Venturing east.

This past week has been different from our usual round, last Friday lunchtime we attached the new toy to the windscreen of the Silver Streaker before setting forth for East Anglia. We planned our route but it was fascinating to hear what the lady inside Garmine had to say. If we dared to travel in a different direction from the one she had barked at us, we then were bombarded with 'recalculating' as she succumbed to our wishes. All in all though, we decided that a Sat Nav was A Good Thing When Going to Strange Places. Ian looked at the on screen map, when I drove I was watching the speed, what time we would arrive and how far before the next instruction.

As the M25 was closed from Junction 27 where we would have joined the M11, we were glad of old fashioned map books and Garmine's assistance to guide us across country roads to Newmarket where we stopped for afternoon tea. Motoring is much more pleasurable away from motorways, less fraught, prettier landscapes and away from the South East of England the roads are less crowded. We stayed at The George, a Best Western hotel in Norwich, designated a 3* by the AA but in our opinion not of 3* standard. However, the difficulties we encountered were rectified by the pleasant staff; we had no complaints about the food and service either. The buildings, with their fixtures and fittings caused us to query the classification.

However, this did not spoil our enjoyment of the weekend, the reason for which was to attend a lunch party at the beautiful home of the blogger known as Z. http://razorbladeoflife.blogspot.co.uk/ .

It was absolutely delightful, great food, especially the puddings and Z made a scrumptious risotto, prompted I suspect, by my comment to her how much I love risotto but don't have much luck when I make it. Typical of the kindness and thoughtfulness of Z. There was more kindness from another Blogger who has kindly offered to look at Ian's grandfather's clock mechanism. For all the negative gibes one hears about the Internet we otherwise would never have met and enjoyed the company and talents of such lovely people.

It is the small details that one recalls after a good time, here the Sage is tickling the underside of a day old chick who was unperturbed by the attention and cameras.

Even the weather was right, so we were able to wander around outside, so good to breathe in fresh unpolluted air, Ian was taken with the chimney of course.

Given the time I think this is where I have to say "To be continued" . I started this so I would be tired enough to sleep, and that is working. Continuation of these ramblings will explain why I wanted to tire myself out, the link between Sandringham and the Woolwich Ferry, and why Tuesday marked the end of an era.

Good night all.

Unexpected purchase

The arrival of warmer weather has taken your correspondent by surprise, yesterday I was a little overheated in warm winter clothes so this morning decided to find some more seasonal apparel including sandals. I spend much more time at home indoors, my footwear never seems to wear out, I'm not a slave to shoe fashions, fit and comfort come first, so the ancient pair of sandals from the bottom of the wardrobe were worn in the morning when we went out and then again in the afternoon.

After much deliberation and discussion dear Ian and I decided we would buy a Sat Nav, in spite of our love of maps, and our tendency to print out directions from our computer before a journey. Our destinations, like battles, are always on the fold of the map, the centre of the page or the very edges. Of course once we had chosen a Sat Nav it was discovered that the store didn't have the model in stock, however they kindly rang the next nearest branch, just over a mile away, reserved it for us. Whilst these calls were being made it felt as if my heels were sinking into the sandals, upon looking at the sandals, large chunks of the flat heels were either cracked or broken off. Bit like the texture of a bread roll if you know what I mean. It was decided that I would go to the shoe shop to buy new sandals whilst Ian parked the car and purchased the Sat Nav.

Not sure how I made it to the shoe shop, more and more parts of the heels were coming away so it was difficult to walk. Across the cream coloured carpet it looked as if I'd brought in clumps of mud rather than a disintegrating shoe. I have new sandals, the assistant asked me if I was going to wear them then or did I want them in the bag? I was polite, showed her the remains of the pair to be discarded, where upon she said, oh, we'll put these in the bag for you instead! Then, are you going to complain to the manufacturers? Hardly, given their antiquity.

I had photographed the damaged sandals in the shop as I didn't expect to bring them home for disposal.

For any one in SW London, the shoe shop was Johnsons, a small local chain that has been trading a long time. I recall school shoes from their shop both for myself and for our children. Start-Rite anyone?

After all that excitement, and much watering of plants in the front garden, it was pleasant to knit sitting in the garden until the light went. This was the view from my seat ...

Maybe not the best photography, but I have attempted to capture the moment.