Back in England late last night after a week in Israel with a group from the diocese, led by the Dean. To give all the details might require a book, and I will give more in due course. Suffice it to say at the moment that I believe I am possibly the only visitor (pilgrim) to the Holy Land who has spent a week there without going into the old city of Jerusalem, or even seeing it from a distance. Galilee was nice, though.
Last preparations today for Holy Land trip. Feel much like Moses, except that he didn’t have the hassle of airport security to put up with. We have just received an e-mail telling us our flight has been brought forward half an hour. Given that our bus has allowed itself well over three hours to get to Luton, this may not affect us, but no doubt someone will be in touch some time in the early hours to tell us we have to be at the Cathedral at 5.20 instead of 5.50. Oh, joy.
David is going to Canada later in the week. I fear he is not giving our trip his full attention, and I don’t really blame him.
The week has gone by in a bit of a blur. We saw the Hendersons on Monday for an hour (quite a long time for them) and on Tuesday we went for lunch at the Gem restaurant round the corner with Des, Chris and John from No 19. Des organised it. Quite nice, though it’s not my favourite type of food.
Later that day Dot went to the ballet. She had a meal first with Anne and wasn’t feeling too well, but she seems to have got over it. I was intending to go to Jurnet’s poetry evening but I wasn’t feeling great either; so I finished translating a couple of Paston letters and caught up with some other stuff. Pity, as I’d written a poem about uncertainty specially. Admittedly, most of my poems are about uncertainty…
Highlight of the week was our visit to Aylesbury on Wednesday and Thursday to see David, Oliver and Amy. Stayed at the Travelodge and had a lovely meal at Zizzi’s in the evening. Still find Aylesbury very difficult to navigate, but we managed to find a petrol station before leaving, and with about 30 miles still in the tank. On the Thursday we got some food from Nandos shortly before leaving.
While we were in Aylesbury Amy attempted to teach us a complex strategy game, but we proved sadly inept at it. We did better at cheat, whist and knockout whist. Oliver had a bad cold, but David says he is now improving. Admired the new chairs. The apartment looks pretty good as a whole. Had a political discussion, but the odds were not good. I spent a fair amount of time yesterday shredding some paper for David, which I should have done ages ago.
Yesterday we had an early hair appointment with Linda, and I had a number three round the sides as a tribute to my grandson. Later our electrician friend Luke failed to turn up again, and this morning we went to church. The weather outside has been very windy again, though it is quite mild. Tomorrow may be another matter. Our new lay canon is apparently quite ill, so was unable to lead the service, which was a pity. Sang one of my songs during Communion, with Phil on guitar.
Des wanted to use our ladder yesterday , which meant I spent some considerable time trying to find the key to fit the padlock. However, success in the end. Fred and thousands of his family are coming down to see the match against Leicester on Friday and he had been hoping to stay with us (just Fred, not all of them), but of course we will not be here. Pity. Not hopeful that they will be rejoicing, since we managed to lose again today, but you never know.
Another weekend, another storm. This time it was Storm Dennis, and it nearly aborted Kristine’s visit to Norwich, but she bravely went ahead with it, and the storm turned out to be survivable. She came via Cambridge and went back via the fabled Ingatestone bus, which took her to the Central Line at Newbury Park. Fortunately Leyton is on the Central Line…
We had a good time with her. She arrived at 11.43, and we had a coffee before going to Gem for lunch, which she insisted on paying for. Afterwards we showed her a bit of Outnumbered (it had come up in the conversation), and she loved it – never having seen it before. Obviously everyone should see Outnumbered. Time passed quickly, and it was a bit of a rush to give her cake and get her to the station for the 17.04 . I bade her farewell while Dot rushed off to Carrow Road for the home match against Liverpool. Norwich played really well and lost 1-0. So no change there.
The rest of the weekend was equally momentous. I led the service yesterday, and in the afternoon we braved the threat of rain to walk to the Cathedral for the installation of Carrie as a Lay Canon, or Big Gun, as I prefer to see it. Most of St Augustine’s went, and after undergoing the chill of the Cathedral and the rather tedious pseudo-legal proceedings and processings we had coffee at the west end, where we joined by Karen and Phil, Jo from South Africa, Kim and her daughter and a number of Carrie’s relatives.
