Feel absolutely shattered for some reason. I suspect endocarditis. You can put that on my tombstone if you like: “He said he had endocarditis, but no-one believed him.” My teeth are rather better, and the headaches are not so bad. We are off to Nottingham tomorrow by train for a few days; so it should be kill or cure.

Why do I feel so tired? No idea. I have just walked to St Peter Hungate and back to have a chat with Sophie, one of the trustees, about a Paston event there in October half-term week. It went quite well until I discovered (just now) that Rob is away for the October half-term. Before that we were at church for Communion and a quite reasonable sermon on the Trinity by David. We took Ann home in the car: bit of a struggle – she is pretty far gone now, and it takes most of the church to reassure her and keep her on an even keel. Still, she comes to church! Amazing.

Yesterday we took Judy to Wroxham for David Archer’s 50th birthday celebration – a river cruise to Horning and back in the company of many of his friends and relations.The weather was threatening, but in fact all right. Warm enough to sit on the top deck, and dry till the very end. Spoke to people we half-knew and didn’t know at all. Introduced Dot to the band, Stookey Blue, a folk music and ceilidh foursome (or more, sometimes) who invited her with her violin to their sessions on Mondays in Norwich.

The previous evening I had venture to Halesworth for the Pinky’s poetry evening and read three of my poems, which people seemed to like: In the Background, After hearing Adam and Behind the Tombstones. Afterwards spoke to Lizzi Thistlethwayte, who gave me a copy of her book if I’d send her one of mine. Since hers retails at £20, I sent her three of mine. That will teach her.

On Thursday a couple of guys spent most of the day installing new granite worktops in the kitchen. I have to say the result was even better than I’d expected. In the afternoon Dot went shopping with Anna, then Anna used the resulting produce to cook a meal for Howard and myself (and Dot and Anna, of course). We had a great evening there.

On Wednesday afternoon I enjoyed another meeting of the Paston trustees. The minutes are getting longer and longer. Not to mention the hours, the days… I have just managed to contact the guy who is taking over as treasurer at St Augustine’s, only to find he’s going to the USA for a fortnight. Aargh! Will it never end?

Cake and compline at the Archers on Tuesday was pleasant as always, though without Judy (holiday in Devon) and Claire (working).

Things seem a little fuzzy. This is partly because I have some sort of infection, I think, and I blame the dentist. After a check-up on Tuesday he said I needed some laser treatment to get rid of a deep-seated gum infection. He did this on the Thursday, and it was quite prolonged. I was also under anaesthetic for a long time, which I don’t think is ever good for me, where the rest of my head is concerned.

Since Saturday I’ve been feeling decidedly off colour, involving a stomach upset, what appeared to be an upper respiratory tract infection but turned into a kind of sinusitis, bad fatigue and an achy feeling. It reached a peak late Saturday and most of yesterday and now seems to be improving. I have managed to carry on, but that’s because I’m particularly brave. (Sarcasm alert.) I did cancel the Seagull last night, though.

Fortunately it was still bubbling under the surface during our visit to the Coomes’ on Saturday, and I kept it at bay with paracetamol. We had a good time there, with an excellent lunch, and as an added bonus Werder Bremen avoided relegation from the Bundesliga with an 88th-minute goal, and Kristine put on her W-B shirt.

Felt very tired on the way back, but happily Dot was driving. Went to bed early, and managed to rouse myself yesterday for church, which was just as well as I was giving the sermon. Felt pretty out of it for the rest of the day.

Earlier in the week, namely Friday, Dot and I went to the Wildebeest at Stoke for a meal to celebrate Anne’s birthday. Most enjoyable – had an interesting conversation with Anne (while Dot was listening to Philip) about poetry, books and similar matters.

Even earlier, on Tuesday, we had our monthly Julian meeting at the Greens, who are exceptional hosts. We walked there and back, which enabled me to sample several glasses of vermouth.  The discussion was also very good.

Forgot to mention that Dot and I went to Cley on Friday, when it was pleasantly warm (thought with a stiffish breeze on the north coast). Had our free tea and cake and walked out into the marshes a bit. As a result wrote another poem, which I probably won’t send to the EDP.

The church treasurership drags on. I will be delighted when I can dump all the documents and take no further interest, but I suspect I will be beset by queries for weeks and possibly months to come. Someone outside the church offered to do it, but things are delayed because the vicar wants a formal reference, which is pretty typical.

