Jarrold's Department Store in Norwich
Jarrold's Department Store in Norwich

A very warm, noisy and disturbed night spent in Norwich with overnight rain and gnat bites to contend with as well. As the day turned warm and sticky, we then walked into Norwich town centre having coffee and a "morning bun" at Jarrold’s after which the girls went shopping and I ordered the trophies for the Historical Ambulance Preservation Society Rally.

Then we all met up for lunch of salad sandwiches at Oliver’s' and I took Daniel to the cinema to see "Days of Thunder", an American stock car racing film. 12 of the 21 Arab League vote to join US in defence of Saudi Arabia but Saddam Hussein urges all Arabs to sweep "emirs of oil" from power in the Gulf. 

We woke up rather dishevelled after a very warm, noisy and disturbed night. We were a bit nearer the road that we normally were and, with the heat and the windows open, it was difficult to get away from the traffic noise. The matter was compounded by us getting plenty of gnat bites as we lay outside our covers and then having a night-time shower of rain that meant that Di needed to close the ventilation hatch and salvage the bridge carpet from the rain as we had left the cover down. She found more maggots under it which did not help her demeanour. This morning, I mopped the deck and was a bit grumpy with Daniel for not helping. We then walked into Norwich town centre and soon the coolness of the morning was transformed into another very warm and sticky day. We started with coffee at Jarrold’s where I was very enthusiastic about their "morning bun" which I found quite irresistible.

This coffee place is a bit like Eaden Lilley's in Cambridge, frequented by diehard and ageing locals rather than by the tourists that plague both cities in the summer months. Then we went our various ways. The girls went up to the Jarrold’s toy department and entered all of their summer competitions and Di did some shopping elsewhere in the store as I left and walked across the city centre to Harlequins, the sports and trophy people. I sorted out the trophies for the Historical Ambulance Preservation Society Rally in memory of Dad which was a worry off of my mind. Then we all met up for lunch of salad sandwiches at Oliver’s' and I took Daniel to the cinema to see "Days of Thunder", an American stock car racing film which was very exciting.

We rendezvoused with the others for more refreshments at Oliver’s and then, whilst Daniel went to see another film and Debbie went back to the boat to read, the rest of us went to get Di's new contact lenses and then visited the Brideswell trade exhibition which we found quite fascinating. The weather was very hot by now, but we have learnt to cope with it this summer. It was another warm evening and I spent it by making telephone calls, writing up my logs and journals and running up the boat's engines for an hour to charge up the batteries and heat the water. 12 of the 21 Arab League vote to join US in defence of Saudi Arabia but Saddam Hussein urges all Arabs to sweep "emirs of oil" from power in the Gulf.