Snettisham is a natural reserve under the management the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), about one and half hour’s car drive from Norwich. We set off at 5 a.m. to catch the spectacular scenes of birds at dawn.

Snettisham at dawn was serene.

All you could hear was the songs of birds. (If you cannot hear any sound from the video below, please turn the volume louder.)

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Quietly and unexpectedly, spring has already arrived! When I was walking around the Earlham Park yesterday, I was surprised to find all these beautiful flowers carpeting the field! Spring has come!! It brings liveliness and new hopes to the world! (Coincidentally today is the first day of the Chinese New Year which in the Chinese language also means “spring festival”.)

Snowdrop (the white flowers in the pictures above) often forms impressive carpets of white in the landscape, and is one of first signs of the end of winter. It falls within the species of Galanthus which have bulbs, linear leaves, and erect flowering stalks, destitute of leaves but bearing at the top a solitary pendulous bell-shaped flower.

Winter Aconite (the yellow flowers in the pictures above) belongs to the genus of Eranthis. The flowers are yellow and among the first to appear in spring (even before snow is gone), though later where winter snowpack persists, they are frost-tolerant and readily survive fresh snow cover unharmed. The leaves only expand fully when the flowers are nearly finished. They exhibit aestivation (spending a summer inactive and insulated against heat), growing on forest floors and using the sunshine available below the canopy of deciduous trees before their leaves come out; their leaves die off when the shade from tree canopies becomes dense, or, in dry areas, when summer drought reduces water availability. All parts of the plants are poisonous, though the very acrid taste makes poisoning a low risk. 

I went to Toll’s Meadow today again for the conservation work, together with a few others from the UEA conservation club. This time, we needed to use a rake to pull out the grass on the soil surface, and then use a pitch fork to remove it to and pile it up at the side of the field.

Toll’s Meadow is a water meadow - an area of grassland beside a river. A meadow is a habitat of terrain where grasses predominate. Typically a meadow contains not only grasses but a significant variety of plants. We need to prevent the soil of Toll’s Meadow from having too much nutrients otherwise it will turn into a woodland. The purpose of removing the grass from the soil surface is to reduce the nutrients in the soil.   

The Earlham Hall is now part of the UEA housing its law school. I had been curious about its background and story as the scale and the layout of the house had led me to think this probably was once a grand house for the rich, although it was very shabby in its current appearance.

When I was taking pictures of the house some days ago, a kind gentleman came up to me and drew my attention to the prominence of the once occupants of this house and the house itself.

The Earlham Hall dates from1642 and was the family home of the Gurney family from 1786-1912.

It even has well preserved a horse-mill for pumping water.

The family of John and Catherine Gurney had been grain wholesalers, then began financing farmers, and by 1800 were primarily bankers. They were the Quakers and active in social welfare concerns. (Quakers are members of a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s. The formal title of the movement is the Society of Friends or the Religious Society of Friends. Quakers believe that there is something of God in everybody and that each human being is of unique worth.)

Two of their children, Elizabeth Gurney Fry and Joseph John Gurney, became among the most prominent Quakers of the 19th century. Both of them became evangelicals, travelled widely in the ministry, and were active in social reform causes.

For Elizabeth Gurney Fry (1780 – 1845), she was also a famous prison reformer in the British history. Her portrait even appears in the currency note of 5 Sterling Pounds currently in use. She was well educated, which was unusual for a girl in those days. She provided items for the women prisoners so they could sew, knit and make goods to sell. She started a prison school for the children to give them something to do. In 1818 she was asked to speak to people in Parliament about the prisons, and subsequently the 1823 Gaol Act was passed by Parliament which had incorporated some of her improvement suggestions, for example, the female prisoners are now looked after by female warders.

Sheffield was the final stop in my Christmas trip, strictly speaking, a stop-over to York (I stayed in Sheffield because my friend there offered me free accomodation). Sheffield had been for a long time a city of steel industry. Today, although new buildings and new shops have been established in the city centre, in many parts of the city there remains the shabby and deserted factory houses which makes the city depressing (therefore I had not taken any picture in Sheffield). While I was in sheffield, I had taken a day trip to York. By contrast, York is much more beautiful. York had been the capital under the Vikings’ rule.

