All posts by Tim Lenton

12 April 2008

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Grandson Oliver shows skill with a frisbee on Walcott beach on Wednesday, as the few drops of rain faded away to give us a pleasant hour there – even a little sunshine. We had just taken Jessie back to North Walsham after a “pub meal” (Oliver’s request) at the Town House in Thorpe. Very nice, but slow service. Jessie had been to see Frank at his new home – Overbury House in Wroxham – arriving by bus from North Walsham. I picked her up to transport her back to Norwich. All a little more complicated than it might have been, because the electrician was fitting our new sidelights and study light, and Dot needed to supervise the operation! But it all worked out very well. Oliver also did a lot of construction work on the beach involving sand and flint, and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

The same day Dot had a blood test for cholesterol, which meant she had to be at the doctor’s by 8.30am. No need for an alarm clock – nor on Thursday, when Oliver woke before 6am. We went to see Aunt Ethel in the morning (Oliver declining the offer of a bus ride), and headed back to Caddington at about 3pm. We stopped for a drink just over halfway, and I managed to block the PIN on my Goldfish card at the petrol station. (Unlocked today at a machine at Reepham). Lots of traffic on the approach to Caddington, but not as much as earlier, when David had rung to say he had been stuck in traffic twice on the way to pick up Amy from nursery. Apparently the M1 had been shut for a couple of hours, and everything was spilling off it. Shutting motorways should be illegal.

Returned home after evening meal and bath (grandchildren, not us), arriving back in Norwich about 11pm. Never felt more like going straight to bed. Oliver was a lot of fun to have around, though. He has developed a lot of skill at chess, and his drawing and computer handling are both exceptionally good. He can also read really well for a five-year-old.

Yesterday spent serious time sorting our the NCMC website, as well as catching up in other areas. Watched quite a bit of television in the evening. This morning we went to Reepham to get our hair cut and had lunch as usual at Kerri’s. The chain and flex for the light in the kitchen has been lengthened, and Dot is even now knocking on the ceiling to see where we can insert the screw. Don’t ask.

8 April 2008

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A motley crew on a snowy April Sunday. For the record, left to right: Brian and Jacqui Quentin, Dot, Sue and Bob Bushell , Ruthie (Ann) and Ken Caves and yours truly, all gathered at Leatherhead Golf Club for the ruby anniversary of Bob and Sue, who was at teacher training college with Dot, as were Jacqui and Ruthie. As I often visited the college, Wall Hall, and the house where they lived – Otterspool – I’ve also known Ken and Bob for some time (very intermittently), but Brian is Jacqui’s second husband, and it was the first time I’d met him. Also there were Liz and Pete Stabler, who were also a couple back in Wall Hall days. They had just left when this picture was taken.

Quite an epic journey to reach Leatherhead. We came down the previous day (Saturday), and got stuck in a huge, extremely slow-moving queue on the A11. It took us an hour to go about four miles, because the road had been closed south of the Stansted turn, and everyone was merging into a single lane up to the traffic lights. We took the road less travelled – a B-road going south-east, and Dot navigated us across some of the lesser known parts of Essex, like Chipping Ongar and South Weald, with the occasional piece of intuition from myself, until we hit the M25 at the A12 junction. From there, surprisingly, it was plain sailing, and we reached Junction 9 without incident, Dot sirecting us by an interesting route to the Woodlands Hotel. The entire journey took four and a half hours – long enough normally for us to get to Hastings and halfway back.

Very smart hotel in country house style, with a friendly and efficient staff with no discernible English ancestry. Had a meal in the Brasserie in the evening. Expensive and good-average food. On the down side, the five terrestrial TV channels were unavailable (“aerial affected by storm”), so we were stuck with Sky News, which didn’t make me want to get Sky at all. Talk about repetitious. Talk about repetitious. Talk about repetitious. And in the morning the hot water was lukewarm (“maintenance are looking at it”) till after breakfast. You had the feeling that on a good day it might have been exceptional, but it wasn’t a good day.

