Busy Week of 'No Work'!

As hinted in my last post, this week began with the trip to Cambridgeshire. It's often the case that, whether it's meeting a new correspondent for the first time, or a visit to an unknown venue, the actual differs considerably from the anticipation.  I was apprehensive about what I might achieve, and had imagined some walking over (hopefully dried) muddy fenland tracks.  Both of these fore-thoughts were far from the case ... and not independent of each other!

The first surprise was to find that I had the place to myself.  Apart from three parked-up unoccupied caravans, the park was empty ... and I saw no sign of fishermen either until the day I left.  This was quickly followed by discovering that there was no phone signal, so not only did I not have to worry about incoming nuisance calls ... there was therefore no Wi-Fi, so there was no distraction from social media either!  Amazingly, by an hour or so after the shock of finding myself 'cut-off', this didn't bother me.

The site was separated from one of the fishing lakes by a line of leylandii, but a path led to the other side of this barrier, and on both afternoons I enjoyed the experience of walking round the lake on the broad grassy surround, in warm sunshine, and without the slightest hint of a muddy track!  It was the ideal opportunity to marshall my thoughts and, by Tuesday afternoon I found that I had accomplished all that I'd intended.  I was also rewarded on one of my afternoon strolls by the shocking - and beautiful - sight of a fish rising vertically out of the water, like a bather pushing up from the floor of a swimming pool.  Having displayed itself, it then sank back into the lake, leaving only an intense pattern of circular ripples to confirm that it had been real, and not a dream!

I returned home on Wednesday to the contrast of a noisy and exciting fund-raising quiz night at the church.  This engaged - for the first time for most, if not all, of us - an internet quizmaster, supported by a computer whiz and two charming young mums from our midst who acted as hostesses/ comperes for the evening.  The questions were presented, and our answers submitted, on our smart phones or tablets.  I was fortunate to be on the winning team, although considering the large proportion of questions that focussed on TV, sport, films, pop music and the celebrity culture, this was in very small part due to my own prowess!

Thursday was a day of admin. and I stayed indoors all day.  Being the start of a new month, most of a long morning was devoted to accounts and things financial, and after lunch I turned my attention to family history, preparing for a visit to the Suffolk Record Office yesterday.  Having been slightly more successful there than usual with the majority of my searches, I decided to abandon the quest for the few obscurities and came home mid-afternoon, instead of staying until closing time.  This enabled me to fit in my weekly shopping in advance of another busy day today.