Return of the Geek

Fifteen birds in five fir trees

Virtual biscuit if you know which scene in The Hobbit this is from!

Podiums... and potatoes

Ok, I'm not really one for hype.  I was enjoying the Olympics from a distance, catching odd races on the television and hearing updates on the radio, but I knew I wasn't going to see it any closer than that so I didn't worry about it...  However, when my friend Graham very generously offered me his spare ticket to the badminton  I was not going to say no!

Getting Out - 4 of 4

On my last day in Norfolk there wasn't really time to go anywhere very far away.  Anyhow, with my brother and sister both working that Saturday, someone had to walk the dog.  This is him on the left, the soppy animal.  His name is Galaxy (like the chocolate) or else Gal, Gally, Galvin, Gallifrey, Galvanise, Gallivanting...  

We got him from a rescue centre so we don't know exactly how old he is or what kind of cross-breed he might be, but as you can see he's a very god looking mongrel.  A collie shape, but with retriever fur the colour of a chocolate labrador.  

He normally gets taken on the same walk every lunchtime, so the poor boy was very confused when I bundled him into my car and took him to the small patch of heath near the Nun's Bridges as you leave Thetford towards Bury.  He's not a young dog any more, but I have never seen him so excited.  He was bounding - bounding! -along the path and, because I prefer to keep him on the lead as his hearing is going, I had to run to keep up with him. 

Getting Out - 3 of 4

Holkham to Wells

The next day I headed off for the coast.  

20 min watercolour sketch of the salt marshes at Wells-next-the-sea

Getting Out - 2 of 4

Cambridge Folk Festival 

That same evening (I had a busy day!) I took my sister up to Cambridge for the 2012 Folk Festival.  It’s quite a small festival and we were only there for the evening, but after months of rain the weather was stunningly hot – exactly the festival weather we would have wanted.  Drank fresh lemonade, which had a massive kick, tried on various hats, and were well entertained with some great music. 

First we saw Megson, a married couple with a cheerful lightness to their music.  Then we listened (because the tent was so full we couldn’t get in) to the very harmonious ahab.  We could probably have got a seat with a view but on our way there we were side-tracked, as so often happens at festivals.  Blackbeard’s Tea Party were sending up a might ruckus from one of the beer tents, which distracted us.  Imagine folk music crossed with rock music played by pirates, and you’re heading along the right lines.  (Apparently ‘Pirate Folk’ is a real genre.  Who knew?!)  They were a lot of fun, and we told them so. 

The other bands we saw... honestly I can't remember their names, but they were awfully good.  Even as night snuck on and the beer kept flowing, the atmosphere stayed happy and relaxed.  It was a great night, and after a quick stop at the merchandise tent we had our memories to drive home to.

Ok, this is getting silly now

Ok, a brief interlude here, because this is (I think) the third Brave related post I've put up on here, and the film's not even out yet.  I was just having a quiet doodle and suddenly found I'd drawn this:

Ok, I just have to hang on for two more weeks.  How is it right that the US premier is before the UK one, yet they held their premier in Scotland?  Makes no sense to me at all.

Getting Out - 1 of 4

So having self-diagnosed myself with massive case of Cabin Fever, I decided to turn a brief trip home to Norfolk into a four day stay in the hope that this would give me enough space and quiet to... recalibrate or... whatever it is I do when I get like this.  I grew up in Norfolk, specifically the Brecks, and decided to re-visit places I’d been to as a child, but perhaps didn’t fully remember or had been too young to appreciate.  

Grimes Graves and West Stow

This was definitely the case with Grimes Graves, a Neolithic flint mine, and quite the loveliest heritage site to visit because there is really nothing there.  You drive into the middle of nowhere, enter what appears to be a large field (there is one small cabin for the loo, another marginally larger one for the visitors booth), and the rest is open land.  At least that's what you think at first...

A birds-eye view of Grimes Graves, scanned from the English Heritage guidebook

Getting Out - Prelude

I needed a holiday.  I know people always say that but it’s still true.  Or not even a holiday, but a lack of …civilisation.  The previous weekend I found myself pacing in the office.  Literally pacing, like the big cats you see in the zoo, going quietly nuts.  Clocking out couldn’t cure it and I spent the rest of the evening in a lovely wee melancholy and had to take myself out of town and off to the top of Beacon Hill for a few hours to sort my head out.  It was a good decision in the end, because if I hadn’t gone I would have missed this phenomenal sunset.  

It helped.  At any rate it patched me up enough to get through the next week, until I could make my escape!