Burning desire for a return to Norfolk
Reporter: Kati Coogan
Date published: 23 November 2010
WHAT KATI DID NEXT: I don’t know if you remember (and to be honest why would you?) but just in case you do, around about March, I told you all about a trip to Norfolk.
It was for a friend’s 40th birthday party at a house, which included a sauna... that we burned down.
A summary: we turned the sauna on in the morning around 8am, there was an electrical fault in said sauna and by 9am half the house was on fire.
We, the ladies of the group, stood around worriedly while the men came over all macho and jumped over walls, turned on fire extinguishers and hosepipes and — quite effectively, in hindsight — dealt with the fire; at least until the fire service turned up, pulled the roof off the house and put out the flames with ease.
The owner turned up and like the “ejits” we are, we thought we were going to be chucked out.
As it turned out, the owner was extremely apologetic and offered us another weekend at the house “any time of the year” free of charge.
Anyway once he had got over the shock, he rescinded the offer and booked us this dull weekend in November.
To be fair we would have gone back any time, since as we weren’t paying. Actors are notoriously tight and can be known to follow a free meal from John O’Groats all the way to Land’s End.
Which is how far it feels to get to Norfolk from Manchester. A whole day’s drive away, especially now that it’s getting dark after lunch.
Anyway, we had a fantastic time. We did a Secret Santa for the children, for which my husband played Santa, looking more like Robert Plant than St Nick. We couldn’t find a white beard anywhere so a salt and pepper goatee had to suffice.
Our little boy hasn’t stopped asking his dad if he was pretending to be Santa as he could “tell from your eyes. You had eyes like Santa.”
Not sure if that’s a compliment or not.
Weekends like these fill your heart with joy. Good friends, happy children and decent winter weather.
Apart from the four-hour drive, it was a fantastic weekend all round. I hope yours was too.
