All posts by Tim Lenton

23 October 2007

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This is Alderfen Broad, where we walked just over a week ago. But this last weekend was even more special: Amy’s third birthday.

We arrived at Caddington about noon, to be greeted by two delightful grandchildren. One of the great things about grandchildren is that they’re always so excited to see you. We shall make the most of this before it wears off. Already they seem quite grown up: Oliver a mature five and Amy an enthusiastic three. She got a giant doll’s house for her birthday from her parents, and we bought her a couple of dolls for it. Oliver also bought her a doll. Amy can’t get enough dolls. She also got a CD player; now both of them have one, which makes things quite noisy, as of course one can’t have it on without the other wanting theirs on.

In the evening we watched England lose to South Africa in the rugby world cup final, which wasn’t altogether surprising, but it was a much closer game than might have been anticipated. Added to Lewis Hamilton losing the world championship the following day, and it wasn’t a great British sporting weekend. Norwich and Spurs also lost.

Julia and Dave came over on the Sunday and we had a second party, with the cake making a reappearance, complete with candles. We left early to organise the evening’s Ambient Wonder event, which went surprisingly well, with about 20 people turning up and a variety of things to do.

Yesterday Dot reorganised the garage, and I cleared out my rooom, which was satisfying. Later I lost a chess game, which wasn’t. Today I have been through lots of old papers that have been lying in my room for a long time. Some interesting stuff and a lot of rubbish, now sorted.

19 October 2007

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The garage is completed, and looking good. The picture was taken about an hour or so before completion, with Colin just having to finish the painting of the floor. Very nice to have it done: Dot can’t wait to get out there and rearrange everything, so further pictures will undoubtedly follow. Hard to contain your excitement, I know. Everything has been painted and tidied up, with strategic wood and shelving installed and a proper door into the boiler room.

While this was going on, I discovered that what seemed a minor problem with my teeth turned into a crown replacement and root canal work, which will cost about as much as the garage. At the moment I have a dressing on the tooth, where it will remain until the fateful day, November 12.

I managed to overcome my excitement by going with Dot to Great Bircham in West Norfolk, where she was carrying out a church school inspection. We stayed overnight in a B & B which was quite nice without being overwhelming, and had dinner on Tuesday night at the King’s Head Hotel opposite. It was absolutely delicious. We had hurried over there in the rain and had to wait about three quarters of an hour before the restaurant opened, but it was worth it: the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and the chef top-class. I had beautifully done duck breast after a starter of probably the best ceasar salad I’ve ever had. Good wine too.

The following morning our “private” bathroom was invaded by another guest. I was about to contest the word “private” with the owner when she apologised for the other guest not knowing where her own bathroom was and using ours instead.

While Dot was inspecting I did an eight-mile walk taken from the EDP, some of which was on the Peddar’s Way. I hadn’t realised quite how heavy and prolonged the rain had been the night before, and there were a number of tricky points where I had to skirt standing water with the aid of my long pole (first time I’d used it). Halfway point was a tiny village called Fring, with a charming duckpond and a church on a hill. The whole walk was a bit up and down – unusual for Norfolk.

As I’d neglected to take any kind of sustenance, I was pretty rired out by the time I got back to the King’s Head, where I’d parked my car. Had a pint of Adnams (the sort of thing I do only if I’m very thirsty) and plaice and chips with mushy peas in the bar. Could have done with somewhere to clean up and have a bath, but of course there was nowhere available. Went for a short drive and then met Dot at the school around 4.45pm. We drove more or less straight home.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on my page for Monday, plus putting the finishing touches to some poems, and Dot went down to Gillingham for a fairly brief governors’ meeting while I cooked the meal (which she’d prepared). Today I helped Colin out with unloading his lorry then made sure everything was ready for Ambient Wonder on Sunday. Dot drove out to her aunt’s to get a present for Amy, whose birthday is on Saturday. We head for Caddington tomorrow morning, armed with a pavlova and some wine.

15 October 2007

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Well, it turned out to be Swardeston Church, which I realised just in time. Very pleasant evening: concert by a string quartet, with three poems from me in the middle. Seemed to go well: sold a few leaflets and a couple of books afterwards to benefit the festival fund. Had a drink in the refreshment are and chatted to a couple of people. Nice atmosphere – good weather too – and to cap it all we saw the rugby without knowing the score: England in the final after beating France. They’ll play South Africa next weekend.

Met a woman at Swardeston – Grace Smith – who knew my aunt Dorothy when she was school secretary at Lakenham, before she became matron at Norwich School. She also knew Frank and knows Josephine. She told me my grandmother stayed at Brundall some time during the war, which I didn’t know. Gave her a copy of my poetry book with the poem about Dorothy in it (Coltishall Hall).

