Drama, Shopping, Pub & Seawatch at Cley!

Ok, so it wasn't a big drama, but still....... this morning, I put my new iPhone down on the kitchen worktop, face down (screen side down), which I didn't think would be a problem as the green case sits higher than the front of the phone – a few minutes later I picked the phone up and thought I was seeing things – I peered in disbelief at a crack running top to bottom with the smallest chip ever at the bottom of the crack on the screen protector!!! I just looked at it in disbelief! At least the phone itself was ok, but how could the most expensive screen protector I have ever bought, fail so quickly?! I hadn't even dropped it! I inspected the kitchen worktop, where it had been and there was nothing there to indicate why it had cracked. I have no idea how that happened?! This meant I had no choice but to return to the Apple store. I phoned the Cambridge store and obviously they said I could take it back to any store. Being as I had to go to Norwich today, it made sense to go to Apple in the Chapelfield arcade. This also meant I had to make the tedious and stressful journey into Norwich and into the Chapelfield nightmare multi-story car park, which I hate!

My schedule would now be running late, oh dear! Off I went along the A47 in pouring rain and had to queue for ages to get into the car park and had to be quick to get a space – I was! Made my way up the escalators to the third floor, where the whole arcade was packed with shoppers. In the Apple Store, they were brilliant and very kindly gave me another screen protector free of charge, which they needn't have done. The screen looked like it had been dropped, so I'm surprised they did that. I also purchased a 'pull-up' leather pouch case in a little mobile phone unit in the middle of the arcade for added protection when I'm at work and out and about. Got out of the car park before the £1.50 hourly fee was up and headed to the RBA headquarters!

Thank goodness for Sat Nav's! Arrived at RBA and dropped off the broken belt clip bit of my pager to D.F., which I was asked to return by 'Peter', after he very kindly posted me out a new one recently. It was lovely to meet and chat with the lady of the house, whilst 'D' re-programmed my pager for me, to get rid of some funny jargon/not filed stuff – all done, thank you very much! I then headed to Wex!

Wex Photographic Store is situated on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Norwich. I came here to purchase a new and lighter Lowepro bag, which I have been meaning to do for ages, as mine is big and bulky and too large for carry on luggage on a plane. Excellent service from a young man in here, who recommended the "Lowepro Pro Runner BP 350 AW II" and this came with a FREE Joby GorillaPod Kit 3K, which is priced at £62.95!!! Bargain! This is a new version of what I have already, but less depth, giving the visual impression of a much smaller bag. I won't be able to cram as much food in as I normally do on long hikes, but that won't be a bad thing! They said that I could trade in my old Lowepro bag and after assessment I would get between £40-£50, I might well consider that at a later date. I also bought a new SansDisk card, as mine came up with a funny message a few weeks ago! I have purchased all my camera gear from this excellent shop and was dying to have a proper look round this huge store, but didn't have the time now – with the money I have spent this week, it was probable a good idea I hadn't got the time to look around! I did however, have a quick look at and felt the weight of the Olympus set up I am considering at a later date and it was love at first sight!!!

Last stop of the day was at CleySpy, which I made by a nano of second, just before they closed at 4pm! Sorry! Purchased the Paramo Halcon Coat in GREEN and the Swarovski VPA Universal Smartphone Adapter, ring and also a AR-B Adapter Ring for my binoculars. I was now burnt out! I hadn't had anything to eat since my 40g bowl of porridge this morning.

End of holiday food treat! Sat in the Three Swallows Pub that overlooks the green in Cley and had one of their lovely Veggie Sunday Roasts! It was lovely sitting in here with the rain lashing down outside. Left here and headed north!

I stood with Eddie M., Ashley B. and two other birders at Coastguards and had a cracking little sea watch, mixed in with lots of banter! I was surprised there was no one else here! I do wish people wouldn't wee in the shelter – the smell of urine was almost overwhelming! Apart from that it was great! It was too cold to be getting the notebook out, but the main highlight was a fairly close in Pomarine Skua! Also several Bonxies, Arctic Skuas, Manx Shearwaters, Guillemots, Gannets, Ringed Plovers, Turnstones and at the very end at dusk and beyond, when only Eddie and I were left, we saw two Arctic Terns close in – seen separately, the second one was flying with a Common Tern. The weather was foul as we walked round the corner of the shelter to our cars. I sat in the car and had a coffee and left here at 7pm. That's my week's holiday gone!