A wet Sunday in Cromer

With Mary Ann

 A happy day in Cromer meeting up with son Ben, Kaz and Luke who have taken a cottage for the week. Kaz won the chance of the cottage as second prize in a competition she entered. First prize would have been to stay in a mansion, but he cottage was so perfect I don't think they'd have enjoyed it more. It was an old flint-stoned fisherman's cottage, modernised but still a two-up-two-down, though with its extensions larger than a hundred years ago.

Byron and Bronte await their next command

Beside recently winning with his project in the British Physics Olympiad, Luke had more good news. He was researching something on Google for a computer project when a personal message suddenly popped up inviting him to enter a competition writing Java code. The winner will get a chance to be interviewed by Google. Luke is thrilled, and says his teacher, who has been programming for years, was jealous that he never had such an offer!

A selfie of Five Come to Cromer Beach

After a good lunch, we walked down to the beach. It was a fair trek, and the cliffs there are moderately high leaving me worried about walking back up them. The beach was moderately busy, but Luke and Ben took turns to run with the dogs - literally, and a long way. To Ben's surprise (though probably not anyone else's), the dogs just wanted more, for he couldn't tire them. One of the boats was called Mary Ann, so we couldn't resist a picture with it.

The rain came on and we settled for coffee at the end of the pier, then set off back to the cottage. Encouragingly, I could walk back up the cliff comfortably, so I must be getting stronger. At the cottage, Ben lit a log burning stove in the centre of the room. The fire blazed hypnotically and effectively, and the whole room was suddenly warm.

An unexpected message via LinkedIn invited me to be available for professional consultations with a company called GuidePoint - a large US company that provides expertise in all fields to firms wanting some professional input. It is hopeful that there may still be a future for work out in the big world. I have completed the application form; now I shall see if anyone is interested in my particular expertise. Today, also, I got a request from lastminute dot con to complete a satisfaction survey for my booking with them. This was the only opportunity to complain about my lost flight to Leiden, so they did not get a high rating. It will be interesting to see if they moderate my comment!