I drove Dot to the dentist  this morning to have her stitches out. She was intending to go to M&S afterwards to buy some nibbles for the Julian gathering here tonight, but as she hasn’t taken her phone with her, I don’t know whether she has or not. There’s a sentence that wouldn’t have made sense even ten years ago.

She has been in some pain from her teeth all week, but it all seems to have improved quite a bit over the last couple of days, and it didn’t stop her doing much, though she did cancel a couple of schools. She was able to rehearse on Wednesday for her concert and perform in the concert itself on Saturday. This was at the Walter Roy Theatre (former Hewett School), with tiered seats and everything. Very good acoustics. The Sillars Orchestra was performing with the East Norfolk Operatic Society, which specialises in Gilbert and Sullivan. They did some items together and some separately. I sat next to Neville Thrower, and enjoyed the concert very much, especially the G&S items.

I walked to the venue. I can’t remember why. Dot gave me a lift home.

Exercise earlier in the week included more pitch and putt with Paul, this time at Eaton Park last Thursday. Another enjoyable round, though no real improvement on last time, especially the putting. Afterwards Paul gave me an old putter which could be used both right- and left-handed, as I suspect I putt better left-handed. On checking my bag later I discovered I already had one…

On Friday I thought I was hosting a meeting of the Footprints steering group, but I had got the date wrong. Anne came round to see Dot, and they later went out for lunch and into the city for a while. I went to Morrisons.

Yesterday, after preaching in the morning and quoting one of Joy McCall’s poems (all fall down – a tanka sequence) I decided to go and check a walk in the Felbrigg area while Dot went to a chanting workshop with Liz Day at church. I parked at Metton Church and walked up through some fields, one of which was full of corn and another containing some crop that hadn’t been harvested and seemed abandoned. That was where I saw a deer emerge from the crop and run away.

Further up I joined a path I knew which led through Marble Hall Lodge and back on to the Metton road, which I crossed, climbed for a bit and then turned right, downhill back to the village. It seemed a long way but was certainly well under three miles. Metton itself had a very odd, almost derelict feel to it. It’s the village where April Fabb disappeared in the late 60s. Nothing much seems to have happened since.

I got home in time to cook dinner for Dot, returning from the chanting at about 7.20pm. We ate it while catching up with sport on TV. I am about to buy train tickets for Warwick tomorrow, despite being told that the doctor I was down to see won’t be there. I have told Andrew I’m going; so I think i’d better do so.

Not a comfortable week for Dot: she had the first stage of her tooth implant done on Monday, which wasn’t painful in itself, but it knocked her out for a couple of days, her mouth is still swollen and she has more or less dragged herself to a DSSO meeting at Easton this morning because it is Andy Mash’s farewell event.

She thinks very highly of Andy (as do I), and she was determined to wish him well. She also gave Paul a lift and took the new car to do so.

Yesterday she languished at home while I went to the Archant coffee morning. Maryta came to that but spoke so softly that I could barely hear her. Paul explained that this was because she was wearing ear plugs which bizarrely augmented her own voice to her. Stranger things… which coincidentally is the title of a Netflix series we saw in its entirety last week.

The big day of the week (pace tooth implants) was Sunday, when we took the Mazda on its first long run – to Ashtead in Surrey, where an Otterspool reunion was taking place at Susan and Bob Bushell’s rather nice bungalow . Very pleasant setting, but getting to it was typical outer London clutter. The drive down went well – we shared the driving – and the event itself was excellent.

Dot took a couple of salads, and the others took a rich assortment of other food. I could probably have eaten more, but Bob is very efficient at clearing away. I played a brief gamelet of croquet with Ruthie (or Anne, as some know her), and several of us went for a short walk on the common, which is reached by crossing the road. Very good to meet so many of the Otterspudlians again. They are a really nice bunch people.

Afterwards we followed our satnav, which kept us off the M25 for most of the way and took us more or less due north, taking in such places as Esher, Hampton Court and Feltham. We were calling in on David on the way back, and I guess the western section of the M25 must have been gridlocked. It was OK when we eventually joined it near Rickmansworth.

David showed us his new hybrid car, which is certainly impressive in both appearance and features. It was too late to go for a drive, and he was probably too busy anyway, but we had a quick cup of tea and Facetime with Chrissy. We then took to the road again. I had to drive all the way back because Dot had partaken of wine, but it was a very easy drive after leaving David’s.

