Around the world, in Norfolk

Taking advantage of the long bank holiday weekend, my family decided to drive to Norfolk for a short vacation. The destination was finalised based on the fact that it was just a little over two hours drive from London and thus manageable for baby Shantanu.

When my son told his colleagues about the Norfolk trip they all laughed and said no one goes to Norfolk for a holiday. They were wrong. As we got on to the motorway, it looked as if everyone in London was heading to Norfolk. The journey finally took over three hours.

We had booked rooms over the internet. We decided on the Waverly Hotel at Great Yarmouth as it sounded very British. When we checked in  we found it was owned by a Verma family from Delhi who ran the Golden Dragon chain of Chinese restaurants in the capital region. The whole family was there to receive us. The front office assistant was from, where else, but Kerala. He had studied nursing but ended up in this hotel.

Great Yarmouth is basically a seaside holiday town with hordes of eating places and pubs. Everything is within walking distance. What caught my eye were the quirky signboards.

Rather tempting to note that a philanthropic machine was dishing out cash. But as you would have guessed, it was only an ATM machine that did not charge a bank commission.

Some years back management gurus talked about corporate diversification but this one sure went a long way off from its core competency. I did not want to eat sweets that smelt of leather. Nor wear shoes that were sticky !

If the weather got you down then one could always cheer up by going to the joke shop.

Imagine a Turkish kebab restaurant whose business was going down.The owner decided to cut his losses by combining the best of Pizza Hut, McDonald's and KFC.

There are times when one wants to go up in life. There is no point in being at the bottom of the pecking order. The owner of this Tandoori joint, presumably from Jullundur, via Southall has obviously read somewhere that class is important. His cousin from London would have told him about the Savoy hotel. Class now meets mass in Great Yarmouth.

The Chinese are not only good at cloning iPhones but even that hallowed British all-weather meal. Fish & chips.

In Bangalore I normally have my haircut at Popular 3 Saloon. At Great Yarmouth this saloon offered cut and trimmed potatoes with a choice of sauces.

I am sure there would be a lot of people who would object to a gambling joint being named Mecca.

The journey back to London was a repeat of the outward journey as every Londoner was returning home on the Monday. This time it took us almost four hours. Shantanu, though was pretty well behaved and slept through.

A short halt at one of the Services had a pleasant surprise in store for me. I got hot filter coffee (yes, that was the wording on the menu) at Starbucks. A perfect ending to a fun weekend.