Nobel Peace Prize won by Al Gore and the IPCC, which is a joke. Might as well have given him the Nobel Prize for physics. Obviously releasing a film full of scientific holes and making pots of money out of climate change is peaceful in some way. At least it wasn’t the Nobel Prize for Truth.

Spent the evening with the Cracknells on Friday discussing theology over a chicken takeaway and wine, and on Saturday (before the poetry reading) had a brief Creative Day at Bally, though only Rupert, Tonia ands Joan were present. However, got Joan’s password and put her on the web site with David’s help. I’m writing some poetry to go with Joan’s new pieces for the PVM boxes.

Meanwhile our lovely granddaughter Amy gave us all a scare by falling off a high walkway at Woodside and landing on her head. Big bruise, but she didn’t lose consciousness. On Saturday evening she was taken to the A & E on the advice of the doctor after her neck seemed stiff. But it seems she’s OK. She’s three this coming weekend.

Weather has been quite mild. I led the service on Sunday, and in the afternoon Dot and I went to Alderfen Broad, a little-known spot approached down a bumpy track with a tiny car park at the end. No siognposts, so I guess they’re not actually promoting it. Quite unprepossessing but lovely spot: peaceful. We walked down some pathways and looked at a cormorant, some coot and a grebe or two from the hide. Also five unidentified ducks of some kind.

Today work on the garage proper started. Colin took away loads of stuff and came back to fill some holes, make a door work and do a lot of painting – ceiling and walls. Tomorrow Dot and I head for Great Bircham, where we stay the night before her inspection on Wednesday. Hopefully it will be nice enough for me to go for a walk.

Tonight I won a game of chess on top board – about time – and the team won 3.5-0.5, with the help of a default.

Picture is of the lovely Amy on a different climbing frame, but at the same place.

11 October 2007

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At his official birthday party Oliver showed his prowess on the roped climbing frame, going over the top successfully.

Yesterday Dot and I had our haircut at Reepham, and I went for a two-mile walk on a track round the outside of the village but off Marriott’s Way. Very enjoyable. Dot is still immersed in sorting the garage out and (today) doing a thorough job on the house, with occasional input from me. The mail strike is over, but I still felt I couldn’t risk sending the cheque for Andrew’s care by first class post, so I sent it special delivery.

Weather is quite good. Tonight we’re out to one of Dot’s school colleague’s for a meal. I’ve been improving and printing a small leaflet on Edith Cavell, featuring my poem Edith and the Glacier. Will probably read it at Mulbarton Church on Saturday night during a concert (and during the England-France rugby game, annoyingly).

9 October 2007

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How can it be a week since my last post? Probably something to do with the Royal Mail strike, which is on its last day, with more promised. Or maybe it’s because life is just so busy. One of the exciting events in the last seven days was Oliver’s “official” birthday party at Woodland Farm, attended by ten of his friends from school. The picture shows him surrounded by female admirers, a member of Woodland staff and parts of his Dad and grandfather (the other one).

Dot and I functioned as minders, but with Vicky’s organisation, nothing was going to go wrong – unlike another party at the same place, when two children had inadvertently been left in the Playbarn by the organising mum. As the place is so well organised, they were in no danger – in fact they didn’t know anything was amiss. Ho, hum.

This happened on Sunday. On the Saturday, after England has amazingly managed to beat Australia at rugby (almost as amazing as France beating New Zealand the same evening), Oliver got so enthusiastic about the game that we had to go outside and play it. I managed to trip over Amy’s trampoline while going for a high ball and fell heavily on to it, doing myself some damage in the ribs area. Very painful, and it was hard to move round that evening, but I was walking OK by the party – to my surprise. It’s still unpleasant if I get into the wrong position, and turning over in bed is tricky, but on the whole it seems to be healing all right. I may be out of the World Cup Final, though.

Meanwhile, Norwich are in the relegation area after six straight losses and no goals. The manager is considering his position and doesn’t seem to have the energy or enthusiasm required to lift the team.

We are also in the midst of a garage re-creation programme. Today Annette and Mike came to liberate the chesterfield (and stayed for lunch), and Dot and I took books to the charity shop and rubbish to the tip. Needless to say, we chose the wettest day for weeks to do all this. Colin W came on Friday to look the place over and make some suggestions: he will be starting next week by removing whatever’s left in there and then making good the walls, painting everything in sight – including the floor – and erecting shelving. We’re going to put a few things on Freecycle. I have piles of things to plough through in the way of old newspapers, other papers, books etc. We’ve spent about £50 on plastic boxes.

