Sunday 29th October 2023 - Cliff Slump Concerns, Coffee Morning, We Were Lucky and Blackbirds

The ground is so wet, I am concerned, if the rain continues, there will be some cliff slumps along this section of the coast, especially seeing how wet the ground in the car park is. The composition of the cliffs varies along the coastline and what Hemsby is up against is different to here in Overstrand. The BBC has reported, in Hemsby, over the past two weeks 6 feet/1.8 metres of sandy cliff has been lost to the sea with five homes demolished so far this year and another currently facing demolition. All this before the winter storms. We remember visiting Happisburgh when our sons were young and seeing all the quaint little homes on the cliffs, now all bar about one have gone. It seems the government doesn’t consider this area (except towns and larger villages) warrants investment in sea defences and that homes in villages don’t matter, leaving residents like those in Hemsby feeling abandoned.

I went to the coffee morning in the Sports Pavilion on Thursday morning, taking with me a tray of poppies and other fundraising items plus a collecting tin for the Poppy Appeal. Now the car boot sales have finished for the season, the coffee mornings are a great place for villagers to meet up each week between ten and twolve. I say, villagers, but anyone is welcome. There was a good assortment of homemade cakes, scones and sausage rolls on display and my mug of tea and piece of ginger cake was only £2. During the morning, the Pavilion filled and news and views were exchanged; I recommend anyone to go along to this friendly gathering.

Friday was a special day for us; our Wedding Anniversary. Given the weather we’ve had recently, we were so lucky to have sun and no rain. We had planned, a couple of weeks ago, to drive towards Salthouse and have a walk on the saltmarshes before having lunch. However, in view of the flooding outlined on the gov.uk website, we decided against this and walked inland instead and took a friend out for lunch at The Foundry Arms. The marshes will have to wait for another day. Ours was a light lunch, as we had decided to round the day off with dinner at the Sea Marge, where we have always found, there is a quiet atmosphere in both the Frazer’s restaurant and the Winston Room.

I am delighted to see good numbers of blackbirds arriving in our garden from Scandinavia and Europe. Landing on our Portugal Laurel tree they gorging on the ripe berries; they have yet to find the sprays of berries on the pyracanthas, as can be seen in today’s photo.