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livLast summer I didn't do much because I didn't really believe the pandemic was over. This summer I know for sure it's not over, but the start of the third wave is the least bad time to have fun before everything closes down again. So jack and I booked a self-catering place in north Norfolk, for the week before the day slated for removing all restrictions.
It was amazing. After 450 days of being basically stuck at home, it felt really nice to go somewhere. My preference ordinarily would be for more of a mix of doing cultural things with sitting on the beach, but a week of sitting on the beach because that's what's safe was really very pleasant.
Our base was Holt which is a little inland, but a really charming small town that I would probably enjoy mooching around if I felt safe going indoors into the little cute shops and galleries and cafés. We did everything by car, which again isn't my first choice, but it did mean that we were less than 15 minutes away from some of the best beaches in England. We had a day at Sheringham, a day at Cromer, a walk from Weybourne along the glorious clifftops and back to Sheringham. This last was planned less brilliantly than it might have been as it was the hottest day of the week and really, we should have spent the day it nearly reached 30° sunbathing on the beach and the cooler days walking over 7 miles with no shade. Instead of sitting on the beach on days when it was slightly too cold, with a brisk sea breeze, for more than brief dips in the sea. But hey.
The best part of the week was that it turned out that the readthrough crowd had arranged to have their group holiday in the next village, so we had a bonus meetup with loads of people I have known for years and really like, and had seen on Zoom or not at all for ages. So we were able to tag on to their seal-watching trip in Blakeney harbour. It was just wonderful to see all these people, and we were really lucky with the seal watching, there were masses of them everywhere, both common seals and grey seals, and even singing. Sitting in a boat listening to a seal choir with a bunch of friends was close to the happiest I've been since the plague started. After the trip we dispersed and J&I walked along the coast to Blakeney, which was also very worthwhile.
A very close second was that our OSOs and the children were able to join us at the end of the week. We met up and went to Wells which has the sandiest beach (a lot of that coast is a mix of sand and pebbles). There were thunderstorms after the heat of the previous day, but we found a narrow corridor between the storm clouds, so we at least stayed dry. But we didn't have quite enough warm clothes and not being able to take shelter when several of us were shivering after staying in the sea a bit longer than was quite wise meant that we had to cut the trip short and head home to dry off. But we got to eat fish'n'chips (halloumi and chips for the veggies) and hang out together. We gave some additional presents to G who has just turned one – the whole first year of her life staying apart from anybody outside her family and eventually small bubble! and had a lovely relaxed evening. And the middle children stayed over with us, which was not something we've managed before as A is only really just old enough to cope with sleepovers (he would probably have been fine a year ago, but pandemic.)
We had planned to take the children on a second seal trip, but it turned out that the rain got so bad that the tour company cancelled, even though an hour before they'd said they never cancel for rain. So that was a bit of a let-down. The children suggested going for a drive somewhere so we didn't just stick at home all day, so we visited Blakeney and investigated what would be required for crabbing, but decided we didn't really want to sit at the quayside in the torrential rain. I still really enjoyed having an afternoon of playing card games and dancing and watching TV, but it wasn't as good a treat for the kids as I'd hoped.
In lots of ways that felt like a vacation to the Before Times. Like, we know that playing on the beach is pretty safe, and it was nice to be around people doing that, and wandering around town eating icecream and enjoying the sunshine. I'm personally not confident of eating indoors, so finding nice seaside pubs was a bit more fraught than usual, but only a bit, and on holiday I might well have just chosen to eat in the beer garden, so again, that felt almost normal. I think doing a self-catering and mostly outdoors holiday, only 90 minutes drive away, and in an area of the country where cases are still low (though like everywhere climbing very fast) increased our risk hardly at all compared to just staying home, and increased our happiness a lot.
