Monday - Southwold

We got up and had breakfast with Sarah while Jon popped into work for a few hours. We had done a load of laundry the night before and before we got up Sarah had it folded and had done a second load for us. Jon came back from work around 9:30 and drove us out to Southwold, a local resort community in Norfolk. We started at the pier and visited some boutiques as we walked along. There is a great tradition of small plaques of memories along the groynes that have now been moved to the pier. There was a large water clock sculpture as well as a quantum tunneling telescope. We walked into town and found St. Edmund's Parish Church, which was beautiful. There is an old bell ringing device in traditional dress called Jack (or Jack-o-clock) that is a symbol of the town. Its actually the symbol of the local Adnam's Brewery.

The weather was gorgeous and as we walked around town Bree bought a sundress in an open air market. There was a large amount of elderly people touring the town in their motored wheelchairs and with canes shopping in the shops. We decided to stop to get a snack at Nutter's and picked up some delicious pastries. We visited most of the shops as we walked and stopped at the Post Office to send a postcard and a package. Mike had forgotten to return the keys to the guest house in Dereham so we had to mail them back to them.

We stopped at the Sole Bay Inn, a pub of Adnam's and had fish and chips. We sat at a table of four because there were no tables for two but a large group of elder women came in so we had to share. They were polite enough but Mike and I had to laugh because one kept forgetting what she had ordered. Each one had gone up and ordered their food and would wander around to ask the others what they had gotten. One of the ones at our table kept telling them she ordered something different, lasagna, leek & potato soup, etc. Her friend sitting next to her had to keep correcting her, "No you're not! You're getting a sandwich! Don't you remember you're getting a sandwich?" And then someone would ask her again, she would say something else and the process would repeat.

After lunch Bree needed to rest and we walked to a bench by the beach. After a break we walked more around the beach and saw the Southwold beach huts that line the beach. It is a tradition to visit the Southwold beach and use one of these beach huts. They are small but highly desired and are very expensive! They all have colorful paint jobs and funny names. They are often handed down in the family for years. They open up and have just enough room to change clothes and have a small table for tea.

Everyone was at the beach suntanning. The kids were jumping into the water but quickly jumping out because its freezing! Lots of sandcastles and people laying on the beach. There were lots of wind breakers and not too many umbrellas. There were a bunch of kids and young families which was surprising since it was Monday and most schools are not yet on holiday. We walked back to the pier and had some ice cream while we waited for Jon to swing by to pick us up. While we were waiting we were looking through our baby name application on the iTouch which is always amusing. We had bought a little coat rack with colorful Southwold beach huts on it so we were in the mood. :)

Jon picked us up and we headed back over to his place. It was gorgeously sunny and we both caught some sun. We passed by Jon's work on the way back and stopped at Fat Face, a local beach clothing store chain so Mike could buy some shorts. It was a lot like Quiksilver and everything was pretty cute. We went back to the house and Mike changed into the new shorts so that he could enjoy the sun with Jon in the backyard. Jon also showed him his shotguns, which are quite different than what Mike works with. We watched a little bit of Wimbledon before catching a taxi into Beccles. Jon takes a taxi to and from Beccles so much that he "has a guy" he uses frequently. His name is Kim and he is quite unusual in the fact that he has a bunch of tattoos all over his body including his head and face. He is also a dog connoiseur and uses Jack Russel Terriers to go ferreting.

We met Sarah from work at the Baron & Bells to have a quick drink before walking over to an Italian restaurant called Prezzo. It was delicious! The only funny part was when Sarah and I ordered drinks. Bree asked for still and she asked for sparkling and the waitress asked if we wanted large or small. They both thought she was referring to the size of our glasses but the waitress thought it was by the bottle size. They were both brought 1.5 L bottles! It was more water than the four of us could drink let alone the two of them alone! But dinner was great and we all left full.

We went back to their cottage and watched a little bit of TV as we wound down to go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll head to Rosemary's!