See, I told you.

Crazy! It's not even 10am in good ole Blighty and I'm doing the 2nd post of the day, as promised.

Just wanted to put a link up on here to the latest article on the fabulous NorfolkPlaces website.

A couple of days ago recent winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Kazuo Ishiguro, gave a talk at the UEA. NorfolkPlaces were there at this sold out event and so figured the big literature fans amongst you might be interested to see what Ishiguro had to say.

Click here to read the review of Kazuo Ishiguro's talk

There you go. That's probably it for the year now!

NorfolkPlaces continues to grow

The new website I launched late lat year, www.norfolkplaces.com, is growing in popularity and new content continues to be added.

We've covered many locations over the past few months, including casltes, dinsoaurs, indoor play areas, stately homes, zoos, farms, broads, walks and lots more.

There's loads more for me to add to the site, so why not join us on Twitter @norfolkplaces to keep tabs on the latest posts.

Harrison's Walk

On 30th April/1st May I’m walking 46.3miles with a group of friends along Peddars Way in Norfolk to raise funds in memory of Harrison Nicholl, who died when he was only 3 days old in February 2010.

In the words of Harrison’s Mum, Claire, here’s why we're doing it:-

Quidenham Children's Hospice (EACH)
"Why" - Some of you may or may not have heard of them. They are a registered charity that cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions and complex healthcare needs - They also offer bereavement support which we have been receiving since Harrison died and they have been absolutely wonderful. They rely on donations and they need £4million to deliver their services this year.

The Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit at The Norfolk & Norwich Hospital.
"Why" - Harrison was cared for in the unit and we can not thank them enough for all of their care and attention, not just to Harrison but to myself and Simon (Harrison’s Dad). With their help and support we got to spend 3 precious days with him, we got to change his nappy, have lots of cuddles, give him his 1st bath, dress him in his first little outfit and we were even able to have him Christened.

On Harrison's final day with us we were taken to a private room where we were able to spend some time as a family on our own without all of the machines bleeping around us.

We want to raise money for a portable ventilator for this room. If the unit had one of these when Harrison was there we would have been able to spend more time with him on our own in private. I would love to help supply one of these machines so that any other parent's going through such an horrendous time are able to spend as much precious time with their little ones as possible.

50% of the funds raised will go to EACH and 50% to NNUH Neo-Natal Unit. We're only able to use the online fundraising pages for EACH but we're also collecting sponsorship via manual sponsorship forms so the money raised will be apportioned to make sure we have the 50/50 split.

If you'd like to donate please visit my fundraising page by clicking this link

Local stuff - Norwich Castle

Remember a long time ago I said I'd start sticking the occasional piece in here about Norwich and the surrounding area?

Well, I did a couple of articles and then I forgot about it, until now.

So, I figured I'd prattle on about Norwich Castle. Afterall, it is pretty much the centre piece of the City.

Norwich castle was built in 1067 at the request of William the Conqueror originally as a motte and bailey(mound) with a wooden keep, which was replaced by the current stone keep at the around 1120. The old structure was more about defending an important City such as Norwich (which was the 2nd largest City in England at the time), but the stone castle was originally  a royal palace and later it was used a prison. It has been a museum for the past 126 years.

Things to know about Norwich

I've decided to add an extra dimension to my blog by blogging about the City (Norwich) and the County (Norfolk) where I live.

This doesn't mean I'm going to stop the usual mixed bag of football moaning, kid frustrations, music videos, humour and general opinion. It's just something else to throw into the mix. :o)

So, let's start with the Sea Henge. Yep, Sea Henge. Everyone in the civilised world has heard of Stonehenge, but have you heard of Sea Henge?

Discovered in 1998 emerging from a beach at Holme-next-the-Sea this 4000 year-old timber circle dates back to the bronze age.

It had beeen covered by a peat dune but Sea Henge became exposed when the dune was swept away by winter storms.

Unfortunately leaving it exposed would've caused Sea Henge to be destroyed by the sea, so it was moved to the King's Lynn Musuem.


Image Source: http://www.geocities.com/jilaens/stones.html