May 4th-6th: Castles, Clowns and Cream Teas

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May 4^th: We agreed to have a quiet, lazy day … given our escapades of the previous day. Oh dear, we really need to check on opening times. No matter, we can visit Strangers’ Hall another day. How about the “Fake News” exhibit and discussion at the library? We pored over advertising, in the form of fake news, from old newspapers; stories of weddings, bridge collapses or murder - written simply to sell a product mentioned in the final paragraph. We joined discussion about fake news, past and present, and then RL tried his hand as a printer. He also picked up the flyers for the various printing classes offered at the library. The Norwich library is an interesting place, with craft shows and a market, a café, and the BBC! 

May 5^th: RL took me on yet another tour of the City to places we hadn’t previously explored. We stopped at St Michaels church. Famed for the beautiful external flintwork and host to a working set of bells and regular bell ringers, it is now home to The Oak Circus trapeze school. We stayed and chatted to Blue Copeland, the receptionist. She showed us photos of her boyfriend, Ellis Grover on one of his daring exploits, and we told her about the Sailor Circus in Sarasota and wished her well on her upcoming circus audition in Spain.  We wandered on to the The Octagon Chapel and decided to take a closer look at the wedding car waiting outside. Weddings, but not the receptions, are public affairs so we sidled in quietly as RL wanted me to see the inside of the chapel. We stayed to watch the remainder of the ceremony, the photos, and bride and groom being showered with confetti in the churchyard. Yes, we crashed a wedding! Continuing on our walk we came to the Storm in a Teacup … now who can resist a cream tea? The big questions are “do you take yours Cornish style or Devonshire style?” and “do you say sc-ons or sc-owns?” Our journey took us up to the Castle where we found the meadow thronged with families enjoying the sunshine and the antics of the Foolhardy Clowns. There were hula hoops and juggling sets, stilts, and all manner of activities to try out, followed by a performance by the clowns. I’ve been away for such a long time, I had forgotten how lovely it is to hear children shouting the responses from that most eccentric British genre, the pantomime, or panto. I’m not used to clowns and panto being mixed, but one call of “oh no he isn’t” brought earnest responses of “oh yes he is” from all the children - no matter their ethnicity. It was delightful. We came home through the Royal Arcade stopping to drool over the chocolates, macarons, and other tempting wares … somehow we came home with an exceedingly large piece of Tiffin, something that might just appear at the upcoming royal wedding.

--> May 6^th: My adventure for the day was venturing out to the grocery store on my own … what could go wrong? Objective 1: get myself out of the apartment building. Tick. Yes, success! Objective 2: Locate Tesco. Tick. Objective 3: purchase all 4 items on list … oh, umm… Now, buying for one is easy enough, buying for someone else can be tricky business as you’re confronted with foreign brands and different choices ... and side-tracked by all the things you remember from childhood and haven’t had in 34 years (Bourbon biscuits, Penguins) as well as all the items you want to compare to the ones you buy in Publix. An employee helped me locate the crackers I needed, and when asked if I needed anything else, I’m afraid I did respond with ‘breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs would probably helpful to find my way around!” But, find my way home I did, with all items needed … and I even (objective 4) managed to get back into the building! Yeah, Norwich, I got this.