Nevertheless, it was comfortable, and looked great after the forecast heavy snowfall that greeted us the following morning. Got some rather good pictures of the surrounding gardens. Still plenty of snow around when we left at about 11.45 (after coffee in the lounge – £6.50) to travel the short distance to the Leatherhead Golf Club, which we soon found after a brief excursion up the wrong road. Very pleasant afternoon there with a good carvery meal and wine which left me on the brink, and by the time we left at about 5pm, the snow had amazingly almost vanished. The M25 turned out to be straightforward, and we reached Caddington at 6.15pm.

It’s been very cold for several days now, and it was still very chilly when we left Caddington with Oliver yesterday just after lunch, arriving home after a straightforward journey at about 3.15pm. A former student, Sally Campbell, called in just after 4pm to pick up a reference I’d written for her, and in the evening I won a game of chess against a guy from Dereham – Oliver had been rooting for me, after he played me in the afternoon and “beat” me. He’s very keen on it at the moment. He’s also brilliant on the computer, picking up anything I show him very quickly. He produced a page of comic art in quick time this morning, though I wasn’t in the room at the time.

5 April 2008

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A not-very-good picture of our church music group in rehearsal last Sunday, featuring Dot on violin, Phil on guitar and Matthew (hidden) on piano. When not on camera, I was on guitar. I’ve been trying to take a few pictures to go on the Norwich Christian Meditation Centre website, with limited success. Inside shots of a large area like a church hall are quite difficult.

We got rid of far more books than I anticipated – probably over 100 – and also managed to extricate the small bookcase from its inaccessible position under the stairs and reposition it on the landing. This opens up more space for books and also looks quite nice. Good week for clearing out: Dot spent yesterday afternoon doing the garden after the arrival of our £35-a-year brown wheelie bin for garden rubbish. She’s pretty much filled it. I’ve also got through a lot of the large pile of newspapers and magazines that were waiting to be read, and my in tray is looking almost manageable. We now also have all the new lights ready to be installed: Dot has phoned the electrician, but is pessimistic about whether he will ring back as he promised to fix a date.

I have booked a hotel in York for later this month, when we are planning to see a play and spend a day looking round the city. I’ve also booked the train tickets, and on that one journey alone have made the purchase of our senior railcards worthwhile. Today we head south for Surrey, where we are spending the night in a hotel before attending the ruby wedding celebration of one of Dot’s college friends at Leatherhead Golf Club. A little bit worried about this, because after two or three days of warm and very pleasant weather, snow is forecast again – especially in the area we will be tomorrow when we travel from Leatherhead to Caddington to stay the night before bringing Oliver back home with us. It’s rather critical we get home by 4pm Monday, because I’ve written a reference for one of my former students, who is picking it up from me then: like most former students, she is trying to meet a deadline that is almost impossible.

On Thursday after taking the books to a charity shop (and picking up our new sofa cushions from Multiyork and taking some glass to the recycling centre at Waitrose) we paid our monthly visit to Park Farm for lunch – and a new ear-piercing event for Dot, who had been having trouble with the previous attempt. Then in Norwich we revisited one of our banks (a former building society) to sort out the chaos that had ensued from our previous visit. I think we’re OK now, subject to their updating my ISA without incident. In the evening a lengthy PCC meeting, at which potential conflict over use of buildings was averted by a brilliant and inspired speech from Paul on what church buildings were actually for.

Today Dot is meeting Anne in the city at 11am before “rushing” back to leave for Surrey. Anne’s daughter has just got engaged, and our Italian friend Eugenia has had a baby girl – Francesca. Almost as excitingly, our free national bus passes have arrived, together with the train tickets for York. There will be no holding us now.

