Tag Archives: rain

Battle of Redfish Pass

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chairs
Typically colourful seating on the beach

At the end of the day on Thursday Dot and I went up to the Bubble Room for desserts, and we then all watched 3.10 to Yuma, which is as good as I remembered. Makes you think a lot about why people behave as they do, and what really corrupts.

Yesterday Roger was feeling really bad, and today he’s worse, and staying in bed. Barb not too good either, but she and Dot went shopping yesterday as the weather got warmer. Dot bought a really nice skirt and some tops. Meanwhile I was doing a lot of walking. Started at the dock while there was still a chill in the air and saw three or four dolphins about 100 yards away. Watched closely by pelican, which seemed to think I had food. Then Dot and Barb dropped me off at Tween Waters on their way to the shops, and I walked back along the beach, taking in the chapel and cemetery (not morbid: both are picturesque). After a quick lunch of biscuits, cheese and blueberries, I embarked on a hike up to Redfish Pass, the most northerly point of Captiva. Outward part by beach, then back through the South Seas resort that annoyingly owns all the tip of the island. The last stretch is a quite wild bit of road between the bay and the Gulf, which I had forgotten was so long: mildly concerned that a large alligator might leap out of a roadside pond, or a deadly snake lurk in the grass. But no: in fact snakes and alligators rarely make an appearance, though I’m told there are lots of them. Passed hardly any pedestrians in final mile and a half. Whole walk (about six miles) took a couple of hours. In the evening we went to Doc Ford’s Sanibel Grille and Bar, which is a restaurant owned by R W White, the top local thriller writer whose main character is (of course) Doc Ford. The books are good, and so was the food. I had a delicious large rib-eye steak with mashed potato-and-parmesan and other goodies. Plus a couple of Tropical Breezes, which are rum-based cocktails. Amazing. Back at the house we watched the Olympics – mainly curling, which the Canadian women should have won, but didn’t.

Now it’s pouring with rain, and it will probably continue most of the day. Seems quiet without Roger, and there is only a very remote chance of Dot making it downstairs before noon, though to be fair she made me a cup of tea earlier. Barb is tackling bookfuls of bridge problems, Dot is reading a brilliant book called Blink, and I am roughly halfway through the compelling Black Widow, by the aforementioned RWW. If I am not mistaken, we have reached the halfway point of our holiday.

13 August 2008

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Another picture from Sunday – this one is of our friends Bridget and David Archer, members of our Tuesday Group and just two of many who didn’t come last night, when we almost had an all-time low of three until Claire turned up late. Vicky was the other one, and the four of us had a very pleasant evening.

Earlier Dot and I had been out to Paston to deliver some acetates for Lucy. Jack was there, looking quite chirpy at 95, and so was Naomi, plus Lucy’s sister, niece, niece’s husband and great-nephew. So obviously we had a cup of tea and passed a pleasant half hour before departing for North Walsham to drop in on Jessie for another cup of tea. She had fallen over on some uneven pavement and had a few cuts, but seemed more or less OK. I instructed her not to do it again.

On the way home we saw evidence of the downpour that had swept across a narrow band of Norfolk in the morning and kept us in bed (well, it doesn’t take a downpour to keep us in bed, but it’s a good excuse). By afternoon it was was reasonably pleasant, but the showers have continued into today, and the forecast is not too wonderful.

According to my Norfolk Almanac of Disasters, nothing really bad has ever happened here on August 13, and this record continued today, as far as I know. Dot went down to Suffolk just in case, but mainly to meet Barbara, with whom she is working on Thinking Skills for Children. I got quite a lot done in her absence, including fetching a prescription, giving a bit of money away and reading an interesting essay on Kafka by Zadie Smith (in the Telegraph Review section). Have been in contact with Flip technical help about my new camcorder, which won’t connect properly to the computer, and it looks as if I’ll be getting a new one. This evening I’ve printed out all the Paston poems on quality paper so that they can be put up on exhibition. Dot continues on her mammoth task of sorting out all our photographs.

I’ve also entered five poems (mainly from the hospital series) in the Aesthetica Competition.

30 May 2008

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Back late last night from three days in Caddington, looking after the grandchildren during half term. Journey back was in heavy rain, and so was the journey down on Monday night. In between we had a little dry weather, but plenty of rain too. Vicky is working very hard on a project which is up against a difficult deadline; David took the opportunity to go up to Lancaster on one of his regular visits – a little bit worrying, as he has still got a kidney stone lodged above his bladder, but it shows no sign of moving.

