Highlight of the past few days without doubt was David’s visit on Mothering Sunday (yesterday). Dot and I went to church before his arrival – a Holy Communion followed by what should have been the DCC annual meeting, except there weren’t enough people for a quorum. In fact there were as many people in the worship group (Phil, Dot and I) as in the congregation (Judy, Matt and Liz Day). Some were on holiday in exotic places like Morocco and Naples, others enjoying Mother’s Day events.

We cooked a chicken roast and apple and berry crumble and had a pretty relaxing time. We even went for a walk to see if the new car park has any charging points. It has. David is on a mission to track down charging points across the country because he is thinking of buying an electric car.

We also watched a bit of the Lithuania-England football match, which was fairly dire, although we won it. David has given me a list of Netflix must-see shows; so we are fairly tied up for the foreseeable future.

During the last week or so someone has damaged our back gate. I suspect that a tree was felled, or at least a big branch lopped, on the footpath behind us, and it smashed part of one of the cross-bars. However, no-one seemed to see it; so I can’t prove it. In similar vein, Dot has also had a tooth removed, following which she felt pretty traumatised; so on Friday and Saturday we did very little.

On Thursday I went to the doctor to check on my kidney results. It seems I’m fine, which is hard to believe. However, I’m certainly much better than either of my brothers, for which I’m extremely grateful . I spoke to Andrew on the phone this morning, and he was very grumpy, but at least he managed to say something, which is an improvement on last week at this time. Meanwhile Dot has gone to North Walsham to put some flowers in the cemetery. After some sunny days, it has turned cloudy, and throughout there has been a very chilly wind.

My DNA results have come in. Rather disappointing – I am over 60% British/Irish, just over 20% East European, and the rest Spanish and Italian. Nothing much happening there.

Well, we did walk to the Greens’ for a Julian evening on March 14, and very pleasant it was too. As it was also Howard’s birthday, there was champagne and nibbles, as well as Julian. Bethany and Niki also put in an appearance before disappearing for wild nights out. Or something.

The next day Dot went to the dentist and got some bad news – one of her teeth has to come out and be replaced with an implant. This of course involves huge amounts of money, which Dot not unnaturally resents.  But what can you do?

On the Thursday Naomi came round to discuss the Paston Footprints Activity Plan, and to have a meal with us. She was pretty upset about the Paston situation, because she had been taken on as project manager to produce an Activity Plan, and no sooner had she got her teeth into it than Karen produced one, which left her rather in limbo. I was sympathetic and backed her up at the Footprints steering committee at Mundesley  the following day, as did Lucy, but it seemed it was a done deal.

So the PHS family is not a very happy one at the moment. I produced minutes that Rob wanted to change; so he came round this morning to discuss that, and I readily agreed to make the changes. He did not look particularly well. There’s a chance that all PHS members will be ill soon. Naomi has been ill ever since she came round here. She says it wasn’t the food.

On Friday evening I drove to Pinky’s at Halesworth and read some poems that went down very well. I have also joined the Suffolk Poetry Society and will be reading at the Stowmarket Festival.

On Sunday I led the service, but we didn’t take part in the St Augustine’s Way walk to the Gibraltar Gardens afterwards because I had an ultrasound kidney scan at the hospital at 2pm. In an astonishing twist, Dot and I arrived at 1.40pm,  and I had had the scan and was out by 2pm. I was told my kidneys were normal.

Reassured by this, I drove to Warwick yesterday to see Andrew, who is in St Michael’s Hospital (Ferndale Ward). He was pretty distressed when I arrived, lying in a chair in the communal lounge with his pyjamas on, and uncommunicative. After I went and spoke to one of the nurses, he revived somewhat, sat up and had a cup of coffee, but all he really said was that he didn’t know where he was or where he was going.

Without my pushing for it, the deputy warden arranged a meeting for me with the consultant, a junior doctor and a medical student. They wanted to know just about everything about him – a tale I have told before but which doesn’t seem to have made its way on to any permanent notes. However they were very helpful and gave me nearly three-quarters of an hour. I was impressed by all the staff and by the atmosphere in the ward. Which doesn’t necessarily help Andrew.

