hits on this blog. Maybe I should tag all my ebay stuff with, ‘the Addams Family’ and see what happens!
Today, we had lunch at the Locks Inn at Geldeston on the River Waveney. By road it is a bit tricky to find as it’s actually down a long track – very out of the way but worth looking out for.
It was cool because they had loads of vegetarian alternatives on the menu and it was a really friendly little pub. As I’m still on the antibiotics, I had a soft drink, but it was one of those places where you would want to sit by the river and drink cider all day long. It’s how pubs used to be.
Woo-hoo! Soda stream are back and I love it! We just got the new version and it’s fab! The concentrates are all natural flavourings now, so we won’t be whizzing our tits off on E-numbers or colours, but the memory of happy sugar induced comatose lows and high tartrazine trips seem to flood back with this advert..
I was just tinkering with iMovie and thought that I would share some more footage from when we took a trip on the Norfolk Broads. It just reminds me how relaxing the Broads are. The only real noise was from the breeze on the microphone on the camcorder. This is How Hill, which is on the River Ant.
Okay, so I sat through another Eurovision in the hope that we might get some points this year. Even though, I liked Michelle Gayle better than Andy Abrahams, I have to say for the record that he pulled off a blinding performance last night and should have been in the top 3 at least.
Europe should keep this new version of the Eurovision and we should walk away and just let them get on with it. We didn’t even get votes from Poland again and the weird Spanish entry (wtf?), which received boos on the night got more points than us. Even Wogan shut up towards the end.
I kind of knew that Charlotte thingy (aka Charlotte Take Me to Your Heaven Nielsson) from a few years ago looked pissed as the votes didn’t go her way either and, as it was almost inevitable that we’d come last, I had my hopes on this French, pure Eurovision class song – just for the bee-wopping background singers.
We took a last minute break to go cruising down the Broads. We set off on Tuesday and hired the “Sonata 6″ from Wroxham. The Sonata 6 looked a little like a gay pedlo, but it came with a suitably camp roof that unsnapped and a back that folded down pneumatically (for those tricky low bridges).
Captains Log – Broads date 13 dot 5 dot 08… 14:45
We left Wroxham at 14:45 after our tutorial for using the boat and coping on the open waters. A surly northern lad showed us how to go forward and back and how to tun the wheel and told us there had been complaints about not picking up television reception and running out of fresh water because of a leaky tap. He went on to trip out the boat mud weight and called someone over with a hammer to fix it. D took the “driving test” as I wasn’t up to performing under such pressure and after a big “U”-ey in the broad, we headed off at break neck speed… well, maybe 5mph anyway.
The weather was cloudy at first but still pleasant and warm and D saw a fab house that we could buy if we won the lottery. I took the wheel – and for some reason, couldn’t seem to let go.
We arrived at Horning at 15:45 heading, according to D, East, East South. His dad was a fisherman after all.
At 17:00, we stopped (moored) at St. Benet’s Abbey. We both had a wee as the contained chemical toilet was a little on the small size.
17:20, arrived at a major water junction for Potter Heigham and Gt. Yarmouth. Our boat was too tall to go near Potter Heigham bridge, so we swung a right down to Gt. Yarmouth. We moored at 17:30, but couldn’t tell if we were allowed to stay there as there was no-one to pay. To be honest, it had that ‘Hills have Eyes’ feel about the place, so to avoid being coshed over the head at night, we moved further down river to the Hermitage Restaurant and Bar. D watched Emmerdale and we both got pissed on some rather nice Pinot Grigio we’d chilled in the mini bar.
After walking by the Hermitage (after stumbling down the non-lit spikey footpath down the side of a field to the pub), we realised that it was a fish speciality place. We went further into town and settled into the Kings Head, which was more of a local’s pub. The food was quite nice, but way too hot even after 20 minutes (since the oven went ping). I liked the Old Speckled Hen ale much better.
23:00 Caught some crap telly and went to sleep (with one eye open in case of drifting).
Captains Log – Broads date 14 dot 5 dot 08… 10:00
Had no f@*cking sleep! I made D some breakfast, but it all stuck to the non nonstick pan and his eggs turned out less desirable than I intended. Mine came out okay, as I found another real non-stick pan under the sink.
Looked at the eye-spy activity booklet that the boatyard gave us. D wrote my name with an arrow next to a Bearded tit. Just for the record, I am not a bearded tit!
We crossed Breydon Water at about 12:00 and I was a complete bag of nerves. It was something about the whole industrial feel that unnerved me, along with the prospect of possibly dying in the shipping lane. We narrowly missed a 12 feet high marker when D tried to read the map, so I kept busy by fiddling with the ipod and fetching beers from the mini fridge. We had a Titanicesque moment when another massive marker loomed up in front of us and D had to steer hard left, missing it by just a couple of inches. My nerves had not improved by that point.