Later in the day we heard that Sharon from church had had emergency open heart surgery at Addenbrooke’s to get rid of a blockage in her heart. She seems to be recovering ok. Bit of a shock for her, though she had been feeling ill. Also a shock for us and for her partner Steve, whose mother’s funeral we went to not long ago.
In further illness news, Bridget seems to be having serious problems following the death of her mother, and her husband David is not too well either. She is on medication and is being seen daily by a crisis team. Dot has been to see her, as have many others.
Bridget didn’t make it to Cake and Compline last Tuesday, but David came and didn’t look well. A lot of prayer both then and since has been going upwards – or in all directions, actually. Immersive.
On Wednesday Dot and I took the opportunity to squeeze in Little Women, which was very good in many ways. Later I spent some time with Neville in the pub while the orchestra rehearsed. He seems pretty well now.
The next day I drove out to North Walsham in the rain to take the Mautby and Mannington leaflets to Rob, as well as the Paston magazine. Had a cup of tea there. Also dropped off some NCFC tickets we had accumulated at Jonathan’s workplace.
On Valentine’s Day Dot and I had a romantic lunch at Jarrold’s The Exchange restaurant, following which we walked up to M&S and got mixed up in a Climate Change march – at least I think that’s what it was. Some people were taking pictures; so there’s a risk of wrong conclusions being drawn. We just happened to be going in the same direction, to pick up shekels and dollars for our Israel trip. After that we walked up to the Barclays at Whitefriars, where Dot was meeting Anna to go through some documents about Phyllis – something to do with a power of attorney, I think.
I walked home on my own and was exhausted. Dot arrived about 40 minutes later, noticeably less exhausted. There you go. The old order changes, giving place to the new.
We got a real blast of Storm Ciara yesterday, with very high winds and some heavy rain, but fortunately it didn’t get really bad till we were home from church. So we got a good 17-18 people for the service. Sarah was ill with vertigo again; so the Communion service was taken by Liz. All went very well.
It’s still extremely windy, and we had an impressive shower of hail about an hour ago. In the west of the county it’s snowing, as it is over much the country. As so often (though not always) we get away with it a bit in East Anglia. Some quite bad floods in Yorkshire. Still a possibility of more bad weather overnight.
So we haven’t been out today. I’ve been at the computer a fair bit, but I’ve also helped Dot re-organise my study, other wise known as Oliver’s room. It is now bedless, until we get a sofa bed, and has Mum’s gate-leg table in it. My favourite table – goes right back to Brian Avenue. Another plus is that the radiator is now freed to give me a bit of hot air – as if I needed it.
We had a busy day last Wednesday, which was a bight and calm day. First, I got some Paston leaflets from Nick Stone’s office on Castle Meadow, with the help of Dot parking in a loading bay in Opie Street (I’d got a Blofield display board on foot the day before). Then we filled the car up with petrol and had some lunch. Then I went off on my own to the cleaners and then to visit my cousin Barbara, who now lives at Cromer, separated from her husband.
She seemed delighted to see me, and we had a good talk for about 90 minutes, talking about our mutual relatives. She seemed to be doing well. In the evening Dot and I went to the book club, with only Judy, Carrie and Kim for company, plus a newcomer – a black woman called Roslyn (I think) – who supported some of our more radical views. So that was nice.
The next day we went to see The Personal History of David Copperfield at the cinema – an excellent, very witty and inventive film with the brilliant idea of using black and white actors irrespective of whether they were related or not (eg A posh white lad had an even posher black mother). That’s what I call diversity.
On Saturday I picked up my pills from the chemist, then walked out to St James Hill from the newly empty car park on Britannia Road (following the closure of the cafe). Again a beautiful day, and Dot spent quite a lot of time in the garden, transforming the patio.
Should be feeling reinvigorated after a weekend at Buxton, but this proved not to be the case, as I was feeling quite ill for much of it. I had a minor sort of virus going on in the background, with quite a lot of coughing, but on the first night there I had a stomach problem which kept me away most of the night. Painful and worrying, but I still don’t know what caused it, because it didn’t resolve itself in the usual way (if you see what I mean). At first I thought it might be a kidney problem, but I now think it was probably something I ate. The fish and chips certainly seemed underdone.