Last night I lost another chess game to someone graded well below me. I had the advantage quite a lot of the time, but he refused to make a significant mistake, and eventually I was reduced to winning a piece, for which he got a lot of play, and I didn’t have enough time to deal with his threats.

Also yesterday we visited North Walsham to sort out Mum and Dad’s grave refurbishment. Stonemason was an extremely nice bloke who admired the picture of my great-great-grandparents’ headstone in Harlestone, Northamptonshire. Very helpful about what we want done. Followed this by dropping off Paston Letters book at Millfield School for Lucy, then visited J&F and the cemetery.

On Sunday we’d come back early from Caddington to front the Ambient Wonder “Magic of Words” preparation session. Plenty of ideas from the small throng assembled, but I’m not looking forward to organising it all. However, the vicar rang today to say my work on the Developing Consciousness book might not be wasted – he now sees it as part of a DC pack, which is promising. He’s managed to get the Bishop very interested in the whole thing, and is trying to spread it to America. No, I’m not kidding. He’s a vicar with global ideas. He also wants me to get involved with developing the Meditation Centre website, which might be interesting.

2 October 2007

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An EDP picture of one of the PVM boxes. Today four of us – Rupert, Annette, Mike and I – installed the machine in Borders, the Chapelfield Mall bookshop, where it will be for two or three weeks. It looks pretty good and – a real plus – is working.

It’s my grandmother’s birthday. She would have been 127 today.

Dot has been away for two days at a conference in Derbyshire, which as far as I can make out is about how to run Christian charities, or run them better. Before she went we had the Stedmans for tea, and Dot cooked scones and rock cakes, which was a treat. Interesting talk with them about how views change over the years.

Then on Saturday we went to see one of Dot’s colleagues from her early years in London. AB now lives in Bury St Edmunds, and we hadn’t seen her for some years, so we went for lunch on Saturday. Had a really good time and in depth discussions about life in general. Stayed longer than we’d intended, which meant we didn’t have all that much time before going to Bergh Apton in the evening for dinner with another couple of couples from the education world. It’s all eat.

Have been busy catching up with stuff since Dot has been away and am seeing a stonemason on Monday about replacing my parents’ headstone. Today and yesterday have spent quite a lot of time on InPrint stuff and have just completed another poster for a machine that’s going in a Norwich pub. It doesn’t work properly, so we’re making a few bo0xes available free and inviting £2 donations while redirecting them to the real thing at Borders! You can see that working…

Did an interview with some web writer about the PVM this afternoon, and the results should be available soon on http://www.lifesignsnetwork.net/index.aspx I hope.

Andrew seems to be settling in at The Langleys and has a mobile phone. Long talk with him today – or rather, long listen. He has been getting out and looking at things, which is good.

28 September 2007

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Amy showing off her party dress. Picture by her father.

A relatively quiet week. On Monday I was bought lunch by Jo at The Forum as part of her bid to persuade me to get involved with a Raising Aspirations project for Year 8 boys in North and West Norfolk. I agreed as long as I wasn’t involved in organising it, so I may be trying to tell them something about journalism at the UEA in November. Well, it was quite a nice pizza.

Later I drew my chess game against Lowestoft. Should have won, but slipped up near the end.

On Tuesday we made an attempt to do Dot’s tax return, which proved more difficult than expected. However, we got as far as registering online, but then had to wait for her to be sent a password, which arrived today. So it’s still not done. In the evening we had our smallest ever Tuesday Group meal – three.

During the week we have been watching all the TV episodes so far of Heroes, which turns out to be surprisingly good. Now up to date.

Yesterday I spent most of the day on InPrint. I met Annette and Rupert at Bally at about 10.30, during which I got a rough idea of what was going on. Then I bought some paper and labels in the city and came home to about three hours’ computer work. I typed out some poems to box size, then did some logos for the boxes, then worked out how to print out labels. I invented some new “warnings” for the boxes. Earlier in the week I had designed a flyer for the PVM and sent some publicity blurb to Annette to be passed on to Borders bookshop in Chapelfield Mall, where we’re exhibiting the PVM next week.
Back at Ballys I guillotined the poems to fit – and returned today with the Warning labels. It may be coming together.

Oh, and this week I’ve written six or seven poems.

Dot spent yesterday taking her aunt to Buck Brigg, where she had a truly wonderful roast lunch. Envious? Moi? And as I write we’re waiting for the Stedmans, who are coming for tea and scones. And rock cakes.

24 September 2007

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This a picture taken by my son David of his son Oliver, who is clearly showing promise of solving Spurs’ striker problem. Nice balance, ball control, concentration – it’s all there. Meanwhile, England did avoid losing to Samoa, but Norwich City look candidates for relegation. They lost 2-0 to Wolves on Saturday and had two men sent off. Spurs scraped a win against Bolton (away) and could have done with Oliver up front.

