Sunday 27th December - Family Meet Up, Christmas Present & Past and Tier 4

It was good to see our family on Christmas Day. There was no flying visit on their behalf for a day trip from Bucks, which of course with them being in Tier 4, was banned. We, still in Tier 2, could have gone to Bucks but how irresponsible would that have been? Thanks to technology we were able, without moving from our individual homes, to all meet via Duo. It was great to have a chat and see our grandsons playing with their presents, all without the possible risk of passing on coronavirus. Knowing we have kept our family safe, gives us a feel good factor. Different to some we have heard about who should be totally ashamed of themselves after moving from a Tier 4 to a Tier 2 area so as to celebrate a family Christmas.

Christmas Day was pretty laid back, a walk in the beach first thing, breakfast, Duo with the family, lunch of smoked salmon, scrambled egg and toast, a walk round the village, tea and cake, and finally, in the evening, roast pork with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding. A very different type of day to when our sons were small and we had ten round the table for lunch (this can never be repeated as six have, over the years, passed away). Table, in the singular, is not quite right as we had to bring in the patio table and use a picnic table in order to make sure everyone had a place to sit at. Those were the Christmas’s when apart from watching our sons opening their presents, I saw little else of them for the rest of the day, being busy catering for everyone’s needs on the food front while Peter kept glasses filled. I far preferred Boxing Day to the ‘big day’. Having said this, I enjoy cooking so all the preparations beforehand and cooking on the day was not a chore. After a few years of this regime we consulted our sons individually as to their preferences and following this a joint decision was made that Christmas Day would be spent at home with just the four of us.

As of yesterday, Norfolk moved into Tier 4 which greatly restricts what we are able to do. We have been told to stay in our homes and only leave for food shopping, exercise, medical appointments and other such essentials. We are not allowed to mix but can meet outside on a one to one basis while observing social distancing. So what the heck did the groups of over six we saw yesterday, walking along the road and outside the public toilets on the car park, who blatantly ignored the rules and were definitely not socially distancing, think they were up to!

On that note, I’ll leave you with a photo taken on our Christmas morning walk along the beach, and another of our loin of pork ready for the oven, which like all the pork we buy from Mundesley Butchers was delicious.