The weather has turned quite summery, as it sometime does during the first week or two of May. The last two or three days have been warm, which means the men doing our drive have been thirsty. Yes, they’re still doing our drive. This morning I had to get quite cross with Colin on the phone because no-one had turned up (again). As  a result they turned up after I’d gone to North Walsham – earlier than the revised promise – and when they opened the garage the alarm went off. Happily Mary was in and remembered how to turn it off.

They’ve nearly finished now. But not quite.

I was in North Walsham for a Paston Footprints meeting, some of which made sense. I am about to do the minutes. I gave Karen a lift back and after checking the house took her to the UEA. As I write, Dot has completed her course at St Albans, during which she did some RE Quality Mark training, and is on her way home. Last night she stayed with David.

Last Tuesday saw the usual Archant coffee morning. On Thursday we went to the Last Wine Bar in the evening with Paul and Maryta, which was a bit tense to begin with as there appeared to have had some sort of altercation with a waitress before we arrived (we were actually quite early). My meal was particularly good (guinea fowl breast). We went back to the Hendersons’ for coffee afterwards. The Hendersons are now in the West Country, primarily to avoid a party their next door neighbours were throwing on Saturday and which had coincidentally disrupted our drive-laying because Colin (our builder) had made some rash promises about laying huge amounts of turf and a patio. This resulted in his being somewhat distracted.

On Friday Mike came to take a template of the kitchen tops in preparation for our granite  overlays. It proved quite difficult to choose from the three he brought (which we had selected last time); so I hope we made the right decision. In the evening we had Eleanor and Mary round for a meal, which I cooked (salmon).

The long-awaited church Vision Day occurred on Saturday and turned out to be almost as dire as predicted.  In the end, though, Howard managed to get his ideas across  and everyone seemed much happier. Except me. I could see it all going badly wrong. But then I always can. By then Dot (and Steve Fiske) had left for Carrow Road, where Norwich managed to lose 1-0 to Manchester United despite having more chances. They are now almost certainly doomed.

In the evening we went over to Des and Chris’s house for drinks with Mairead and Freddie and Phoebe. This turned out to be fun; it was after 11pm before we knew it.

Yesterday we had a visiting preacher at church – the rural dean, Simon Stokes, who is from St Cuthbert’s and blind. He gave an extremely long but very good sermon. It’s not often you can say that.

Last Tuesday I was about to get in the bath when the man arrived to service our house alarm. He was one hour early, but I did manage to adapt.

On Wednesday I was up early again – this time to go to Coventry with Phil, who drove us in his Merc. Quite a good journey there, and we took Andrew to the Harvester at Allesley for a meal. This was going reasonably well until Andrew managed to get a bit of steak stuck in his throat, resulting in embarrassing scenes. He did survive it, however (not sure I did), and I walked him round the car park and then we drove to Corley and back to Minster Lodge, where we had a cup of tea. Staff as always friendly and helpful. Daisy was in charge; Helen away at another home.

The journey home was a bit more difficult: the A14 was subject to long delays at the approach to the A1, and we diverted via Kimbolton, Grafham Water and Papworth. This was OK, but when we joined the A14 again near Cambridge, there were long, painful  queues. Still, it didn’t snow.

Up early again on Thursday, partly to welcome Colin to do work on our drive and partly to go to see the nurse about my cholesterol and general health. The latter went well, but we waited all day for Colin to come, and he failed to put in an appearance. In the evening we went with the Hendersons to see King Lear – a very good production at the Maddermarket, with David Newham as Gloucester and Trevor Burton as Cornwall. The guy playing Lear was particularly outstanding, but there were so many deaths towards the end that I was worried that no-one would be left standing at the final curtain. (It was the first time I’d seen the play.) Afterwards we said hello to David and had quite a chat with Trevor.

Friday, and – yes, I was up early again to greet Colin, who again failed to show up. However, Sam and Gary eventually put in an appearance and demolished the very thick concrete by the garage, as well as the pillar by the wall. Colin did eventually drop in, and made various promises about when it would be finished, which, like so many verbal promises, were not worth the paper they were written on.

