Local History

It is said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Last night’s three pints of Adnam’s Old Ale didn’t finish me off  – and neither did this morning’s hangover cure, a restorative and somewhat exfoliative march along the beach. The pints were quaffed last night at the pub in the company of my friends and fellow Norwich City supporters Messrs. M. P. and S. D. of Cromer (it was Mr S. D. who suggested the hangover cure). Now, Mr S. D. is a reporter who works out of the Cromer office of the Eastern Daily Press. If anyone knows where the bodies are buried, it is he. Being a journalist of the old school, he reads everything that passes under his nose, and lets nothing escape him. He was thus intrigued to receive a book entitled A Dictionary of Cromer and Overstrand History from local publishers Poppyland Publishing, and he brought it along to the pub for me and Mr M. P. to scrutinize, which we did with an intense scrute. This book is a plundersome toybox of interesting facts about this town. Every nook and corner has a history, every building tells a story. I wish I’d had this book to hand, or possibly foot, when I was writing my now-notorious schlockfest By The Sea, in which I do for North Norfolk what Stephen King did for Maine. Notwithstanding inasmuch as which, Mr S. D. was surprised and mildly narked to find that I was listed under Cromer writers, for all that I’ve been a local for a mere four years, while he’s been slaving away since Cromer was called Shipden. The book doesn’t explicitly mention By The Sea, though. Perhaps they’re saving it for a second edition.