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not ntc 2017-14

su 31 Dec 2017	The northbound carriageway of A12 we think north of Colchester has some worryingly large potholes ... more long than round holes ... cracks that have got ideas above their station.
we 18 Oct 2017	A bit of a trek down the A14 but as part of the 37th Cambridge film festival the family film festival has for half term new Peppa Pigs, Michael Rosen's We're Going On A Bear Hunt in animation, a sing along of Disney's Moana and the wonderfully evocative, period and Oscar winning The Red Balloon. Some tickets are free and all others (including adults) are four quid.
tu 19 Sep 2017	The Zombie Evacuation in Hockwold cum Wilton Sunday had a more open setting than the Cambridge Evac we snapped three years ago but generous use of smoke grenades and energetically committed zombies made for the expected stimulating experience. Pleasant coffee service from the converted horsebox and thankfully the heavy rain held off until the event was pretty much over. The zombies are returning to Hockwold September next year.
th 14 Sep 2017	Zombie Evacuation (last seen near Cambridge) returns Sunday, this time to Hockwold Hall near Thetford Norfolk ... well it would be wouldn't it.
su 13 Aug 2017	Saturday the Riverside Centre Chelmsford didn't have a functioning car park but it does have decent coffee and in the sports hall we enjoyed ref Blaster Chief's very clear penalty signals and a Surrey skater fleeing during the first half because she was needed elsewhere as a bridesmaid. A Norfolk Brawds 473-065 whitewash .. more here
tu 11 Jul 2017	Last century roller skating on Bournemouth Pier was certainly al fresco and possibly ad hoc, impressive how many ladies involved and muffs (possibly echoing ice skating) were clearly a fashion accessory ... more here
mo 5 Jun 2017	A light moment before yesterday's Ipswich Cardinals-East Kent Mavericks game when the visitors failed to shake hands with honourary captain for the day singer Sarah Probert so the referee sent the Kent captains round again:) The Cards were looking competitive and scored first but the Mavericks had some very nippy (and slippery) runners for a Cards 51 to 28 loss.
tu 9 May 2017	The Spectrum Leisure Centre Guildford is a warren with an ice rink, swimming pool and of course a bloody Costa Coffee. Hosts Surrey Roller Girls had a theatrical element to their skate out of which we much approve but then they were rather overwhelmed 423-34 by Rebellion Roller Derby. Perhaps in that situation more offence than defence because their jammer is just going to keep on lapping until you get your jammer out ... but then what do we know? Derby name of the day Hunter Stompson (2 clever by 1/2).
we 15 Mar 2017	Saturday we thought we were going to photograph American football in Norwich but discovered it was part of Derby Day when UEA plays Essex Uni at seventy different sports including ultimate frisby, women's rugby, futsal?, cheerleading both dance and stunt but no roller derby. A stunning introduction for us to lacrosse, committed support from both sides and placards of which this Donald Trump parody we much enjoyed. Next year Essex will be hosting.
fr 9 Dec 2016	Just off the north bound A12 at Witham is a Co-op petrol station/supermarket that is so usefully open after 4pm on a Sunday ... or it was, it's now being flattened by builders though the Internet seems unaware of this. Thankfully the burger van is still nearby on working days.
su 16 Oct 2016	11:04am: Men's world road race in Qatar live on the BBC red button, if Mark Cavendish wins the rainbow jersey he'll be the first person to win a world championship on both the road and track in the same year.
sa 6 Aug 2016	Before satnavs and in north Essex we stopped to ask the way and were told Go straight on at the T-junction ... how very Suffolk we thought. This diversion is in Debenham, pic by Tony Hutt.
th 30 Jun 2016	The announcer got a penalty at Ipswich Cardinals v Essex Spartans American football Sunday.
mo 16 May 2016	♫ We got a bit excited about Québécoise band Le Vent du Nord being part of this year's Aldeburgh Proms because we actually made the effort a while back to see La Bottine Souriante at the Cambridge Folk Festival (they took forever to get set up and the dancer got on our nerves but worth the journey). Vent du Nord are more traditional (no brass section, no dancer) but look worth the effort.
we 13 Apr 2016	We have a friend who grew up in Armagh. On a trip he and his father discovered that in Belfast fish and chips is served with fruit ... a slice of lemon. In a similar manner we have come to terms with fish and chips served with vegetables but went to pieces when in Long Stratton we were offered mint sauce with our mushy peas. We refused but next time we'll pluck up our courage and try.
tu 22 Mar 2016	Sunday the Bury Saints beat the Oxford Saints 75 to 8 in a pre-season friendly but no shame to Oxford as they play in a division below Bury.
