Thursday 6th April 2023

Woke around 0430 with a bit of a sore throat, and had trouble getting back off to sleep. Aki brought me a mug of tea around 0830. Hernia repair giving me gip, so stayed in bed hoping a bit of rest would be beneficial. Got up at 1030 and porridged...Aki had headed off to Brixton to see how the refurb project was going. Read some Bulgakov. Aki was back in time for lunch...I fried some tinned sardines, which we ate with salad and a hunk of bread. Feeling under the weather this afternoon...the cough seems to be back, and it's aggravating the bad hernia repair. It's uncomfortable sitting down, or standing up...thought I'd better test for Covid, just in case, but the test proved negative. Cooked a ragu using a tin of stewed steak I'd bought many moons ago in case of lock down panic buying. It's a couple of months past it's use by date, but smelled tasty enough...cooked it up with lentils and a tomato sauce. Poured the sauce into containers and stuck 'em in the freezer. Cooked a mushroom risotto for dinner. Watched a bit of telly before bath and bed...

Wednesday 5th April 2023

Woke around 0700. Aki got up...I assumed she was preparing to go rowing, but instead she sat at the computer to get some work done...I thought she was retired now! I got up around 0900 and porridged. Didn't a little work at the laptop, prepping for next week's trip to Wales. Broke for lunch...Aki cooked cheese omelette, which we had with some salad. We wandered over to Morrisons to get some supplies. Warmed up the last of last week's fish pie for dinner, which we ate with cabbage and broccoli, followed by chocolate microwave pudding. Watched a fascinating documentary from Lucy Worsley, following the epic efforts to re-build Notre Dame after the destruction of the fire in 2019. Some extraordinary images of thousands of pieces of scaffolding within the structure itself, covering the ancient walls from floor to vaulted ceiling. 

Tuesday 4th April 2023

Woke around 0830...drew the curtains to let the sunshine in...the North Sea still looked a dirty brown, though! Went downstairs for breakfast at 0930. Enjoyed a full English, with locally sourced bacon, and pork sausage. Packed up and checked out. Discovered the hotel garage was also used as a pigeon roost, and they'd evidently had much fun excreting all over our car during the night! Put our stuff in the boot, then walked southward along the strand to the Martello Tower, and views toward Orford Ness. Still pretty breezy out, but not as bad as yesterday. 

Drove to Orford, stopping off on the way at Snape Maltings, a former industrial site with amazing buildings, now converted into shops, cafes, workshops and studios, and, the centre-piece, the Concert Hall, now the home of the annual Aldeburgh Music Festival. The concert hall is literally a great barn of a place, with a huge stage big enough to fit a full orchestra on...the seats didn't look terribly comfortable, though! Had a browse in the Ancient Music shoppe, full of clavichords and harpsichords, lutes, wooden recorders, and ancient looking bulbous guitars. 

The bloke behind the counter was a bit perturbed to learn we were ukulele players, but instead of ushering us from the premises, he played a couple of the keyboards for us, and told us a bit about them...the clavichord had been owned by Peter Maxwell Davies, and they had had to pick it up from his home in Orkney after he'd passed, and get it to a restorer, in Dorset! Drove on to Orford, and parked up by the quay. Had lunch in a little wooden shack fronting the River Ore. Drove on to Lavenham, stopping off at a Tesco garage on the outskirts of Ipswich to take advantage of the car wash, which cleaned most of the pigeon poo off the windscreen, so Aki could see out of the window. Parked up in Lavenham Market Square and took a turn round the village, admiring the stunning timber framed buildings, then headed for home. Got back to Holloway around 1930. Walked round to Big Jo's for dinner, then back home to flake out on the sofa in front of the telly.

Monday 3rd April 2023

Woke just before 0900, so had to roll out of bed and get downstairs for breakfast. Managed to smuggle Aki's birthday card, chocolate rabbit, and canned gin and tonic on to the breakfast table. Aki had eggs benedict, and I had eggs royale. Tasty enough. Packed up and checked out. Drove eastward. Wanted to stop at Framlingham to take a look at the castle, but roadworks had closed most the through routes, and we gave up and headed to Thorpeness instead. 

Parked up and had a brief walk on the pebbled
beach... it was very windy. Repaired to the antiques shop, and cafe, where we had our lunch. Took a turn round part of the boating lake, then drove southward to Aldeburgh. Checked in to the Brudenell Hotel on the south beach, and parked the car in their garaging, such as it is. Room on the third floor, with a sea view. Wandered up the High Street, and on to the north beach, where Maggi Hambling's "Scallop" (2003) sits looking out to sea, a tribute to the works of Benjamin Britten. Stopped in a little local hostelry for a beer on the way back to the hotel. Dined in their Bar and Grill, with a table overlooking the strand and an expanse of brown sea. Dinner was good...I had whitebait for starters, followed by sea bream in a bean and chorizo stew. Chocolate Marquise for dessert. 

