All posts by Tim Lenton

17 February 2007

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Almost exactly 78 years ago, my mother gave this photograph of herself to my father. She was just 17; he was almost 16. I found it in a box full of my mother’s pictures. In pencil on the back is written: “Given to DL 17(or 11).2.29”

Romantic or what? We’re now building up to our holiday in Florida. Today we need to pack and get everything ready. Dot is doing the garden. I’ve just popped down to the InPrint studios, where Annette was teaching a workshop, and checked the newly cut keys work. They do, though one is tricky.

Yesterday we went out to North Walsham, took some flowers to the cemetery and saw Jessie and Frank. The day before I drove to Halesworth to see a trainee and then had a sandwich with Dot at Park Farm. On Valentine’s Day Dot and I had lunch at Cafe Rouge, and we bought me some swimming shorts afterwards. I’ve written my page for Feb 26: hope it’s Ok, but I should be on the internet in Florida in case it isn’t.

Today is sunny and warm out of the wind.

13 February 2007

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The other snow photo, taken the other day at Caddington: Amy looks on admiringly as her brother bravely throws a snowball at their father.

Of course it’s all gone now, and we’re back to a normal winter – chilly and wet. The weekend was very busy for us. I spent all day at InPrint studios, discussing the future and getting creative with ideas for exhibitions. Fun in a cold atmosphere – that’s the temperature, not the relationships. We had several heaters in the studios but didn’t quite get rid of the chill. I went so far as to buy fish and chips, which helped a bit. Studio 2 is leaking a bit.

In the evening Dot and I went to Heather S for a meal, and the three of us had a great evening putting the world to rights. On Sunday, as well as the morning service, Dot and I had to put together an Ambient Wonder event in the evening, which I was very unsure about – possibly because we hadn’t picked the theme, and not many people were offering to add bits. But the feedback was good – to my astonishment. Over 20 people there, several for the first time.

On Monday I had another chess win, amazingly, against a good player. I was turning out as a guest for the B team and played Trevor Ansell, of Fakenham. I was black, and the end of the game was quite exciting.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cd 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Be7 8 Qf3 Qc7 9 0-0-0 0-0 10 Bd3 Nc6 11 Nde2 b5 12 a3 Bb7 13 g4 b4 14 ab Nxb4 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 g5 Bxc3 17 Nxc3 d5!
18 e5 Rfc8 19 Qe2 Qa5 20 Kb1 d4 21 Ne4 Qa2+ 22 Kc1 Qa1+ 23 Kd2 Qxb2 24 Rb1 Qa3 25 Ra1 Na2 26 Rhg1 Qa5+ 27 c3 Rxc3! 28 Nf6+ (Desperation. Nxc3 loses immediately, but Kd1 makes it a little more difficult for Black) …. Kf8 29 Nh7+ Ke7 30 Rgb1 Rc1+ 0-1 It’s mate next move.

Today it’s a little brighter, and we had three adults and three children for lunch. Very tasty.

9 February 2007

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Yes, it’s been wintry recently. Not so much in Norwich, where we’ve had a little snow which melted fairly quickly; but in much of the rest of the country there have been quite heavy falls, as can be seen from the picture of my grandson (left) with the snowman he built – possibly with a little help from his Dad and sister. This is in Bedfordshire, and much of the Midlands and West have caught it. Here in Norwich it’s been bitterly cold, but now it’s raining. Warnings of ice on the roads, but fortunately I don’t have far to go tomorrow.

Today I did actually get out of the house and walked back from the plumbing shop – about two and a half miles with one or two detours, including a non-stop climb of Gas Hill – always a good test of how fit I am. Quite surprising, really.

The plumbing shop visit was to pick up tap inserts to repair the bathroom sink taps, which had been broken by a visitor. For reference, I hammered the insert into the tap head, then pushed the tap head on to the shaft. The shop suggested doing it the other way round, but it proved impossible. It’s working at the moment. I don’t think they really knew, though they were very helpful – for instance in getting the old insert out of the tap head.

Saw A on the way home – her father has had a massive stroke and is in a bad way.

Dot went to Watton in the snow yesterday, but it wasn’t too bad. Vicky has been in Hull and had a tricky journey back to Nottingham, where she spent the night. David had been going to come to Norwich to discuss the website(s), but he had to look after the children yesterday, and the weather was still dodgy today. So we had a webcam session.

During the last couple of days I’ve also written my page for Monday and written a couple of poems for tomrrow, which is InPrint’s Creative Day. We’re hoping to get well on the way towards preparing a presentation for the Welborne Arts Festival. I’ve also put together an Ambient Wonder event (www.ambientwonder.org) that Dot and I are curating on Sunday. The idea is for loads of people to come up with ideas and we sort them out, but there wasn’t much input, and I’m not very good at delegating. So I had to come up with some ideas, which is bad news.