The journey was not particularly difficult, but it was 314 miles. I arrived home just after Dot had left for a PCC meeting, which was a distinct plus. I think she sort of enjoyed it.

Today after chatting with Rob I went to Plumstead Road library for a talk on the Rosary given by Nick Williams. Walked through the Rosary and left some flowers for Mum and Dad’s grave. Nice talk, and I had a chat with him afterwards, as well as asking a question!

This evening we are having Cake and Compline at Judy’s. It has turned quite cold and windy. Lots of rain on the way to Warwick yesterday.

Dot has bought a Fitbit after discovering her Pacer was eating up her battery. Took us some time to get it started, but I think it’s OK now.

The weather has turned spring-like and mild, while New York State is covered with snow. Dot has been out most of today, and this evening, all being well, we will walk with Judy to the Greens’ for a Julian evening. I have spent most of the day trying to get publicity about a future Speaker on to various websites, which is more difficult than it sounds.

Yesterday it was so warm that we felt obliged to go for a walk in the afternoon. Only about two miles round by Carrow Road and the Riverside, followed by a bit of light shopping, but we were both exhausted when we got home. Still, Dot’s visit to the doctor for a medication check this morning was very encouraging: it appears she’s pretty fit. I knew that, of course. I myself have a rash on my abdomen, among other things. Meanwhile Andrew has been taken into the Caludon Centre again…and I’ve just heard that he’s so bad they’re thinking of moving him to Warwick shortly.

Last Thursday also seemed pretty warm from a distance; and so we drove to Stiffkey marshes for a stroll in mid-afternoon, and just after high tide. It actually turned out to be pretty chilly, but it was still worth doing. One of my favourite spots. The following day Dot went to Holt with Anne: I missed their departure as I was having yet another blood test. Happily I still have some left.

On the Saturday we were about to leave for the hospital, but having failed to raise Joy or anyone else, I tried Birgit’s mobile. Joe answered and said Phil had been discharged the day before. We called in to see him with his birthday present in the evening, and he seemed very well. Much, much earlier, I went to the supermarket at about 8.30am, filled up Dot’s car with petrol and got home by 9am, when I had a bath. Very strange behaviour. In the afternoon Dot went to see Norwich draw 2-2 with Blackburn after ditching their manager. She has just bought a full season ticket for next season, at a cost of about £900.

After the service on Sunday, Dot stayed behind to practise some music with Howard and Anna, and I walked home. In the evening we went to the Seagull, and it proved a very good evening. I read six poems, and Ivor did a very funny song about buying shoes. Oh yes he did.

Quite a pleasant day again today, and we will probably go to the coast this afternoon. Things are getting back to normal, though we are still not 100%. However, our energy has returned – just in time.

On Sunday I led the service (Eleanor was preaching) and after some of Anna’s birthday cake – delicious, made by Dot – and then lunch we went to North Walsham, visiting the cemetery and Jessie. Jessie had a diagram of part of her family tree supplied by Ron Fiske, and I have since looked at it and compared it to what I’ve got. It’s mostly similar, But Ron has a few mistakes, I think. However, he has mentioned a couple of things that I can add to mine.

In the evening, because it seemed to be raining, we got a taxi to the Greens’ for Anna’s birthday party. Had a really good time. I even – against expectations – quite liked the South Indian gluten-free, vegan buffet. Other guests included Sophie, who runs a business bulletin in the Golden Triangle; Robert and Robin, who did some work on the house many years ago and have remained friends since; Jane, from Trowse, who is about to move to Aylsham and who we’d met before; and Roger and Nola (?) – Nola was the only one I didn’t really talk to, but Roger works at the UEA in the languages department and knew Heather Savigny. Very nice chap. Most enjoyable conversation and wine. We walked home.

The next evening we were out again, with Judy to a “religion and science” lecture at Holy Trinity. Very big audience for a talk on Science and Miracles. The speaker wasn’t the best, but there was a lot of interesting stuff. I think if he’d stayed away from David Hume and probability theory it would have been much better. Hume liked himself far too much, and probability theory is basically rubbish. You may think that’s because I don’t understand it, but I think it’s because I do.