Sunday 2nd April 2023

Woke around 0800. Hauled ourselves downstairs for some breakfast. It was busier than I thought it would be. We ordered boiled eggs and soldiers…we had to make our own soldiers, and Aki’s egg had broken and was all but empty of yolk…neither of them were big enough to sit up in their egg cups, and no teaspoons were provided…we are not looking forward to this evening’s tasting menu with any confidence! Drove to Hengrave Hall, where Tim and Lynn were hosting brunch at their cottage...they bought it a couple of years ago. It was apparently part of the 16th Century stable block, but is two-storey, with chimney breasts, which seems a bit over the top for our equine friends. It is part of the Hengrave Hall estate, which is a huge, magnificent Tudor era building, which was latterly used as a Convent and retreat, but now hosts weddings. 

The cottage feels very small and cramped, despite, or rather because of, having two small reception rooms, a little kitchen, and a WC on the ground floor, and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, though they use the larger bedroom space as a living-room. There's a small rear yard, and a paved yard to the side. It all felt a bit crowded, and a little dark inside. Tim gave us a tour, and we chatted to a couple of other guests before making our way back to the car, and driving in to Bury St Edmunds. Parked up near the football ground, and walked into town. Found a takeaway panini shop, and ate that for lunch sat below the famous electric road sign on Angel Hill, known colloquially as "The Pillar of Salt".

We had booked a town tour guide, Alex, and met him at the Pillar of Salt...in fact, we'd met him at the party last night, as he trained as a tour guide at the same time as Lynn did. He'd been a policeman in the town for several years. He walked us round the exterior of the Cathedral, and the ruins of the famed Abbey, which had originally held the remains of King Edmund, before Henry VIII came along and destroyed it all. The original gateway into the Abbey has since been converted in to very quirky housing. 

We left Alex outside one of the old Corn Exchange buildings, now a Wetherspoons, and had ourselves a cream tea in the Market Cross cafe. Got back to the hotel late afternoon, and slept for awhile before getting up to go downstairs for dinner. We had a five course tasting menu to plough through as part of the VIP booking. It was nothing to write home about; pea soup, followed by pork terrine, a sorbet, then chicken in a mushroom sauce with fondant potatoes, and a chocolate brownie for dessert. There was a wine flight, which I didn't get involved with...of the three wines Aki tried, only one turned out to be half decent...I had a bottle of Peroni! Got back to our room in time to watch episode two of "Great Expectations"...

Saturday 1st April 2023

Woke around 0800....Aki brought me a mug of tea, then cooked breakfast. Packed our bags, which I hauled to the car. Set off north-eastward at around 1130. Aimed for Manor House first and stuck some petrol in the car, then drove to the farm shop near Babraham, just south of Cambridge. Stopped there for a coffee and a pastel de nata…served hot! Drove on to West Stow and had ourselves a walk around Lackford Lake and along the River Lark. Drove into Bury St Edmunds, stopping off at ASDA to buy Tim a bottle of champers to mark his birthday. 

Drove on to the Priory Hotel for our VIP stay…it started well, with my name nailed to a tree, denoting my reserved car parking space. The executive suite was very disappointing, though, and we hurried back out into  the  gloaming. Got lucky with a town centre parking space on Angel Hill, and walked to the Queens Bar & Grill on Churchgate. Ordered the lamb…an hour and a half later we were still waiting! They charged us half price by way of apology, and we walked up Churchgate, a trifle late, to the Unitarian Meeting House where Tim was celebrating his 60th. Managed a brief chat with him and Lynn…no other ex New Vic alumni had made it, so I was the sole representative…Tim and Lynn met on the first production of Good Golly Miss Molly. 

Caught up with their daughter, Sidi, who is living on a canal barge currently moored up in Hackney Wick. Got chatting to a couple, Danny and Finn, at our table, who had recently moved to a nearby village after living for most of their working lives in London. 

I vaguely recognised Danny…he’d been an actor with London Bubble, and we discovered we had mutual friends in common. We snuck out during the last Ceilidh dance and got back to the hotel before the 2300 curfew!

Friday 31st March 2023

Aki up with alarm at 0730. She brought me a mug of tea. I read some Bulgakov in bed...it's all getting very silly, now we've been introduced to Margarita, who has become a witch, and has been flying about on a broomstick...she flies in to the empty apartment of her lover's literary critic, and smashes the place up with a hammer! The author's revenge! Got up and porridged. Did a little work at my laptop at the dining table. Broke for lunch...finished off the stuffed chicken. Pottered about doing nothing very much this afternoon...read some more which lead me to nod off on the sofa! Popped out to Morrisons to get a couple of things for tonight's dinner...cooked Jamie Oliver's fish pie...it was all a bit more of a palavar than I'd anticipated, particularly skinning the potatoes once they'd been microwaved, but it tasted OK. Watched Steve Coogan's film "Philomena", with him and Judi Dench...nicely done. Hadn't realised it was based on a Martin Sixsmith investigation. I remember him as a BBC News reporter...