Just back from a delightful holiday in Norfolk, one of our favourite vacation destinations. It has to be said that the lack of internet access (deliberate, in the main) was very liberating, even if it did mean being out of touch with all my online friends for quite a while.

I shall probably be creating holiday-related moments for some time now - to make up for my silence over the past few weeks - but hopefully they will at least provide some variety!

This first post is about an interesting phenomenon that I noticed for the first time this summer, despite having visited the charming seaside town of Cromer so many times before. While standing on a slipway down to the sea near a cafe - which you will understand are obligatory to visit when on holiday - I noticed that every boat lined up along the top of the beach had its own tractor and trailer. And every single tractor was ancient and rusting. Some looked so decrepit that it’s a wonder that they even functioned, yet they obviously did, otherwise they wouldn’t have been there.

I could have happily stood there taking photos of every one, if it weren’t for the disapproving looks and comments of my children (my wife has learned to tolerate my interest in the odd, old, weird and/or arty)! But it was great to see that tractors that had probably seen many years’ service on the farms that litter most of Norfolk hadn’t just been dumped in field corners or scrap yards to seize up and die, but were still being fired up occasionally, allowing them to take a few steps up and down the beach in their old age, still serving a useful purpose. No doubt a few were very close to their final demise, but how good it must feel to bow out in harness.