This weekend has been fun and surprisingly tiring. Saturday morning we headed off to a jumble on Earlham Road where we picked up a few bargains for Chloe and Bee and then took a wander up to the shops before coming home again in time for lunch. After feeding ourselves and the Bean my parents came over for a foray into the city centre in order to sample the delights of the Norwich Food Festival and the Big Banger showdown. As if this weren’t exciting enough as part of all the goings on there was a model farm outside the Forum that looked a little something like this:

There were sheep, a cow and also chickens I believe along with lots of little kids running around excitedly having never actually seen these animals in the flesh before, honestly, these city folk! Whilst this was fun enough it was not however our true destination, no we were destined to eat lots of sausages (of which there are sadly no pictures, sorry sausage fans). There were 12 stalls in all, each giving out free samples of their competition sausages, some were average whilst others were very, very tasty indeed. We all seemed to be in our element as we dashed from one stall to the next in order to get a taste of the next one. I think Dad especially enjoyed it. After coming away with a fine array of cocktail sticks and a couple of packs of very yummy looking sausages we cast our votes (but not for the eventual winners it turns out, bah) and moved on to the Farmer’s market. Somewhat expanded from the usual one on a Sunday at the Forum, Chloe bought some Strawberry & Rose jam and a fancy nut tart whilst my parents availed themselves of some chutney and other goodies. After that we headed to Mackintosh’s Canteen for an early dinner/late lunch before going home to rest and have a nice night on the sofa-bed in front of a movie (Fantastic Four, it was good in parts but seemed lacking overall).

Sunday I had a driving lesson at 8, early I know but Bee’s usually up at 7 thus meaning I’m wide awake by 8. Except of course for this Sunday where she woke up at 5 and wouldn’t settle so we got her in bed with us at 6 where we all managed to fall asleep again and were then abruptly woken by the doorbell ringing at 8. Oops. Fortunately I had time to quickly grab clothes, drink some water and get out the door. Next time I shall set my alarm I think. After the excitement of that we had originally planned to attend the Fringe at the Factory out on Hall Road but due to First’s general rubbishness there were no First buses running out that way on Sunday which would have necessitated us catching a little minibus which we didn’t much fancy with the buggy. Thus our plans went out the window and we came into the city instead - partly for shopping and partly just to get out and have a wander. I was hoping to see some of the Fringe stuff going on in the city but certain parts weren’t open, such as the below on the old Bear Factory shop:

But! Although that didn’t go according to plan we did buy a lovely beret for Bee and a very pretty little raincoat with hat which she will undoubtedly look very cute in when she’s big enough for it. Also we had muffins:

And then in the evening we had some of the fantastic sausages we purchased on Saturday with mash. Mmmmmmm.