29-May-2020
You may remember our mounting hopes a couple of weeks ago, when it seemed Malaysia was finally allowing MM2H visa-holders like us to return home. You may also remember our subsequent discouragement as we contemplated the logistical hurdles involved...
Well, the hurdles have grown higher and thornier, as different bodies have added further layers, and failed to clarify the existing ones.
And on Monday we heard definitively that Sarawakian MM2H-holders are NOT yet allowed back in.
Still all cooped up like tigers in a window
That got Monday off to a really crappy start.
And our long walk -- postponed from the previous day because the fire alarm that went off at 3 o'clock on Sunday morning didn't favour a 5 o'clock start to the day -- was a total bust.
We completely failed to access our objective, St Andrews, Gunton, which is all sealed off behind "private" and "no entry" notices.
Then we followed a footpath that petered out, with the result that we had to retrace our steps over already tedious ground.
And there seemed no way of shortening the walk back from Roughton. So the whole thing ended up being too long, too hot, and too unrewarding.
The not-terribly-exciting culmination of our walk
There were two consolations. One was our beef sandwiches, eaten in the sunny graveyard at St Mary's, Roughton.
The other was the beauty of the poppies:
Wednesday was warm but grey, lending an interesting subtlety to the colours of our West Runton walk:
Today we went pillbox-hunting again. World War II pillboxes this time, three of which can be found in Cromer:
This one is just steps away, in the woods behind us
This one seems to have become part of someone's garden -- but look at the cute decorations on the top
You can't get near this one, but it's very visible opposite Cromer Hall
Nigel hit on a great idea yesterday. Let's not actually worry about where we're going next, he said, until the middle of next week. By that time another long holiday weekend will be over in Malaysia, and there may be more clarity on things. Until then, let's give ourselves a worry-holiday. So we've been doing that, and it's been nice to have a break from the multiplicity of possibilities -- stay somewhere else in the UK (ie, not somewhere that's soon going to fill up with tourists); go to peninsular Malaysia; go to New Zealand; go to one of these European countries that's clamouring for visitors -- that have been chasing around our heads.
Next week, we'll take up the cudgels again.