In the afternoon I attended David Paull’s funeral at Earlham. This was full of people I did not know, but fortunately Frances was there with her husband Bill, plus Gerald Nunn, and Eric from the Pensioners’ Association. Afterwards I did manage to chat to Richard Bond and Trevor Burton (again) plus one or two other trainees I’d forgotten, such as Matthew Clark, Dominic Castle and Julian Forde. The reception was at Park Farm, where I had a chat with David’s wife Iris as well as Frances and Bill. I knew literally no-one else. So after a few sandwiches and a prosecco I departed to pick up Dot from St Augustine’s Hall, where she had been assisting Anna and Carrie in an art project involving the Queen.

On Saturday we did not get up early, but did a large shop at the supermarket before watching (on TV) Norwich lose 0-1 to Arsenal despite, as usual, playing pretty well. Same old story.

Got up early again on Sunday to go to Carrie’s licensing service at St Luke’s, at which Dot and I were playing with Steve, Richard and Angela. Steve asked us to play a couple of our songs during Communion; so we have now played in front of the Bishop. Well, not exactly in front; more to one side. Afterwards there was bring and share lunch and I spoke to Barbara Bryant, who edits the diocesan magazine, among many other people. Outside, the weather was turning unexpectedly warm.

Afterwards we were about to leave to visit Jessie when Des came over and had a look at the garden (that’s not why he came over – that’s just what happened). This made us a bit late reaching North Walsham, buying flowers and visiting the cemetery, but we reached Jessie’s by about 3.40pm, which was OK as we were staying for evening meal with Roger and Debbie. Cod pie and a couple of delicious sweets, neither of which I was able to resist.

So that was nice. We got home in time to watch the grand prix, but fell asleep before the end. By the time we dozed off, nothing was happening.

Winter has returned. There was snow on the roofs this morning, and it’s bitterly cold, which I feel is pretty unreasonable, given the time of year. This morning I was about to get into the bath when the man arrived to service our alarm. He was an hour early – because of the traffic, he said. There wasn’t any. Apparently no-one could get into Norwich because of accidents on the approach roads. I took this with a pinch of salt, which is good for icy roads.

The Red Lion meal I alluded to went off pretty well, though sprats turned out to be something different to what I thought, and the halibut was only average. As we neared the end of the meal I caught sight of Sheila Greenacre having a drink with her husband David; she came over for a quick chat.

There was a cold north wind on Saturday; so Dot suggested going to Thetford Forest to reconnoitre possibilities for the summer – and to do a three-mile walk to boost her exercise ratings. This worked out really well, although the walk made us very tired. We had a sandwich afterwards – the tea and coffee were also excellent. The place we went to was called High Lodge, and it contained many activities, including walking at the top of trees, Segway, cycling, archery and, of course, walking. We decided it would be a good place to bring Oliver and Amy.

On the way home we called at the nearby Warren Lodge, which was the remains of a lodge for people who killed rabbits – formerly a big business in the area. Maybe not for Amy.

On Sunday we had a Communion service with the vicar which seemed really odd: a long, rambling sermon and a strange atmosphere. However, spirits were revived with Anna’s cake for Phyllis’s birthday, and we then gave the Greens a lift up to Unthank Road, thinking Grapes Hill would be OK on a Sunday lunchtime. Unfortunately Grapes Hill is never OK.

Nevertheless we dropped them off and escaped from the city in time to get to Beachamwell for lunch with the Knox Whittets at 2pm. Rob and Penny were also there, and we had a really good time. I unveiled my latest plan for a Norwich-Paston-Walk-with- Poems book, and they seemed to like it. Penny praised my new Paston poem, which just shows how perceptive she is. The drive home was very pleasant: practically no-one on the road.

Yesterday Colin came round early to look at the work we wanted him to do. As  result he will be resurfacing the drive on Thursday/Friday and repairing the porch at the back, as well as putting in a safety rail on the steps. I have warned some of the neighbours about the likely noise in the drive.

More excitement in the evening as we went to the annual church meeting, meal and entertainment. I use the word “excitement” loosely. Dot walked to the Greens; I picked her up and we transported Howard’s bottle of champagne to Simon, who had done a lot of work on the accounts. Howard went to see King Lear instead, though it was his last meeting as churchwarden.

We had thought it was bring-and-share, but it trend out to be Karen’s usual delicious meal, which made me wish I hadn’t had a crisp sandwich earlier. Before that there was a brief PCC meeting to accept the accounts. I abstained. After the meal we had some singing from a local celebrity, accompanied by a pianist who Dot knew from her orchestra. The singing wasn’t all that good (or all that bad), but the pianist was excellent.