On the Tuesday we stayed in the house, but on the Wednesday we braved the dodgy weather in the afternoon to go to Ashridge Forest, where we had a drink and a snack before popping into the visitors’ centre and shop. Oliver bought a frog, of which he quickly became fond. Amy got a ball and something else, which I’ve forgotten. I bought them a secondhand book each and one for Dot (three for £1). The forest was soggy and muddy. We drove over Ivinghoe Beacon on the way back, which is a pleasant road.

We spent all of yesterday at Whipsnade Zoo, leaving home not much after 10am in fine and dry weather that persisted for several hours before collapsing into solid rain midway through the afternoon, roughly at the point when Oliver and Amy were queueing to go on the train (see picture). We also went on the bus, and Oliver had an earlier ride on the train with me while Amy was on the bouncy castle. We paid two visits to the flying birds display (the first quite exceptional, the second pretty good) and took in the sea lions and the elephants, though we were a bit late for the latter, and Oliver was too shy to push himself forward for a good view. Still, he did see them. The gift shop was total chaos as it was pouring with rain and everyone funnelled in there, but we managed to emerge intact, and with something for each of the children. All in all, a pretty good day, with some nice food from the Marquee Cafe for lunch. Amy attempted a death plunge from her buggy, but this was only partially successful. Plunge spectacular, but not even minor injuries.

Whipsnade has a lot to offer with huge amounts of space and some lovely animals, but it is expensive, unless you live nearby and can get a season ticket.

Today has been mainly catching up, though Dot and I went to Park Farm for the usual routine, which was quite pleasant. I tried to find out the date of my operation, but it hasn’t been fixed yet. The nurse thought it wouldn’t be arranged until after Monday’s cystoscopy, but I should know on Tuesday. She felt sure it would be in June, though. Weather today a bit better, and the brown bin got emptied, though they hid it three doors down after emptying, presumably because they’re a bit miffed at having to empty it.

25 May 2008

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This is Dot (right, if you’ve not been following so far) with our friend Stephanie, with whom we lunched at Cafe Rouge last Tuesday, when the weather was quite reasonable – as it was right up to last night. Today is pretty appalling – very wet indeed and by no means warm. Such changeability is all very English: maybe I should warn my cousin’s daughter Jeanette, who has just told me she and her husband are moving to Cornwall from South Africa. On the plus side, Cornwall is probably safer. Sandy, my Cape Town-based cousin (other side of the family), is installing an electric fence after recent violence not far from her house. She is also installing a swimming pool, though. I am hoping the pool is not too near the fence.

In the evening on Friday – catching the threads of my last post – Dot and I went back to Wroxham Barns to buy an arch for the garden. I had originally thought it far too big, but when we measured it, and the space, it was clearly OK. Dot has much better powers of visualisation than I do. It is now safely installed, and the surrounding foliage has been given instructions to flow over it. On the way back we called at our friend Ed’s, where he and a couple of other friends were meeting to pray for me. Sat out in the garden, and I had a rare lager. The lager wasn’t that rare; it was me drinking it that was unusual. I only drink lager in hot weather and when I’m very thirsty. Pretty much.

Yesterday was warm and quiet: I spent most of it going through a whole pile of magazines and newspapers that I had been meaning to read, and Dot was writing her school inspection report. We took some time out to erect the arch. Or to be more accurate, she took time out to put the arch together, and I helped her stand it up and tighten the nuts. This morning we went to church, where I was leading the service, and Dot and Phil were playing the music. Pouring with rain, but we left feeling very good. So many kind friends.

Dot is now visiting her aunt at Hethersett, who has a problem with her arm and needs some help. Sacrificially, I stayed at home and watched Lewis Hamilton win the Monaco Grand Prix. Everything seems to be pushing me towards the operation on my prostate, but I haven’t finally decided. As I told a friend, it’s like sitting in one of those restaurants where you can’t choose between several things on the menu, and you end up with the one you were inclining to at the moment the waiter happened to arrive.

as at 26 July 2007

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We have just completed a week in Normandy, and this might be considered to be the high point: Dot and Dave on one of the Etretat pinnacles reached by a narrow path from the main cliff. Julia and I declined the challenge as we both have a desire to jump off high things. The exposure was if anything worse than it looks here.

Etretat is a stunning little town north of Le Havre, reached across the Pont de Normandie. Its main features of course are the cliff formations – pinnacles and arches. We climbed the cliffs on both sides after having a coffee (tea), followed by lunch in a rather lovely restaurant, Des Deux Augustins, in the main street. I took the opportunity to have moules et frites. Actually, Dot declined the second climb because she was feeling a bit under the weather. Weather was excellent – warm but not hot enough to make the climb uncomfortable.