2 April 2008

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Dot on a little-known bridge over the Wensum, halfway along the riverside path from the Gibraltar Arms to Sweet Briar Road – our Sunday afternoon walk. Now we’re halfway through another week, and the weather is almost springlike. I’ve just written another piece for my website and made some changes to both the InPrint site and the Meditation Centre site (still in development). I have four websites to keep up to date, which is proving quite difficult, although it will become easier when they are all established. Maybe.

Yesterday Dot and I travelled down to Metfield in Suffolk to see a friend with whom Dot is discussing expanding their “thinking skills for children” activities. While they went into detail I took a three-mile walk through the surrounding countryside and at the end of it found a house which looked as if it might suit us. Nice village, but I’m not sure it has enough pluses: for instance there are no mountains, and it’s no nearer the coast than Norwich is. In the evening we had our usual Tuesday group round – plus one, who said what a nice house we lived in. Which it is, of course.

In between these two events I went to see the nurse, who looked into my ears and said that if she syringed them, she might perforate the eardrum. I asked her how many ears she had syringed, and she said: “Hundreds.” I asked her how many eardrums she had perforated, and she said: “None.” Still, I didn’t go for it. This desire to warn patients about every conceivable thing that could go wrong is clearly having the desired effect.

On Monday I spent a couple of hours with a friend from church showing her how to put a piece on the website. As she had a Windows laptop, this proved a bit of a tortuous experience, but we got through it all right. She has a lovely little house on King Street, in the section that has been done up.

This morning Dot has taken her aunt up to the hospital and left her in the city. We are planning to go through our books this afternoon and get rid of as many as possible, which may not be many, but we shall try to be ruthless. Have just read a brilliant novel by a Swede called Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

30 March 2008

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Yesterday we swapped the new sidelights for the sitting room, which had proved to clash with the new paint, and decided to go for a walk. Earlier it had been bright and promising, but by the time we reached Hemsby it had grown rather dull, and it was very windy. We negotiated quite deep water at the entrance to the car park and then walked along the valley and up into the dunes, where I took this picture with my mobile phone. I hadn’t really gone prepared: I think I thought we’d be going home before walking, so I had no camera and the wrong shoes. We walked back along the valley, and not long after we got back to the car it started raining.

As it was a day for taking things back, we called at Sainsbury’s and swapped a bright blue bath mat for something browner.

I had been feeling pretty brown the previous day – very down, in fact. It had rained all day and been extremely grey. Several things got on top of me, and it just felt like a wasted day – not part of real life. Strange, because the previous evening we had had a lovely time, going out for a birthday curry with Heather and Sam, who was 14, and some of their friends. Excellent food and company, and the weather had been good enough to walk to and from Ali Tandoori’s on Magdalen Street.

Today the weather was much improved. It could almost be described as warm, which was appropriate as it was the first day of British Summer Time. Happily I remembered to put the clocks forward, unlike LD, who arrived at church with her guitar and looked astonished to find that the service was well under way. It’s always nice when someone does that (he said sadistically). One day I will do it myself. Anyway, we decided to go for another walk – down by the river beyond Heigham Street – a path I’d discovered a couple of weeks ago after visiting the chiropractor. Quite a pleasant three-mile walk (back along Marriott’s Way) but although the river level has dropped dramatically, the edges and fields are still very wet.

In the evening almost forgot to go to Ambient Wonder, but made it in time. Seemed to go well: Annette liked my poems, which is always nice.

26 March 2008

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As well as snow over Easter, we had flooding too. Here is Oliver at Pull’s Ferry in Norwich, where the River Wensum came over the pathway.

I stopped writing yesterday before I’d quite finished, because we had to dash out to a meeting of our church ministry team – beautifully chaired by Bridget, who not only created an agenda on the spot but got through it in good time. The lunch at the Red Lion on Sunday was good, although hardly anyone got through it, except Joe and Ilona, who devoured some very English fish and chips. They were on good form and clearly enjoying their holiday despite the weather – or maybe because of it: Joe said it was colder in Germany. Afterwards our family went to St Augustine’s, where I had promised to clear up, but found it had been done. Instead the grandchildren got a lot of pleasure out of running up and down the hall. Clearly what we need is a running service. I must suggest it to the vicar.