Tuesday was even busier. We went to the Archant coffee morning with the usual suspects, except Shelagh and Robin, who had a migraine. I left slightly early because I had to guide a couple of guys round the Paston sites in Norwich. One was a travel writer from Newton Pagnell and the other a lawyer from Bacton. They were both called Richard and in fact were friends who hadn’t seen each other for 3-4 years. Inevitably this meant that they spent much of the time catching up on each other’s news and when I wanted to tell them something, it felt as if I was interrupting.

Nevertheless, we got round, and we had lunch with Rob in the Ribs of Beef, which was quite pleasant. Richard Meredith had had trouble finding the starting point, travelling to various points in Norwich before parking at the Forum and getting lost on the way to Elm Hill. However, Richard Barr talked him in, and I spotted him outside St Andrew’s Hall; so that was all right.

After I left Richard M at the Forum car park at the end (I couldn’t trust him to find it on his own), I walked home and encountered chess player Johnny Danger in the market, looking like a down-and-out with very dodgy teeth. We had a talk about the relevant merits of Broadland and Norfolk and Norwich chess clubs (he’s walked out on Broadland). I quite like him: he’s totally eccentric and probably needs looking after.

Yesterday evening, while Dot was at orchestra, I paid another visit to Phil in hospital after getting lost after going in the wrong entrance and finding parts that I didn’t knew existed. Phil seemed upbeat, though he had been expecting me much earlier and had almost given up. A  lot of people expect me earlier, but even more don’t expect me at all. I spent nearly two hours talking to him about various deep issues, including the relative merits of  different types of film. This arose because Dot and I went to see Hidden Figures at the Odeon earlier (half price, thanks to a code from Des over the road). In my humble opinion the film is totally brilliant in almost every way, including the title. I cried quite a lot. Goodness affects me like that.

Spring must be getting closer: today is quite sunny and much milder. It is just after 3pm, so Dot has started listening to the football. Earlier I went up to see Phil in hospital, but not before calling in on Chris and then Mairead to see if they knew who had parked across our drive. They didn’t, but I had a chat with both – a longer one with Mairead and her brother Sean.

While I was visiting Phil, the offending driver and his girlfriend showed up and were confronted by Dot. Unsurprisingly they were very apologetic, apparently not realising what they’d done. My view is that if you can park across a driveway without noticing what you’ve done, you probably aren’t observant enough to be driving.

Phil seems to be improving a lot. When I visited him on Wednesday he was lying with his head lower than his feet, which left him quite disorientated. This time his head was higher, and he was much more relaxed. He is not in pain at the moment and quite cheerful. Today he ate his lunch while I was there (we were joined by David Harding, with whom we had an interesting reminisce about Surrey Chapel in the early days). On Wednesday the pastor, Tom, arrived as I was leaving. Neither David nor Tom remembered my name, or exactly who I was. I must have that kind of face.

After leaving Phil on Wednesday I totally forgot I was supposed to be going to the Ash Wednesday communion at St Luke’s, which was a bit embarrassing. I e-mailed David to apologise but have had no response.

No such problems with Shrove Tuesday, except that Vicky forgot, or just didn’t come. Those of us who did – Judy, Anna, Bridget and David Archer – enjoyed some excellent pancakes by Dot, though we had to comfort Bridget (and David) as they’d just had bad news: the sudden death of a friend who they had felt responsible for.

Early the next day I went to see the doctor after I had left a query on the website about continuing to take Perindopril if I had a kidney problem. I got a call asking me to come in, and he was very thorough; however I didn’t get an answer to the question because I forgot to ask it again. Happily I have no urine infection, and he doesn’t think I have kidney stones.

On Thursday it was again quite pleasant weather; so I went up to Swinton’s to renew my car insurance (both cars). Ii then continued to the bank, where I put in an order for a new chequebook. I hardly ever use cheques nowadays, but I don’t like to be out completely.

In other news I have finished putting the Paston newsletter together, and we have chatted on FaceTime with Chrissy, who is staying with David (until tomorrow).  We haven’t managed to get to see her in the flesh, because we didn’t want to curtail the time she spent with David, and neither of us is 100% still. They went out to Loch Fyne in St Albans on her birthday.