It’s now Friday, we have a new car, and David is in the process of picking his new one up at Bletchley, if my App is to be believed. So quite a good week, on the whole, though the weather has been a bit iffy, and it all started badly with a visit to the doctor’s. I had hoped to talk to him about various concerns, but he wasn’t really interested after establishing that my blood pressure had gone down. This seems to be all doctors care about nowadays, once you reach a certain age. So I am just pretending I’m fine and hoping that will work out. It’s better than finding out you have some dread disease.

Also on Monday I went to Swintons and updated my car insurance, which was much cheaper than taking up the Mazda option. I had hoped to have a relaxing day on Tuesday, but I had to walk up to the TSB at Anglia Square by 9.30 to sign a document for the church account. So that was fun. Later on Tuesday it started raining and it all got pretty heavy by the end of the day.

It was still raining lightly the following morning when we picked up the car from Michelle at Wright’s. It would normally have been Dean, but he was at the Royal Norfolk Show, which must have been fun. We were given a quick explanation of what everything did (and there was a lot of it); Dot picked it up better than I did, but we’re still working some things out. It has cruise control, which I’m pleased about, and an electronic handbrake, which seems pointless. Altogether, though, I’m very pleased with it.

Later in the day I went up to City Hall to change the vehicle on the permit and in the end got a completely new permit, since the price was about the same.

Yesterday I played pitch and putt with Paul at Mousehold. I started abysmally but in the end played some pretty good shots; however, my putting was pathetically erratic. At the end I was pretty exhausted. Paul came back for tea and a chat with Dot about DSSO problems. Later we went for a drive in the car, but not far – ending up at IKEA, where Dot bought some crisps. This is what is known as getting off lightly.

Later still I bought a magazine for Andrew and sent it off, together with a selfie of us I’d taken on my last visit. I thought it would be nice for him to receive something fairly regularly, as nothing much happens for him in hospital. After that I wrote some articles for Parish Pump and watched a rather strange programme on Netflix.

Today Dot has gone to the funeral of a DSSO colleague at Mattishall – in her own car. She was a bit worried about parking. But not as worried as she is about her DNA results, which reveal that she is predominantly Celtic.

A new Mazda 3 is on its way to us: we pick it up on Wednesday, all being well. It’s silver, and the actual cost is slightly less than I thought it might be, but still quite an increase on our current monthly payment. As David seems on the brink of getting a new car as well (a white hybrid), this will be a noteworthy week.

At the end of last week, on the Friday, we had cake and compline with Claire, followed on the Saturday by a ceilidh at the Silver Rooms on Silver Road, to which Dot and I walked. It was a hot day. The invitation came from our neighbours the D’Souzas to celebrate Chris’s 60th. The Wakefields were also invited, and we spent much of the time talking to them. The food was excellent, but in my usual introvert fashion I declined to dance. Dot did dance, and so did Freddie eventually, though he had been as stubborn as I was to start with. He’s the same age as Oliver. Mairead and Phoebe put in an enviably energetic display.

On the Sunday, after I led the service, Dot and I went out to see Jessie after calling at the cemetery. We took her to Walcott and miraculously found a parking spot on the front. We bought ice creams, and Jessie sat on the wall with our Wimbledon umbrella to keep off the sun. It was even hotter than the day before.

The next day Colin and James came to erect Dot’s new shed. Watching them do this was considerably more interesting than the PCC meeting in the evening, which went on and on for no apparent reason. Again, very hot. Meanwhile some men from the council were erecting something on the wall on the other side of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s drive. Colin spoke to the men and told us this would be a chain link fence. This would obviously be appalling, what with litter and an unstable slope, and we were delighted to discover later in the week that they were building a rather nice wooden fence supported by concrete posts instead. They still haven’t finished, but it should look good when complete.

On Tuesday evening we went to our monthly Julian meeting, but I didn’t feel much like contributing, for some reason. The wine was good.

It was on the Wednesday that we test-drove the Mazda 3. Not the model we’ll have, but very nice. After a good offer from Dean, an extremely good salesman, we agreed to purchase one. In the afternoon we went to the Hendersons for refreshments, and Maryta told us all about her Polish lessons, which for some reason seemed to feature a lost frog. We got in a few words about our Scottish holiday.

