Almost total eclipse (of the eclipse)...

Today was a busy day. We went to Felbrigg Hall in the morning and Cromer in the afternoon. We went out again in the evening, because there was a near-total (90% or so) solar eclipse, but we didn't see much of it - we were outside, but the sun dipped behind some buildings. We didn't have special viewing equipment anyway. We did see an impressive sunset over the beach though.

Felbrigg Hall

This morning, we visited Felbrigg Hall (near Holt). We didn't go in the hall itself, though we did go in the walled gardens.

The dove cote was empty, but there were some chickens roaming the grounds.

We also took a walk through the grounds to an old church. Only on the walk were we told about a recent death due to cattle-trampling, but (perhaps in consequence) we didn't see any cows...

Recommendation: Walnut Tree, Thwaite

Driving from Colchester to Sheringham today, we stopped for lunch at an all-vegetarian pub in Thwaite called the Walnut Tree. I've only been the once but, if you're in the area, I'd highly recommend it. The enchiladas were one of the best meals I've had in quite a while.

Full review over on TripAdvisor.

A visit to Clacton

The upcoming Clacton by-election contest, pitting Nigel Farage against Count Binface, has generated a lot of social media attention - including in both music and wargaming circles. With less than a week until polling day, I took advantage of a family holiday in Essex to visit on the ground.

To be honest, we didn't see a lot of the town, except from the car. We only had two hours in the car park and spent most of that walking along the beach looking for somewhere to eat (we ended up at Martello Lounge, reviewed here). Even just driving through though, I saw many posters supporting Farage.

Gary Neville on dictatorship

The World Cup delivers again, this time pundit Gary Neville describing the refusal to release VAR footage as like a dictatorship. I suspect dictators have done worse.

Infantino on democracy

I didn't expect a pre-World Cup press conference to contain reflections on the meaning of democracy, but that's what happened.

The whole press conference can be found in various places on Youtube, such as here, here, and here.

The crucial bit comes at 55:23 here or 55:37 here or 54:36 here.

I'm not sure which countries' medieval practices he refers to. I may have to look that up.

Lordsdale Butterfly

Today, we joined a ranger-guided walk from Shirley Pond along Lordsdale Greenway. I took quite a few wildlife photos, particularly of various insects.

I believe this is a Painted Lady. There were quite a few of them around.

Urban Wild 2026

It's a scorching bank holiday weekend, which also marks the start of half-term I gather. There is a series of 'urban wild' events taking place across Southampton, including a festival today on the Common.

We saw several acts, including...

The Red Star Socialist Choir, who did several numbers, including a song about diversity to the tune of YMCA.

A folk group, Angling for Farthings, who played several songs with a local connection, including one about cabin boy Robert Parker (who was victim of cannibalism).

Shanti Green who did sea shanties. Perhaps they should have done the Robert Parker song, though they did do a version of the Wellerman (not this version though).

And, finally (before we left), The Guillotine Union Boys - another political act, singing about (inter alia) fascism and Elon Musk (two different songs) and a version of Which Side Are You On?