No-tifications

Email, Skype and Yammer notifications were disabled on my phone this morning, in anticipation of a few days of leave. I’d resisted booking lockdown leave as planning it in limbo felt bizarre, plus let’s be honest and say that leave in hot, tropical places is much more appealing than shivering on a beach in Norfolk. However now the moment has arrived, I’m welcoming a few days off in sunny Hunstanton.

Ali and I had a lazy morning, drinking coffee and debating equality and the barriers to attain it. We then headed to the beach where she engaged in kitesurfing chat with fellow aficionados, and I lay in the dunes, finishing Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men. This book was written in 2001 after George W Bush’s US election victory and it’s highly depressing that much of the text is relevant today. Absurdities have got more blatant and shameless in that country.

The weather could be sunny in sheltered spots in the dunes and I even dozed at one moment. It was largely moody and overcast with some squalls. I largely wrote this to have an excuse to use the word squall.

After a shower that drenched anyone on the beach, we consumed warming food and beverages and walked long stretches of the beach in both directions. The Norfolk Coast Path rounds the headland and passes into Holme-next-the-Sea, a picturesque village comprised of lovely marshland and obscenely expensive holiday homes. Back close to Hunstanton town is the 1947 wreck of the Steam Trawler Sheraton, pictured. The tide was rushing in as we arrived at the wreck, so we had to dash towards the cliffs to avoid wet clothes.

Later an evening stroll for a ‘chippy tea’ on a bench overlooking The Wash. Hunstanton is one of the few places on the east coast that has a sunset over the sea, and it makes for a pleasant spectacle. Hunstanton is much quieter than I expected it to be, but perhaps it’s because school summer holidays (which feel like they mean less this year) haven’t officially begun. With towns like this reliant on summer income, it’s a little sad to see the arcades and doughnut stands with little footfall. We’ll plan to contribute as much as we can through purchasing battered sausages.