A Chance Meeting In Neatishead

For some time now, I have been concerned about my right ear. Imagine, if you will, sharing your head with a family of spiders and you'll get the idea. Well last night the spiders were particularly restless.

Next morning a change of scene was required and so we headed north to Neatishead - a posh place by Norfolk standards. Why even the car park was pretty. In the village, the brickwork was mellow and the gardens extensive with borders and hedges that had been tortured and beaten into shape. Not too many labour voters round here I guess.

Our first stop on the trail, was the boardwalk at Barton Broad. This Millennium project appears to be Norfolk's answer to the Everglades, but without the alligators. We stopped to enjoy the solitude, the silence only broken by the sound of my tinnitus.


Next up we tracked along a river bank, picking out snow drops, those yellow aconites and the first showing of daffodils. All the while, Sue talked about the blinds for her new home and I tried to nod in the right places.

And then something strange happened. A casual,"Good morning" to a guy tending his garden extended to a forty minute conversation. Turns out the "gardener" was on first name terms with Norfolk's leading audiologist. Now my Google search suggests the population of Norfolk is in the region of 900,000, so how comes I manage to meet up, in some back lane in Neatishead with a guy who might be able to help?

Reflecting on the random nature of life, we made our way to Alderfen Broad where there wasn't a sign of life and the only sound was the occasional falling leaf. Except that is, in my head, where it sounded like an anvil dropping on a meringue.

Location:The Street,Lowestoft,United Kingdom