Blazing June in Blighty is a damp squib. As Bodrum hit the low forties, we were welcomed home by angry black skies and our first walkabout around Norwich was blasted by blustery showers. We didn’t let it dampen our spirits. Norwich’s cobbled medieval quarter was classy, if somewhat ghostly. Perhaps the inclement weather conspired to keep the crowds at bay. Norwich people are a fruity cocktail – fake Burberry chavs, silver-studded hippies, scruffy students, chalky professors, smart-tailored henrys, well-appointed pensioners and middle England mothers in Barbour jackets and sensible shoes. We meandered casually through the smart shops without being dragged in by the scuff of the neck and browsed the shelves without being stalked by the retail police. English politeness reigned supreme; we overdosed on thank you, excuse me and after you.
We ended a hassle-free day by feasting on Thai, toasting to our safe arrival and the adventures to come. We observed city street life from the warmth of the elegant linen-tabled restaurant. Norwich at night was strangely sleepy. Perhaps the deep recession has imposed a financial curfew on the worried masses. Squiffy and sated, we wandered back to our lodgings at a Premier Inn – the best in show of the low cost boarding-houses – to splash about in the reviving waters of a deep bath and canoodle in the comfy bed. We still need to find a roof over our heads. That’s for another day.
Perking the Pansies 
Ah! I’m almost feeling homesick – not for the rain but for cobbled roads and charming houses. Hope you’re starting to get on your feet!
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The sun came out for about 10 minutes! We rushed out into the street 😉
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Well, you will need to take a deep breath, overcome the culture shock of returning to the Fair Isle, and all will be well. June really can be a dreadful month in England, despite all it promises… Welcome home, anyway!
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Thank you
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Hi guys, in think you made the right choice in chooseing Norwich to live in.
Been going to Norfolk since i was a kid, and in fact my sister has lived there for many years now {north walsham] and loves it. Without being rude the people there seem ten years behind the rest of the UK, which is lovely actually. The centre of Norwich will be a gret place to live im sure….good luck. D&A
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Thanks, David. I’m sure it’ll suit us just fine.
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Thai food, damp cool weather, pretty empty street. I’m a bit jealous after battling through busy Bodders dripping sweat from my ear lobes.
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Send us over about 10 degrees to make us all feel a bit more comfortable.
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Ha! You are seeing the UK as through a tourists eyes!! I love Norwich, we almost moved there in the ’80’s. I hope you thoroughly enjoy your new life. WIll you have as many ‘weird and wonderfuls’ to report from the UK, I wonder? -I certainly hope so 🙂
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I’ve started to spot them already!
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‘Oh! How terribly . . . . provincial, dahlings!’ 😀
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I think I’m ready for a little provincial!
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Definitely ghosty, but gorgeous. It seems to suit you guys somehow (not the ghosty part, of course). Very best of luck to you settling in to what must be a pretty foreign place.
xx
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Thank you. I’m looking to observations on provincial life. I wonder what the equivalent town would be across the pond?
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Just love the pics.What a great place to be in and wander while writing your second book..It looks like Dickens will turn the corner any minute (or Kermit and Michael Caine ).As for hassle free shopping I am still getting used to it as much as other things ,its amazing how much we change and Iooking forward to your observation and comments.
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Gawd alone knows what lurks behind the corner. We’ll have huge fun having a peek! Feeling a little foreign might help.
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Welcome back to England’s summer…you should know better than to expect anything else quite frankly 😉 Norwich looks very pitcher-skew (or picturesque if you prefer). Good luck finding your new digs and here’s to many more squiffy evenings.
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Thank you and we intend to have many, many squiffy evenings from now on 😉
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I’ve been back in the UK from Malta and elsewhere from almost 3 years now and still cannot get used to the weather here! It’s not the sun I miss, it’s the storms. Trust me you’ll miss the wild storms and Anatolian winds etc. in time. I long for a good thunderstorm and I now understand what the term temperate means. Studied Meteorology and knew the facts but didn’t understand the feelings. At least I was blessed with a good solid storm in France last week. Hells bells I miss wild weather.
Been catching up on your blog since the “European tour” and just want to ruin your plans for giving up the weed and such by offering to get you guys budget booze and tobacco any time. Travel through Luxembourg 8 times a year and Andorra usually once a year and both those nations have the courtesy to almost give away their vices to spineless addicts like me. Whatever your poison let me know as off again to France, Lux’g, Germany and Belgium at the end of August.
Bon chance with the new life. Been through the exercise of returning and leaving countries you have grown to love too many times. It stings but you bring something new with you as each experience changes you for the better. Always fancied Norfolk when I heard the place was full of big broads, but then realised they were talking about water features. Still, the land of Sale of the Century always looked independent from the rest of the UK yet only a short hop to the capital, good call.
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After the meteorological drama of Turkey we could do with a little temperance! I’ve been following your continental pansy tour and, if you don’t mind, I’d like to feature the pictures on a blog post. Thanks for the offer to feed our various addictions. We’re determined to extinguish the dreaded weed once and for all but are bound to fall off the waggon so Liam will be in touch! Love the ‘big broads’ phrase – I shall use it.
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