As a result I stayed in bed on Saturday morning (the pain had miraculously gone) while Dot and the Evetts went down into Buxton. Dot brought me a sandwich back for lunch, which was fine, and we all went into town again (or me for the first time) in the afternoon. Saw the new Pump Room, which is quite spectacular, showcasing the spa element of the town. Called in at Catherine’s upstairs cafe, where I declined the prosecco. In the evening, after another doze, I had two starters instead of a main, which turned out to be a good idea. Also went to bed early and slept rather better.
The poor forecast for Sunday inclined us toward going into Manchester on the train, but the forecast changed overnight, and instead we drove to Hartington, had coffee in a very pleasant cafe and then walked for about four miles, partly along the Tissington Trail, partly along the High Peak Trail and partly along a very muddy farm track. Dot did well despite wearing Julia’s boots because we had “forgotten” to bring hers. I had put the two boot bags in from the garage, not realising that her boots were not in the boot bag, but two lots of her summer shoes were.
During the walk there was quite a bit of sun, and much less wind than there had been the previous day (and has been since). Afterwards we went back to the cafe and had lunch, before walking reluctantly (in my case) round the town, taking in the Old Cheese Shop and a place that sold caps. We bought some excellent cheese and, unexpectedly, a cap that fit me so perfectly that I could not reject it. It is a sort of Peaky Blinders style but suits me despite that – so I am told.
I omitted to mention that on the way up to Buxton we almost ran out of petrol, but found a lonely service station – just north of Hartington, as it turned out – which sold petrol at roughly the same price as the Tesco station in Buxton. Bit of a relief. And stupid not to have bought it earlier. I momentarily thought Derbyshire was more civilised than it is. I should have known, with the blanket 50mph limits on the main roads.
On Sunday night I risked a steak, and it was fine. We still went to bed fairly early, though. On the way home Dot and I called in to see Andrew, who was on pretty good form, though he was eating his lunch when we arrived. They told him we were waiting for him in his room, but he forgot and started watching a film on TV. We are not the attraction we used to be. Helen and Hollity were very welcoming as usual. Andrew’s new chair looked good.
The drive home was straightforward. We stopped at Cambridge Services, which was in stark contrast to last time we were there. Easy to access and quite empty.
Way before we went to Buxton – in the Tuesday – I went to a funeral at Carlton Colville. This was for Marjorie Solomon, who had been coming to our church for the last couple of years. She was 91 and had been living with her son Steve and his partner Sharon, who brought her to church in a wheelchair. She was a lovely old lady, and seven of us – Liz and David Cannon, Debbie, Ray and Christine and Ellie – went to the parish church for the service and the burial in the churchyard. There was a bitter wind, but a nice hour or so in the pub afterwards. Marjorie had lived just over the road from the pub nearly all her life. Some nice things were said on her behalf about how welcoming our church was. It was worth missing my haircut (Dot had hers done as usual because it would have been too difficult to rearrange.)
The next day Dot and I went to North Walsham and put some flowers on her parents’ grave, and on Doreen’s. It was her mother’s 100th birthday.
Today the wind is still cold; so we took a bus up to the Archant Pensioners’ Coffee Morning. Neville Miller was there (former theatre critic and feature writer on the Evening News), as were the usual suspects. Discovered Robin is 88.
Spent most of last week catching up on paperwork of various kinds – for example writing modern versions of a couple of Paston letters, finishing off the Paston magazine, writing a sermon for yesterday, trying to work out Dot’s tax payment and looking at my mother’s family tree. Nevertheless we did fit in one or two other things.
On Tuesday we squeezed in a visit to the cinema. There were several films we wanted to see, but the only one to fit our schedule was The Gentlemen, an extremely violent but clever and funny gangster-type film. Quite enjoyed it. Later we went to Cake and Compline at the Archers’ house, which was rather less violent, but also quite funny. We gave Judy a lift.
On Wednesday Dot had to go to an Ofsted feedback at a school which must remain nameless, because the result was so bad. It meant she was delayed until it was too late for her to eat a meal and get to orchestra, which meant in turn I had to cancel my “date” with Neville at the pub. Still, he kept himself busy by watching Norwich lose to Spurs – another game they should have won.
On Thursday we made it to the book club at St Luke’s. I got there by way of the Theatre Royal, where there was a PV for the 20 Group. Spoke for a while to Martin Laurance and saw one or two other faces that I knew. Walked from there across the market down one of the lanes and up Duke Street, then cut across and got to St Luke’s via Oak Street. Bit further than I thought – or maybe it was my usual tiredness. Dot came by car and walked part of the way home.