Improvement continues, but not very quickly. Two steps forward, one back. Dot and I are both in circulation, as it were, but very much lacking in energy. On Friday we were determined to meet Heather and Simon for lunch. They had come down from Leicester for the weekend by train, and we met for lunch at the Coach and Horses, which was surprisingly good, though maybe a bottle of Prosseco between three of us was not such a good idea.

We had a good chat (despite Prof Heather being obviously below par and possibly catching something), and then they continued on into the city as we went home. For some reason we were then completely unable to do anything else and ended up on the sofa, watching TV. Two good films, actually – The Ides of March (a political thriller) and Kingsman: The Secret Service (on Netflix).

On Saturday I didn’t feel up to going to the Norfolk Record Office event, so I didn’t. Happily it didn’t matter, as Rob went on behalf of the PHS.

On Sunday I did manage to get to church and assist with the guitar playing, though I don’t think I was quite with it. Dot stayed in bed and then went to the Norwich v Ipswich football match, which had a noon kick-off and she thought was less of a strain. (Not sure about that.) It turned out to be a 1-1 draw, and Dot brought some fish home, which was nice. I was feeling much improved by the evening.

Today, however, I don’t feel quite so with it. It’s raining, and  I think I’ll take some Paracetamol. On the plus side, Chrissy is now in England, having arrived safely on Saturday. Phil is still in hospital with leaking fluid problems, though apparently not so much pain. Dot is visiting a school, having cancelled another visit earlier.

When will it all end? Since I last wrote, Phil has been in hospital for his spinal operation, which seemed to go well. But since then he has had disturbing side-effects. Not that I have any first-hand knowledge, because I have been too ill to go and see him.

Yes, I’ve now managed to acquire an upper respiratory tract infection, which proceeded in traditional fashion, meaning that I’ve been out of commission for three days, and feeling pretty lousy. Managed to get up today, but made the mistake of ringing the surgery to find out about my blood test. Turns out I have a kidney problem of some sort, but not urgent enough to get me an appointment within the next month. Dot is pretty angry about this and is trying to make me ring for an urgent appointment tomorrow. I have to say I don’t feel right in that area, but then again, I don’t have any urgent symptoms like pain or blood loss, just a certain tightness which may not be anything to do with it.

She herself still coughs a lot, but she seems to feel all right, apart from a loss of energy. She went to orchestra last night, and today she braved Storm Doris to go to Fleggburgh  School, and later to the sugar champagne party at Kirby Bedon, which I was sorry to miss.

Happily, on Monday morning, by some freak of circumstance, I was well enough to attend the Paston Footprints steering committee meeting at our house, and was able to take the minutes. Dot made some excellent biscuits, but I’ve still lost half a stone. The trouble with an URTI is that you can’t read or watch TV. You just have to lie there. Getting pretty fed up.

We are gradually getting back into some kind of circulation, but it’s a slow process. Nothing much happened on Monday and Tuesday as Dot and I finished our courses of antibiotics, but on Wednesday I drove up to the surgery for a blood test (and delivery of a specimen), and walked into the Rosary briefly (from the back entrance) on the way back.

On Thursday we both had our hair cut by Linda, then later walked up to the post office to post a couple of things, one of which was my DNA specimen to the USA. I am going to find out where I’ve come from. Not sure if this will turn out to be a good idea, but it’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for a long time.

Later Howard rang and then popped round for a cup of tea. He also brought some eggs and sausages, so we had sausages, eggs and chips for supper. Had an interesting talk about, among other things, St Augustine’s Way.

Really good news late last night from K, who feared that cancer was spreading to both breasts, but it isn’t. Now we need some good news from my brother, who is having a critical, high-risk operation today to try to put right his spinal problems. Meanwhile I have had to call Green Flag to get the MX5 started, following which I took it for a run to Brundall.

