Holiday with my Norfolk Broads

Question:What does driving for 4 hours on a 2 hour trip, food-poisoning, and a power-cut have in common?

Answer: They all occurred in the first 48 hours of our holiday.

Yes, the McKendry's of London booked a relaxing cottage in Norfolk for a week, near the coast, to escape the heat of the big city and to spend some time in the sun and the surf. Unfortunately the second leg of the trip went slightly awry when we kind of forgot to read the map properly. We first noticed a problem when we saw directions for places that we knew were further south from where we were 30 minutes previously. Oh how we laughed.

Still, once we arrived at our lovely cottage and settled in, we started to unwind and relax - i.e. let our gal run around the garden for an hour, while we drank wine. Once she had gone to bed, and the second bottle was opened, all of the lights went out and the house went dark. This does not present a problem if you are newly weds, but we have been married for 7 years now, and if you cannot even read a book because there is no light, you just plump up your pillows, and not talk about the car journey before sleep takes you. The great thing about the country is that folk are so kind. Ours was so kind that once the lights had gone out at 10pm, she waited until 11pm before deciding to bring us a candle to see by. Once I had woken from the banging on the front door, stumbled down the stairs, searched the house for the door keys, and finally opened it, I was just in time to see an old lady carrying a candlestick walking away down our path. She was only one Cluedo card away from the candlestick being the last thing she saw, but I naturally smiled at her and thanked her for her thoughtfullness.





The next night once the power was back on, and the girl had gone to bed, Moira and I both suddenly were fighting each other for access to the bathroom, as we had contracted a bug of some sort. We then discovered our folly of booking a place with only one toilet, when there are two of you ill. Through sheer desparation at one point, I decided that the only course of action was to embrace the great outdoors. I unbolted the front door in the middle of the dark night, and had just stuck my head out the front door when I heard the words " Lovely evening ". Yes, Wee Willy Winkee's husband from next door was outside having a cigarette in the garden. " uh huh " I gulped and ran back into the kitchen.

Once we had recovered about 36 hours later we were able to enjoy the beaches, the sea, boat trips to see seals, and picking our own raspberries which were delicious. As our SLR camera was up the swanny, I took our little digital, which takes fuzzy pictures, which if you squint a bit and hop on one foot, you can just about make us out.

The rest of the week went really well, and we got to eat lots of fresh crab and fish, as well as see Stream Trains, flower shows, and have the odd drink in the odd garden bar of a country hotel.

On the way back we stopped and had a great night with Roy and Lisa also, which rounded off the holiday nicely.

lots of love

The relaxed McKendrys