That was on Tuesday. We had arrived on Friday, after a long journey that featured a visit to hospital (my six-monthly check: blood test not improved) and a nightmare drive down the M11 through rain that was sheeting down. It was the same rain that caused huge floods in the west, especially Gloucesterhire, and I was quite surprised we kept going. In Kent things were much improved: warmer and dry. We stopped at services on the M20 near Maidstone before arriving early at the Tunnel. Caught a train about an hour before scheduled, and the journey through France was quite relaxing. Stopped at the Aire de la Baie de Somme for a while and reached Villers sur mer at around 8.45pm. Dave and Julia were staying in the top apartment, and we were on the ground floor, which had a garden. Very comfortable. Dave delivered croissants (sometimes a demi-baguette) every morning between 8.30 and 9.

On the Saturday we walked into town and bought provisions plus three bottles of cider, and then returned for lunch at our table on the lawn. After lunch went to Beuvron en Auge (l’un des plus belles villes de France) and did a walk of about 3.5 miles up a hill to a church and back. In town had crepes flambes and cider as rain begam to pour down. Dave and I went to look at model trains while the women shopped: Dot bought €45 necklace – anniversary present. Julia cooked evening meal.

Sunday was dry and pretty warm. In the morning we drove into Pont l’Eveque for a traditional market. Also a flea market (Les Puces), where Dot bought a watch for €6. Followed this with coffee (tea) at a pavement cafe and lunch at home on the lawn. In the afternoon we drove to Dives sur mer, where we parked and walked into Cabourg, along the river and then the prom. Took in the Grand Hotel, where there was an excellent exhibition, and Dupont’s cafe, where I had a truly mouth-watering cake which included elements of dark chocolate and cherries. Walked up and down main street, and Julia bought a white anorak. In the evening we walked into town and had a lovely meal at Le Mermoz. Waiter, duck and sunset all outstanding.

On Monday it rained all day, and our intended visit to Etretat was abandoned. Instead we walked into town to buy lunch between drops of rain and in the afternoon Dot and I drove on our own to Caen to see the Memorial (Peace Museum). Not an easy journey, especially along the Peripherique. Bad at first – packed with cars and people; we had to park in a field, and Dot was not feeling well. Still, we persevered – at least, Dot did – and we eventually got tickets for the tour and a couple of films, both of which were quite good, though the one called “Hope” was anything but. Lots there – maybe too much – but to our generation nothing really came as a surprise. I was struck by a big picture of two resistance workers hanging: their faces looked almost angelic, whereas pictures of collaborators had something empty about them. Maybe we were projecting our feelings… Julia cooked in the evening.

Tuesday we did manage Etretat, and on Wednesday it was Honfleur.We took the green bus from just up the road, which went along the coast, then dipped inland. My stomach was feeling gassy, but shortly after arrival we had mint tea at a pavement cafe which seemed to settle it completely: the tea had actual mint in it and was delicious. Walked around the town a bit and then had lunch – a €23 four-courser. Mine was delicious – foie gras, steak, cheese, sorbet – but unfortunately Julia’s was very disappointing, and everyone who had fish (ie everyone but me) agreed that the sauce was excessive. Visited one or two exhibitions afterwards and walked up into the old town (actually it’s all old) away from the harbour,calling at a few exhibitions and shops. Lovely place. Julia on unsuccessful quest for licorice ice cream, which was supposed to be sold by the harbour. Eventually got the bus back at about 6 and changed at Deauville.

Today (Thursday) we left about 10 for an easy journey back up to Calais, stopping again at the Somme. Got train at Calais an hour early ands because the M25 was heavily roadworked, took the Blackwall Tunnel, which worked out well. However, on the M11 heavy rain returned to welcome us back. Stopped at services, then took a roundabout route via Saffron Walden. Traffic very heavy towards Elvedon, so detoured again via Brandon. Extremely tired at home. Wrote column, then had diarrhoea and shaking. Hot bath helped a bit: went to bed very early.

6 July 2007

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A fuller view of the refreshment hut mentioned last time: a truly amazing agglomeration of cast-off building materials, it also contains a library, or maybe a secondhand book shop. It was hard to tell which. It is situated just behind what used to be a shingle bank at Cley, and its continued existence is truly remarkable. Perhaps it was washed up by the sea some time in the past, or repeatedly.

The weather has continued very wet, although I managed to get into the city and back yesterday, and managed a two-mile walk the day before. I now have my watch back with its new battery and accompanying reassurance. Existing without a watch is a very odd experience: it’s easy enough to find out what the time is, but mostly you don’t bother. Days seem to last longer. I also got some euros for Ireland, in the hope that further terrorist cock-ups don’t shut down the airports. Last week failed car bombs in London and an attack on Glasgow airport that didn’t work.

