Alma Mater - Norwich and UEA - Postscript

 In what I assume is fairly normal behaviour, revisiting our alma mater prompted me to look up the names of some contemporaneous students using Google and LinkedIn. I found my first-year room-mate at UEA, Alan, who I haven't seen for 50 years and who now lives in the USA. Alan reminded me of a...

Fruit/Vegetable Anomalies #4 Garlic

 Another addition to the wonky vegetable series. See here, here and here for previous instalments.This time it is a recently harvested garlic plant. This year's main garlic crop (Early Purple Wight) was planted out in March after pre-spouting in an unheated greenhouse during February. The...

Alma Mater - UEA and Norwich - Day Six & Seven

 Photo 1: Bittern in Norwich Castle Museum (May 2024)Day six was spent with our son & daughter-in-law in and around Norwich since this was their first experience of the city. The morning was spent in Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. There is an admission charge (£7.80 per adult, with...

Alma Mater - UEA and Norwich - Day Four & Five

These two days were spent mooching around the city. Day five included a change of accommodation as our son & daughter-in-law were joining us for a few days. The on-suite room, that had served us well for the first 4 days, was superseded by a large apartment in the city centre. Photo 1 shows the...

Starlings - Not Everyone's Darlings

 Starlings tend to get a bad press as over-aggressive, greedy and petulant garden visitors; in other words, a bit of a bully. I suspect this is largely due to their gregarious nature which leads them to associate in large social groups. Of course, when they congregate in the tens and hundreds...

Have You Seen the Price of Zucchinis?

 I got a bit of a shock last week when I saw the price of courgettes in our local Sainsbury's supermarket.Figure 1: The Price of Courgettes (June 14th 2024)The country of origin was stated as Morocco, Spain and United Kingdom - it must have been a helluva big courgette! Moreover, the courgette...

Alma Mater - UEA and Norwich - Day Three

Under leaden skies, we caught the bus to UEA and spent the morning wandering around the University campus and visiting the Sainsbury Centre - ancient, modern and ethnographic art collections exhibited in light-filled, modernist spaces (or so the blurb says!). Photo 1: Side-on View of the Sainsbury...

Alma Mater - UEA and Norwich - Day Two

 Day two of our Norwich trip began at Norwich Railway Station just a stone's throw (literally) from our digs ...Photo 1: Norwich Railway Station (Credit)With our Senior Railcards (⅓ discount), a day return to Cromer was only £6.85 per person for the 45 minute each-way scenic journey. And who doesn't...