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.

May 3rd: Dance Gypsies

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May 3^rd: RL and I had big plans for today. In the months leading up to this trip we had discussed the things we could do, sights we could see … and anyone who knows me probably knows what came next… “you know, there’s a dance at the Cecil Sharp House. If we catch the afternoon coach we could be there in time for a light supper before the dance, then catch the midnight coach home. If it’s safe to walk home at 3am … what say you?????” Well of course the answer was yes. Naturally we tried to rope others in on this experience, and cousins Kev, Lucy and Alex were duly deputised as our accomplices. Coach tickets were purchased and RL and I set off, sandwiches in hand, for our 3 hour one-way journey for a 2 hour dance! As the coach got closer to London I began to see familiar landmarks, not city sights, but childhood haunts; Forest Gate where I lived as a child, the Whitechapel brewery where my dad worked (next door to the Blind Beggar pub and its connections to the founding of the Salvation Army … and the Kray Twins). The coach continued into London, past Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, along the Thames embankment past Cleopatra’s Needle and the statue of the warrior queen, Boadicea / Boudica, fighting the Romans from her chariot. Past the scaffolding clad Big Ben, past the Houses of Parliament and on to Victoria Station. It had been a wonderful and unexpected trip down memory lane, with me chirping on about what each place meant to me and RL listening good humouredly as if to a little child. We met Kev in Camden Town, but the others were suspiciously absent, claiming sickness. In the end it was just RL and I walking to an eagerly anticipated evening of elegance and English Country Dancing at the home of English folk dance. We were a little surprised to be greeted by almost 30 Thai dance students, in town for a SOAS event. As dancers they picked up the beat quickly, and explanations and gestures were often comical. During the break we wandered over to watch the Irish set dancers and then the students treated us to a Thai dance demonstration. It was far from the elegance we had anticipated, but a wonderful evening, filled with joy and laughter, all the same. RL and I made our way back to the coach station, buying food for the journey home and boarding the coach with seconds to spare. The journey home was as delightful as the inbound journey, tracing much of the same route, although nowadays coach drivers are given great leeway with routes and use Google maps and other apps to avoid construction and detours. Our coach driver, Malcolm, kindly alerted us to photo ops that I’d missed on the first journey, and slowed down for me to take pics. Finally back in Norwich at 3am, we walked home through the sleeping city, tired but very happy.

April 30th - May 2nd: Homeward bound

I have been in the UK for just under a fortnight and all attempts at blogging have been hindered by technology issues. So here goes... the first couple of days. We'll catch up eventually!

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April 30^th: Dave and I bid a somewhat tearful farewell at the departure gate at TPA. We’ve been such a large part of each other’s lives for the past four years, it felt strange to begin an adventure without either Dave or my beloved Steed - my two main partners in crime. Both of my Icelandair flights were comfortable and uneventful – apart from stepping out in sandals onto a snowy tarmac in Keflavik!

May 1^st: We flew in over the Thames Barrier then, as previously instructed, I caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington, and on to Liverpool St. (a station with which I have history…) for lunch with my cousin Kev and RL, the friend with whom I will be staying. I handed over my precious cargo of two signed Quentin Crisp books – and the story of their acquisition, savoured a delicious smoked salmon sandwich, and relaxed. I listened to the train station sounds all around me, thinking I had been away from ‘home’ for far too long. RL and I bought our tickets and hopped on the train to Norwich. We started chatting about everything and nothing, segued from topics to other seemingly unrelated topics, and have continued that conversation with very little silence. It’s been lovely. RL is lovely; very British, very artistic, intelligent, well read, articulate, curious as a little boy … sometimes struggling with the ‘curves’ that life has thrown him, settling into a new life in a new home in a place from his past. His home is lovely. Norwich is lovely.

I am sleeping on the fold out sofa in RL’s living room. Some days I wake up and think I am too old for this craziness, other days I wake up raring to go … which is just as well, because there is a lot to see and do in this beautiful City. RL appears intent on us seeing and doing everything we can – and I am grateful for his enthusiasm.

May 2^nd: My first non-travelling day was spent dodging rain drops as we walked around the City. Cobblestones and hills are a rude reminder that I’m far from Venice. We indulged in delicious, flaky, sausage rolls – so much for my planned walking & weight loss program! I had forgotten how pretty England is, with thatched cottages and old stone churches appearing at irregular intervals. We walked along the River Wensum, spied the bird house art installation, explored the 14^th century Cow Tower, read the entire renga poem that wends its way along the river bank, and passed by one of the two cathedrals in town. We stopped at the market, located conveniently steps away from RL’s home … and I purchased a light rain jacket - which was the signal for the sun to appear for several days of Florida like weather!

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Ireland's ten year investment in flood relief measures

On May 3rd, 2018, Ireland published Flood Risk Management Plans and announced new flood relief schemes as part of a 10-year investment in flood relief measures. A new interactive website was also launched as an important public resource. The details of the flood risk and proposed feasible measures for each of the 300 studied communities are set out in 29 Flood Risk Management Plans, one for each river basin, that have been recently approved by Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform.https://www.opw.ie/en/pressreleases/articleheading,38881,en.html  The website can be found at: http://www.floodinfo.ie/