I see I was a bit optimistic there. Still feeling decidedly less than hunky dory, though I am able to move around and have even left the house twice: yesterday to get a puncture fixed on my car and today to go to the shop and buy us some supper, which I later cooked. Roast leg of lamb, since you ask.
I still have a lot of tiredness and congestion, though it’s looser and will no doubt clear up soon. (See how the optimism keeps creeping back.) Dot, however, is full of catarrh and has almost all the symptoms I had, plus a sore throat. Determined not to let people down, she fulfilled her P4C date in north London yesterday, but was in a sad state when she got back. She has been in bed since, apart from brief visits to the living room.
Everything on the horizon has been cancelled, including a performance by our band on Friday and a visit to London on Saturday (to meet Heather and Simon). Happily Geoff Saunders’ funeral is not till Friday week; so we should make that.
Just made it to the last post of the year. I’ve been in bed for the last three days with a really bad upper respiratory tract infection – my personal vote for hell on earth – but it retreated overnight, and I now have just have a very bad cough, a tight feeling in my chest and general fragility in the upper body area. It arrived late on Sunday, just after David and the children left, and necessitated the cancelling of my eye appointment at hospital yesterday and the end-of-year celebrations planned for tonight.
I’m overwhelmingly grateful that it didn’t arrive earlier and spoil the Christmas celebrations with our family. They arrived as scheduled on the 21st, and the children loved the new room arrangements, with Oliver in my study and Amy in Dot’s study.
The next few days were busy, but we managed to fit in some games and a couple of quizzes, as well visits to the Maddermarket to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (cold theatre, but excellent production) and the Odeon to see the latest Star Wars. The latter was nothing short of superb. David and I both wanted to see it again.
On the Tuesday we also fitted in visits to Rosie, the cemetery, Auntie Sheila (fleeting) and Jessie, who supplied her usual excellent mince pies.
On Christmas Eve we were invited to the Hendersons’ for a buffet supper, which was very pleasant, especially as my god-daughter Holly was present. Also some old acquaintances from Saxlingham and the Butchers from Cringleford. As I was leaving I was introduced to Robin Myerscough, who had some fond memories of my Aunt Dorothea. He had the Philip Butcher role of Chaplain at Norwich School for some time many years ago.
Christmas Day was lovely: Dot provided an excellent Waitrose turkey repast, and the children got advanced gadgets: Amy a laptop and Oliver a Playstation game and a Bluetooth version of Scalextrix that was a considerable improvement on the original. After this it proved increasingly difficult to access the TV, and the only thing Dot and I saw over Christmas was Downton Abbey.
David bought us an Apple wi-fi extension that enables us to hear music from our phones played through our hi-fi set-up – brilliant – and thanks to an extension cable, enables us to access things like iPlayer directly from the TV.
On Boxing Day Kevin, Lisa and Matthew came over for the afternoon: Kevin’s new job seems to be going well. On the Sunday (when we gave the joint service at St Luke’s a miss) Richard came over with Maddy and Darcy and stayed for lunch. On Monday, Norwich beat Aston Villa 2-0; so everything was hunky dory. Hopeful in a day or two I may be feeling hunky dory too.
Another picture from my Broads walk near South Walsham, not long ago.
We missed Jack Earl’s funeral, because no-one told us when it was, and it was much sooner than I expected it to be. It was in fact last Wednesday at Southrepps, while Dot was having lunch with Carrie. Later in the afternoon, oblivious, we had our hair cut and in the evening went to the orchestra Christmas dinner at Cosmo’s, which has replaced Habitat on London Street.
The latter was interesting, because it was a serve-yourself, eat-anything restaurant that tempts you to eat far too much, with food ranging from Chinese to roast beef, and suchi. You are served with drinks,and everything is cleaned away very efficiently so that you can have another shot. I liked it. I sat at the end opposite Yvonne, who plays bass clarinet and comes from Scotland but now lives on Newmarket Road. She was very interested in what Dot does (who isn’t?), and we had an interesting conversation.
The next day, the Higbees came for lunch, but not before Dot and I drove to Hempnall to load up some sugar for the Eagles as part of rather sweet charity event. Then Dot drove with them to Rodham (three cars) while I returned home in her car and cooked some chilli con carne. It all came together when Dot arrived only moments after the Higbees. The lunch was OK, and we had a pleasant afternoon.
They left just before 4pm, and about a quarter of an hour after they went and just as I’d finished getting rid of the dirty dishes, Jude knocked on the door with a card; I invited her in, and she stayed for an hour and a half, drinking sherry. As she’s extremely entertaining, this was a bonus.
