With the Royals at Sandringham!

My alarm clock woke me at 5.45 a.m. and I eventually got out of bed at 6 a.m. Mum and I had a light breakfast of muesli and toast with ginger preserve washed down with a mug of tea. We left for Sandringham in the car at 7.30 a.m. and got as far as Holton-le-Clay when Mum realised she hadn’t packed the flasks of coffee and her medication. I insisted we turn back as I was not happy proceeding with Mum without her medication as I was concerned if she became ill “on my watch” so to speak. We turned back, picked up the coffee and medication, losing about 25 minutes in the process. Despite this false start we arrived at Sandringham House at around 10.30 a.m. – in time to see HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall arrive from Sandringham House to the Flower Show in their landau pulled by two fine horses. We wandered around the showground, watching the RAF give a demonstration of marching, before waiting to see “the Royals” return to Sandringham House. I managed to get some good photos of the house and a couple of shots of their Royal Highnesses. We returned to the car for a picnic lunch and afterwards wandered around the various stalls and displays taking a number of photographs. I was particularly pleased to watch a fine display of aeronautics from the Yakovlev Aeronautic Display Team using single engined Russian Yak-50 turbo prop monoplanes similar to those used in the second world war. We met a couple of Mum’s friends from Waltham with whom we had a brief natter. We finally left Sandringham a little before 5 p.m. and drove up to Snettisham to spend an hour or so with Mum’s brother, my Uncle Douggie. He is looking quite old now and it quite sobering to think that he is now only two years younger than my grandfather was when he died. There is a very strong resemblance between Douggie and my grandfather – for whom I had a very strong affection. Mum and Douggie chatted over old times not least some story about Mum taking boys up to the Home Guard Caravan during the war! Must pursue that one further! Whilst at Douggie’s the heavens opened and there was a downpour – so glad it didn’t happen earlier at Sandringham! I took a couple of pictures of the siblings and Douggie gave me a litre bottle of Famous Grouse to take home. We were surprised that the traffic was still bad around King’s Lynn and so we drove through that town and past the house where I had lived for the first three months of my life. Mum has really enjoyed her nostalgic ride today and says she always feels so warm when back in her home county. I think she would have preferred to have stayed in Norfolk and never left if circumstances had been different. We stopped off back in Lincolnshire (Fleet Hargate) for dinner (steak pie and chips) before arriving back in Grimsby at 10 p.m. A full but very different day for me and a tremendous day for Mum – being in her own county, seeing “The Royals”, shopping, seeing gardens and flowers and spending time with her brother.