The next day we walked up the the maddermarket with Des and Chris to see The Turning of the Tide, by Crude Apache. I was a little disappointed by the second half, which had been altered since I saw it on Kett’s Heights, but they are a very talented group. Some really good songs, too. Judy went the next night and enjoyed it.
On Saturday we had a PCC Awayday, which is not the sort of thing that fills me with joy. It was at St Francis on Heartsease, which is a nice setting, but I nearly left them to it after the first session, which I didn’t enjoy at all. However after coffee the vicar joined our group, and it was much better. The rest of the day was fine, and became even better when Dot got home in time to listen to Norwich playing Burnley away in the Cup and winning 2-1.
Yesterday I preached at church and also played guitar, though not simultaneously. Not one of my better sermons, I don’t think. Not sure why. Had long talk with the vicar and others afterwards, which was encouraging. She and I are very much on the same wavelength. Later on, the Hendersons came round, and I had quite a longish talk with Maryta upstairs while Paul and Dot were making the drinks. Quite surprising, but she reverted to type later when as usual she wanted to leave before Paul did.
Spoke to David on FaceTime later. He seems much better.
Very cold now, and high pressure. Still have a heaviness in my chest that may be the result of my cold or may be something to do with the car crash. Either way, it’s not stopping me doing things, though there is some coughing involved.
On Friday I met a second cousin I didn’t know existed a fortnight ago. I heard from her daughter first: her name was Stella, and she brought shocking news – almost everything I had on my family tree on my mother’s side was wrong. Admittedly there wasn’t much to start with, and a lot of it had been guesswork, based on the fact that my grandfather was a gardener. But it was a bit of a surprise.
Stella didn’t tell me that.She just told me about our DNA, and then brought her mother to see me. Her mother’s name is Alison, and her middle names are “Miss” and “Marple”. She has constructed a family tree that puts mine in the shade, mainly because it’s right, and mine isn’t. I had thought my grandfather came from Brighton by way of Cambridge, but in fact his family have been Norfolk people for generations.
Alison’s grandfather was Cecil, my grandfather’s brother. Cecil was about 18 years younger, and so Alison is quite a bit younger than me. She and Stella were both charming, and we spent an hour talking about the family. I have since sent her some photographs, and I aim to revise my tree drastically, with help from what she has discovered.
In the evening I drove to Halesworth for the Swan poets evening. Hit a pothole at a fairly early stage and almost went back in case something bad had happened, but I ploughed on, and it seems OK. Read three poems: quite a good evening, not too long.
The next day I went to Carrow Road with Dot because she had three spare tickets, and it was sunny. And lo! A miracle happened, and Norwich City won. They have a new loan player called Duda who is excellent, and a Bournemouth player had to handle his shot to stop it going in. Red card, and amazingly Pukki scored the penalty. We had someone sent off to make it fairer, but still managed to hang on. As always, we should have scored more.
On Sunday I led the church service, and all went well. Did a little walk with Dot afterwards. Today I have walked a bit again, partly to accompany her to her Richard Rohr evening, but also to the post office. She will be back soon; so I had better start cooking.
Happily, David is now much better, having completed a course of antibiotics. He has also ordered the chairs we bought him for Christmas. But he has had a hard time so far in 2020: hope the rest of it is much better. Perhaps it will be, now that he can sit down.
I’m still feeling fairly whacked out, though continuing to do the things in my diary. Chest and head still a bit heavy, but nothing I haven’t had before. Dot seems pretty well and has just been in the city to get a UBS connector for her computer.
We both had our hair cut last Friday and went to church on Sunday. I played guitar for the first time since the accident, and it felt OK. Don’t know what everyone else thought. Later I summoned up enough willpower to drive to Lowestoft and read some poems at the Seagull. Good to see Ian, who has had a triple heart bypass. Everyone is worse off than me. I read a couple of my Orkney poems and four others. Seemed to go down well. Haven’t written a song for ages, but at least I don’t keep singing the same one, like Peter! Perhaps I should.
On Monday I drove to North Walsham for a Paston trustees’ meeting. I get the feeling that Rob would quite happily give the whole thing up, but Peter is keen to push it as far as he can: he is fascinated by just about everything to do with it and has achieved a huge amount in technical terms. Just take a look at www.thisispaston.co.uk. Got back quite late, but before Dot left for her Richard Rohr session at the Julian Centre. Spent much of the evening writing the minutes.
