When in the airport lounge, I could see the Ryanair aircraft arriving into Norwich.

The flight to Faro was the last one of the day and so all felt orderly and well managed. It’s somehow a little better to be in the calmness of an operation about to close down rather than in the midst of chaos and overcrowding. And I don’t think that Norwich Airport is often overcrowded…

We waited outside ready to board the aircraft. I do wonder if they might have covered this area, but maybe now they’ve stopped collecting their £10 departure tax perhaps that investment will have to wait. A new roof is all very well, but one must not rush into these decadent infrastructure commitments I suppose.

Ready to board and it was aircraft 9H-VUJ, which I don’t think I’ve been on before.

I rather like these little steps at the front and these are the ones that fold-up into the aircraft. This is really clever, it saves airport fees, it’s quicker and it allows them to land in more places.

It’s a rather move convoluted affair to board using the rear steps, which definitely do not fold back into the aircraft.

The seating Gods gave me an aisle seat and I was slightly annoyed to find someone sitting in it. He willingly moved, his logic was that he thought the flight would be quiet and so he would sit in the aisle seat rather than the window seat. I did rather think he could have just sat in his actual seat and moved later on, but I kept those thoughts to myself.

As for the flight, the aircraft was a little grimy, but there is a limit to what the cabin crew can do in the 25 minute handover. The crew were friendly and helpful, but they appear to knock into the chairs with their trolleys more than Wizz Air crew. It seems that the Ryanair aircraft are slightly narrowed, as they use Boeing and Wizz Air using Airbus, so I suspect it’s just that. Or perhaps I was just in the trolley danger zone, which would be very on-brand for my travel arrangements.

And safely in Faro. It was too hot.

All of the European Entry System (EES) machines were on and the set-up here is that passengers go through the process using the kiosks and then a member of border force checks the passport but doesn’t stamp it. The whole process took around fifteen minutes which felt reasonable.

The queue for EU citizens was longer but they only had to go through the EES machines and didn’t need to see a member of border control.

There was one of the worst altercations I’ve seen at border control when two people at the neighbouring counter were told that they needed to step aside and wait for someone else to look at their passports. I don’t know why, but the two refused to move. The member of border control shouted at them to move back, then the border control officer who was serving me ran out of his counter and warned that they would be immediately deported. This rather raised the temperature of the room, which was already too hot in Portugal (as I may have mentioned) and therefore did not need further assistance.

The younger of the two women cried and said that she was confused and didn’t know what was happening. I did feel some sympathy, as border control is not the ideal environment in which to become confused or muddled up, especially when the staff are now discussing deportation with the energy of people who very much mean it. But I also quite liked this little bit of excitement, in the limited and selfish sense that it was happening near me rather than to me. My own border control officer then came back and was lovely, which was reassuring. It is always pleasant when someone returns from threatening deportation elsewhere and then smiles at you.

And here is the list of arrivals, because I remain committed to documenting the full glamour of international travel. Aircraft, queues, signage, crisps and border control tension: the modern European journey has everything.

The whole flight was entirely agreeable and it was £20 which is more expensive than my Wizz Air arrangements, but I didn’t have to pay to go to Luton. In terms of efficiency, this worked out well as the Luton rail line was closed after the crash, so this saved a bus replacement service and allowed me to enter the European Union cheaply. A smooth Ryanair flight from Norwich, a local beer beforehand and only a modest amount of border control theatre at the other end. That is about as much excitement as I require from budget aviation. So, all rather lovely.

I haven’t been to Norwich Airport lounge before, or I’ve forgotten if I have. It is a relatively small affair, but it was clean and organised. I do not need a champagne bar, rainfall shower and someone silently folding towels in the corner. I mostly need somewhere to sit, plug something in and eat cheese with the quiet dignity of a person who has walked to the airport, so my expectations were based around that rather than anything too decadent.