Monday was the snowiest day, and Oliver and Amy had fun outside with Nana (see yesterday’s picture) before (a) it melted (b) they got so cold they had to come in. Later we debated what kind of expedition we might try, but ended up with a short walk up to the Red Lion and back on the Riverside Path (see today’s picture). The wind was bitterly cold, and we were glad to get back.

Over the weekend Oliver showed off his expertise on the computer. He now has an account on mine and can initiate chats and send e-mails, among other things. When they all went home they encountered a blizzard on the A11 just outside Norwich and nearly turned back (about 7pm), but carried on and found much calmer weather beyond Thetford, arriving safely. Oliver, who fell over and banged his head before Easter, is still feeling a bit fragile, which is probably the result of mild concussion.

On Tuesday I cooked a chili con carne for Ruth and Steve, two friends who have a new baby. We took it round, admired their house and baby, and then visited the nearby lighting store, where we bought four sidelights and two other hanging lights – one for the study and one for the kitchen. On unpacking them today, Dot has decided the sidelights are wrong (blueish and not white, as we thought), and so they will go back. Ho, hum. They were the only ones I felt sure about.

The weather is still unpleasant – grey, cold and damp. Dot is about to go in the city to meet some friends. I decided to stay in and get some stuff done for Sunday’s Ambient Wonder. Besides, the vicar is coming at 2pm to discuss the church website.

25 March 2008

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Grandchildren Oliver and Amy gang up on Dot outside our house over the Easter weekend, which was very cold indeed. Snow came and went, there was high wind and it was generally unpleasant. Nevertheless, it was full of pleasant things.

On Maundy Thursday Dot and I went to a meal at St Luke’s which was combined with a kind of meditation event afterwards. About 50 present, and food by Suzanne and Ali – therefore excellent. No-one was allowed to help themselves, so those who had perfected the art of looking hungry, or were sitting next to a generous and perceptive person, did best.

On Good Friday our family came to visit for an extended weekend. In the evening Julia and Barbara, a couple of friends, came round to share a meal with us, and on the Saturday I was involved with the Paston Medieval Fair and Open Day in St Margaret’s Church, sharing responsibility for a poetry and print workshop with Annette Rolston on behalf of InPrint. Had to get there by 9am. As I passed through Walcott, the sea was very, very rough and spraying the road. Chaos at the church as cars and vans unloaded in a situation that was totally unsuited – pretty medieval in fact. Added to the mix were mud and a gale-force, bitter wind.

Despite the conditions, visitors numbered over 500 – possibly 800, someone said. Annette and I were constantly busy, mainly with children wh0 wanted to print themselves a bookmark or letter/poem. Rupert turned up at the outset and helped us set up; Caroline and Lisa, with her family, came at the end. Mid-afternoon Dot turned up with the rest of our family – extremely brave of them – and Oliver and Amy printed some pictures – or at least Oliver did, and Amy chose some shapes to go on a bookmark, which Annette printed for her later. While all this was going on strange medieval events were taking place inside and outside the church – dancing and rabbit-skinning, to name but two. One particularly brave medieval group pitched camp in the graveyard.

Packing up took for ever, with a bit of hassle from the locals, who wanted their groundsheet back and their table in the vestry. But in the end I got back to Norwich before the others, who had been visiting Jessie in North Walsham.

No rest on Easter Sunday, when I organised our church service. Went quite well, but overran badly, which made us a little late for the second major event of the day – a family meal at the Red Lion in Eaton (a few yards from where my mother was born, as it happens). As well as the six of us there were Phil and Joy, Birgit and Joe, and Birgit’s brother Joe and his wife Ilona, together with her mother – these last three on holiday from Germany.