On Thursday I went to Warwick by train. The journey to London was very good, as was the Tube and the Chiltern Line. It was still quite warm, though with some moisture in the air. I found a quicker walking route from the station to the hospital, and found Andrew not at his perkiest. I was told by the nurse that he was better than he had been over the past week or so. We had quite a long chat and went into the garden again for a while. There was some guy doing eastern chanting, which was a mite disturbing. Andrew had somehow lost his belt. I didn’t have a spare one, but I sent him one when I got home.  I spoke to the nurse (Jade), who booked me in to see Andrew’s doctor on July 11.

The journey home was fairly straightforward again, though marred by the Liverpool Street-Norwich section, where the train arrived 37 minutes late. This might not have been so bad, but I was sitting (in first class) opposite a couple of young men who had an extraordinarily high opinion of themselves and who got drunker and drunker and louder and louder.

No rest on the Friday: we were visited by Peter and Joan Altman, our friends from the Swiss holiday last year, who were spending three days in Norfolk, taking in Sandringham and (of course) Wymondham. We gave them coffee and then accompanied them round part of Norwich, including the Cathedral, ending up in London Street before letting them loose on their own. They eventually returned to pick up their car. We booked them into the Marsh Harrier for their evening meal – couldn’t join them as we had a previous appointment with Angela and Rodney, who took us to the Fox at Lyng, an excellent gastro-pub. I had fish and chips and a raspberry creme brûlée. The pint of cider was probably a mistake.

Up earlyish again on Saturday to travel to the Roman Camp Inn at Aylmerton to meet  former colleagues and family of Bruce Robinson for a commemorative walk. (He died a year ago.) This was led by his wife Cynthia and his son Mike and covered about a couple of miles from the highest point in Norfolk (to which we travelled by car: it’s about a mile away from the Inn). Very enjoyable – the forecast rain held off and it wasn’t too hot. Afterwards we had a meal in a private room at the Inn, which was very pleasant. I sat next to Lucy, who was a Quaker and neighbour’s wife and didn’t know anyone (apart from Cynthia, of course). Present from the EDP subs: Brian (with Tricia), Robin (with Shelagh), Ralph (with Lynne) and Maryta (with Paul). Enjoyed talking to Mike on the walk.

Which brings us to today, which started with a very long Holy Communion service with the vicar and continued with the Bishop’s Garden Party. Also present at the latter: Carrie, Jude, Andrew and Gill Partridge, David and Bridget Archer, Martin and Sam Smith plus one on our table; elsewhere the Wimhursts and Eastons; also ran into Peter Carroll (ex-Letton Hall) and Jill Wright from Mulbarton. Impressed that the Bishop remembered my name as well as Dot’s. Lovely food, then a walk round the garden with Dot and Jude. Later Dot went home to prepare for a chanting session at church with Liz Day. I stayed with Jude, and we got home (walking) just as Dot was leaving (in her car).

Tuesday was an odd day. After packing, we went to the Bean for breakfast (I had a full, minus the previously overwhelming beans) and then met Graham and Jenny outside the house – Graham for the first time: he had been laid aside with a painful arthritic illness, but was very cheerful today. After paying them for the final three days and leaving them a poetry book that I had originally intended to give to Ella, we set off at about 1pm.

This meant we had really too much time to get to Aberdeen. We took it fairly slowly, and got lost looking for the Loch of Skene, which it turned out does not have a road adjacent to it and appears to be private. It is described on the net as “a hidden gem”, which seems pretty much spot on. Well, “hidden”, anyway. Eventually we approached the airport and turned into a forested area, where we parked while Dot finished her novel.  Needless to say, by then it had started raining, and dropping off the car and travelling to the airport by shuttle was quite a damp experience.

We tried to drop off our bags, but we were an hour too early for that; so we took them with us to a cafe, where we both had an Emmental and ham baguette. The time passed quite quickly, and after check-in – using my mobile phone’s bar-coded e-mail – and the usual confusion of Security we eventually arrived at Costa, where we stuck for quite a while. The flight was a little late, but nothing to speak of, and the flight to Norfolk quite enjoyable. I had been a bit worried about finding a taxi (based on my last experience there) but it turned out to be very easy, though considerably more expensive than the journey to the airport ten days earlier.

The next day I made it to the dentist, who replaced my filling without much ado, though warning that if it went again I might have to have it crowned. I then wandered down to H Samuel to get a new watch battery, but they couldn’t get the back off my watch. I decided against sending it away for £30 because I’m thinking of getting a new one, with a dial I can read in dim light – possibly solar-powered, which seems sensible. Later we popped in to see Des and Chris to thank them for looking after our plants and give them a bottle of wine.

