Thursday 28th December 2023 - Came Together Nicely and a Big Disappointment

After saying in my last blog, when referring to Christmas, it was ‘coming together nicely’, I am so pleased that it did, come together nicely.  A lot of this was due to some careful planning foodwise on my behalf (blowing my own trumpet here!) and the sourcing of quality produce and ingredients.  Special thanks to Mundesley Butchers for the chicken (curry), lamb (stifado), beef (chilli) and pork (roasted) and to Country Pickings for the fruit (breakfast fruit salad and orange segments to accompany Greek Walnut desert) and vegetables, supplementing those grown by Peter.  In addition, were the British cheeses, English charcuterie and assorted accompaniments supplied by the Fine Cheese Company - I can truly recommend this company who have provided us with top quality foods, packaged with care and most important, delivered on the date I specified.  I needn’t have worried about the gluten free Christmas cake; it was full of fruit, a good consistency and tasted good.  It was however, a little too rich for our palates so we gave it to our visiting family to take home, keeping the Dundee cake, made using Delia’s recipe.  For those who don’t know who Delia is; its Delia Smith who is the embodiment of British cookery.  Time now to move away from food!

Over the holiday, we enjoyed the company of family, who arrived on Saturday.  The weather was kind, enabling us to fit in walks and they did a run too.  We chatted and discussed various topics plus I was introduced to the board game, Cluedo, which I need to play a few more times before I get to grips with the strategies.  We had two family video link ups, one the other side of the world in New Zealand.   On Boxing Day we watched the swim.  I think I can safely say, there was a record turnout of those taking the plunge.  The sun shone and there was a good expanse of sand for the brave souls to run across into the sea.  However, and this is a big disappointment for me, the videos I took, walking down the zigzag path, across the beach and of the participants, were to put it mildly……rubbish.  The footage, viewed on the camcorder, looked fine but after editing yesterday and watching full screen on my laptop, the clarity is very poor.  I took videos of our garden at the beginning of November and edited these on the same software and the final video is good…..what went wrong on Boxing Day, I don’t know.  Fortunately, Peter took some photos in the shade on the promenade, two of which I have included below.  The ramp was very slippery, one of the photos show people gingerly making their way down.  Knowing the ramp was a hazard, I decided to access the beach from the steps and walked across the sands to where the swimmers were gathering.

That’s all from me for 2023, apart from us wishing you all -

A Happy and A Healthy New Year