I said nothing much happened on Monday and Tuesday, but we did in fact watch The Crown – all ten episodes – on Netflix. It’s an ill wind…

Not a good week for the Lenton family in general. David contracted a very nasty virus – possibly flu – and Oliver and Amy had a touch of it too, though they cast it off much more quickly. David is still full of cold and coughing, but says he feels a bit better. Meanwhile Andrew has been sectioned, though they haven’t found a bed for him yet.

Dot and I have done no better. She contracted a very similar virus to the one she had before, and was coughing so badly I insisted she went to see the nurse and got some antibiotics. I think she’s improving now, though we’re both very lifeless. In my case that’s partly because I lost some blood while trying to use my catheter, and we had to call an ambulance. I was also in quite a bit of pain. The paramedics arranged for me to see a doctor, who thought it might be kidney stones.

The pain got worse the following day, and in the end Dot rang the doctor (a different one), who thought it sounded like an infection and prescribed antibiotics. I asked about pain killers, and she wasn’t keen on anything stronger than Paracetamol, which were actually useless. After taking the first antibiotic I also took some Cocodamol, and this eased the pain enough for me to go to sleep. When I woke up late in the evening, the pain had gone.

Last night I was very uncomfortable again; so took some more Cocodamol: to be honest I was terrified that the original pain would come back. However, it hasn’t yet, though  I remain very tight round my lower abdomen.

We cancelled everything for last week, which meant Dot failed to see her team beat Nottingham Forest 5-1, and apart from going to the doctor, I only went out once – to the supermarket yesterday. I had to get someone else to do my sermon today (the vicar, actually). This morning it snowed, and the sky is leaden – which is pretty much how we’re feeling.

A dark and murky day, marking the dark and murky end of a weekend at Buxton. Dot is in bed again with a bad cough, and I have lesser problems elsewhere, though there was a point on the drive home yesterday that I thought I had either kidney stones or appendicitis. The pain was so bad that Dot had to drive the last 30 miles, even though she was unwell. In fact I now believe it was trapped wind, which can also be pretty painful. I am also hovering on the brink of a cold, but hoping to step back from the edge. It’s all very déjà vu.

Despite all that, the weekend was not a disaster, except for Julia, who came with a bad cough and was clearly not feeling well throughout. She didn’t manage either of the walks. The first on Saturday afternoon was a repeat, through the park, past the golf club and up to the cross on top of Corbar Hill: only Dot made it all the way to the top – I stayed by the wall with Dave to keep him company. The second, on the Sunday, was from Hathersage up into the hills to the south and back along the River Derwent path: this possibly qualifies as the muddiest walk I’ve been on. Ever. Still, the weather was good (both days), and it was enjoyable.

While we were doing the latter walk, Julia was sitting in the David Mellor cafe, until she was given some hard looks and had to remove to the car. We were in such a muddle that we forgot to pay for our visit, and it was only when we returned after the walk for Lardy cake and ice cream (gooseberry and elderflower) that we remembered. We apologised and paid the total – they seemed quite pleased.

On the Saturday morning Julia had accompanied us to the idiosyncratic bookshop in Buxton – a strange experience, especially as I was feeling peculiar (something in my bowels) – and we had lunch in the Pavilion cafe, before Julia retired to her room and lay down.  The meals at the restaurant were very pleasant, and it was nice to see our usual waiter and waitresses still in situ. Dave seemed to be getting a cough too on the Sunday. That’s the Caribbean for you.

On the way up to Buxton (an arduous journey) we stopped off to see Andrew, who had had his head shaved accidentally (in the sense that Helen was very annoyed that the staff had done it, although Andrew had agreed) and presented a somewhat esoteric appearance. We stayed for about an hour and chatted to Helen as well as to him. Head apart, he didn’t seem too bad.

On the way back we had intended to visit Ralph and Lynne at Darley Dale, but neither Dot nor I was feeling well enough. The journey was arduous again – very slow going on the A52 (the M1 was a no-go area, with long delays), a hold-up because of a nasty accident near Grantham and gradually increasing discomfort as far as I was concerned. We made it home about 3.20pm and didn’t do much after that.

Last Friday we drove down to London to see Kristine and David – both of them looking rather fragile. We had a delicious apricot tart and a reasonable journey in both directions.