Didn’t see S&G at Christmas on this occasion so it was good to finally welcome them down to sunny(ish) Suffolk for a long weekend this Easter. They arrived on the Easter Friday and stayed for four nights which was long enough for us to squeeze in a couple of long overdue outings. In no particular order of importance we indulged in the following…
Travel
Bowler’s Bum and Other Delights
Should have been in Malta but For reasons that I am not prepared to divulge we had to cancel. As some sort of minor recompense, we agreed to a short break in Norwich ‘instead’. Only two nights, but an early departure saw us arrive at the Bowling Alley in time for the ‘nifty fifty’ three hour session. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I scored both the lowest and highest scores of the day. Naturally, as if I didn’t know (or had conveniently forgotten), I was of course struck down with “Bowler’s Bum“, a particularly savage case I have to say but one I fought manfully for the rest of the stay.
Annual Aldeburgh
For what has become something of an annual sojourn after the post Christmas festivities, we took our usual trip up to Aldeburgh, for three nights on this occasion. This time around it was the Brudenell hotel, and any cursory search on this site would tell you it is one of the three hostelries in the town that we have previously had the pleasure of staying at. Took the package deal that gave us evening meal on two of the three nights which, given the vagaries of the North Sea “breeze”, we thought was a sensible option.
Old Haunts and Pastimes
Notwithstanding I have never mentioned how this occurred, but earlier this year Mrs. No Name ‘acquired’ her own bowling ball and a last minute decision to get the holes adjusted for a better fit resulted in a hastily arranged overnight Thursday night stay in Norwich. Went to the tenpin bowling centre and ended up playing tenpin for three hours (in my case picking up a …
Wisbech Whistlestop..
Although it wasn’t that short a visit, as we enjoyed a leisurely five night break at the National Trust Coach House Lodge, all organised by Mrs. No Name. The lodge proved to be a lovely base and, as it was a National Trust property and adjacent to Peckover House, had the additional benefit of ‘out of hours’ access to the house gardens.
Annual 2023 Catsitting
No sooner back from the cruise and we were off on our trip to serve the cats for the second time this year. Overnight stop in Wentbridge on the way up didn’t prove to be as successful, with a few issues at breakfast that rather put a dampener on proceedings. Recompensed, but worrying enough to consider alternatives in the future….
Back in the Game
Just back from our first cruise since 2019 and first time abroad since the pandemic. Visited Lisbon, Portimao, Santander, La Coruna, Bordeaux, Brest and, finally, St, Marys. Too busy (you couldn’t make it up) so full post at some indeterminate future date!! I promise this won’t be the long ramble of previous holiday posts. This one is short, sweet(ish) and very much to the point….
Sudbury, famous for…..
being the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough and for the house within which he spent his childhood. We’ve been threatening to go for many years and, on Friday, we finally did. He later resided there (again), following the death of his father in 1748 and before his move to Ipswich.[6] The building still survives and is now a house-museum dedicated to his life and art. Thee house was (predominantly) the focus for the journey.
Catsitting (They’re Leaving Everything)
With apologies to the living legend, but for some reason as we report back on the first of this year’s annual catsitting sojourns, Leo’s ‘Moonlighting‘ came to my ageing memory (and then found its way on to the page by way of the title) – so there you have it. In other news, as before, we again extended the catsitting week and explored further up the Northumberland coast, to make it feel a little more like a proper holiday.
And Now For Seconds….
After saying we would probably never return, almost 12 months on, we did precisely that! Another meet up with the friends we met last year, back at the Centre Parcs at Elveden Forest for four nights last week. Not much to add to the entry about last year, other than to say that at least this year’s break was completed without major incident or illness to either party!
Jubilee Hall and more….
The more turned out to be a weekend (two night) break at the White Lion, wrapped around the Young’uns Saturday Night gig at the Jubilee Hall. We could have easily travelled up to Aldeburgh specifically for the concert but it is pleasant to be able to combine it with short break. Lucky and/or smart enough to be able to do so I guess…
God’s County
Or indeed, a trip to God’s Country I suppose, but I’ve always been an introverted Yorkshireman, so I draw the line at County rather than drawing parallels between my county of birth and the whole of the country – it wouldn’t do the latter any favours he says with fervour. We could have done without the unseasonably cold snap, where the heavy snow put the first two legs in serious jeopardy! Then again, I didn’t expect a simple invitation to an 80th birthday lunch for Mrs. No Name’s cousin to lead to a fourteen day sojourn and five hotel stays either….