The staff here are particularly helpful and engaging, but I think that they know a fair number of the visitors so I imagine that they are commuting to Amsterdam or similar. My first impressions were positive given the friendly welcome and it didn’t look too busy. The lounge remains open for all the flights and there’s the usual rule that there’s a maximum three hour stay.

The food is mainly cheese, mugshots, croissants, cakes and the like.

As well as crisps and fruit.

The view over the airport apron.

There’s a limit of two alcoholic drinks per customer, although I only wanted one and that was an agreeable chilled Woodforde’s Wherry. It’s nice when lounges make some effort to provide local beers and they also had Heineken for those who aren’t fussy about what beer they drink.

On the limited number of alcoholic drinks, I’ve some sympathy for the lounge as some airports are struggling with the number of customers who are treating it as an all you can drink affair. That isn’t quite what lounges were really designed for and it’s forcing the cost of them up, so controversial as it might be, I’d be happy if every lounge limited customers to two alcoholic drinks.

I had a quick espresso although there were some issues with cleaning the coffee machine which I decided that I didn’t want to know more about. There are moments in life when curiosity is a virtue, and other moments when one should accept the coffee, drink it and not ask too many questions.

Dr Pepper, Cathedral city cheese and Mini Cheddars, this is what travel is all about.

This lounge was included in my annual Priority pass card, but walk-up availability can be purchased for £27.50. That’s possibly pushing it a little bit, but the surroundings are comfortable, the staff members were friendly and I was able to have as many crisps, cake and cheese snacks as I wanted. I think that’s a result.

As a little reward for walking to the airport from the centre of Norwich, I thought that I’d pop into McDonald’s that’s only a couple of minutes from the airport itself. I’m not sure that elite athletes generally use McDonald’s as part of their recovery and reward strategy, but there we go.

I don’t usually have such decadent Chicken Selects, but they were part of the McDonald’s Monday app offer. And a coffee as I realised I hadn’t had my usual 8 in JD Wetherspoons and didn’t want my body to become alarmed by the sudden absence of routine. It was all very nice incidentally for what that’s worth.

The team member in the restaurant, or whatever you want to call it in the modern corporate food environment, was very enthusiastic. He was checking customers knew how to order, he was doing check backs, cleaning the windows where people were sitting and I liked how he welcomed a German visitor by using what he told her was his GCSE German.

Personally, I thought the engagement was a bit much, and I preferred the grumpy-looking team member who was less conversational. This is not a criticism exactly, more a reflection of my own social expectations. Sometimes I want warm hospitality, and sometimes I just want to be handed coffee by someone who looks as though they too have accepted the basic futility of the modern world. But I would never knock enthusiasm, especially in hospitality, where cheerful effort deserves more credit than it usually gets.

This is bloody ridiculous and just greedy of Norwich Airport. The airport is operated by Regional and City Airports who also operate Exeter Airport and Bournemouth Airport and I’ve written about the latter where they’ve tried to ban walkers in a desperate attempt to get more revenue.

This is Norwich Airport, and it’s fair to say there are no real congestion problems here. We are not dealing with Heathrow at half-term or Gatwick during a systems collapse. This is an airport where the main traffic management challenge often appears to be identifying whether anything is happening. The drop-off charge therefore feels less like a necessary operational measure and more like an unnecessary little money grab with barriers and CCTV cameras.

This is Norwich Airport and it’s fair to say that there are no real congestion problems here, this is all an unnecessary money grab. Anyway, it’s McDonald’s that had to deal with the airports policies, their car park had four taxis in it and several people being picked up and dropped off as the fining regime can’t reach them there. Anyway, my usual slight complaining aside, it meant that I had reached Norwich Airport ready for my early evening flight.

I’ve decided I’ll have to leave some stories of the last trip untold for the moment and it’s back to this week. This is slightly unfortunate for the chronological order, but I have long since accepted that this blog now operates less like a diary and more like a lightly confused archive with opinions.

I thought that I might as well walk to Norwich Airport as it isn’t that far. Here’s the delights of the riverside walk near Cow Tower.

