A View from the Castle Keep Battlements

Well it’s been a day of waiting, delays and diversions! I went in to Norwich today to see the newly opened Castle and the Railway 200 travelling exhibition at Norwich Station. Driving in to Norwich I came across a road closed sign and had to take a long diversion. 

After a quick trip to the Cathedral and Refectory, I headed to the castle which reopened yesterday after a 5 year and very expensive restoration of original floor levels and the recreation of the Great Hall. The restoration was impressive, but the customer experience was not. There were delays getting in with the pre-booked tickets; the new lift was being repaired; we were given no leaflet with floor plan; there was no set route to follow; there isn’t an audio guide, a link for a guide on your phone or guided tours; the vast majority of things there are for the kids; the 10 minute film about the castle of interest to adults only seated 4 people and the commentary couldn’t be heard; I saw a fire door wedged open, doors didn’t have signs on them and people kept going down dead ends. It’s so disappointing given what has been spent on the building and the time they’ve had to prepare, a missed opportunity. The contrast to the brilliant customer experience at Bletchley Park where I went a week ago was shocking. The best bit was the views from the Castle Keep Battlements, but even that I think was a health and safety issue re the platform you stood on. I’ve added an extra from the 5 min projection that runs every 30 mins in the Great Hall. 

Then I walked to the station where I queued for my time slot on my ticket, then we moved onto the platform where we queued for another 23 mins in the hot sun (26C) before being allowed on the train. The exhibition marks 200 years of the railway and a link was provided to lots of good info by the curator, which I managed to get through several parts of whilst waiting and which was interesting. The exhibition itself was a bit of a repeat of the guide, but with lots of interactive exhibits that again were mostly aimed at kids. I was very grateful for the aircon, but probably was only there for 15 mins. If you’re interested, here’s the link to the guide which I checked was ok to post 

https://guides.bloombergconnects.org/en-US/guide/railway200

Then I walked back to the cathedral to catch the park and ride bus which was running late due to major roadworks at the roundabout near the airport park and ride site. I then drove the two mins to the garage re ordering a new trickle charger for the starter battery. Someone from the parts team came to see me, went to find the two options for it….and they were out of stock and they have ordered lots more as they sell so many (yep, that tells you what you need to know about the starter battery). So it’s on order (again) and he’ll ring when it’s in stock. Then I got stuck getting back onto the main road, the roadworks meant that it was near gridlock in places and took 18 mins to drive the two mins route. Then taking the diversion route home I got stuck in a big queue of traffic behind a slow moving farm vehicle. A bit of a frustrating day!