Back again

I'm back. Had a great holiday - just far too short! But it did me a world of good. Complete rejuvenation job, in fact. Not what you might expect for a trip to the North of England. But it's so beautiful up there in Northumberland, around Hadrian's Wall (the wall that the Roman Emperor Hadrian had built to keep those troublesome Picts out of his empire) and in the Lake District. We saw some rain, of course, but managed not to get wet (we were always in the car or in a supermarket during the worst downpours) and we had plenty of hot sun. I even managed to get a faint tinge of sun, or what passes on my pale skin for sunburn. Saw mother, brother, nephews - those two for the first time in about three years (the big one is bigger than me now) - and called in at York, Durham, Newcastle (now there's a fine city, I'd no idea), Carlisle, Manchester and, on the way in from the port, at Colchester. We did the whole trip in our car, driving to the Hook of Holland and taking the ferry over to Harwich in East Anglia.

Oh, we visited Norwich as well. I'd heard and read that it was well worth a visit. We obviously didn't find the right bit because Norwich is as dead as a door nail, full of loud, uncouth students and incredibly stressed people. The waitress in the pizzeria we ate at made our blood pressure go up, poor girl. And there was a noticably different reaction to us from the few people we spoke to - wary, anxious, not sure if it was 'safe' to speak to us. I don't know if we were just unlucky, if this is the way people are in Norwich or if the recent terror threats in Britain have made people in the south (east) generally more wary of anyone with a less than pasty white skin. At any rate, Bud hated the place - and the rest of East Anglia as well. He's suggested that we cut Norwich out of our map of Britain so we're never tempted to go there again!

Luckily, he loves the North of England and even thinks may prefer it to the south. Friendly, communicative people and an immediate feeling of being at home. Well, I have to say, he's right!