After taking the MX5 in for its service yesterday, Dot and I travelled down to London to see Kristine and David. We had an enjoyable couple of hours with them, but it was clear that David is deteriorating: he has had to sell his car and is not able to move far without difficulty. The next step, he says, is a wheelchair, which will raise problems about the possibility of moving from the flat. However, Kristine is not really in a fit state to do that, even if they could find somewhere. Her operation was successful in that it got rid of the cancer, but the restructuring didn’t go as planned, and remains to be completed. She may also have to have more precautionary radiotherapy and hormone treatment, which she does not really want. Despite all that she looked quite good, though she was obviously tired.

It took us some time to get through Leytonstone in rush hour, but after that the journey home was straightforward, largely because we arrived after a big Carrow Road concert by Take That had started, and so missed its attendant traffic.

Today we picked up the MX5 and discussed the possibility of getting a Mazda 3: I had discovered that my current deal doesn’t run out until February next year, but that doesn’t seem to be an insuperable problem. I an awaiting details from Dean of a possible deal, but we will have to have a test drive first. It could be quite expensive. Dot meanwhile has been to Fleggburgh where she saw some collective worship in advance of the school’s SIAMS inspection next week, and was boosted when the head said that most of what they’d achieved had been inspired by what Dot had done. Not surprised, obviously. She’s a star.

After leaving Ella we had a rest, and some of us fell asleep. Then we drove down the South Deeside Road to Balmoral and up into the hills, where we read for a while and then went for a short walk down the Corgarff path, retreating when rain seemed imminent. Back at the house we watched Poldark (not brilliant really) then the Canadian Grand Prix, which meant we were late in bed.

Today we decided not to take up a picnic invitation from Ella and instead drove  first to the  Lochnagar Distillery (briefly), then on to Corgarff, where we had lunch and I looked at the graveyard. Then up to the path leading to Amy’s Bridge. Despite unpromising weather, we walked down and then on into the wilderness, taking a track that ran halfway between the road and the ridge. After finding the source of the stream that leads to the bridge, we turned back and reached the car just as rain was setting in.

We drove down to a parking spot by an old bridge  not far from Gairnshiel  and Dot read while I wrote a poem. Then we returned to Ballater and bought fish and chips. I have lost a filling yet again and booked an appointment with the dentist on Wednesday. We are now relaxing after doing a bit of packing and tidying up.

Breakfast at the Bean again yesterday, but I restricted myself to a doughnut. The forecast was for a grey, damp morning with sun in the afternoon; so we walked up to Larks Gallery and had a chat with the sitter, resisting temptation on the whole – though if we’d been coming home by car I might well have bought a picture.

After buying a loaf and having lunch at home, we headed for Glen Muick. But the weather was not as forecast: there was very low cloud and a chilly wind. After a bit of shilly-shallying, during which I walked down to the river, we drove back to the junction with tthe Birkhall  road, which was blocked off.

We decided to walk down it a bit and had only gone a hundred yards or so when to our surprise we found that the river had washed away a whole chunk of road – just as had happened on the A93, but this wasn’t the mighty Dee, just the Waters of Muick, flowing out of the Loch. We walked a bit further, finding that the actual bridge had survived – just.

As the weather seemed to be improving we drove on to Cambus o’ May, where the sun came out and it was really warm by the (still broken) suspension bridge.  So warm, in fact, that Dot did some sunbathing, until a woman with a dog came along, the dog went into the river and then shook itself in her vicinity.

We drove back in time to watch Scotland v England, which ended 2-2 after Scotland threw it away in the dying seconds. We then tried to get into the Deeside Inn for supper, but they were full; so we went round the corner to the Alexandra Hotel, which is unprepossessing (bar, not restaurant) and I had a steak, which was excellent.  Back at the house we watched a very good rugby game (England v Argentina) and then England beating Australia at cricket. Australia were thus knocked out of the Champions Trophy without ever having a complete game. No result at all in two of the three. Doesn’t seem fair, somehow.

Today we went to church again and found Jenny, our landlady, in the next pew. What are the odds? Afterwards we went to see Ella, who has rented a house in the next road. After a cup of tea we all went to the Brown Sugar cafe, where I had an egg sandwich, then back to Ella’s for a glass of wine.

