Yes, we have made it again, to the end of the week. And for me the weekend will come a few hours earlier, as I was having a weekend away.
Jools would laso finish early, just so she could bring the car back for me so I didn't have to hire one or go by train. I would have gone by train, but there were rail replacement buses running from Norwich on Sunday, adding an hour to the journey, so I was happy enough driving.
Work is going reasonably well, as we come to the end of one phase of the project, and begin the next, this will mean I travel much more, going to factories on the Isle of Wight and in Denmark. Between now and April, there could be 15 trips. Think of the air miles.
This is going to mean some very short weekends before Christmas, so there will be long fallow periods on the blog, but then brief periods of plenty.
I have lunch at eleven, so at twelve I can shut everything down, pack my case, check the cameras and then wait until Jools came back. And as I needed to get to the other side of the tunnel as soon as possible, which means she arrived back, we swapped news as I loaded the car then kiss her goodbye and I am off.
If it were summer I might have planned a few stops on the way, but with darkness now soon after four, I wanted to get as many miles as I could before it got too dark. Even with autotolls, the Dartford tunnels were fammed, or the M25 on its approach was, we queued to get off the A2, inched our way to where the road began to drop into the tunnel, and then it was free flowing.
Into Essex, past Shenfield, to the start of the M11, then north through Harlow and past Stansted and into deepest Essex. Traffic was pretty heavy, but flowed well, so that I was ahead planned. In fact it was a very pleasant drive, Radcliffe and Maconie on the radio, glorious golden colours of the leaves still on the trees and the shadows always lengthening.
Finally, into Norfolk, pressing on to get to the city before rush hour began, as the roads can be jammed for hours. I pull up outside the hotel at four fifteen, good that there was a parking space.
And relax.
I check in, but find that the people who run it are leaving in the new year, meaning this cheap home from home will be taken over by others. Oh well, at least I got to say goodbye to them, as they are more like friends now, and wish them well for the future.
I unload the car, take my bags up to the room in the roof, have a quick wash, and I'm ready to go out.
The plan was to walk through the city and along Dereham Road to a very fine pub indeed, The Fat Cat.
Darkness had fallen, and the traffic was stacked up at every junction and set of traffic lights, but for the care-free street photographer, nothing could be better. Up Prince of Wales Road, lined now as it is with nightclubs, take aways and taxi offices. At this time of the day it is quiet, but would be different a few hours later.
I turn north towards Tombland and the Cathedral, taking shots as I walk. People are rushing to get home, I say rush, it is mainly sitting in stationary lines of cars and buses
The Cathedral is lit up looking marvelous, as are many of the shops and restaurants along Tombland.
From there I walk up the cobbled lane that is Princes Street, past the top of Elm Hill, but I can't resist walking down to take a shot or two of the timber framed houses, and was rewarded with there being no cars parked, so making it a very picturesque scene indeed.
Along to Charing Cross, then down St Benedict's Street, past shops and churches I know so very well, but I have an appointment to keep.
I was meeting an old friend of mine from the survey days, as I found via LinkedIn he was living in Norwich, and so we were to share drinks again in The Fat Cat. It was about a mile down Derheman Road, probably not, but felt it, until I turn down a side street and there were the bright lights of the pub.
I had passed several pubs on the way, all with lots of room and quite homely, but the Fat Cat was rammed, as benefitting what has been voted, twice, as the best CAMRA pub in England. I go in and get a seat at the bar, make my first choice of the night, and begin to sup, listening to snatches of conversation and some general people watching.
I have a second, then have a third to keep the first two company. Dawid arrived with his 6 year old son. Since we last met he has got married, had a child and now divorcing, as is the modern way. And over the course of an hour told me how Brexit is affecting him, his son now not being able to get a passport as the Home Office don't think him British enough.
I say sorry even though it wasn't my fault.
He drops me off in the centre of the city so I could take some more shots before walking back towards Riverside so I could get dinner. I go on Frankie and Benny's, I know its a chain, but all I wanted was a burger, which is what I order, and is OK.
From there it is a short walk through the station, up the slope to Lower Clarence Road and back to the hotel.
15500 steps done, mostly since five in the afternoon; not bad.
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