And Cow Tower itself, which seems to have been locked again after a recent period of being left open. It was built between 1398 and 1399 and is one of the earliest purpose-built artillery blockhouses in England, designed to defend a strategic point in Norwich’s medieval defences by the River Wensum. That is a rather more dramatic original purpose than its current role of standing photogenically beside walkers, dog owners and people like me trying to get to an airport without paying for a bus or taxi. The name comes from Cowholme, the meadow that was once located here

This is St James Mill, built by the Norwich Yarn Company in the late 1830s as part of an attempt to revive Norwich’s textile industry. The company itself did not last long, because Victorian industrial optimism was not always matched by the accounts department, but the building survived and later became associated with Jarrold’s printing works. And, yes, it was too hot.

There’s a bit of a gap in this narrative here as I already posted the photos that I had taken of Anglia Square as I walked by.

This is the former King Edward VII pub on the Aylsham Road, now used as a mosque. I never visited this pub and I think it was something of a music venue towards the end, but it’s always sad to see a licensed premises closed. It first opened in 1903 and was a Morgans, then Bullards and then a Watney Mann pub which finally closed in 2014.

I had a little stop to cool down here.

A now closed Lloyds Bank.

The former Falcon pub which Lacons opened in 1926, later owned by Whitbread and Enterprise Inns. It was destroyed by the Co-op in 2014 when they turned it into a supermarket, but then after doing that damage, they ditched it in 2018. It looks now as if it’s being turned into a residential property.

This is a small remaining stretch of the old Norwich to Cromer road, rerouted when an airport was put down on its route.

The former Firs pub which was opened in 1933 by Bullards and was owned by a series of breweries including Watney Mann, Brent Walker, Chef & Brewer, Pubmaster and then Enterprise Inns. This was probably ultimately a viable pub, but it was snapped up by Tesco in 2011 and so that was the end of that. Fortunately, planning changes have made it harder for supermarket, and indeed McDonald’s, to do this.

And an hour after leaving, walking into the retail park next to Norwich Airport.

Anyway, just some photos….

As my two loyal blog readers might have noticed, I’m in Skopje (well, I’m not now, I’m actually in Pret at London Luton Airport and it’s 03:50 in the morning) and so I couldn’t be at this bar billiards game. I’d note that writing this in an airport terminal with no sleep might add some bleak authenticity to arrangements….

But I was not concerned, Luke is a very competent vice-captain and I took the view that he’d likely run things with greater efficiency than me anyway. A win-win. Anyway, that means that these are Luke’s photos and so the commentary will be a little less rude than usual.

Someone had this. I approve as I like to see proper match preparation, especially when it involves a sensible refreshment strategy.

There’s something shifty going on here, a birthday cake for one of their team, I think that there’s a plan to make us feel guilty about beating someone on their birthday. Emotional manipulation and I’m wondering whether we should try that in a few future games. It actually got worse, it transpired that they claimed they had two birthdays. But, we took them on trust and we decided to throw the singles so that they could win and have a nice birthday party. But we decided we’d try hard in the doubles games. We are perhaps the most charitable team in the league.

Looks like a nice cake though. I am prepared to overlook quite a lot of sporting misconduct when sponge and icing are involved.

Terri treated herself to some Rolos, which were very deserved given that she was the only player (on our team obviously, loads of their team had winning singles games) who won her singles game.

The half time snacks. Very nice and look at those delicious Flumps. There is something deeply reassuring about a league where adults can gather around a bar billiards table and still recognise that a marshmallow-based snack has a role to play in elite sport.

Look at those doubles’ scores! Some impressive playing I hear, well done to everyone involved in getting those scores. And thanks to Luke the Lion for stepping in, he’s quite good really.

Well done to the Disasterfarians, I heard that they were a great team with loads of enthusiasm. Indeed, too much bloody enthusiasm. But happy birthday to Davide and Robin (Smith and Bones) on deploying the birthday strategy with such a devastating effect. And I’ll be back for the next match. I wrote that sounding positive, but it reads more like a threat…..