Afterwards the annual meeting dragged on till nearly 10pm, and I abstained again. Then there was another meeting of the PCC to choose new officers, and I pointed out that I had resigned, as no-one seemed to be taking much notice. As it was getting late, not much was said, and so I’ve written an e-mail this morning to the vicar and churchwardens, pointing out that I’m not going to just carry on, as they seem to think.

Icy showers are persisting outside.

Most of the week I’ve been in the process of trying to dry old cans of paint out using cat litter (surprisingly, this is the approved method), and I’m nearly there – the only problem being that dried-out paint is still pretty heavy. I may have to put it in several different bin bags.

This morning I finished Stella’s latest book, The Immortal Throne, which was very enjoyable. I think prefer it to her first one. Meanwhile my book of Lent tanka has been accepted by a publisher – Skylark – at the urging of my friend Joy McCall. This is pretty exciting.

As I mentioned, I have laid aside the church treasurer’s job, and this has been generally acknowledged by kind e-mails. Still the figures linger on, and I have been answering e-mails from the accountants and from Simon. Despite much work from Simon, the loss figure for both churches is in my view much too high and so I have declined to accept the accounts. Everyone else will accept them, though, so I will simply abstain. What will actually happen in the real world after the agm next Monday is not at all clear.

Sadly Norwich City lost their match against Sunderland 3-0, and so we have all stopped worrying about whether they go down or not. If they don’t, it will be a pleasant surprise.

Dot spent the night in Puckeridge on Sunday, with friends of Barbara, before delivering some P4C to a school in Hoddesdon the next day. This went very well. On the Sunday night a strange thing happened. I was sitting on the sofa after a latish meal and watching a programme about the Renaissance in Venice, when I went to sleep. So I wound back (as it were) and started watching the second half again. This was about 9.30pm. I then woke up just after midnight, having missed three texts from Dot, which must have made quite a sound on my phone but which I was evidently too fast asleep to hear.

This threw me right out. I woke up early the next day and felt very strange all day. Also the TV has been misbehaving – it keeps saying there is a weak or no signal. Perhaps it’s the aerial. Still I have put together a plan for a bigger Chronicle / Pastons in Norwich walk book to fit in with the Footprints project.

In the evening on Tuesday we had the usual suspects (minus Claire) round for Biscuits and Compline, and that had a nice feel about it. We are all going on a retreat at Clare Priory one weekend soon.

On Wednesday Dot saw the nurse about her alleged diabetes and has been put on a regime of exercise and restricted sugar intake. No drugs, though. She has to wear something that measures the calories she’s using; so of course she’s using much more calories than usual.  Which just goes to show that it’s not just in the quantum world that reality changes when you watch it.

Dot and Anna took Phyllis to the eye clinic on Thursday, while Martin Smith came round to look at the church website with me. Afterwards I was able to make some changes that made it look more current. I gave Phyllis a book from which I’d quoted at church on Sunday and thought I’d sent off for a replacement from Amazon. However, it turned out I’d sent for three other books, which is fine, but I need to send for the one I had. I’ve done that now.

In the evening we went to Prezzo with the Hendersons at short notice. Dot is now in the city paying a cheque she received for recent P4C work – and, I suspect, looking round the shops. Later we will have a meal at the Red Lion in Eaton to celebrate Philip Robinson’s birthday. Last Sunday was my father’s birthday. He would have been 103.

I know: they’re all busy weeks. But Tuesday was one of the busiest days for quite a while, packed with excitement and incident. First, David arrived back in the UK from Canada; then Carrie and friends took our old sofas away; then I went up to the Archant agm, which turned out to be very long but quite promising, for everyone except Maryta.

Dot arrived for the buffet, having stayed at home to supervise the exit of the sofas, and we chatted to a number of people, including Doug Bird. Afterwards we ran into Tim Bishop, formerly editor of the Evening News, then head of Radio Norfolk and now top man at the Forum. He was keen to chat about Archant: his wife still works there as a journalist and is less than enthusiastic, despite the agm announcement that 70% of employees were “satisfied”. Presumably the other 30% were journalists. At some point during the agm I chatted to current EDP editor Nigel Pickover, who told me to send him a poem. I’m not sure his idea of a poem is the same as mine.

Later the same day we had our hair cut and then went to the Julian meeting at Howard’s, which was as enjoyable as usual.