Artists M & A came for a meal on Saturday night, and we spent some time discussing South Africa, where some of A’s family live. I also showed her how to use the InPrint calendar and e-mail facility. The InPrint site is on the brink of fulfilling its potential, with lots of news coming up about the poetry vending machines being placed in a couple of new spots, including the biggest bookshop in Norwich. (www.inprintartsandpoetry.co.uk)

Amy2, daughter of Vicky2, was dedicated at church on Sunday, with family visitors from far and wide. Lovely occasion: Vicky asked me to take family pictures, so I hope they come out all right. It was a beautiful day, and after the meal we went for a walk through the Rosary and to the nearby exotic garden, which we found because V2’s family told us it was there. It comes to something when you live about half a mile from an attraction and have to be told it’s there by people who live in Yorkshire (and occasionally South Africa). £4 entry, but probably worth it. Some unusual plants, original layout on the side of a hill and a splendid tree house. Always something interesting round the corner, including V2’s family, who must have thought we were stalking them.

In the evening Ambient Wonder on art, which featured (as well as some thought-provoking visual stuff) Bridget’s magnificent buns and juice.

22 September 2007

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This is a special spot for us – about a third of the way down Gley Ey in Scotland. A couple of larch trees guard the ruins of an old settlement in a valley that was once quite well populated. On our first visit to the Glen this is as far as we got; this year we went all the way.

Andrew went into his new home, The Langleys, on Monday, and so far all seems well. Reports from the manager and from his social worker are good. On the same day we had our central heating serviced and discovered it needed a powerflush, which is what I thought you got anyway when you reached about my age. As Dot and I are both over 60, we qualify for a £300 discount. So clearly if a General Election is called I will vote for Mr Brown. Probably would do anyway.

Lost my first chess game of the season – also on Monday – so I am at 50 per cent so far. Made a mistake in the opening and never really quite recovered, though it was close at one point. On Tuesday we had three new people at the weekly meal – 11 people altogether. And on Wednesday I went to Hull.

Furthest I’ve driven in a day, I think: well over 400 miles. Got there almost exactly on time after stopping for ten minutes for a sandwich. Start 8am, arrive noon. Saw all four trainees, who did better than I expected, and left at 5pm. Felt very tired but at first intended to head home down the shortest route, the A15 – as an experiment. But police had closed off the A15 for some reason, and I went back to the original route. Suddenly felt very tired and tried to get a room at the Doncaster services on the M18, but they were full. Had a burger instead – not very inspiring, but after a short walk I felt more like driving, and I headed south, with the intention of probably stopping for the night nearer home. But the driving was quite easy and I kept going until Wisbech, where I stopped for a toasted teacake and mug of tea. Waitress called me Darling, which was quite invigorating, and I made it the rest of the way by just after 10pm.

Since then I’ve had a filling replaced, pretty much painlessly, and written my page for the EDP. Took some clothes and other stuff to the charity shop (Break) with Dot on Friday. Last night I watched France hammer Ireland at rugby and today I’m about to watch England try and avoid losing to Samoa.

16 September 2007

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A view from the steep road into Pennan, where it looks as if the houses are actually in the sea. They’re not far off, of course.

Dramatic scenery, and drama at North Walsham too today. After calling at the cemetery we visited Dot’s aunt. Fortunately we got the cup of tea in fairly quickly, because we were suddenly all asked to evacuate the house – together with everyone else in the street. Apparently a guy in the parallel street (ie just behind Queensway) had turned all his gas on and was threatening to set light to it. We had to go to the nearby football ground and pavilion, which was opened up for us. There were probably a couple of hundred people there. Police vehicles descended on us from all over the county – or so it seemed – and for a couple of hours we had to amuse ourselves. Happily the weather was warm and sunny, and I had had the foresight to take a photo album with me. (I felt no-one had their full attention on it, though.)

I tried to persuade them to let me drive out, but the road was blocked by fire engines at the end, so we had to wait. The police were actually extremely friendly and not at all officious. I had visions of us being kept there for hours and was thinking about getting a train or taxi home, but after about 90 minutes one of the policemen told me they had taken the guy into custody, and it was just a question of making the property safe. This took a further half hour or so.

On the plus side, people got to meet their neighbours, and Dot got into conversation with someone whose brother – Billy Turner – was very friendly with her father.

Earlier at the cemetery we bumped into Sandra, Dot’s childhood friend, who we hadn’t seen for a while. Even earlier I preached at St Augustine’s to a small but select congregation. First time back there for five weeks.