MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE COW TOWER...

This wasn't a visit as such as there isn't really that much to visit- it was more a viewing.

Built in 1398-99, the Cow Tower was a purpose built defence tower; created to protect the north-eastern approach to the city against very real threats from the French, and also indigenous English rebels. 

It was a very rare structure in England during this time, and was specially designed to support the use of gunpowder artillery.

It is situated on the corner of a bend of the River Wensum, and the A147 road leading up to it from where we were staying made for a nice early evening walk.

The riverside walk, with my SuperDean getting into shot.

I love this charming house along the way.  It forms a bridge and is called Pulls Ferry, and dates back to the 15th century.  It's made of flint and was once a watergate.  The stone used to build Norwich Castle was routed through here.

Further down, you have to cross this bridge and turn right at The Red Lion pub on the other side if you want to view the Cow Tower closely.  Unless, of course, you fancy swimming across! 

The meadow the tower stands in was once called Cowholme, hence the tower's name...

The tower is 37ft (11.2 metres) across and 48 ft (14.6 metres) high.  The walls are 5 ft 11 in (1.8 metres) thick at the base, and consist of a flint core encased within brick...

A photo of the inside of the tower, taken through railings.  This is as close as I could get and the whole ruin is very atmospheric and a tad eerie...

Stairs inside the tower.  The tower is divided into three storeys and was probably well-furnished, with different floors used for eating and sleeping...

Repairs carried out in the 19th century inadvertently caused damage to the tower...

The Cow Tower is now managed by English Heritage...

We ended our walk with some food at Zak's Diner, which is painted a very eye-catching pink.

Here's the SuperDean raising his pint of Budweiser.

The restaurant was a very authentic American diner.  The building may have been pink but my theme for the evening must have been blue- I tucked into The Blue Vein, a gorgeous chargrilled burger with a generous helping of blue cheese sauce.  I accompanied this with a Bubblegum cocktail, which was also blue and garnished with real bubblegum balls!  We loved our meals and liked the fact that you were offered a choice of potatoes (chips, curly fries, a baked potato or normal potatoes) at no extra charge.  We opted for curly fries, being the kids we are!

We were seated right by the window and the diner lights reflecting on the water and the Cow Tower made for a wonderful view.  

We shall be returning.

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THE TEA ROSE by JENNIFER DONNELLY

THE TEA ROSE

BY JENNIFER DONNELLY

THE BLURB:-

Fiona Finnegan, the spirited, ambitious daughter of an Irish dock worker, longs to break free from the squalid alleys of Whitechapel. But her dreams fall apart with the sudden death of her father and the disappearance of her childhood love.

Fiona flees to New York where she builds a small grocery shop into a thriving tea house. But she cannot forget London. Convinced that her father was murdered, Fiona returns to the streets of her childhood to attempt to bring his killers to justice- and restore her family's good name.

Ranging from the bleak East End to the burgeoning businesses of Victorian London, to New York's immigrant district and glossy Fifth Avenue lifestyles, The Tea Rose is a heartwarming story of family, fortune, tragedy and tea.

THE REALITY:-

This was the kind of novel that I fall over myself to read- a tome and-a-half, set in my hometown of London (well, a lot of it was!) and a real rags to riches, gritty story of success and triumph in the face of adversity. That's what I want for myself, too. Conceited? Maybe. Realistic? Maybe not. But one can live in hope, because without hope you have nothing. I have the talent and, I like to think, the application to be successful. I truly believe that it will happen. So far, luck has eluded me and it's always nice to have a little recognition each step of the way, for motivational purposes. This hasn't yet happened, but I'm confident that it will.  

Enough of my hopes for the future!  Hope is a big theme in the early parts of The Tea Rose. This novel has stayed in my collection for 14 years because it really touched me. But now, I've acknowledged the fact that it has to go as it's looking too well-read and tattered. So bedraggled that it's going into the recycling bin as opposed to the charity bag.

