Is It Raining? Yes! Right Let's Go To Sheringham!

On Tuesday afternoon we braved the midweek A17 and drove up to Sleaford to see Sam’s Nana and Grandad as a kind of surprise visit - but also to deliver Nana’s birthday cards and present. As per, Sam slept for an hour which was just as well because we were stationary on the Sleaford bypass for 45 minutes while an accident was sorted out and the air ambulance loaded up and departed. We had a lot of fun at Sleaford despite not getting outside too much. Nana LOVED the card that Sam had written in. Grandad revealed that he has actually been out driving in his car earlier in the day, first time in probably 17/18 months, fantastic news. Sam must be growing, as the apple tree he has previously run under safely this time was slightly too low for him and he kept cracking his head on the hanging apples - which amused him no end. Just as we were leaving, Nana was holding their dog to see us out, and as I gave her a hug the dog STUCK IT’S SLOBBERY TONGUE INTO MY MOUTH. Bleurgh, man, did I feel sick!

**Note - I was going to include a line saying something like “Mind you, it’s not the first time a dog’s had her tongue in my mouth” but I think I’ll sidestep that one**

On Wednesday morning Sam woke up after a bad dream and ended up in with me at 4.22, just two minutes earlier than the other day. He kept on dreaming too, at one point yelling “I got enough guitar already!” We hadn’t really had a plan of what to do on Tuesday night, but were determined to go out “somewhere”. Chatting to Sam’s mummy after she had said goodnight to him on the phone I said that we’d probably be going out whatever the weather, as it keeps people away from where we go - and Sam’s mummy said “Yes, I’ve heard that about you two from Sam”. Our reputation as weather-hardened fun-seekers proceeds us! We surfed the Interweb and decided to go find a train somewhere. This was quickly narrowed down to either Bure Valley or North Norfolk (aka Poppy Line) and the Poppy Line won as we could have chips on the seafront at Sheringham.

Time to go and we loaded the car with BIG coats, spare dry socks, wellies and in particular a KLFM sticker kindly sent to us by the lovely Cheryl (next time the Black Jet is out and about check them out, Cheryl = Brum Brum!). We allowed over an hour to make a 40 minute drive to Holt to board the 11:15 steam train, but a Sunday driver out 4 days early meant we arrived with just 4 or 5 minutes to spare. And it was lashing down with rain, never mind eh? I kept an eye out for the Frustrated Businessman’s crowd, but it turns out they were one train ahead of us. Tickets bought, toilets visited, all aboard, and off we rattled. It’s so nice being pulled along by a steam engine, you can almost feel every chuff (that sounds like a euphemism, sorry) and the clouds of steam drifting past the windows are very atmospheric. We took silly photos all the way to Sheringham, so-called “views” out of the window (when all they showed were raindrops clustered on the glass), pics of each other hiding under Sam’s hat, etc, and then we pulled into Sheringham. The weather had deteriorated!

Our objectives were:

1. Fish and chips for dinner - leftover chips to be thrown at, errr I mean “to”, seagulls.

2. Find fridge magnet for Sam’s collection.

3. Go and see “house-sized waves” (a friend of ours is on holiday near Cromer at the moment and had texted us that the waves were as big as houses).

4. Blow a pound or two in an amusements arcade.

First stop, chip shop, and we bottled it and sat inside to eat. Sam pinched half Daddy’s fish (that was Daddy’s plan Hee Hee, fish is good for him) and when we’d finished we smuggled a pile of uneaten chips into our bag and out of the door. We battled our way into the howling gale towards the seafront - the tide was right in and there was nobody else near the sea…….so we ambled down a slipway to feed the gulls and feel the spray from the crashing (yes, house-sized) waves which were breaking on the rocks 5 metres below us. The chip-chucking wasn’t too successful, as hard as we threw them towards the sea, the wind was grabbing them and blowing them back over our heads. Sam absolutely loved watching the huge waves (so did I of course), and when we walked round a corner the strong wind became even more powerful. At that point we decided to retreat up to the main street. Got some good pics of Sam in front of huge approaching waves.

It has to be said that the amusements at Sheringham are inferior to those at Hunstanton, but then again it’s a smaller resort. Still, we changed £2 into 2p coins and had fun for ages.In the end Sam decided to cut his losses and told me he wanted to “take these pennies home and put them in my pig, Daddy”. Very sensible son. Sam then found a suitable fridge magnet, and we headed back onto the train. Not the end of the fun though - back at Holt station Sam was amazed by the model railway layout there. It is pretty good as far as I can tell, but Sam thought it was the best thing he’d ever seen. We spent another 20 minutes watching various trains chugging round the tracks, spotting different details on the layout etc, before finally braving the rain again, diving into the car, and making for home.

As usual the 6 o’clock return time hit home, who’d have thought that going out at 10 you’d be struggling to make it for 6? Never mind, we rushed through tea and bathtime, had a quick playtime, then back to mummy’s.

Another brilliant day, where rain did NOT stop play!

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Is It Raining? Yes! Right Let's Go To Sheringham!

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