Dot on the beach at West Runton, where we’ve just spent a couple of days. Following our day trip there on Sunday with our family, Dot and I returned on Monday afternoon, after a brief excursion into the city, where I had an eye test. I need new reading glasses, chose some frames and will be picking them up next week. We had a quick lunch at Caffee Italia, then packed and set off. Cloudy, but warm. We walked down to the beach shortly after our arrival, then made our way back to the caravan for some food and a lazy evening.
Tuesday was a beautiful day – mainly sunny and warm with the odd cloud floating over. We walked down to the beach again and spent some time exploring the rock pools, as the tide was right out. Then back to the caravan and drove to Salthouse, where we had lunch at Cookie’s, the seafood cafe. I discovered I could eat beetroot. Then to the Ian Collins-curated exhibition at Salthouse Church, which was not bad at all. Some quite interesting stuff, especially outside in the churchyard, which has a great view of the sea. There was an egg-shaped contemplation chamber which was also a camera obscura: you had to lock yourself in and wait for your eyes to adjust, then you could see clouds floating past and moving foliage on the walls. Later I wrote a poem in which it featured, along with other nearby items.
After this we drove over to the beach, where we sat for a while on the shingle bank (Dot with a coffee purchased from a van). Watched fisherman for a while, then drove back to caravan, had tea and watched a couple of DVDs – one featuring the Goons which mixed embarrassment with the odd bit of creative humour – probably quite avant garde at the time. Then Inside Man, a film Dot had bought me for my birthday. We kept popping out to take pictures of a stunning sunset, but at least we didn’t fall asleep, as we did when we saw it the first time in Florida. Quite a remarkable and original film.
This morning we did very little except break the shower head which, to be fair, was already broken and had been glued together. Went to the shop and bought some more glue, effecting a fresh repair. Had lunch, Dot tidied up, and we left just before 2pm, taking the country route home. It had been a very relaxing break: the caravan was a pleasant base with a very comfortable bed. On arrival in Norwich, Anton at No 17 had two parcels for us – more birthday books and some wine. Dot did quite a lot of work in preparation for her inspection tomorrow, and I caught up on Tour de France episodes. I seem to have got over my slight problem (see Sunday), with the help of a couple of surplus antibiotic pills.
