Sunday 5th June 2022 - Final Day, Not Walking and Out of Kilter

Today is the final day of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. In London, four days of events have celebrated the occasion and although not on such a grand scale, villages and towns in our area have all celebrated in their own way. Here in Overstrand, on Friday evening there was music, fireworks and a beacon lit in the grounds of The Pleasaunce. Today a street party in The Londs was planned but unfortunately the weather forecast of rain all day has meant an open-air event could end up a very wet affair. Plans are now, to hold the street party in the Parish Hall. Other locations, I would imagine, have had to cancel or postpone their street parties. Not only wet but it is very cold for early June. Rain or no rain, it would not be at all pleasant sitting outside; the Parish Council made the right decision to move the street party into the Parish Hall.

Barney is no longer going for walks. The other day he had an episode on Cliff Road where he slumped down on the pavement and had to be carried home. He may have short legs but his body is that of a medium sized dog, with him weighing over ten kilos, so we took it in turns to carry him home, with Peter taking the most turns. Following this, he has only walked about ten metres before wanting to come back home and the last time Peter clipped the lead onto Barney’s collar, he refused to leave the drive. We don’t like leaving Barney at home but had no choice when we went out to collect elderflowers for this year’s wine fermentation. Barney has become very selective in what he eats and no longer wants his usual treats. He sleeps well at night and is quite happy to lay and snooze throughout the day and we will continue to provide him with a variety of foods to provide interest. It does look as though he won’t be with us for much longer. It’s so sad and there are times when I feel my eyes welling up at the thought of losing him. I keep thinking of all the things we used to do together and how he jumped over the groynes, swam in the pools and loved to run on the beach with his collie friends Danny and Gypsy.

My first programme on Poppyland Radio, with village author Laurence Staig, was broadcast on Tuesday afternoon with it repeated yesterday afternoon. I had another recording in Poppyland Radio’s studio on Wednesday with a local wildlife enthusiast. This was uploaded to a folder I have access to, so I was able to listen to the programme. Not sure what happened but our two voice levels were out of kilter, with my guest sounding loud and clear whilst I was quiet as if I was stood at the back of the studio. The Station Manager is going to look into this after which we will have a test run and re-record the programme. The series of six programmes has taken more time than I ever imagined at the outset. Approaching guests, meeting with them to find out what they will talk about and making notes, drawing up a programme menu and amending if required, choosing music and burning this to a CD and then finally recording, is proving a lengthy process. Peter will vouch for the amount of time I have been spending!

Today’s photo was taken last weekend when we were on the beach with our son and grandson. A barnacle encrusted groyne is at the forefront of the view towards Cromer.