The big Paston Footprints teachers’ conference at Blofield Primary was on Tuesday, starting officially about half an hour before we got there, but in fact, just as we arrived. Went pretty well. Was very impressed by Tim Taylor doing his Mantle of the Expert thing, which I had heard described before but never seen. It is much better in practice than in description. Dot did a really good session on P4C and The Paston Treasure, despite being restricted to 90 minutes instead of two hours.
On leaving we met a couple of members of Hexachordia, who thought they were taking part but had in fact been told not to come. All the teachers had left by then. Dot and I took Sue and Tim for a cup of tea/coffee in the King’s Head after promising to circulate Hexachordia’s material.
Yesterday Pam and Stuart Goddard came round for tea and Christmas cake in the morning, and Stuart made impressive inroads into the cake. They live near Southampton, but were in Norfolk visiting various people. Pam used to be curate for a a while at St Luke’s. She left her umbrella, and they called in this morning, on the way to Blickling, to collect it.
So much for new year health hopes for David and me. I have just passed the peak (I hope) of a really bad cold, which started overnight on Sunday and has left me tired out and stuffed up. All the usual old problems. Out of bed today, but not feeling up to much.
Far worse, David developed a mystery infection that involved a rash, high temperature and exhaustion. Obviously Dot and I were worried sick about him being alone in the flat, but angels were nigh in the shape of Chrissy, Vicky and Oliver. Eventually, with some help from Dot, they persuaded him to consult a doctor, and he is now on antibiotics and is getting some other checks. Not sure what the problem is, though: he’s still very tired.
Obviously most of my plans for this week were cancelled, but before I succumbed I walked up to the museum on Saturday and had a look round the W G Sebald “Sight Lines” exhibition, which was quite interesting in a rather intimate way. Also took in a water colour collection by John Sell Cotman.
On Sunday Dot still had a cold but I went to church and did her prayers for her. Only 11 of us there. In the afternoon semi-recovered Dot and I went over the road for some post-Christmas nibbles with Des and Chris. Very nice. Hope they survived the encounter.
Since then I have missed the Archant coffee morning, Mary Welander’s funeral, and Nicholas’s book launch at the Revelations cafe. Would have liked to have been at all three. Dot went to the book launch and was greeted warmly by Nicholas. Many others there including Mark, Lisa and June Campling and Bridget Fosten, who bore news that Ian had had a triple heart bypass.
Dot seems to be working very hard on the Paston conference. She has tried unsuccessfully to get a refund on her Somerset train ticket. Tonight she will probably go to book club at St Luke’s. I certainly won’t. Just want to lie down really.
And so it’s all over. David is on his way home on the 1400 after the 1330 was cancelled: business as usual for Greater Anglia. Norwich City have played twice and drawn twice when they should have won. Business as usual for them.
David and I joined Dot at the second match, against Crystal Palace, on New Year’s Day. Norwich went 1-0 up after five minutes and the rest of the game we spent wondering when they were going to concede – despite the fact that they were playing well. They eventually did concede – with the help of VAR, of course – a few minutes before the end.
Earlier in the day Dot and I had picked up the tickets from Jonathan at Coltishall, opposite the Recruiting Sergeant. Just thought I’d mention that.
Going back to the Sunday, I preached at St Luke’s during a joint Holy Communion service – given that I hadn’t written this sermon till the day before, It went very well. It is now online on St Luke’s website.
The next day we did some shopping and then I walked to Philip’s to deliver Andrew’s Christmas present. Dot picked me up unexpectedly halfway back. Almost didn’t recognise her when she pulled up beside me on Riverside Road.
David arrived by train on New Year’s Eve, and Dot and I met him at the station. Over Christmas and the New Year the weather was much improved, but it was pretty cold. In the evening we all went to the Robinsons at Poringland for a meal and to celebrate the New Year. All went very well, and we stayed till almost 1am. I drove, so didn’t drink much, of course.
Yesterday David and I drove to Aldiss to see if they had any chairs suitable for his flat, but they didn’t. Also popped into Hughes before I dropped him outside John Lewis. Dot would have come, but she has developed quite a bad cold. David and I are hoping we don’t catch it from her.
As David nears London, Dot and I are watching South Pacific. At least, she’s watching it and I’m writing this, while picking up on the plot now and again. Much like life, really.