Once I was out of the train station of York, I was attracted by the red bricks of the buildings.

The minster is the landmark of York. It is the largest medieval cathedral in the U.K. and one of Europe’s most beautiful Gothic buildings.

The city walls enclose the city centre of York. You can walk onto the walls.

After spending the Christmas at a host family at Bedford, I went to Stratford-upon-Avon. Stratford-upon-Avon is the birthplace (see pictures just below) and home town of William Shakespeare. It is a very small but lovely town.

At the time of my arrival, it was just after the Christmas. The decorations of Christmas could still be found everywhere on the streets.

The “must-do” program in Stratford-upon-Avon is watching a Shakespeare’ play performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company there. I had decided to see a musical called “Merry Wivies” adapted from a Shakespeare play, instead of a play. The reason was simple: the actors and actresses would speak old English used at the time of Shakespeare which I could not understand, whereas for a musical, even though I could not understand what they said, I could still be entertained by the songs they sang. My thought was later proved to be correct.

By the time I purchased the ticket of the musical, there was only one student ticket left for that day and the next day but student ticket did not mean it must be cheap - it costed 24 pounds! I had no choice but bought it - that was a “must-do” program there! Fortunately my seat was facing the centre of the stage at the circle of the theatre and had a good view of the stage. That night, the whole theatre house was full, even though the tickets were very expensive.

The performances of the Royal Shakespeare Company usually took place in the main Royal Shakespeare Theatre (see the picture on the left most above) and the adjacent Swan Theatre. The musical I watched was peformed at the former. However, the aisle between rows of seats was too narrow and even worse than the economy seats in air planes. In the latter, you probably can strengthen or extend forward your legs to a certain extent. However, in that theatre, your legs will have no chance to move, not even an inch. Sitting like this for three hours, even for me, a short and small person, was unbearable. You can imagine how miserable the other people will be who are much bigger and taller than me. Why did the theatre charge high price for tickets but not provide even a reasonable sitting environment?

Stratford-upon-Avon is a popular town for tourists. There were many shops there. One clothing shop was called “White Stuff” and its symbol was a Chinese character in white color meaning “clothes” inside two circles (see the picture in the middle above). However, white clothes are taboos for the Chinese because only white clothes (traditionally only white clothes, but nowadays both white and black clothes) are worn at funerals. This is very different from the west where white clothes are worn at the weddings - a celebration event. I really wonder whether the designer of the symbol was aware of this when he/she decided to use that Chinese character in the symbol.

The theatres were built beside the River Avon. Along the river bank, there were many swans and Canadian geese (they are two closely related species and all under the waterfowl subfamily of Anserinae but the former are usually bigger than the latter). Even the emblem of the district council of Stratford-upon-Avon has two swans (see the picture in the middle above)!

The Canadian geese, since they were introduced to Britain in 1665, had grown too many and are now causing the problem of ecological balance. A sign was set up there to request people not to feed them. Of course many people ignored the advice as their heart was always full of “love”.

Here came the stunt prince, “I walk on two feet but stand on one foot only. Do not imitate me without proper training.”

We went to Buxton Heath again today. I was so happy when we returned to the entrance after finishing the work, and after finishing the whole walk without getting my foot stuck in the mire! I felt I had put my life on a gambling table and this time I had gone through the game safe and sound. Well, this time I was lucky although I had been unlucky the last two times. This is life. You never know what will come to you the next moment. Another girl in the team this time had the bad luck - her foot got stuck in the mire and soaked.

A more scientific and convincing explanation for my luck was like this: it was winter time and there was no rain in the last two days. Therefore the muds on the field was harder than before. This helped me to go through the mire safely.

This time we cut the gorses. We also burnt off some gorses cut off some weeks ago. The gorses which have just been cut down should not be burnt off immediately because the oil on their leaves can cause big and untrollable fire. For safety reason, the burning must be done in a safe place without wind.

