Freedom Of King's Lynn Parade

Last week RAF Marham exercised their right to march through the streets of King's Lynn with drums beating, colours flying and bayonets fixed. When I was in the RAF I always found parades to be an utter pain in the neck, but now I'm a "veteran" I love them. So does Sam.

Sam was in attendance with his school friends, and I spotted him as soon as I took up my position on the east side of the Tuesday Market Place. He stood to attention as the standards were marched onto the square (he's the one in the red shirt in the above photo).

As well as reviewing the RAF party, the Armed Forces Week flag was raised - it's refreshing that the country now seems to support the forces, as opposed to the ambivalence and even resentment I experienced for many years.

The Cranwell Band provided a superb soundtrack for the parade - the same band who performed at my own Passing Out parade at RAF Swinderby on 23 July 1985!

Veg Patch Update

We're starting rather late with our veg patch project. But we'll still have a good go at producing some crops this year, and then prepare well for next year.




The fact that Roy has obtained a greenhouse will help us. We're going on a wing and a prayer and trying to force seedlings into catching up, and then transplanting them into the garden.


It appears that the runner beans can hardly wait to get going!

Snettisham Beach

First new beach of the year and it was a bit of a let-down! When we arrived at Snettisham beach we couldn't tell if the water in the far distance was the edge of the Wash on our side, or the entrance to Boston docks. It must have been at least a mile to the water.

With surfboard tucked under his arm this wasn't exactly what Sam had anticipated, but he did try riding a tube in the small dribble of water that we found.....

So we didn't get to splash around in the water, but we will do that next weekend, when we're together all weekend and going camping. What we did do was get stuck in various gloopinesses of foul-smelling mud, which was actually rather hilarious. There's always fun to be had if you don't mind getiing dirty/wet/messy/leaving your dignity in the car park.

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Snettisham beach - smelly and waterless!

I Can Drive A Tractor....

We've been lucky enough to have agreed with a really great bloke to share his garden, as a kind of mutual allotment. Sam enjoyed our "proper" allotment and now he's a couple of years older I hope he'll get as much out of this one too. I'm starting to map the ground out and get it in shape, and we're going to have a shot at some crops this year, although we're way behind the drag curve.

Exceptionally, our mate Roy has a ride-on tractor mower which he said Sam could drive round if he wanted to. Show me a seven year old boy who wouldn't want to drive a real tractor! Plus Roy gets his grass cut, so everyone's a winner. Sam was slightly hesitant at first, but soon settled down to enjoy his first real, petrol-powered drive. I have a feeling that Roy's lawn will be one of the neatest in town!

A Rare Visitor Returns

We were honoured today with a visit from a Green Woodpecker. He sat on the fence for five minutes then flew off on his merry way. See you again soon, we hope!

Goliath The Seagull

Meet Goliath. He's a seagull.




He's the indisputable leader of the gang too. Probably because of his enormous size. The object on the ground in front of Goliath is a whole crust from a standard sliced loaf of bread. It's about the same size as his head!

Maybe he's grown so huge because he's exceptionally street-wise too. As you can see from these photos, it didn't take long for him to spot me with the camera, and he promptly winged it away.

Geronimo!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Well, it's not Superman. It's Super Sam, flying through the air with the greatest of ease!

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Isn't it funny how a two metre jump is fun when you're seven, but a serious health risk when you're forty two? But....there is only ten minutes in between the two.....

Legoland 2010

We love Legoland. It's a magical place for children, and for the parents of children who enjoy watching them lose themselves in fun.

I didn't take too many photos this time round, I chose to "do" rather than "record". And we "did" a lot. Above you can see Sam racing out of the training area on the Driving School - on his previous visits he has been on the L Driver ride, because he was under six years old.

We especially enjoyed the live show at the mini amphitheatre, this year it was The Pirates Of Skeleton Bay. Great knockabout stuff with plenty of splashing in the drink and audience participation. We've been singing the "theme" tune ever since ("We're the prates, HEY, the pirates, HEY, everything's done in the pirate way, the pirates, HEY, the pirates, HEY, we're the pirates of Skeleton Bay!").

A huge improvement this visit was our hotel deal. We stayed at the Premier Inn next to Heathrow - and if a hotel stay wasn't exciting enough for a six year old, then a hotel next to Britain's biggest airport totally rocks! Below you can see Sam's opinion, we had a great view of British Airways' hangar and watched jets being towed in and out. And Sam shouted abuse out of the car window at the striking BA cabin crew who littered the surrounding junctions. "Shut up!" and "Can my Dad have your job?" were his mots superbe. And this before we knew I would be looking for another job.

What can be better after a long drive or a tough day having fun, than takeaway food eaten on your bed while watching telly? I recommend the Premier Inn's own pizzas! So does Sam. Fish and chips were the chosen food for the second night. We balanced this out by taking a bagful of fruit to Legoland each day and tucking in whenever we found ourselves queueing for the next ride.

Legoland - recommended.

Premier Inn, Heathrow - doubly recommended!

We had a memorable, wonderful, exciting, explorative time. See you again soon, we hope.

World Record Attempt!

We heard that there was an attempt at a Guinness World Record taking place in The Walks. That's the beautiful park that is five minutes walk from our flat, 2-Sox towers. We just had to get ourselves involved.




The record attempt was the biggest simultaneous handshake, with the existing record at about 4,600, set in Hong Kong. Of course we had to join in, how many times in your life do you have the chance to break a World Record? Remember Roy Castle. Remember the McGuirter twins. World records are important, especially if you're younger than 11.

So we set out. The Bank Holiday weather was traditional, with torrential rain. As we crossed the level crossing into The Walks we didn't see a huge throng of people. We saw dotted bodies across the old "Recreation Field", a huge area penned in with crush barriers, and the Mayoral car parked inside.

Of course, the record wasn't broken. King's Lynn managed about 188 hand-shakers, just 4,812-ish short of the record. So close! Not.

Me and Sam were approached determinedly by the mayor at one point but swerved the handshake. Hey, I didn't vote for you, why should I shake your hand? The failed attempt made the local paper in a "sad but expected" kind of way.

So. We tried, and we failed. You can't win them all!