Well we're almost at the end of our time in Norwich and we've certainly had a laugh. It's very possible that we will have the lost the ability to understand the English language by the time we leave but we've certainly learned a few new words since we arrived.

The days are disappearing into one another so I'll recount as I remember rather than in order... shopping in Asda (new jeans for 12.50 pounds!) and mundane things like washing. We have also caught up with Tony's uncle Philip and his partner Mary. They have a lovely house on a huge block in Easton (I think that's the outskirts of Norwich but my sense of direction isn't great) with the most massive fish pond and two really cute dogs. The fish in the pond are about the size of reef sharks and when one jumped out of the water and back in I almost jumped out of my skin! The dogs were lovely - I think Mary said that they were American Cocker Spaniels but I may have misremembered that. They had long silky coats and reminded my of Dougal from the magic roundabout. It was lovely to see them. We haven't seen Philip for 18 years and it was really nice sitting in their garden in the sun and having a long chat. We also went to visit Tony's auntie Pauline and uncle Fred this week and had a lovely long chat with them too. We were so busy talking with people during our visits that I completely forgot to get the camera out!

We spent more time in the city looking at buildings and shopping and went into this gorgeous old church called St. Peter Mancroft. The people in the churches are so helpful - I think they're happy that someone finds the church interesting. Tuesday night we met Dennis and Keri's friends Ro and his wife Nikki for dinner but first we went to the pub and played bar billiards. What a laugh! The pub was full of people who had just come back from the Norwich City Football Club parade but the six of us were louder than all of them put together! Bar billiards is kind of like billiards but with wooden mushrooms that you're not supposed to knock over. Anyway, we played for a while and then went for Indian (Ro is Sri Lankan and did all of the ordering for us). We had a great time but I can't believe the amount of food these people eat! Dennis' servings are going to kill me! During dinner, Dennis was telling Ro that he and I were going to make a couple of Thai dishes for dinner the following night (when Dennis asks what you want to do on a particular day, he starts with the food and works backwards from there). Ro and Dennis are both keen cooks so Ro and Nikki came and joined us for Thai. Sourcing the ingredients took a little bit of work but it was fun and Dennis and I cooked up a storm while Keri and Tony had a nap... separately (what were you thinkng!). Ro brought a really nice Sri Lankan dessert that tasted like a cross between creme caramel and rice pudding and we played a charades game that they brought along. Great fun, lots of laughs.

We also had a wander around the graveyard (I like that sort of thing) but Keri said we weren't to tell people that we'd gone out for an excursion to the cemetery! Of course, I told everyone I could. It's our last night in Norwich and when Keri gets home from work we're going to a carvery for dinner and then we're going to play cards. Keri has become a fan of Euchre so she wants to fit another game in before we leave. Off to Whitstable tomorrow.