19 March 2008

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This is a picture just received of three of my cousin Howard’s four daughters: they are Beverley, Charmaine and Jeanette, and the picture was taken at the engagement party for Bev’s son Leonard (named after his grandfather, presumably) and his girlfriend Lauren in South Africa. I’ve met Bev recently, of course, and am e-mailing Jeanette on a regular basis. Nice to keep in touch with a branch of the family I’ve known little about.

The hectic life continues. On Monday I took Andrew back to Coventry (about 300 miles round trip), with some heavy traffic entailing two diversions. Then in the evening I played chess and got a good draw against our B team’s top board, which was quite pleasing.

The weather’s turned quite cold, and I’ve been busy preparing for the Easter weekend and for the Paston open day on Saturday, which promises to be Siberian, given that the church it will be held in is icy at the best of times. The forecast indicates that the best of times weatherwise is not any time soon: there is even a risk of snow. Ho, hum. Despite all this, I’ve managed a couple of nice walks in the last couple of days. Yesterday, after visiting the chiropractor for a cursory look at my back, which has been good for some time now, I walked along Heigham Street and found a path by the river leading out to Sweet Briar Lane. I never knew this existed, and in the circumstances it was quite enchanting. The river (Wensum) was very high, with some flooding which no doubt covered a multitude of sins. Some lovely shades of green, swirling water, and nobody about. There was a conserved marsh – unfortunately too muddy to walk round – and the sun kept peeping through, glinting off the water. After reaching the ring road, I walked up it, looking for the long-distance footpath that I knew was there. When I found it there was no access, but I scrambled down a steep back on to it, and followed it back to my starting point. Just when you think you know the city, it reveals something unexpected.

Today we had our hair cut at Reepham, and I walked nearly to Salle and back, then revisited it while Dot was being seen to and spent some time looking round Salle Church, which is huge. I then drove a circle of a few miles through delightful countryside – again rather unexpected, as it isn’t on the coast or near a river. But it was very open, with long views, and quiet. Even the huge ploughed fields had a strange kind of beauty. Good walking country. We both said we wouldn’t mind living in the area. I met Dot for lunch in our usual spot – Kerri’s Barn, and then drove back into Norwich, where I continued with my preparations while Dot did a big shop for what promises to be a very busy weekend. She still hasn’t quite finished her inspection report and has just shot off to Gillingham, for a governors’ committee meeting.

16 March 2008

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Andrew taking a look at our parents’ new gravestone on Saturday morning. An unusual aspect of the picture is that it shows the Rosary open to High Green following the demolition of the fence by high winds. We had a good look round the cemetery and found several friends’ graves.

After lunch we drove to Hemsby, which we found shrouded by a thick mist. There can’t be a village anywhere more totally desecrated by cheap and tatty holiday development, but still you can walk along the valley toward Winterton and find yourself quite isolated in an area of wild beauty. The feeling of isolation was heightened by the mist, and as it was not at all cold, the walk we did was very pleasant. We climbed over on to the beach to find that what used to be gentle dunes had become a sand cliff practically all along the beach between the two villages. I still find the area magical, including the Glebe area behind the second row of dunes where we used to holiday when I was a child. We looked for the two bungalows we used to stay in, and may have found them – but there have been quite substantial changes, including a tarmac road where there used to be an earth track. I remember the greengrocer’s truck coming round regularly.

In the evening we went down to the Nelson for a meal, which was very pleasant, though I think the restaurant is aimed at a somewhat younger clientele – and of course at the residents at the Premier Inn, which adjoins it. Not much we could do today outside because of the abysmally wet and unpleasant weather, so we watched a couple of videos. Norwich and Spurs both lost this weekend, and Wales deservedly won the rugby grand slam. Delighted to see Hamilton took the Australian grand prix.