Last night I had what was probably a unique experience: I went to an opera and loved every minute of it. I steer clear of operas because the language and the plot are usually so banal, and you can’t hear the words anyway, but we went to this one because a friend was singing in it. It was The Night Bell, a one-acter by Gaetano Donizetti, and it was put on by Claxton Opera. This is a group based in a small village near the River Yare, east of Norwich – really out in the wilds. We had to park in a farmyard and were driven by minibus up to a large house (The Old Meeting House, but someone actually lives there), where the inside had been re-formed to provide a small concert hall holding about 80-90 people. The orchestra were on the ground floor beneath the stage, which was therefore on the first floor – level with one set of seats. We were in the second-floor “gallery” – front row, with a great view down on to the stage.

The production was highly professional, from stage sets through costumes to acting and direction. The first half of the programme was Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale – not an opera, but an acted-out story with a narrator (the brilliant David Newham) and of course Stravinsky’s music, which was rather in the style of Kurt Weill. The acting was excellent and the story not too bad, but there were rather tedious lulls where the music took over and there was nothing for the actors to do – so we had dancers prancing around rather pointlessly.

The Donizetti was stunning, however. Our friend Ruth was Serafina, one of the leading roles: I knew she could sing, but her acting was a revelation – some beautiful comic touches. The whole thing was extremely funny, and the two leading men were both superb, as were the chorus. Maybe it was the acoustics, but you could actually hear what people were singing.

Needless to say it started raining as we left Norwich and continued all evening. There was a bit of hanging around waiting for the minibus afterwards, but we had umbrellas, and we managed to have a chat with Ruth and with a woman in the chorus who we’d known long ago, when Dot taught at Surlingham.

25 June 2007

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Just a shot of my favourite flowers, taken in Suffolk a few weeks ago. Pictures of last weekend’s activities at Blakeney not yet available.

Arrived at the Manor Hotel fairly early in the afternoon – amazingly the first to arrive, but quickly joined by friends Alan and Rosemary. Booked in: we had a first-floor room with a view of the estuary and a four-poster bed. Actually it wasn’t just a view of a four-poster; it was an actual bed. Also a small entrance hall with table, and a walk-in-and-hit-your-head cupboard.

The other three members of the party arrived as we were unloading and after a pause for thought and recuperation, most of us went down to the Blakeney Hotel for tea and scone. Why the switch of hotels? The Blakeney has a first-floor lounge with a fantastic view out across to Blakeney Point and very tasty scones. That’s not a view of tasty scones but actual tasty scones.

The forecast for the Saturday had been pretty appalling, so we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves walking throught the Cley Marshes nature reserve in pleasantly warm weather after parking at the new visitors’ centre. We did the three-mile round trip first, taking in the shrinking shingle bank and a new hide. Apparently the shingle bank moves inland a metre a year, but it felt quite secure, though small. Saw lots of interesting birds and flowers. A twitcher showed us a spoonbill through his telescope: we also saw loads of avocet, some redshanks, oystercatchers and lots of other less unusual things with wings. Towards the end we saw a couple of marsh harriers, which were pretty spectacular, and some penguins. OK, I lied about the penguins. We had tea/coffee/ice cream at a ramshackle hut at the end of Beach Road which seemed to double as a library or secondhand book store. Apparently it will be replaced in spring 2007. So the notice said. Whoops. As it wasn’t there, I took a picture of it.

Walked on into Cley village where Dave found a great little tea shop: West Cottage, which had the proud boast that spring tides came up to its wall. So lots of fun there in spring. Nice light meal – I had egg mayonaise roll – but the sky was turning black. When we reached a pottery shop it started raining and looked to have set in. So after a while I took an umbrella and walked back to the reserve for the car. This was further than I had anticipated – about a mile. As I was approaching it, the lightning and thunder was getting so simultaneous that I was worrying about possible damage to the umbrella from a lightning strike, but happily this didn’t happen. I did get pretty wet, however, and after picking up the other three Dot and I drove home so that I could change. Dave and Julia stayed optimistically at the visitor centre in the hope of the sun breaking through.

After leaving the hotel in dry clothes, we found really black skies inland of Blakleney and wrote off the rest of the day. However, magically, when we got to Cley (about two miles) the outlook seemed much brighter, and we all walked out again to a group of three hides in the middle of the marsh. It was from the second one that we saw the marsh harriers.