I set off for Heathrow yesterday as there was a cheap offer advertised by Accor and, naturally, I hadn’t formed any other plan. This is what travel looked like before people insisted on having itineraries, aims and a vague sense of personal responsibility. Anyway, here’s the train to Stansted Airport which departed on time and without issue. There was no driver until one minute before departure and I was slightly hoping for a delay repay, but it wasn’t to be. I’d add at this stage that there isn’t any fascinating content in this post (not that there usually is), but I like a complete write-up for my own memory. And, imagine, a future historian might query why civilisation failed and they might discover the answer from this blog.

Safely in Cambridge.

There was a six minute connection time to get the Great Northern train to King’s Cross and it took me four minutes to cross Cambridge railway station so anyone with accessibility issues would have likely missed it.

Setting off and the train remained relatively quiet, which made it easier for all the people with seats to keep them there. These trains, similar to Thameslink, don’t have power points but I do like the ironing board seats, although I seem to be about the only person who does.

I always like arriving into King’s Cross, it’s a beautiful station.

And safely into Hayes and Harlington railway station using the Elizabeth Line. There’s a decent fair from Norwich to here, it came in at £12 which felt rather reasonable.

I thought I’d pop to the Botwell Inn, the JD Wetherspoon operated pub located near to the railway station. This real ale went back, it was vinegary on the taste, but the manager was quick at checking it and replacing it. Actually, the manager was very good in general, this always feels like a well-run pub and real ale based issues are inevitably going to occur.

The replacement beer was the Wolf of the Woods from Twickenham Fine Ales with a biscuity, toffee and nutty taste to it. It also cost only £2.39 a pint which is the usual bargain price from the chain.

I decided that it might be useful to actually plan my week at this stage, since it was already Sunday evening and I had no idea where I was going. I do know that I needed to be back in Bristol for Friday morning, so I needed a plan to get there cheaply. I decided on a route via Skopje, booked the flights, trains and National Express, ready now for the craft beer festival. I mentioned a few days ago that this is one of the countries that I haven’t visited, so it felt a wise choice.

Given that I was lingering here, I paid £6.39 for the steak pudding with chips and that included the Guinness 0%. It’s not exactly going to surprise and delight those who like fine dining, but it’s hard to complain too much at that price.

It was an hour walk to the hotel and this time I decided to have a look at the church in Harlington for the first time, but more of that in a separate post as I don’t want some ecclesiastical masonry interfering with this post.

Back at the Heathrow Ibis hotel which I’ve stayed at numerous times before. The reason I stayed here is that with the Accor offer it came to £13 for the night, which I thought was reasonable.

I also get my free welcome drink and here are some of the options.

Not Magners, but the Eazy from Camden Town Brewery which is growing on me, it’s got flavours of orange, it’s hazy and it’s quite intriguing. That is a pint glass, it’s just that the chair the other side of the table is unusually large.

A room. This blog really doesn’t fail to delight with riveting content…. But, I arrived here with a plan for the week and that felt like an achievement in itself.

This is another one of my good ideas. Well, hopefully….. 12 teams and an exciting event on 22 August 2026 at the Artichoke. There will be four mini leagues of three teams each (and Luke from the Artichoke Hearts has checked this as I need adults to check things like this) and the winner of each league goes through to the semi-finals.

It’ll raise money for charity and there will be some extra excitement during the day as if all these bar billiards games aren’t enough! Every entrant will get two games and if they’re really good, they’ll get more 🙂

12 TEAMS

TEAM 1 : Julian & Luke

TEAM 2 : Vaughan & PJ

TEAM 3 : Terri & Kirsty

TEAM 4 : John Ames & Jack Ames

TEAM 5 : Pete Brown & Someone

TEAM 6 : Dave Brewer & Phil Myhill

TEAM 7 : Roy Dunford & Guy Wheeler

TEAM 8 : Oscar Gerdes & Someone

TEAM 9 : Chip & David

TEAM 10 : Oli & Dennis

TEAM 11 : Sharpy & Someone

TEAM 12 : Another Sharpy & Someone

…….

