In his weekly Turnstone column, Hunstanton writer John Maiden discusses politics, strike action and a town carnival…
This summer has taken longer than expected to warm up, but television pictures and stories from around the world should have been enough to make any sane person recognise the fact that man-made global warming is the greatest threat to life on planet Earth.
Sadly, this is not the message I am hearing from some of the pre-election political debates.
My only hope now is that this will not deter members of the electorate from casting their votes for candidates who really do take climate change seriously.
Closer to home, the doctor has put me on penicillin and ordered me to keep my infected leg raised.
I have no wish to become a victim of sepsis, so this column is being typed while I am in a reclining position, which could make me more prone to typographical errors than usual.
To make matters worse, the spell check on my laptop appears to have gone on strike, possibly in support of the junior doctors.
They might have had my support if I knew why junior doctors were withdrawing their 'labour' now, without waiting to see if a 'Labour' government (assuming the opinion polls are to be trusted) is more sympathetic to their case for a pay rise than the Conservatives have been.
Strike action was not something I remember playing a significant part in my working life. This could be because job satisfaction has always mattered more to me than money.
This fact explains why I took a cut in wages back in the late 1960s in order to make Hunstanton my permanent home, even though it meant accepting three very different temporary teaching posts
The third, teaching English at Hunstanton Secondary Modern, was subsequently offered to me on a permanent basis.
This was after I had turned down the opportunity to take up a managerial post in the holiday industry.
However, having been born and bred in Hunstanton, I have always been interested in what it is about my hometown that makes visitors return time after time.
The beach in front of the famous cliffs, and at Old Hunstanton itself, seem to be more popular than ever if the number of cars in the cliff top car park are anything to go by.
Finally, congratulations are due to all those people who worked very hard to make this year's carnival so successful.
I was unable to be physically present, but the next two generations of the Maiden clan were there in full force.