Photo(s) of the Day 7

 

A bumper entry today... A very nice day indeed. We visited Sheringham and the North Norfolk Railway for a trip on the Santa Express. If you like being surrounded by excited children, then this is the place to be. We took our son and his cousin. For them, at 5 years of age, this is a magical time of the year and for them Santa, his elves and everything that comes with it is real and nothing could change this. The North Norfolk Railway did a wonderful job once again and I take my hat off to all the staff and volunteers who make this such a wonderful experience for hundreds, possibly thousands of children - and adults. The mince pie and sherry were delicious.

Afterwards, we called in at our favourite fish and chip restaurant and possibly the finest. Nearby, I passed another restaurant with an interesting sign outside. I would have loved to sample its wares but it wasn't possible sadly... I imagine it all tastes wonderful...

and finally...

We're being warned of a very stormy week ahead. Weather forecasting has got very slick of late and we now have a yellow, amber and red warning system to advise us when severe weather is forecast. We're likely to be hit twice with the first storm arriving tomorrow night and the second on Thursday. The second storm is forecast to be the most severe. I suppose it's overdue given we had a relatively calm (and balmy) October...

Photo of the Day 6

A little late and a slightly odd photo I suppose. It's a greenhouse/shed heater I installed on Saturday in our model railway layout. We have four to install in total. They give off a gentle heat and get quite hot to the touch, hence the guard. The second heater will be fitted on one of the ceiling cross beams and I'll hopefully be able to complete this on Friday or Saturday. I'm quite pleased with it...

Photo of the Day 5

This photo was taken this morning at the Long Sutton Medical Centre here in Lincolnshire. The Diabetic Retinopathy Screening vehicle visits at least once a year and my father and I have our eyes photographed to make sure there is no damage to the blood vessels. Any damage can be an early indication of possible blindness so it's very important to attend regularly.

Because the weather is getting more and more freaky at the moment, I've included a bonus photo. This was taken mid-afternoon and shows a storm front as it worked its way down from the north-west. A wall of cloud literally turned the blue winter sky an orange-grey and brought with it strong winds and horizontal rain.

Photo of the Day 4

This, it appears is what happens to wind turbines when it gets too windy. Today has been memorable from a weather point-of-view for the near hurricane strength winds that have struck Scotland and parts of Northern England. Pretty dramatic isn't it...

Photo of the Day 3

We put our decorations up today to the crooning velvet tones of Michael Buble. This is a photo of our tree in all its decorated finery. We used to have a real tree every year which we bought from Sandringham. Back then, we had no money worries and a car big enough to get the tree in. Now of course everything is different and we have an artificial one. It does though look quite realistic, just like the real thing in fact but without all the pine needles all over the floor. We saved the star for our son who placed it on the top when he came home from school. So no turning back now, it is really Christmas.

The gloss of the day was unfortunately tarnished by the arrival of an email politely rejecting my latest application for an IT position at a school between here and Peterborough. I did have high hopes as normal and as normal they were to come to nothing. So I'm once again feeling down and dejected and my optimism for any sort of future beyond January further erased. Oh well, must pick myself up and carry on I suppose... but for how many more times?

Photo of the Day 2

This is what we call the 'Veg Shed'. It's where we buy most of our vegetables and our eggs. It's run by a very friendly couple who always greet their customers with a smile and friendly banter.
Everything they sell here is grown and produced locally - far better than the stuff you find in supermarkets.
It's always open, whatever the weather and is popular with locals and those from surrounding villages.

Tuesday Gathering

I attended my little support group again today. There were more of us today having been joined by two women who are normally regular attendees. The talk again was very loose and I began to understand that there is no fixed format to the meetings, it's basically a free-for-all. The topics today consisted of Christmas, relatives and what it would be like to be homeless at this time of the year. There was also a fuss made about the date of the final meeting before Christmas and when the first meeting should be in the new year. This took a while to agree and for diaries to be synchronised. Such fun.
I was certainly more comfortable today, I think I've managed to gain the confidence of the group and I feel I can contribute to discussions. Two of those in the group explained that they live with their mothers who themselves have their own health issues to contend with. It struck me how difficult it must be for them and that in comparison, I really do have it very easy.
We spoke also about children and how this time of year is so magical to them. They were interested to know about my son and how we were planning to spend Christmas. It was nice to talk with people who really seemed interested in what I had to say and I explained that next weekend, we're taking him to see Santa at Sherringham. It'll be a real treat for him, and for me...

I have just completed one of the worst tasks of the year - extracting the decorations from the loft. While I was up there, I did discover (after nearly 9 years) that we don't actually have any lagging on the roof. I'm pretty sure there should be some and may go some way to explaining why there is an arctic blast when I open the door to the loft. We've decided to put the tree and decorations up tomorrow. Little man is determined he wants to help so we'll leave the tree until after school.

I collected our son from school this afternoon. One of the mum's is particularly friendly and we talked about open fires and whether we preferred coal to wood. She told me her shed is full of coal at the moment, which filled me with envy as we have none and can't afford to buy any. Instead, we make logs from recycling newspapers and magazines. They burn very well but don't last particularly long.