This book is a real masterpiece and I'm surprised that it hasn't become a worldwide blockbuster. It has it all- fantastic characters with real hearts and faults, well-known locations, a historical sense of time and place and little stories within the mainframe. This book is long and richly detailed: in my mind, just as a novel should be. We really feel for the main character, Fiona. When she's in love, we love too. When her heart is broken, we break with her. And, when her family are almost wiped out we urge her to put one foot in front of the other and gradually pick herself up. She does that, but the way in which she does is dangerous and we pick up on the sense of urgency as she tries to flee her antagonist. This she does physically, but mentally he's always there, and this need for revenge spurs her on and forms the basis for the story.

Apart from Fiona, I also loved Nick and his quirks and found some of Seamie's proclamations and antics hilarious. So inspired was I by this novel that I took myself off to find the Prospect of Whitby and the Town of Ramsgate, situated on the north bank of the Thames. I spent my 35^th birthday drinking in these two establishments (it was a very hot day and I also got sunstroke, but that's another story!) and made time to soak up the atmosphere whist sitting on the old stairs. Read the book and you'll find out what they are, and why they're significant.

The author has certainly done her research with regards to the tea business and London industrial life in the late 1800s, and I like the fact that Jack the Ripper is also a significant part of the novel, marrying reality with fiction. There are twists and turns and interesting outcomings and also a happy ending.

Two more novels have been written in this series and I'm actually loathe to read them as I've yet to find a sequel as good as the original, and they don't sound as good. But I fear that temptation will get the better of me. I'm yet to compile my favourite ten, or even five, good reads of all time. But when I do, The Tea Rose will definitely be on it. Farewell, special novel.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE by MAGGIE O' FARRELL

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE

BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL

THE BLURB:-

It's July 1976 and London is in the grips of a heatwave. It hasn't rained for months, the gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back.

The search for Robert brings Gretta's children- two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce- back home, each with different ideas as to where their father may have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.

THE REALITY:-

Maggie O' Farrell's novels are very easy to read. They tend not to be overly long (this one was 324 pages) and the character observation absolutely brilliant, so it's very easy to get into her work. This one was no exception, but I though the title was pretty lame and uninspiring.  But, get beyond that and you're in for a pleasant ride!

I was the author's age in 1976 (I turned five in the July) and remember this legendary summer being hot, but no hotter than other summers, or so it seemed. During the 1970s we got what I call 'proper' weather; scorching summers and the presence of autumn indicated by foggy mornings and masses of daddy long legs swarming and sticking to windows, winters with knee-deep snow and broken down oil tankers at school and finally, spring entering like a promising, wet yet mild rumba. The only concession to water shortage that I can recall was my mother watering the plants with the mucky dishwater. Enough of my meanderings: what I'm trying to say was that it was easy for me to place myself into the period of the novel. This was an era where Aoife's dyslexia unfortunately resulted in her being labelled weird; so, so, sad, given the recognition we give to the condition nowadays. This was a time when, ten years previously, Michael Francis had to marry his pregnant girlfriend and a time when Monica, a couple of years before, had self-aborted her child.

The characters in this book are incredibly well described, through not just their appearances but their speech patterns and foibles. The author certainly did her research as to how Aoife's condition presents itself and the details are immense.  I liked that the family were Irish Catholics as my partner is from this background and some of the traits within his family echo themselves in Gretta's. The novelist has a great empathy with all of the five senses, manipulating prose so perfectly that you can imagine yourself right there in the book. London, New York and Ireland are well depicted and I also enjoyed looking at her inspirational Connemara photographs.  The author's grasp of the English language is very good, so much so that I managed to learn some new words during the course of the novel, and I am always pleased when this happens.

I loved the fact that the main subject matter- Gretta- turned out not to be much of a heroine and was a very real human being with faults such as hypocrisy and being liberal with the truth. I'm afraid that, in my experience, her generation were so often flawed in this way.

The book is not without fault. I would have loved to have read about Monica self-aborting her baby, such as how she did it and did Gretta really spill the beans to Joe? Details, please! Monica's relationship with her step-brats also could have been explored a little bit more. Also, I don't think the book reaches a satisfactory conclusion. We need to meet up with Robert again, and hear his explanation. But, give this tale a go. You will certainly find yourself living within the pages of this novel.