What a week, that started on the beach, crammed in not one, but two birthday celebrations and ended up with a big fat tick next to a bucket list item.
Beach walking is one of my favourite things to do. While any beach walk is a gift, I love an empty (or near empty) beach, one without a busy town and an over priced car park – hard to find I know!
My friend has introduced me to Overstrand in Norfolk. I spent a couple of hours walking down this quiet beach on a overcast May Day and it was the perfect reset for the coming week. When I say quiet, I mean super quiet. There is a small cafe overlooking the beach and an ice cream van in the car park, which may or may not have been overpriced but the ticket machine was broken so I will have to find out another day! No arcades, no gift shops, no bustling promenade, just the sea, some groynes and rusty old sea defences. May beach fix sorted!
Goddaughter number 1 & my brother share the same birthday, a fact I predicted when my friend first told me she was expecting. As a result, I have an expensive May and, in the case of this year, 2 nights out on a school night in one week. For night one we found a pub owned by a local brewer, with good food, friendly staff and local brewed beer on tap. On night two, takeaway curry after a cheeky pub garden evening with brownie birthday cake and balloons. 24 & 48 appears to have started well!
And then, when I was planning to sleep to get over the late nights, I got a call – do you want to go to Wembley. Yes I do!! That was my bucket list item, to go to a big stadium and watch a football match.
And what a match to go and see. Luton Town being my brothers team since he was a boy. A town local to where I grew up and the other side of the county to where I live now. Honestly, the best experience, from the train ride down where the orange shirts lined the stations as we made our way into London right through to the tense penalty shoot out.
I mean, it helped that we won. But even so, the atmosphere really was electric. I can see why people love football, the passion and the collective belonging of the crowd. Makes you wonder if the worlds issues could be solved much quicker if there was the same collective passion as there is about football.
So Luton hit the premiership for the first time ever, I have have experienced a football match in a big stadium & my OH has been to Wembley for the first time, not as good as the Olympic Stadium in Stratford apparently but still rather awesome. What a week – but I need some (a lot) of sleep now!
Much love xx
The Frank Journals 