I am still recovering from a weekend in Norfolk. I spent a lot of time seeing if I could spot this person who along with Alan Partridge and the Queen, is one of the best known residents of Norfolk.
As I may have mentioned I am training for the spiritual retreat that I'm going on in September. I have been going for longs walks every weekend accompanied by different people. Last weekend Katy was my companion. I set off from London on Friday night with my little rucksack and a basket containing a big piece of Keen's cheddar, a hunk of bread and a homemade cake. Norfolk is a long way away and a person could get very hungry on a train journey.
Katy and her boyfriend live in a little hamlet in the middle of nowhere aka Norfolk.
On Saturday morning they made me get up at 7.00 a.m. and by 8.30 Katy and I had started our walk. I have to say Norfolk is teaming with wildlife. Within the first hour we had seen a newt, a toad, dozens of frogs and more birds than you could shake a stick at or, if you were Prince Harry, fire a gun at. I took lots and lots of photographs.
We walked part of the North Norfolk Coastal path. Katy was a hard task manager and despite us passing lots of beautiful beaches she wouldn't let me as much as step on one although I did manage to take a photograph or two. After 15 miles we were allowed to stop at Old Hunstanton which has a very fine collection of brightly painted beach huts. I took lots of photos of them.
On Saturday night Katy drove me to a pub where for dinner we had pies - although they were the wild rabbit/venison/beef and blue cheese variety rather than the pies that the people eat at London Bridge station late on Friday nights before having a fight with the other passengers waiting for the train and vomiting or peeing in public. We shared a table with some people from London who were talking about property development and planning to hit the shops in Burnham Market the next day.
On Sunday I was allowed to sleep in to 8.00 a.m. before being forced out of the house again. Katy spent the day telling me to hurry up and lying about how much further we had to walk. It was very hot. We had a timed 15 minutes break in the middle of the day by a cornfield where the farmer had left the verges un tilled. They were filled with wild flowers and I took dozens of photographs. The flowers had attracted hundreds of butterflies - more than I had ever seen together in one place. It suddenly occurred to me that a much better name for butterflies would be flutterbys because that's what they do and then I thought I'm probably only the 1,4857,8776,099th person to have thought that. I took lots of photographs.
Eventually after 15 miles Katy gave in and I stopped crying and we had a drink in a pub. Mark came and picked up and they deposited me at Kings Lynn station and I caught the train with one minute to spare. When I got to Kings Cross I could barely move. I herpled off to catch the train to Titter of Wit Street.
On Monday morning I realised I had left my camera on the train.
Katy once collected lots of wild flower seeds from Norfolkian untilled verges and presented them to me. I duly sowed them and not one single one came up.
Sad about your camera.
Posted by: Nelly | August 06, 2009 at 10:50 PM
So sorry about your camera, hope the replacement comes soon.
Posted by: curious | August 06, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Especially as all the photos I took were brilliant....
Posted by: ganching | August 06, 2009 at 11:37 PM
Sorry to hear about the camera and I took 2 pictures in total. We will have to relay on memories. Had a fab walk. My runny noise has turned into a week of work with Tamiflu. Boo Hoo. Katkins
Posted by: Katkins | August 07, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Apparently '...a lot of people are of the mistaken opinion that the word butterfly comes from a metathesis of the word "flutterby" ...' (http://www.blurtit.com/q584812.html) - me included I should add.
Bad luck on the camera. Maybe it was stolen by a gang of itinerant architects who want to use your pictures in their next expression of interest?
Posted by: emmdee | August 09, 2009 at 06:55 PM
Great minds lose alike. I seem to have left my camera in a beer garden.
Posted by: David | August 10, 2009 at 08:29 AM
Oh shame. I'm with emmdee - must be those architects - they knew how prolific you'd be and made sure to nick it on the train home.
Posted by: rara avis | August 10, 2009 at 03:19 PM
Oh well at least I don't appear to have caught Katy's swine flu.
Posted by: ganching | August 13, 2009 at 10:30 PM
I could go round taking more photos for you?
Glad you enjoyed my property development and hitting the shops conversation, and did not suss my secret identity.
Posted by: JonnyB | August 16, 2009 at 03:18 PM
I did notice one of the people had a whiff of chicken about them and had "big bones".
Posted by: ganching | August 19, 2009 at 10:16 PM