The same could not be said of the meeting with the church accountants that Simon and I “enjoyed” the next day. It was not the accountant in question – Fiona – who was charming and intelligent. Nor Simon, who knows a lot more than I do about accounting. However, it became clear after I had provided some specific figures later in the day and felt the blood rushing round my head that I needed to relinquish the post of treasurer. The next day I wrote the necessary e-mail, but have had only two responses – from Carrie and Eleanor, both very kind. The others probably think that if they ignore me I will carry on.

In a week of sofas, our new leather one arrived on Friday, together with a chair that turned out to be broken. It was taken away again, and we await news of a replacement. In the evening we both went to the Paston agm (something that the computer denies exists, insisting on “age” or “ago”), which was held at the Manor Hotel, Mundesley and went very well. A nice bunch of people and far too many sandwiches.

Yesterday it rained all day, and today Granite Man came to arrange for a new set of kitchen tops for us. He was very chatty, and we eventually made a choice – or Dot did, as I was not particularly worried. So within a couple of months we’ll have a new worktop in the kitchen. Wonder if it will happen before the replacement chair arrives. Meanwhile, we await the critical encounter between Norwich City and Sunderland, which could decide the future of the club as far as the Premiership is concerned.

I have just started putting the rubbish out: so of course it’s started raining after being dry and quite warm all day. David is on his way to the airport in Toronto, and Dot has just arrived back from Bedford, where she has been delivering P4C training. I have taken delivery of two crates of wine to see us well into summer, and have been invited to send my Lent poetry book to a publisher. I have also booked a holiday in the Outer Hebrides for the end of July and taken a call from Minster Lodge, where Andrew seems a bit shaky: had quite a long talk with him, though. I have been planning to go and see him later this month.

Quite a lot of things going on at the moment. The accountants’ version of the church accounts bears little resemblance to either mine or Simon’s, and he’s trying to arrange an appointment with them. I have to put together a book of poems and narrative that will also double as a kind of guide to the Pastons in Norwich. Most of the material already exists; so it’s a question of designing and editing.

This is one of the things that came out of our first Paston Footprints steering meeting, at Rob’s house on Friday afternoon. There is an awful lot of work required to go on to the next stage of the NHLF bid, and of course it’s all in the air still. Ho, hum.

Following the meeting Rob and I had a drink at the Ship in Mundesley, and when it transpired that they didn’t do sandwiches on Friday nights, we progressed to the Bacton chip shop, which produces good stuff but is excruciatingly slow. While in the queue we met Susan Curran and her husband; she was giving the talk at Bacton Village Hall to a joint meeting of the PHS and the Bacton Local History Society.

It was a good talk, but not totally uncontroversial. Were the Pastons serfs? She thinks so, but I’m not so sure. How come a serf could marry the daughter of a notable lawyer? The talk was actually on the hilariously expensive Funeral of John Paston, and she is an interesting speaker, with lots of research under her belt.

Dot was not at the meeting because she was rehearsing for her SIllars concert at St Cuthbert’s the next day. This turned out to be another good one: not only Paul and Maryta but also Carrie were in the audience, as well as a few others. The Hendersons came back for a coffee/tea afterwards.

On Sunday I was preaching again, and the service (led by Eleanor) was followed by a surprise PCC meeting (in the sense that we’d all forgotten) to agree the parish reports and accounts. Needless to say the latter was not possible. Nice to have the St Luke’s PCC members come to St Augustine’s for a change, though. Lunch was bit late as a result, and as it turned out, Dot was a bit late leaving for Bedford. Still, she arrived at about the same time as Barbara, who was coming from Devon.

Felt a bit lethargic today, but did manage to get into the city to pay in some church cheques.

After quite a pleasant few days, winter is showing signs of coming back again. Nevertheless, we are about to go to the supermarket. It’s not really that bad, just a bit chilly and the occasional downpour. Got caught in the rain a couple of times on Monday when we took some old paint tins to Crown Paints as part of an “amnesty” and then walked up to Santander to make a small change to our ISAs. We now earn ridiculously little interest instead of infinitesimal. I’d been putting this visit off for ages, but eventually gave up looking for anything better because life is too short…

Also got round to doing a number of other things that had been in the back of my mind and gathering dust. I’ve applied for – and obtained – a new visitor parking permit, which now comes in two forms: four-hour and scratch card. Anything to make life more complicated. Dot and I also filled in a long survey about how active lives we are leading – clearly too active  to fill in a survey form promptly. There was other stuff too.

