On Tour in English Counties

Last week I was on a business trip to Norwich and Cambridge, we have a production plant nearby Norwich. This gave me the opportunity to visit our friend Owen Hindle and his wife Kathleen in Cromer at the coast of Norfolk. Unfortunately my camera had gone to pieces in China, and my old one doesn’t work properly any more. Therefore I have only few photographs to offer, at least a nice photo of the proud owner of a fine collection of valuable chess literature. Very well-assorted in the area "English/American", exceptionally in its quality and in the presence of book-jackets. (Supposedly, the manageable collection comprises a total of about 5000 items.)

It was a pleasing evening including an English dinner: Lamb, several types of potatoes, carrots, broccoli and apple pie with custard (a typically English specialty).

You may find further details about Owen Hindle in our current birthday column (March 2010).

On the photo below you can see the river Wensum flowing through the really very impressive historic centre of Norwich. In the Middle Ages the latter was the second largest English town, today it’s more province in Norfolk. Cromer is located 40 km to the east, directly at the North Sea coast. Certainly there will be again an opportunity for a visit in future.

It was just impertinent what Europcar afforded: without being notified, I was provided with an enormously spacious Mercedes minibus instead of a mid-size car. That associated with driving on the left and right-hand drive – great! … But in spite of a strong nervous tension in the roundabouts I managed it without a damage.

By the way, I have photographed the minibus in front of the BAYER CropScience Headquarter in Cambridge with the camera of my BlackBerry, I didn’t think of it in Norwich in the evening …

Michael Negele, 27/03/2010