Family says they were on their way to enjoy fall break when a car cut them off, leaving the boy dead and his 16-year-old sister to fight for life. It's not clear if she'll walk again.
Published:
6:15 PM February 27, 2021
A short, sharp blast from Old Roger had been know to tip over wherries on the Norfolk broads.
- Credit: Archant Library
Did the ghost of Old Roger whistle up sandstorms in order to foil German bombers intent on wiping out Breckland aerodromes in 1941? There is a mention of a mysterious whirlwind or “Rodjon” in 1440, but in more recent years the so-called ‘plague winds’ have taken the more recognisable name, ‘Roger’.
“When the freshwaterman sees the waving of the reeds and sedges, he knows a ‘Roger’s Blast’ may hurl himself and his craft to the bottom,” said Robert Forby in his Vocabulary of East Anglia in 1825, while Sir Walter Rye spoke of strange whirlwinds called ‘Roger’s Blast’ in 1877. These were, he said, fairly common in Wroxham, Woodbastwick, Horning and South Walsham – today they are more commonly known as dust devils and are whirlwinds that spiral up from warm ground or over water.
The precious currency of squit should be at the heart of any campaign to set a jocular example. While it remains a peculiarly Norfolk commodity unlikely to be cut or privatised by our present government, there will be times when those ordained to look after our affairs will use it to their own advantage.
Of course, they won’t afford it the “squit” label. They’ll call it debating, debunking, prognosticating, compromising or just a full and frank exchange of ideas with a three-line whip. We should not be fooled by such euphemisms.
Nor should we be surprised by any hints of ignorance at Westminster. After all, there may be good solid voters at Weeting, Wicklewood and Winterton still mystified by a few of our most delightful dialect words and expressions.