Caister Middle School, Norfolk

A third return visit in three years beckoned for me at the lovely Caister Middle School, in Caister, Norfolk. I drove up to Essex on the 29th January and had a relatively easy trip aside from being stopped by the Police on the M3 and asked if the Peugeot was my car or not! Luckily I could prove it was!

I had a nice evening with my parents and was even treated to a glass or two of Gevry Chambertin by my father - very nice!

The following morning I was up at 5am and out the door and on my way by 5.40am. The drive up to Caister was quite pleasant and I arrived at the school just before 8am. I parked up and got in and was as ever so warmly welcomed by the staff that it felt I had never been away! I impressed the Head Teacher by wishing him a happy birthday as I remembered on my last visit there was a big party for him. All the teachers looked great in their fabulous costumes, even the ones made from curtains! I was in the big hall as I had been for the previous visits and the children came through, about 100 of them and honestly, some of the costumes were just so good. I had been warned that some of the group was a bit over lively, but they turned out to be a fantastic group. They loved the opening talk and laughed greatly at some of the silly jokes and displayed a remarkably good Tudor knowledge. Before lunch they did a great series of Tudor dances for me. They'd obviously rehearsed long and hard.

After lunch we had some fun with the Tudor crime and punishment section and they all loved the stocks. The final jousting session was a revelation with one of the ladies teams being so good that they just steam-rollered any opposition with a fantastic display of skill and teamwork. I went to leave at the end of the day to find I was boxed in again, just like last year, in the car park. The lady in the office who's car was blocking me in came out and moved the vehicle, but made it fairly clear she wasn't happy about it. Oh dear! Caister is a wonderful school and it was a lovely day all round. Thanks again.

I drove to my parents in Essex, had dinner with them and then headed back down to Somerset. I finally got home about 10.30pm and collapsed, gratefully, into bed. Nice day!