East Anglia Tour - Day 4

Bad weather plagued an otherwise enjoyable day and, back at the hotel, poor connectivity hampered my attempts to keep my fans in touch with a life that makes Karl Pilkington look ordinary. We went first to Norwich Airport, briefly visiting the terminal before driving round to Horsham St Faith (the village for which the erstwhile RAF station was named) and the City of Norwich Aviation Museum. It was on a par with Dumfries and the welcome was warm. The exhibits were interesting but one must wonder what is the future for all these museums. I value the preservation work they do but funds are limited and some of them teeter on the verge of being scrap yards with some items unable to receive attention. I very much dislike (in all forms of transport preservation) when an example of something is made up as another - with a false identity - as with one of the Hunters here today. What made the visit was getting (paid) access to the cockpit of their Vulcan. It was very moving. The last time I was in a Vulcan was during its service and on the occasion of one of its dispersals to Bedford on exercise. I lived the end of the Cold War and to watch the QRA exercise, even knowing that it was such, on radar was a very affecting experience. Our V-bomber crews had a grim and probably suicidal task to perform. I was also able to photograph some of the aircraft on Norwich airport proper. Viciously heavy showers driven by a strong wind made it hard work.

That wind would greet us in Cromer also but on the way there we stopped at Aylsham for the delightful Bure Valley Railway. The 15" system runs from there to Wroxham and its locomotives are wonderful. My photographs were enhanced by an authorised, accompanied foray through the workshop. I am grateful for the hospitality. In Cromer, to walk near the sea was, to say the least, bracing. We found a haven in the more central Cafe Main where simple lunch food was very good. I could not see any reason to live in Cromer.

There was better to come. Discouraging though the weather was, we continued to Sheringham for the North Norfolk Railway which runs from the original station, separated from the rather prosaic modern equivalent by a crossing. The visit was an absolute delight. I was quite moved just by watching their Class 25 locomotive perform. Just like the Vulcan it stirred memories and made me sad inside as well as happy. At my age I have seen too much; I remember too much. Too often I am aware of how much of my life is behind me and how little ahead and I want to cry. Sometimes, for a moment, I do so. I waited for a second train to arrive from and return to Holt. It was hauled by 0-6-2T 5619 which, in British Railways green, is the most beautiful tank engine I have ever seen. It exuded character and was enhanced by the maroon stock it was pulling.

In the evening we made our first trip into Norwich itself along with much of the local population. The car park has a nightmare design and I was profoundly glad to be entering which was relatively easy compared to joining the extraordinary queue to leave. We declined Frankie and Bennies' offer of a 45 minute wait and went instead to Bella Italia. I don't wait for restaurants (at least not more than 10 minutes). In our chosen venue we were well treated and served quickly at a busy time but I was tempted to remind them that risotto is meant to be moist but not to the extent that soup is moist.

I finished The Lost Symbol and have, I am afraid, to dilute my earlier praise. The larger part of the book is, as I have previously recorded, a great adventure story but the last few chapters really lose their way almost as though Brown had changed tack before completing the novel. It peters out in rambling irrelevance which appears to be an inappropriate advertisement for Christianity.

Talking of irrelevant, Ed Miliband won the Labour Party leadership thus clearing the way for his banana wielding brother to lie doggo for years of futile opposition whilst Ed loses at least one election and eventually the leadership. David may well have to reverse an Ed-led drift to the left to have any chance of displacing the Conservatives with our without their allies of convenience.