Caernarfon, in north Wales, was my next stop after Cardiff during my Christmas trip. Unlike Cardiff where many people still speak English, most people of Caernarfon speak Welsh. Nevertheless, to me, a person who knows nothing about Welsh, Caernarfon is a much more friendly place than Cardiff.

After getting off the train at the train station of Caernarfon, I got on a bus to the town centre of Caernarfon. Caernarfon is a small town. Even when the bus had reached the town centre (the bus terminus), I was still not aware of that because I had not expected the town could be such small. Sitting beside me was an old man. He talked to me in Welsh, seeming to tell me that I should get off then. I got off the bus. He then came to me again. Although I could not understand what he said, I knew he was trying to offer help to me. I showed him the name and address of my accomodation both in English and Welsh. He hesitated and said something in Welsh. I knew he would not be able to help me. I patted on his shoulder, telling him in English that it was okay (Although he did not speak English, I knew he understood, just like I understood what he said). I moved on, feeling warm in my heart.

I stayed in Black Boy’s Inn, an old inn dating back to 1522. This was the first and the only inn I had ever stayed. Initially I was worried about the noises from the pub of the inn. Fortunately my room was at the far rear of the inn and surprisingly not only was the room quiet, it had a good view as well - looking out to the town wall. (The inn had a restaurant and the meals they provided were delicious and plentiful in amount with reasonable price.)

When I arrived the inn (it was three days before Christmas day), I wished to change the type of the room from the one I have booked, namely single room with shared bathroom, to single ensuite. “Yes, you can,” the manager of the inn told me. “Then how much?” I asked, expecting he would quote me a higher price than my initial booking price. After thinking for a while, he said, “Same price.”  I could not believe my ears. “Same price as my booking price?” “It is Christmas time!” he replied. It immediatey reminded me of “A Christmas Carol” of Charles Dickens. In that book, a miser had learnt to care about people through his experience during Christmas. It was Christmas time! It was the time we showed our kindness to the people around.

Caernarfon castle is now a World Heritage site. It was built between 1283 and 1301 by Edward I. During his reign as a king of England from 1272 to 1307, he conquered the Welsh and built massive castles to keep his rule secure.

The Caernarfon castle, intended as a seat of power and as a symbol of English dominance over the subdued Welsh, is architecturally one of the most impressive of all of the castles in Wales. It had two gateways defended by strong gatehouses. It also had seven towers lining its walls (which themselves were up to twenty feet thick).

As with all of the castles of Edward I, Caernarfon was built on the shoreline to allow easy supply routes from the sea.

Caernarfon was defended in two parts - the castle and the town walls. Built at the same time as the castle, the town walls was an 800 yard circuit with eight towers and two twin towered gateways. The towers were situated 70 yards apart, the southern end of the circuit was blocked by the castle walls. The town walls were entirely surrounded by water filled moats.

There was a pier with a good sea view of Caernarfon.

The market in Caernarfon was open on Saturdays at the town square.

A small amusement park was temporarily set up in the town centre for Christmas.

The whole town was resonant with the Christmas carols (broadcast from the billboard in the town square). A joyful town!

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There was an arts gallery there. The building of the gallery was not at all attractive. I was not even aware that it was an arts gallery if I was not told by him, a kind passer-by. While I was taking the picture of the gallery (on the most left below), he approached me and said, “I have never seen anyone taking the picture of this building.” Obviously the building was ugly, or at least not at all special to him. I explained to him that the building was not pretty but special. After he knew that I was a traveller, he told me where I could find a cafe in the gallery and the best place to take the picture of the castle. My heart was warm again.

Another time, while I was taking a picture of the castle, another passer-by came to me, offering to take a picture for me (obviously she had noticed I was travelling alone). My heart was full of joy again.

A gesture of kindness, no matter how small it is, can make the world different. “It is Christmas time!” I will remember.

Sheringham is about one hour train from Norwich. In the past, the lower Sheringham was a fishing village and the upper Sheringham was an agricultural village. Now it is a town well known for its coast and the cliffs along its coast line.

After the walk in Sheringham, we headed to another seaside town, Cromer. Cromer is just 3 miles away from Sheringham. It took about one hour to walk there.