I am dreading the third wave, especially with the prevailing political view that the older half of the population are vaccinated now so we can give up even the wholly inadequate measures we've had so far. But even with the background dread, well, I and all my bubble are getting our second vaccine doses next week, and the holiday gave me the opportunity to relax physically, which still makes a lot of difference.
jack and I booked a self-catering place in north Norfolk, for the week before the day slated for removing all restrictions.It was amazing. After 450 days of being basically stuck at home, it felt really nice to go somewhere. My preference ordinarily would be for more of a mix of doing cultural things with sitting on the beach, but a week of sitting on the beach because that's what's safe was really very pleasant.
Our base was Holt which is a little inland, but a really charming small town that I would probably enjoy mooching around if I felt safe going indoors into the little cute shops and galleries and cafés. We did everything by car, which again isn't my first choice, but it did mean that we were less than 15 minutes away from some of the best beaches in England. We had a day at Sheringham, a day at Cromer, a walk from Weybourne along the glorious clifftops and back to Sheringham. This last was planned less brilliantly than it might have been as it was the hottest day of the week and really, we should have spent the day it nearly reached 30° sunbathing on the beach and the cooler days walking over 7 miles with no shade. Instead of sitting on the beach on days when it was slightly too cold, with a brisk sea breeze, for more than brief dips in the sea. But hey.
The best part of the week was that it turned out that the readthrough crowd had arranged to have their group holiday in the next village, so we had a bonus meetup with loads of people I have known for years and really like, and had seen on Zoom or not at all for ages. So we were able to tag on to their seal-watching trip in Blakeney harbour. It was just wonderful to see all these people, and we were really lucky with the seal watching, there were masses of them everywhere, both common seals and grey seals, and even singing. Sitting in a boat listening to a seal choir with a bunch of friends was close to the happiest I've been since the plague started. After the trip we dispersed and J&I walked along the coast to Blakeney, which was also very worthwhile.
A very close second was that our OSOs and the children were able to join us at the end of the week. We met up and went to Wells which has the sandiest beach (a lot of that coast is a mix of sand and pebbles). There were thunderstorms after the heat of the previous day, but we found a narrow corridor between the storm clouds, so we at least stayed dry. But we didn't have quite enough warm clothes and not being able to take shelter when several of us were shivering after staying in the sea a bit longer than was quite wise meant that we had to cut the trip short and head home to dry off. But we got to eat fish'n'chips (halloumi and chips for the veggies) and hang out together. We gave some additional presents to G who has just turned one – the whole first year of her life staying apart from anybody outside her family and eventually small bubble! and had a lovely relaxed evening. And the middle children stayed over with us, which was not something we've managed before as A is only really just old enough to cope with sleepovers (he would probably have been fine a year ago, but pandemic.)
We had planned to take the children on a second seal trip, but it turned out that the rain got so bad that the tour company cancelled, even though an hour before they'd said they never cancel for rain. So that was a bit of a let-down. The children suggested going for a drive somewhere so we didn't just stick at home all day, so we visited Blakeney and investigated what would be required for crabbing, but decided we didn't really want to sit at the quayside in the torrential rain. I still really enjoyed having an afternoon of playing card games and dancing and watching TV, but it wasn't as good a treat for the kids as I'd hoped.
In lots of ways that felt like a vacation to the Before Times. Like, we know that playing on the beach is pretty safe, and it was nice to be around people doing that, and wandering around town eating icecream and enjoying the sunshine. I'm personally not confident of eating indoors, so finding nice seaside pubs was a bit more fraught than usual, but only a bit, and on holiday I might well have just chosen to eat in the beer garden, so again, that felt almost normal. I think doing a self-catering and mostly outdoors holiday, only 90 minutes drive away, and in an area of the country where cases are still low (though like everywhere climbing very fast) increased our risk hardly at all compared to just staying home, and increased our happiness a lot.
I am dreading the third wave, especially with the prevailing political view that the older half of the population are vaccinated now so we can give up even the wholly inadequate measures we've had so far. But even with the background dread, well, I and all my bubble are getting our second vaccine doses next week, and the holiday gave me the opportunity to relax physically, which still makes a lot of difference.