Fakenham: We must keep drive for new pool
WE HAVE been staying in London for a few days as guests of our son and his girlfriend. As a stranger to the capital these days – although I formerly lived there – it was interesting to take a sideways look at a rather different way of life.
Our base was a small flat with a neat garden in a cul-de-sac of rather impressive homes. Situated right beneath the Heathrow flight path with planes roaring overhead every few minutes, quiet it was not.
But somehow after the initial noise shock, both my wife and I managed to accommodate the racket, rather in the way we manage the traffic sounds along Norwich Road.
What was totally surprising in such an environment was the variety of wildlife on our doorstep.
A couple of squirrels raced each other along the garden fence. Green parakeets congregated in the tree tops, their screeches a constant background. A woodpecker drummed nearby.
We could have been way out in the countryside rather than in the metropolis, even accepting that this was one of its leafier outer suburbs. A short walk away was the local green, a cherished space surrounded by trees with a cricket square occupying half its area. Again, we might have been in Fakenham.
It being a Bank Holiday, the annual fair was in full swing. Stalls set out on the grass were selling everything from plants to books to home-made cakes with all manner of charities represented. In an odd kind of way it was a pleasure to meander in the knowledge that we knew no-one.
My son works in an impressive sports centre blessed with all manner of attractions.
We were invited as his guests to indulge in some of them. So I found myself experiencing for the first time the demands of striking a golf ball around a nine-hole course.
It was a challenge I had previously avoided despite the presence at home of our own fine course down by the river.
Have I been converted? Probably not, but as I ploughed through all the errors familiar to every weekend enthusiast and occasionally struck a respectable drive along the fairway, I could easily see how this frustrating sport might become a bit obsessive.
Having inherited a set of left-handed golf clubs in recent times, it would be a shame to leave them gathering dust in the garage….
The other main indulgence at the centre was watery. Not just swimming but spa areas, hot and cold dips, solariums and the like.
As a campaigner for a public pool in Fakenham, this superb facility – available at a price, of course – did cause me some envious moments.
Fakenham residents have to travel a significant distance to towns such as Dereham or Sheringham just for a swim. You need to be very keen to do this on a regular basis.
Even if it does take years, the drive to build our very own swimming pool must be maintained for the benefit of us all.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
