Sunday 8th December 2024 - New Vlog, Sizeable Thud, In the Kitchen and a Proper Storm

I have been putting together a new vlog which I’ve titled ‘Autumnal Overstrand’.  As the name suggests, it covers a variety of things we have seen and experienced during this season.  Posted on YouTube, you can view ‘Autmnal Overstrand’ via this link.

On Thursday afternoon, while sat in our lounge, we were aware of a sizeable thud and a vibration.  This usually indicates, there has been a cliff slump.  So, on Friday afternoon, we decided to investigate, as well as making the most of the dry and relatively calm weather ahead of the forecast storm.  At the bottom of the zigzag path, we first looked west, towards Cromer, nothing untoward there, before strolling along the promenade.  The only change we could see was more material down on the promenade below the Sea Marge and a very gloopy mass of soft mud above it.  Maybe, this was behind the thud.  Anyway, as you can see from the photos, it was

a lovely walk with the wintery sun on the waves and wispy clouds in the sky.

I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen on Saturday morning, cooking a coq au vin and a lamb stifado (recipe for the latter is on YouTube), after which there was the unavoidable mess to clear up.  Both these dishes are now in the freezer, ready for when our family visit between Christmas and the New Year.

We began to wonder if Storm Darragh was going to bypass us.  Saturday was wet but no higher winds that we would normally expect, here on the coast.  Other named storms, we’ve experienced, have not been what we would term as a storm at all.  Darragh was taking it’s time to traverse the country but when it arrived, there was no doubt; this was a proper storm.  The force woke me up, in the early hours of this morning and from then on, I was listening for any exceptional bangs or the sound of falling roof tiles crashing on the ground.  Once it was light, the only damage, well not really damage as such, was the garden furniture blown over along with some of the pots I had planted with spring bulbs.  We didn’t walk far this morning, just along to the front where the sea, as you can see from the photo below, was being whipped up.  The wind speeds have dropped since early this morning but there are still hearty gusts and the rain will be keeping us inside for the rest of the day.