Last week Dot did a school inspection at Eccles, near Attleborough, and the governors took her for lunch – at her cousin’s restaurant: Peter Beales Bistro. I’ve been busy devising and writing invitations to a party we’re holding in August to mark our ruby wedding anniversary – this one for friends rather than relatives. Also writing an Easter Communion service. All very hectic. Oh, yes – I also went for a pre-op check-up at the hospital and found I was probably fit enough to withstand general anaesthetic. Of course by the time they actually administer it – April 16, incidentally, and not the 17th as previously reported – it could be a different matter.

Ruth and Steve have had a baby girl – Beatrice Norah.

11 March 2008

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A rather nice picture of Dot – one of many I took in the garden the other day. Is it surprising that the woman in the bank today asked if we were over 50? Well yes, it’s extremely surprising in my case, but she was trying to persuade us to open a new account. Not so surprising in Dot’s case.

A very busy few days. What happened to those long hours of relaxation that retirement was supposed to provide? On Saturday we had two social events – the first at Hingham, where a former EDP colleague was bidding farewell to a few friends before departing to do some work in the Seychelles. Disappointingly good buffet, so I couldn’t sit back and ignore it. Ralph and Lynne were the hosts, and most of the guests were sub-editors or former sub-editors (or their spouses): Graham and Glenys Bradshaw, now resident in Leicestershire; Bruce and Cynthia Robinson (Sheringham), Robin and Shelagh Limmer (Denton), Brian Caldecott and Tricia (Old Catton); Simon and Anna Procter (Hockham); Tracey Bagshaw (Ormesby); and two of Lynne’s friends. Really enjoyable afternoon. In the evening we were at Menita and Regis’ home in Norwich, with a cosmopolitan bunch including three French, two Italians and a Brazilian, plus someone born in Glasgow (hang on, that was Dot). Excellent continental food, as you might expect, and some nice wine, as you also might expect, but I had to restrict myself severely, as I was driving. I could pick up quite a bit of the French, but when Menita started talking to her Italian friend, and I had to give up. Interesting listening to a conversation where you can’t understand a single word. Regis’ sister, who came from Lyon with her husband Gilles, wanted advice on what to call her upmarket interior design company. Apparently it’s quite chic in France to have an English name, which has to be the height of irony, since the opposite is the case here.

There was another meal at church on Sunday, but I managed to resist the trifle, largely because trifle is not high on my list of favourite foods. Watched too much television again, taking in the odd FA Cup tie and some rugby, in which Scotland beat England in a less than enthralling game (I actually didn’t watch that till yesterday) and Ireland lost to Wales.

There was quite a storm on Sunday night, though it was less severe here than in the south-west. Still, extremely wet and windy: not the sort of weather you’d want to be out in. It lingered a bit into Monday, but I braved the elements to get some website training at the vicarage. Most of it was pretty straightforward, but I was hampered a bit by the fact that the system involved didn’t run very well on either Safari or Firefox, which is not too impressive for a system nowadays. There were four of us learning it, including the vicar, who is clearly happier training than being trained! I think I’m going to be moderating the site when it goes live, though it’s going to be difficult keeping any sort of control.

In the afternoon we eventually managed to bring the motor insurance horror to an end by visiting a local broker, telling the story and showing him the documents. He fixed us up with a new policy at quite a reasonable price: it was such a relief to be able to talk to someone face to face. I wrote letters to Direct Line, who had cancelled our policy, and to Zurich, who had messed us about for two or three weeks and caused the problem in the first place. I hope that will be the end of it.

An amazing number of friends and relatives have been having problems recently. Must be something in the air. I had a really bad night again last night, for no apparent reason. I now have a date for my biopsy – April 17 which, coincidentally, is my father’s birthday. Tomorrow I have to go to the hospital to check if I am healthy enough to lose consciousness.

We went up into the city earlier today to switch Dot’s ISA to online and, as I anticipated, couldn’t avoid opening a current account there after the adviser told us how wonderful it was. I try to keep financial matters as simple as possible, but it’s getting more and more difficult to do so.

The weather improved for a while earlier today, but it’s now got worse again, and gales are threatened in a different part of the country. We may get away with it a second time.