Yesterday concluded with an Indian meal at the Lochnagar Brasserie, which we’d never been to before, and it was very good. One of the waiters had worked in Norwich at the Merchants of Spice in Colegate.

Both of us had a bad night afterwards, not knowing that lots of other people did too. We woke to the rather surprising Election result, and lots of people saying predictably silly things. So it goes on.

We had breakfast out today – at the Bean for Coffee. I had a full Scottish with too many beans. We then decided to drive to Pennan. The weather was spitting with rain at first, but at Pennan itself it was quite warm and the rain stopped. The tide was in, and we walked around, dodging a few flies, until the house martins ate them all.

We popped into the Local Hero hotel for a very nice cup of tea and took some pictures before heading towards home. We called at Crovie, just a couple of miles further west, where it was unaccountably  very cold and windy, then at Gardenstown, which we drove round but didn’t stop at.

We did stop briefly at Huntly castle (very pleasant spot) and then at a road accident on the A97. We turned round, and Dot navigated a successful alternative route.

After a cup of tea and snack in the house we walked up to the Hilton bar and had cocktails. Quite a trek. We got back in time to see Lethal Weapon on TV, which made slightly more sense than anyone on the news programmes.

And here’s the rain again. Totally overcast, steady and inescapable. We’ve just been down to Rocksalt and Snails for lunch. Appropriately, I had a winter salad, which was quite tasty. Before that we went to the Burn o’ Vat and did a walk described in the Ballater Eagle: very pleasant, but tiring towards the end as it started to rain and the finishing post seemed to retreat into the distance.  Most of it was great, and we only saw one person  – a young female cyclist bombing along at a fearsome rate of knots.

Yesterday was beautiful, though a bit chilly. We drove to the Linn of Quoich and encountered a weatherbeaten South African (I think), who said last night had seen the second worst conditions he had experienced in the area. (The worst was Storm Frank, when  Ballater was inundated.) He was in charge of a group of lads camping in the hills and said three groups had had to abandon their expeditions because they were cold, wet and hadn’t slept.

We later saw him with a group at the Linn itself, after we’d climbed over, done a bit of exploring and been pretty impressed by the force and quantity of the water. You couldn’t get near the punch bowl, but the bridge had been repaired and we walked across and up on to the track heading towards Bheinn a’ Bhurd. Got some distant views of snowy Cairngorm peaks.

Afterwards we went into Braemar and had some sandwiches and tea in a cafe with music we liked but the waitress didn’t. Went into the tourism office and another shop, then drove up to Glenshee, where Dot had a hot chocolate and I didn’t. We decided not to go for another walk there but headed for home and immediately walked round the golf course. Both the path and the river were unrecognisable, but of course the river was in spate and not as it would normally be.

Back at the house we decided to eat in, so emerged again to get supplies from the Co-op. We also had a chat with the owner, Jenny, who said we could have stayed the extra three days. We assumed it would be rented on a weekly basis. Theoretically we could have cancelled the hotel, but we decided to stick with our arrangements. Dot wrote a long e-mail to the head of the school where she’s a governor, which is having a SIAMS inspection next week, and then we watched Fargo, which is wonderful.

Have now cancelled hotel  after offer from Jenny we couldn’t refuse.

Interesting day yesterday. It’s not often it rains absolutely all the time. We lingered in the house all morning after waking up late, then drove to the Riverside Inn, where I had eggs benedict (or more accurately egg benedict).

We then drove to our favourite spot by the Dee (after missing the right turn at first) but found it occupied by anglers. Did manage to spot a couple of salmon jumping. Then into town where we visited several shops. Dot bought a handbag in Byzantium, and I bought a book from A B Yule. We also had a chat with the Tourist Information lady on the mysteries of flood water.

After a cup of tea at the house we drove to the hill near Balmoral where there is normally a great view of Lochnagar. There was a great view of cloud, and some very heavy rain. We also sent some postcards from Balmoral.

In the evening we had a lovely meal at Glen Lui, walking there and back in thankfully lighter rain. We then watched Wolverine on Film4 (where is Netflix when you need it?), in which the female Japanese actresses were much better than the male lead, and the whole concept was absurd. Ah well.

Before we got up to bed a gale got up and two windows blew open. One of them proved very hard to shut again, but together we eventually managed it. The phone rang at this point – just before midnight – with a flood warning. Don’t you love it when that happens? I woke up once in the night when the wind was still high and I was worried that a window had blown open again. But it hadn’t.