Have just discovered that our second new sofa will be arriving next Thursday, and (more sadly) that my former colleague David Paull has died. He was in a bad way the last time I saw him – been battling prostate cancer for many years. Have supplied a quote for the EDP and got lots of comments on Facebook.

I was able to divulge this information (obtained from Frances) to the Archant pensioners at the coffee morning yesterday. The usual suspects were in attendance, and I was able to discuss with Paul which of us would have been able to bowl four balls that weren’t all hit for six against the West Indies in the last over, enabling them to win with two balls to spare. We agreed that the answer was probably both of us, which means one of us should replace Stokes in the England team.

Directly afterwards Dot and I drove to Swaffham for lunch with the Higbees, which was pleasant as always, though Allan has had a chest infection all year. I blame the sawdust (he’s a woodcarver).

Moving backwards, Dot went to Carrow Road last Saturday to see Norwich City beat Newcastle 3-2 by scoring in the 93rd minute, which is almost exactly the opposite of what they usually do. This gives us a real chance of staying up, but we could very easily blow it. Dot was very excited, and I must admit I was too, especially when I was watching Final Score and they said: “There’s been another goal at Carrow Road.”

Later in the evening we went to the Hendersons for a meal. Holly was home for a break before heading out to somewhere in the desert for a six-month stint of logistics. She had her skiing trophy, which she won for finishing the downhill first of those not in the British team. Magic.

The next day I led the service, and we went to see Jessie in the afternoon before heading back to the Cathedral for a trimmed down Soul Circus that turned out to be really good. It was called Tales of the Unexpected and featured a journey round the Cathedral, some stories, some cake and water and an unusual take on the Road to Emmaus story. I may adapt this into a poem. It was led superbly by Canon Andy Bryant and was very moving.

This is not an April Fool post. It is the real thing. The week was given wings by the arrival of David, Oliver and Amy on Easter Sunday, following a joint service at St Luke’s at which I played guitar. Dot decided to stay at home and prepare lunch and a few other things.

On Monday Amy wanted to see Allegiant, which is the most recent film in the Divergent series. The second was Insurgent, which we saw the end of at home during the afternoon to give us a taste of what was to come. The film was surprisingly good, and we all enjoyed it. I suggested the next one might be called Detergent, but this did not go down well with Amy. Afterwards we went to Nando’s. This was my first visit, but again I found it a very pleasant experience.

On Tuesday we had a roast beef dinner before David returned to Caddington to prepare for his flight to Canada the next day. Needless to say, he is there now. Earlier in the day Dot had her finger checked by the nurse: it seems to be healing properly.

We took a day boat out on the river on Wednesday, and this was a big success. The weather was dry and not too cold, and we took a picnic. Bit of a wait at Wroxham, but eventually we had a boat for two hours and did the usual trip down to Wroxham and Salhouse broads, then back and a little way up towards Coltishall. Oliver And Amy proved very proficient pilots and really enjoyed it, I think. Dot hailed an ice cream boat on Salhouse Broad, which added to the excitement.

Afterwards we called in at Wroxham Barns and visited a few shops – unfortunately we were just too late for the mini-golf. Ran into Claire Carrington. Back home we had pasta and bacon with cheese and onion. And if you think that was healthy, on Thursday we went the whole hog and had a Kentucky Fried Chicken before driving the children back to Caddington, where we had another sort-of picnic before handing them over to their mother at around 6.30pm. Dot drove down and I drove back. No problems en route.

While Oliver and Amy were with us Amy made a volcano and we worked how to play Skip-Bo, which turned out to be quite a good game. The Murrays first taught us at Palmer Circle, when we taught them Bridge –a life-changing event), but we had forgotten it. Oliver also showed us some card tricks and reminded us how to play Rummy and Knockout Whist. I also had a few games of B ackgammon with him.

Today I caught up on some routine stuff, mainly to do with church, and Dot caught up on washing and housework. We went to the chemist’s to get our pills and then to the doctor’s to get our blood test results. Mine was a bit high on the cholesterol scale (6.1) and I have to see a nurse at the end of the month. I suspect this will be a bit of a waste of both our times. Dot’s swab from her finger has yielded no results yet, but the finger seems fine.

Tomorrow the children head for Lanzarote with their Mum, Matt, Julia and Dave, which means all our family are out of the country. What could possibly go wrong?