Please email jw@julianwhite.uk to reserve a space and payment will be needed by 15 July 2026.

For anyone bored, here are some more of my ‘riveting’ bar billiards posts…..

This was in the Norwich Mercury in June 1826 and that £10 is quite a fine, that’s something like £700 in today’s money and it appears that he didn’t pay it. The prison at that point was the House of Correction which closed in 1837 and is now the site of the Norwich Catholic Cathedral. The House of Correction was at the same site as the City Gaol but it was a different institution, albeit run by similar management and these were originally intended for the punishment and reform of people convicted of lesser offences such as vagrancy, disorder, petty theft, drunkenness, breach of local regulations and similar misdemeanours.

There were too many William Pastons in Norwich at this time to be able to find out more about him, but I’m guessing that he took rum in for a friend or family members. And the result of that little arrangement was that he ended up imprisoned with them.

This is Jonathan Peel and 200 years ago this week he wrote to the Norwich Mercury to inform them that he intended to stand for Parliament in the constituency of Norwich.

“TO THE GENTLEMEN, CLERGY, FREEMEN, & FREEHOLDERS OF THE City and County of Norwich.

GENTLEMEN,

A most flattering and unexpected honour has been this day conferred upon me. I have received a requisition, to which names of the first respectability are attached, calling upon me to present myself at the approaching General Election as a Candidate for the high honour of representing the City of Norwich.

In the absence of all local connection, I certainly should not have presumed, without such a requisition, to aspire to that distinction; but understanding that one of your present Members has publicly notified his intention to retire from Parliament, and being assured that the public principles which I avow are in unison with those maintained by a very large portion of the body which I have now the honour to address, I will not hesitate in gratifying to my feelings, and made to me in a manner which acquits me, I trust, of the charge of presumptously offering myself to your notice.

As I shall solicit your suffrages on the ground of public principles alone, you will justly expect from me an explicit declaration of those principles.

I know not, Gentlemen, in what terms I can better describe my general opinions upon political subjects than by the simple assurance, that I am a true friend to the Constitution in Church and State.

I was taught, from my earliest infancy, to venerate those ancient institutions which constitute the Government of the Country in which we live—I was educated in those sentiments, and experience and reflection have only served to confirm the impressions which were first received from example and authority.
My voice shall be given, if I shall ever have a right to raise that voice in Parliament, for the maintenance in matters of Government, of that order of things which I find established.

I am opposed to Reform in Parliament. And in what is usually called Catholic Emancipation I feel it my duty to offer a firm and decided opposition, unmingled however with any feeling of rancour or hostility towards those of our fellow subjects more immediately interested in that question.

I have probably said enough to explain to you the general tenor of my political principles. If you should think me worthy of the distinction which I seek, I promise an unwavering attention to every thing connected with the local and peculiar concerns of the City of Norwich, with the promotion of its Manufacturing Interests, and the advancement of its general welfare.

I have the honour to be,

Gentlemen,

Your obedient humble Servant,
JONATHAN PEEL.
Marble Hill, Twickenham,
4th May, 1826.”

Jonathan was the younger brother of the Prime Minister, Robert Peel, which probably helped matters somewhat in terms of being found a constituency in which to stand. He had no links to Norwich though and he was against reform and Catholic emancipation so he was hardly the most radical of candidates. This didn’t stop the electors of Norwich voting him in, although the constituency had two MPs at the time and the other elected was William Smith who was a Radical and who wanted abolition and Parliamentary reform. I note his polite words, and still today it is more dignified to say “I have been asked to serve” than “I rather fancy becoming an MP”.

Jonathan, if I might call him that, lost the Norwich constituency in 1830, although he then moved to be the MP for Huntingdon between 1831 and 1868, later serving as the Secretary of State for War on two occasions. It all goes to show that actually being local was less important to electors back before the Great Reform Act, although it’s fair to say that there was a lot more corruption and backhanders going on back then compared to today (well, in theory anyway).