On the way to Beccles, D attempted another mooring and I wasn’t able to jump the 4 feet to shore from the stern. D leaped up on the top of the boat, moored and then set off again. I felt a little sea sick at that point!
We stopped at The Bell in St. Olaves for some lunch and D did a stern on mooring, much better than we both expected. I couldn’t eat my ploughman’s lunch, and we headed off to Beccles at 15:00.
I realised that my anxiety was probably down to non-regularity, so visited the on-board amenities on route. Felt much better and took control of the boat for a bit.
In Beccles, after manoevering some really low bridges, D moored stern on at the Beccles Yacht club and did a fab job of it too. Spoke to the harbour master and he sold us some tokens to the public showers. Headed into town to have some beers, brought chips back to the boat and went to sleep.
Captains Log – Broads date 15 dot 5 dot 08… 03:00
Woke up at 03:00 as the bilge pumps kicked in. Woke up again, worried that we’d drifted off to sea and again when the weird Scottish family in the boat next door banged into us as they left at 07:00.
Went to Morrissons for beer, water and plasters and filled up with diesel at the boat yard opposite. Headed back toward Gt. Yarmouth for 10:15 and caught slack water at Breydon Water. This time the crossing was good and much quicker. I still had the urge to cry and possibly find the foetal position, but D saved the day and no posts got in the way this time around.
We discussed how reading maps while sailing is dangerous.
We moored at Gt. Yarmouth, where the two harbour masters went into a full comedy double act and re-moored us and showed D how to do a proper knot. The tip of the day was “the top rope is from the boat…” or at least something like that anyway!
Had a shower and went for a few drinks at Kings, after getting a burger at Fatso’s in town. Got chips on the way back to the boat and went to bed.
Captains Log – Broads date 16 dot 5 dot 08… 10:00
Left after bacon (and faux bacon) sarnies. The rain pissed down and came in through the overhead lights on deck and the port hole above the bed. At least we both had good company in the rain.
Decided to travel up the River Ant. It was lovely and exactly like you’d imagine the Broads to be like – all leafy and green.
We travelled up to Wayford Bridge and across Barton Broad and followed a guy that clearly hadn’t passed his boat driving test as he was zigzagging across the river.
The houses in Irstead were really lovely – and now on our list of places to live if the lottery numbers come up. There were a lot of sailing boats tacking up stream to deal with. They proved really difficult to pass safely.
Came back down and moored at The Swan in Horning. The mooring was the best yet and we looked quite professional. We fed the ducks and then ate at the restaurant. The starters and dessert were nice, but we sent part of our mains back. Drank loads of wine and sat on the deck lounge for a bit. At 23:00 a Mississippi style paddle boat came out of the dark lit up with hundreds of coloured lights, playing Dixie music. Nobody waved as they passed us. They looked like they were on a works night out.
Captains Log – Broads date 17 dot 5 dot 08… 07:00
We got up, mopped down the boat and headed off towards wroxham in the pouring rain at 08:00. Got to the boatyard with a couple of minutes to spare and D pulled his best stern mooring off to date. Left looking like pros and even noticed when the yard tried to overcharge on diesel!
Our sun burn tans have lasted so far (even with a bit of blistering here and there) and I am sure that the ground will stop moving eventually!
After a wet week, the sun came out to shine on my best friend Rachael’s wedding! The reception was in Blakeney so we took a trip back to North Norfolk (which I love) and joined Rachey and Chris to help celebrate their happy day.
When Rachael saw us, she burst into tears, in fact, I think I made her cry three times in all. I hasten to add that I didn’t tread on her foot or anything horrible, I guess that she was just pleased to see us. I miss Rachey as she lives outside the Norfolk exclusion zone and I don’t get out much, but she is the type of friend who just picks up wherever we left off – however long that is. In my book, that makes her pretty special and I value our friendship for that reason.
Before I forget, she looked absolutely gorgeous!
As we arrived, the Sheringham Shantymen singers were in full force and at the meal, we were treated to something that you just normally don’t see. I think that they were called the Bavarian Brass Band and they were loads of fun and got everyone swaying like they were at a beer fest… here’s a taster.
There was also plenty of Wherry ale on tap to lubricate the party! Let’s raise a glass (or two) to the happy couple!
We visited Brighton for a couple of days to take in the sea air and… well, we visited a few bars anyway and had a great break away from Norwich. Apparently, Brighton had 3 inches of snow the weekend before we travelled down. It was nice and hot for us though and we had brekkie on the beach front.
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