King’s Lynn Plus

I’ve lumped both of these events together in one blog as they happened in very quick succession – the railway day on the Sunday, followed by an evening meeting in Hunstanton on the Monday.

What can I say about the railway other than what a great day out!  I may be slightly biaised though as railways (steam or otherwise) have always been “my thing” although not quite to the train spotter extent you may be pleased to hear!

A combination of pubs, walking and trains – with a chinese meal on a boat thrown in for good measure.  The train even had a bar – result – although the effect on the beer of being driven up and down the track for some time was quite interesting…

Some of us did the whole trip from one end of the line to the other, some got off at Wansford station to look around the gift shop/tea room/yard.  A mixture of steam and diesel trains pulling a set of carriages that takes you back to your childhood!  The only downside being the weather (slightly warm/muggy but dry) which changed drastically when we reached Ferry Meadows.  The idea was to indulge in either a bit of walking or a kite flying session there but the heavy rain put paid to both those ideas and about an hour was spent sheltering in/around the tea rooms instead!

Hunstanton on Monday evening continued that theme of being extremely wet – fish and chips in the car for some (and we even tried a deep fried Mars Bar for the first time), others went in search of food at a more undercover venue!  On to the arcades, where it was a close thing between Stephen and myself for the highest score at the “Bowlingo” (sort of a cross between 10 pin bowling and skittles) until Keith pulled a storming last frame out of the bag and trashed the lot of us!

Fruit machines, and the two penny “pushers” (my favourite) were the order of the day after that, and when everyone had had enough (or run out of money) we adjourned to the Ancient Mariner for a J20 or two.

And I don’t believe it stopped raining for one second of the evening….does anyone really believe it is August?

Christine T

Its a bit of a misnoma ‘Ten Pin Bowling’, as this insinuates that all TEN pins are meant to fall, which simply not the case, with one or two notable exceptions!

 9 of us gathered about an hour or so before kick off to take on food for the evnings events and amazingly the rest sauntered in on time.

We had a total of 17 bowling on three lanes and 3 watched, so there was lots of healthy competition (and heckling!)  The ‘dark horse’ of the evening was Alan, who is the complete opposite of the archetypal American bowling expert.  I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that he has a sound technique and does not drink.

It was nice to see our three potential new members taking part and enjoying ourselves.  We have always been proud of how we make newcommers feel welcome and we are obviously doing something right as they are all joining.

 Paul C – Activities Officer