Yesterday morning, one of Dot’s head teacher colleagues came round, and the three of us put together some questions for a music quiz for the National Association of First and Primary Heads annual conference in April. Very few on Bob Dylan – unprecedented restraint.

5 February 2007

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Dot with Julia and Dave on the dunes at Horsey, shortly after our encounter with the obnoxious dune walker, who wanted to get everyone off the beach. Later immortalised at www.back2sq1.co.uk/articles/edp/342.htm. This was a new year walk on January 2.

At last won a decent game of chess tonight against Jim McAvoy. Here it is:

1 c4 f5 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 e6 4 Nf3 c6 5 0-0 d5 6 d3 Bd6 7 Nc3 0-0 8 Qc2 Nbd7 9 e4 dc 10 dc Ne5 11 Rd1 Nxf3+ 12 Bxf3 Qc7 13 Qd3 Be7 14 Be3 Rd8 15 Qe2 e5 16 Rxd8+ Bxd8 17 Re1 (!) f4 18 gf ef 19 Bd4 Bh3 20 e5 Ne8 21 Bg4 (Be4 may be even better) Bxg4 22 Qxg4 Qf7 23 Re4 g5 24 e6 Qg6 25 e7 Ba5 26 Re6 1-0

4 February 2007

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For the record, this is Aspland Road during the recent spell of cold weather. Our house is on the left, with Dot’s snow-covered car in the driveway. My car is parked on the right. The road dips down to the river, and you can see the new town houses on the opposite bank.

It’s been warmer, but it’s very cold again today, and there’s a possibility of more snow this week. I was in Thetford yesterday, playing chess for Norfolk second team (Board 2) and managed to win the morning game, but lost the afternoon one. As I lost last Monday’s game and my win yesterday was the result of a blunder by my opponent, my poor run of form continues. However, Oliver is learning the moves. Perhaps he will take over.

Dot is better. I’m glad to say. We went to church this morning, and the music went very well. Quite a big congregations, and lunch to follow. I’m afraid to say we’ve spent most of the rest of the day watching TV – particularly Ireland beating Wales at rugby. Sadly, Spurs failed to trouble Manchester United.

Since my last entry, astonishingly, England have beaten Australia at cricket. I saw it, so it must be true. I have got together a few poems to enter into the Norwich Writers’ Circle competition and have also applied for a commission to produce a Norfolk poem for a Norfolk arts initiative which involves promoting the county through its arts. The commission is worth £2000, but of course a lot more well-known poets will apply. I’ve sent in three poems as examples of my being inspired by Norfolk landscapes.

Yesterday, after my chess exploits, we went for a meal with our former neighbours, Menita and Regis. They are Italian and French respectively, and there were two other people there – one Italian and one Brazilian. International, or what? A really nice evening, some great food, and I discovered that I shared an office tray with the Italian friend when I was at UEA! She is in the LIT department (as a translator) and our names both begin with L.

29 January 2007

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This is the promised picture of David’s new car – an Astra. Actually the first car he’s ever bought.

Dot is still not very well. She spent all day in bed yesterday with her sinus infection, and I would have liked her to stay there today, but she insisted on coming with me to North Walsham to put flowers on her mother’s grave. It’s her mother’s birthday today. Now she’s gone to have herself weighed, but that shouldn’t take long. Not that I think it’s a good idea.

I’m playing chess later and could do with a win, as I’m having a very mediocre season. But I’m not tremendously optimistic.

Yesterday I was doing most things at church. I was the only musician (using the word loosely); I also did the sermon and the prayers. In the evening I went to Ambient Wonder, which consisted of a labyrinth (there will be a write-up on it eventually on www.ambientwonder.org).

I have discovered that the name Lenton is very old, going back at least to the Domesday Book in 1086. It probably meant originally two or three pallisaded houses in a forest clearing – from two old English words which gave us “lea” and “town”.

There are two English places called Lenton – one in Lincolnshire, probably Leofa’s tun, but spelt Lenton since 1202. It is south-east of Grantham, near Ingoldsby. The other is a suburb of Nottingham, on the river Leen, which is a corruption of a Celtic word for a river or other waterway. My wild guess is that the Lincolnshire village was founded by someone who came from Lenton in Nottinghamshire. It’s not far away. Just follow the A52.

27 January 2007

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The last of the snow on the hill above our house yesterday. Today it’s still pretty cold, but the sky is blue, and Dot has recovered sufficiently to go to the shops. We were going to see Aunti Ethel, but didn’t want her to get what was left of the cold.

