This week my little sister Jane came to see us.  She only stayed 3 days but it was lovely to see her.  She lives in Lincolnshire and is a very talented Head Gardener.

She, Dad and I had a day out together yesterday.  I drove us to Pakefield and we walked along the beach to Lowestoft, where we had coffee.  Then we walked back again.  I hadn't been on the beach for nearly a year, which is a shame as it's lovely and we only live a couple of miles away!  We were inundated when off the beach by tiny pollen beetles, flying around and getting into everyone's hair and covering anything they could.  But the breeze on the beach kept them off whilst there.

After that, we drove to Gorleston with the idea of having lunch, but it was a nightmare.  We couldn't find the seafront and ended up driving in circles around the busy town centre.  There was nowhere to park, so in the end we just left and drove on to Great Yarmouth, where we had a very pleasant lunch.  Then Jane went on the Snails ride at Joyland (she loves snails) and I bought some candy floss to take home (I love candy floss).

When we got back to the car though, we noticed quite a lot of water had dripped out from underneath and the coolant bottle was way below minimum.  Back home, I phoned my garage and have booked the car back in for them to check it out next week.

Yesterday my car was taken away for repair and a courtesy car dropped off.  This was all arranged by my insurers, after another motorist scraped my car in the car park at Oulton Broad recently.  The courtesy car is a nice new one, which goes like a rocket compared to my own old car!

This morning my dad and I paid a visit to our friends Sue and Alan near Bungay.  We had a lovely visit, and chatted about all sorts of things.

On our way home,we stopped off in Bungay itself as Dad wanted to go to his bank; however when we got there, all the banks were shut.  Just as well it wasn't urgent!  Bungay is a pretty little town, with a castle and a lovely old fashioned shopping centre.

We decided not to hang about, as it had started to rain.  However, when we got back in the car, the ignition key wouldn't turn - I jiggled it, and the steering wheel too, as that usually does the trick.  No go though.  After trying for ages, I gave up and called the garage who had supplied the courtesy car.  They said they'd hired it from a hire company, so I phoned them.  They were closed but my call was diverted to the breakdown service, who couldn't tell me why the key wouldn't turn; they only said there was no immobiliser so there must be a fault.  They arranged for a recovery vehicle to come out.

So, I sat and waited in the car; Dad wandered off to the haberdasher's and got us a new tablecloth, and then he found a pub where he managed to make the best of things by sinking a half!

Exactly an hour after my call, the breakdown man turned up.  He turned the key and the car started immediately!  I'd been trying on and off the whole time I'd been waiting, so I asked him how he'd done it.  He explained that this particular model has a slight design fault; his wife has the same car and is frequently finding herself stranded as she just cannot get the hang of it.  The trick is not to just jiggle the steering wheel, as with most other cars, but to turn the wheel as hard as you can to the right, then turn the key and jiggle the wheel.  He let me try and sure enough, he was right!  Why don't they print warnings on these cars so you know???!!!!

So, we finally got back on the road for our journey home, stopping at a supermarket for some shopping on the way.  When we came out of the supermarket I had to use the key trick the man had shown me, as the key was once again reluctant to turn.  We were home an hour later than we'd planned, but we certainly enjoyed lunch as we were both starving, having been delayed!

And last night's firing had cooled enough for me to open the kiln, and everything looks peachy!