th 11 Feb 2016	Saturday there's a matinee showing at the Aldeburgh Cinema of Speed Sisters, an unlikely doc about a women's race car team in occupied Palestine.
su 24 Jan 2016	Crikey! A Chelmsford Killa Hurtz Girl on a corner in Wimslow Arizona and isn't she a sight to see.
sa 3 Oct 2015	The Sunday before last we went to Colchester to see a cyclocross. There were no water crossings, a motorsport type starting grid, perhaps no more than four dismounts and the course was sufficiently flat and dry there were several trains running early on but there were also six different races to cover all classes and BOGOF filled rolls because of overly optimistic catering.
su 3 May 2015	The first Sunday in May is International Dawn Chorus Day, no events in Suffolk but one in the rather pleasant Sussex village Steyning, pronounced Stenning by blow ins and Staining by non-blow ins.
fr 20 Mar 2015	Before High Ongar in Essex was bypassed we used to pass the newsagents and sub-post office at seven in the morning. Though they were open to get the papers delivered they'd sell you papers, sweets and cigarettes but they couldn't conduct post office business until nine because it would be unfair competition for the main post office in Chipping Ongar. So we were very impressed to find that not only is the Stradbroke library open on a Sunday but so is their post office counter. But big organisations like the Royal Mail have a genetic need to cock it up and in Yoxford are insisting that the shop can only have a post office counter if it does open on a Sunday.
su 8 Feb 2015	Like us all Dr John the night tripper is getting older and bet the rest of the brass section (if only one in this clip) just lerv the girlie in white ... but who knows who his side persons will be at the Cambridge CornEx Tuesday 10 March ... and by today's standards a not unreasonable £25. ♫
fr 2 Jan 2015	Suffolk police have released a pic of the 'Superman' ecstasy tablets suspected of killing at least two in Ipswich and possibly others in the UK including Telford Shropshire.
mo 15 Dec 2014	Last week we stopped for petrol at a Shell garage on the A3 near Liphook. Two men in Shell jackets (that could do with wash) offered to serve the petrol and check the oil and water and made conversation whilst they were doing it, maybe attended service will make a come back.
th 11 Dec 2014	We've now been through the Dartford Crossing both ways, travelling south the road now swerves round what was the tollbooths and Tuesday there was no tailback but perhaps the traffic was lighter because of a M25 closure further back. Returning yesterday north bound there was a tailback because traffic still goes through the automatic barriers though the booths have gone.
mo 1 Dec 2014	If like us you sometimes go down the A12, turn left on to the M25 and then use the Dartford Crossing to avoid getting wet you need to know you can longer pay at the tollbooths, as far as we can see it's going to work like the congestion charge.
fr 31 Oct 2014	The Paradise Centre Ely has a dry bit and a wet bit, Glen the manager of the wet bit didn't know why it's called the Paradise. The sports hall in the dry bit was sufficiently small that when hosts Red, White and Bruise laid out the track the penalty track in the back straight was no more than 12 inches wide. That'll never work we thought Where are they going ... more here
su 26 Oct 2014	We couldn't really see the attraction of being chased by zombies during a cross country run cum obstacle race but attending Zombie Evacuation's Contagion in Cambridge yesterday we got it ... it's fun. The zombies when not chasing were friendly and unlike elderly popular singing artistes pleased to be snapped. High spot for us was when three curious young teenage boys fled anxiously looking over their shoulders when chased for free by one of the very scary nurses.
tu 7 Oct 2014	From 9:30 this morning a large boat will be moving along the A14 boundary of near the coast from Cambridgeshire to Ipswich marina.
tu 9 Sep 2014	In July Nottingham Roller Girl Louise Wright cycling to work was hit by a Greene King lorry and died later that day in hospital ... her derby name was Louisey Rider ...
fr 5 Sep 2014	At yesterday's Stackton Tressel council meeting Major Gervaise DeRoute demanded that if Scotland votes yes in the upcoming referendum Stackton should untwin from Stoneybridge Clackmannanshire and declare Scotland a terrorist organisation. Chairman Dame Celia Baumhugger said she'd heard there were trees in Scotland.
th 12 Jun 2014	Is there something happening in Brazil? More importantly Saturday week will be your very first chance to feel derby l♥ve in Suffolk ...
we 22 Jan 2014	When we first discovered Twitter we did a search on #Essex and up popped Phoenix in Flames tweeting about the first practice of the then forming Triple Sword Roller Girls ... so you can blame her.
su 19 Jan 2014	Anorak Alert 3: Lovejoy (the later series without Eric and Lady Jane showing on Freeview channel Drama) may be set in "East Anglia" but they seem to spend a lot of time in and around pubs with parasols branded Ridley's an Essex brewery and we certainly recognise the Moreton Massey near Harlow masquerading as Suffolk.

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