17-May-2020
First up, big news. Really big news. The Malaysian government has opened the doors for MM2H-holders like us to return home...
Our hearts soared when we read this yesterday. And then they plummeted right back down again, when we realized the logistical hurdles we will have to clear, in exactly the right order, in order to get back in.
The first is finding a reliable purveyor of virus-tests, and figuring out the optimum time-scale for testing...
Then there's obtaining a government permit to return; finding a flight that won't get us snarled up somewhere we can't enter; finding transport to the airport; finding a connection that will take us straight on to Kuching, while allowing time for another virus test at KL airport; and organizing quarantine.
It hurts my head just thinking about it.
Maybe we should go to Italy instead... They're looking for punters.
In the meantime, while we work this all out, we continue our low-key but enjoyable peregrinations in the vicinity of Cromer.
Having become interested in Norfolk's World War I history, we've recently been tracking down a few more pillboxes from the era.
Here's the one in Beeston Regis (and an excellent little sandwich spot it makes, too):
And of course it's only a short walk from there to All Saints, Beeston Regis, another of Norfolk's adorable flint churches:
Today we returned to Thorpe Market, where there are two WWI pillboxes quite close to each other. And yes, we'd previously walked right past, without so much as noticing them...
Here's the first
And across the road, there's a second
Continuing on to Gunton Station, we found -- flowering surprisingly early -- some of the poppies that gave the area its sobriquet.
This part of Norfolk seems all the more precious now that we know we'll soon (in some shape or form) be leaving. How beautiful it is, and how kindly it has treated us.