Dot also managed to get to a performance last night of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) by the National Theatre at the Playhouse. I dropped her outside and parked behind the Green’s. The place was packed, largely with teenagers who must be doing the play for A-level, so lots of chattering in the foyer. We were in the balcony – bit squashed, but an excellent view.

The performance was on the mind-blowing side of mellow and included the most intriguing array of technical effects I have ever seen on stage. Not least impressive was the way a doll was used as a baby, but manipulated very realistically and with one of the cast producing convincing baby noises through a microphone. The singer was a very powerful presence, backed by drums and odd electronic instruments, effectively tying the action together. This was useful, as the action is often chaotic and spans time and space.

The actors were tremendously energetic but had a huge range of styles. All had several roles, including technical ones. Many a tour de force, especially the two leading roles and the judge in the second half. A memorable evening.

After that we even survived watching the cricket, in which England were humiliated even further by Australia, scoring only 110 and then failing to take a single Australian wicket, except one run-out. When will someone notice that Flintoff often plays badly when he’s captain and Strauss plays badly when he isn’t? The solution is not rocket science. You get the definite impression that the team has more or less given up, and FF can’t do anything about it. Pity: he’s a great guy.

David and Vicky bought a new car yesterday: an Astra less than one year old, from a garage in Harpenden. He sent us pictures over the net and I’ll use one soon. Looks impressive. Oliver is very keen.

26 January 2007

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Call me biased, but I think this is a pretty good drawing of a shark for a four-year-old. Admittedly Oliver has a plastic shark for use in the bath, but he was doing it from memory. What a star!

Dot was still very rough yesterday. It had snowed again overnight, and I had to drive to Halesworth to see a trainee at 11.30am. Most of the snow had melted by then, and there was practically none south of Alburgh, but the usual stretch of a mile and a bit near Hardwick was still packed, icy snow when I reached it – and lethal if you didn’t take it very slowly indeed. The stretch includes two nasty corners, and someone had clearly gone into the hedge earlier – though the absence of a vehicle clearly meant he had extricated himself. Or it had melted.

I’ve written a bit in next week’s page about this curious phenomenon. Many times when Dot drove to school the roads were clear until she reached that stretch, when she was faced with ice or snow. Must be a gateway into another dimension, possibly Narnia.

The visit to induct the trainee went well, and I enjoyed the drive back: by then most of the snow had gone, but that stretch was still slippery. It was actually quite a pleasant day, with bright sunshine.

Later I walked into the city to buy an international money order from the bank. I sent it off this morning. Most of the snow has vanished, despite a fresh overnight sprinkling, but it’s now overcast.

24 January 2007

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Amy in a top she was given for Christmas, which sums up her feelings nicely. Unless Dad happens to be doing it, in which case she would feel that her mum could do anything. Fortunately both of these things are more or less true.

Extremely wintry today, with quite a lot of snow overnight. However, the sun melted most of it by this afternoon. I drove to the supermarket about lunchtime and it was a pleasant day. Dot had her hair cut but is not at all well. She has a bad cold and has retired to bed as I write (5.30pm). I’ve been writing my page for next Monday – one of the less easy ones. Sometimes it will all be done in an hour – at other times it’s a struggle.

England managed to lose at cricket again yesterday. However little their opponents get, they seem determined to show they can get less. I don’t think Freddie Flintoff is a good captain really: he seems to laugh it all off. I can’t imagine Ponting doing that.

23 January 2007

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Extremely wintry today, with light snow showers and temperatures not very much above freezing. Dot isn’t too well, and we’ve cancelled tonight’s meal. She has a sore throat and painful sinuses, but has managed to write her inspection report on Hilgay School. I ventured out to get some photographs processed and to take up some renewed prescriptions, as well as post a letter and fill the car up with petrol.

Yesterday my chess game was cancelled, and so I didnt go out at all, but Dot went to Necton School for one of her consultant visits.

The weekend was busy: we left at lunchtime on Friday for Caddington and arrived in time for me to meet Oliver out of school. He seemed pleased to see me! He and Amy were on good form, and on Saturday we looked after them while David and Vicky went to look at some used cars. In the end they bought a different one – an Astra – which we saw when we all went into Harpenden in the afternoon. We also bought some new shoes for Amy and had some tea and cake in the Lily Lounge – very nice.

More tea and cake on Sunday when we went to Aunt Jessie’s at North Walsham for her 74th birthday dinner. We were there by midday after quite a good journey. Also Roger and Phil, Janet and Ray, as well as Frank, of course. Pleasant lunch and afternoon conversation.

Before travelling to Caddington I had been to the hospital and was told to carry on taking the pills, as they seemed to be doing me some good. No worse, certainly, and probably rather better. I’m optimistic.

The picture is of my brother Andrew in typical pose at Winterton in a very cold wind between Christmas and New Year.