I’m back, ‘though it has to be said, not for long. I am flying to Budapest tomorrow - this time with the dad - and we are staying until Monday.

The bairn and I had a great time in Norfolk. We were staying in Little Walsingham which is very pretty. It is a pilgrimage centre for The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, which was until the 15^thC very much a Roman Catholic thing, then after the reformation it became very much a C of E thing, happily there is a real feeling of Ecumenism now as the pilgrims mile is shared from the slipper chapel -where once shoes were left so that pilgrims could walk the last mile bare footed - to the shrine in Little Walsingham. To be honest we didn’t do the walk bare footed, but we did do it along with another 80 or more people. Really uplifting in a quiet sort of way.

The quest for my dad’s former home was not entirely fruitless either. We narrowed our search down to a village called Middleton about 4miles SE of King’s Lynn. The Head Teacher and one of his long serving staff, were really interested and allowed us access to the back of the school to compare our pictures from 1907, with the present very much renovated school. Certainly there were similarities in many things. Unfortunately the church was closed . Not to worry, we have now got the contact address for the diocese, and hopefully they will be able to identify where The Rev. Dr Alexander’s incumbency was all those years ago.

Hope you like the photo’s.

I’m sorry I haven’t updated for a while, things have been a bit hectic one way and another.

Thursday was spent in the company of a film crew from Tyne Tees ITV, as they followed Chris around as part of a documentary on ‘debt’ (won’t be shown until July sometime). Her part in the proceedings was ‘student debt’. Because she decided to do her masters as a second degree it cost her dearly, and still is. The banks are very ready to give graduate loans, but then of course it all has to be paid back, plus interest. So her part in the story is how she manages to budget to do that. They also interviewed ‘the dad’ and I about how we felt about the system and what our part had been in the whole shooting match. It was really interesting watching them at work, though it seemed that they probably got so little from such a long time setting up, shooting , shooting from another angle etc. Then poor Chris had to parade down Gateshead High Street looking in bank windows studying APR’s, and finally was seen to go and get some money from an ATM - the irony - it refused to give her any! Nothing new there then!

Friday we took my sister in law to buy a new gas cooker, she hasn’t recovered from the fact that there is no longer a gas board shop.

So, I think I am back on track again.