Back in Blakeney, we repaired yet again to the upstairs lounge at the Blakeney Hotel before returning to the Manor Hotel for the evening meal. In between Dot and I made one more brief trip out to try to find some barn owls: we had received some directions from a twitcher earlier. No sign of them (we were probably a bit early), but it was a delightful little walk in warm evening sun. The evening meal was excellent, and we had coffee etc afterwards as usual, spending much of the time boasting about our grandchildren.

After breakfast yesterday the others headed for home, possibly via Holt and Burnham Market, while Dot and I drove up to Wiveton Downs – another delightful spot new to us, only a couple of miles south of Blakeney. Walked around a bit, but it started raining, and so we got back in the car and drove to Kelling in search of a gallery that a photographer exhibiting at Blakeney had recommended to us. On the way we called at Salthouse Church, where there was an exhibition by Sally Lawford: unusual ideas, and the church was very atmospheric.

The Stable Gallery at Kelling was also interesting: Dot and I were the only ones there apart from the woman in charge, and we ended up having tea and cake, as well as buying a chair for the downstairs loo. Don’t ask.

Back in Norwich we went home, then walked to the Bishop’s Garden for a writers’ event at which InPrint had a stall. Bit of an in-crowd, but quite fun despite the indifferent weather, and at least there was only a smattering of rain. Rupert, Lisa, Tonia there with families. Also met Nick Caistor, Tessa West. Dot decided the look of PVM boxes should be improved and volunteered to help. She’s right: it needs doing.

29 May 2007

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Just my kind of path. An especially lovely section of a walk just outside Halesworth in Suffolk: almost like a way into another dimension. Taken on a beautifully warm day in April. Now, as we approach June, we have had rain almost non-stop since Sunday morning, and a particularly cold kind of rain too. Waiting in the Bally Art Factory for visitors to show up has become a bleak affair. On Bank Holiday Monday, when we might have expected a few small crowds, there were 20 all day: considering there were four InPrint members there, this was an unhealthy percentage. Not to be put off, we did a poetry reading, recorded by Rupert’s camcorder and played back on a laptop afterwards.

Saturday, when Lisa and Annette did a poetry print workshop, was bit more healthy, and so was Sunday. On the Saturday, when I was patrolling outside the workshop, I managed to sell four cards with my poetry on and a couple of books, which was a bit embarrassing as it looked as I had been pushing my own stuff. I am psychologically incapable of doing this, but still… It’s very nice to hear strangers say they like your poetry, though.

R is stepping down from being secretary of InPrint because of pressure of work, so I am taking over temporarily until it’s discussed at the June 10 meeting. I foresee a rather intense discussion as I know that different people have different ambitions concerning the group.

Dot has been working hard on school reports and has just about finished two of the three. This afternoon we took a break and went to look at a house in Thorpe End. Lots of pluses: intriguing nooks and crannies and unexpected rooms; large garden; excellent kitchen; good location. But I was put off by the proximity to a busy road and the evidence of eastern religion: grotesque statues and artefacts. Then there was the enormous dog… I guess if someone came round and gave us £400,000 for this house tomorrow, I would put in an offer, but this is unlikely.

9 May 2007

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Yes, it was four last night, but we had a really good discussion: well worth while, and it may well affect the way we do things on Tuesday evenings.

Today has been really exciting, and I’m still in a bit of a daze. I opened my e-mails to discover that I have won the 2007 Fish International Poetry Prize with my poem, The Island Grows on Me. Totally unexpected. Maybe I really am a poet after all. Quite a large cash prize – and I have to go to Ireland to collect it in July.

I celebrated by having my hair cut (as already arranged), followed by a meal with Dot at Cafe Rouge. Champagne and steak frites: you can’t beat that, can you? Even better, it didn’t start raining till I got home.

8 May 2007

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Very quiet bank holiday weekend, during which the weather changed, becoming wet after a month of rainlessness. Monday itself was very wet indeed, and we stayed in. During the two days I put together a poetry booklet containing 14 poems, designed to go with the Open Studios exhibition coming up later this month. The book is called Off the Map and has been put together entirely on my computer, using Word. So not exactly professional, but I think it looks pretty good, considering.

Today I installed my new BT Home Hub, giving faster Broadband speeds. Went surprisingly easily, but I encountered a problem trying to link Dot’s computer to it and wasted an hour of David’s time trying to sort it out. In the end I stumbled by chance on what was wrong.

L came round to discuss how to lead a service (her first time on Sunday), arriving at the same time as Dot arrived back from a day’s work – first inspecting a school at Mildenhall and then at a training session. We’re now awaiting the arrival of this evening’s guests, who I suspect will be down from 12 last week to about four. And that includes us.