On Friday, the hectic activity continued. We both went to the PHS Christmas get-together which – in the absence of Rob and Penny, who were in Kent supervising the birth of their grandchild Enid – was a bit chaotic. Lucy had gone to sleep and was half an hour late; we had to buy our own drinks and mince pies, and the whole thing would probably never have got going if I hadn’t persuaded late arrival Lucy to stand up and introduce it. After she had done so (very effectively), Peter showed some excellent videos, in one of which (not quite so excellent) I read a Paston letter. It was around this point that I asked Lucy when the funeral was going to be, and discovered it had taken place two days earlier.
In the evening Dot and I went for a light meal with the Robinsons, which featured some excellent salmon. Philip is anticipating much medical intervention: a prostate biopsy and a new hip. I felt quite sorry for him: he is booked on a cruise in January and intends to go.
Much of Saturday morning was taken up with last-minute Christmas shopping, during which we had a break in M&S cafe. We managed to get home in time for Dot to hear most of Norwich City’s game at Manchester United, and she was totally over the moon when we won 2-1. A real Christmas present for her. I don’t feel I have to buy her anything now.
Yesterday saw our usual Alternative Carol Service, which I wrote and presented. It went surprisingly well in view of our lack of rehearsal, and we got a very good response from the 24 or so present, who included Vicky and her mum and dad, plus Liz and David Cannon. This was followed by an exceptionally good Christmas meal.
My attempts over the weekend to get in touch with Joe and Birgit fell on straight-to-voicemail ears; I decided at the last minute that taking their present to Hethersett was a waste of time as they had probably left early for Germany. So I left a message on their phone, but I still haven’t had a reply.
This morning Dot and did all the food shopping at Waitrose and got home just before it poured with rain, and not long before we took delivery of a parcel for David. Quite relieved that we were home when it arrived. We are now awaiting the arrival of David, O)liver and Amy, who appear to be on the A11.
Dot in Jamie’s. Not sure about the bald man behind her.
Unsurprisingly, much time has been consumed over the past week with wrapping presents and writing cards, plus quite a bit of furniture rearrangement. After a false dawn on Saturday, Colin eventually came on Monday morning and transferred the shelves upstairs; so Dot and I now have separate studies, and I think both rooms look quite good. Hope the children agree.
It was a very wet weekend. On Saturday I drove to Mundesley for the third of the Paston Heritage Society writing workshops at a the Royal Hotel. I left slightly late because Norwich City were playing Everton on BT Sport. Dot was at the match, but I watched a bit before I left. Norwich City were playing very badly, and I was amazed later to find they had drawn 1-1 and could easily have won. So I was a few minutes late at Mundesley, and only five of us were there (including the tutor). It was quite interesting; I put up a vigorous defence of my use of commas and dashes, which was fun.
Later Dot and I went by bus with Anne and Philip to Jamie’s for a meal. No doubt because of the proximity to Christmas, this was much rowdier than usual, and the meal wasn’t as good as we expected. The free elements (on Dot’s gold card) were by far the best – a taste of pumpkin soup (with amoretto) to start and a mince pie to finish. However, our waitress was excellent. Philip and I waited for a bus back, but the women walked – beating us only because they ran, and Philip can only walk very slowly nowadays. Unsportsmanlike, I call it.
Yesterday seemed an odd day to me, but it started in lively enough fashion with the Archant canteen Christmas lunch. This was a bit heavy (possibly because I opted for the wrong things) but again the starter was very good and the canteen staff very friendly and helpful. Brian and Tricia, Robin and Shelagh and Paul and Maryta were there with quite a goodly number of others. Afterwards Dot and I went and bought a printer from Ryman’s, and I ran into Richard “Batso” Batson doing a bit of shopping. He has recently “retired” from Archant and is working for a different company in a PR role, which he seems to be enjoying.
Meanwhile Dot was busy buying a white printer to match the decor of the bedroom, and when we got out of the shop there was an unpleasant drizzle in the air which made the walk home unpleasant and seemed to literally put a damper on the day, which gave up the ghost. It was almost dark before 3pm.
At home I installed the printer (resorting to reading the instructions after an initial fail), and it now seems to be OK, though the print is not as clean as it should be. Spent some time trying to work out how to clean the nozzle. Haven’t cracked it yet. On the plus side, it does fit the decor of the room, and it does work wirelessly, though I have a connecting wire in reserve.
Dot has been out and about today and is now at Little Plumstead for a governors’ meeting of some kind. It’s a toss-up whether she gets back before she’s due to have her hair cut. No word from Linda.
Very sad news yesterday: Geoff Saunders has died after a long struggle to recover from his operation and subsequent stroke. He had a couple of falls, breaking his arm and then getting a blood infection. He then had a heart attack while in a nursing home. I had visited him several times when he was in hospital and then at home afterwards, but thought he was recovering.
The newish vicar and our friend Judy came to an evening meal on Friday last week, and it was a pleasant time. He wasn’t feeling on top of the world, and I forgot to mention a couple of things I meant to, but apart from that it was OK. We showed them a few of our pictures, purely because David (the vicar) had previously asked us when we were going to invite him round to see our pictures. Two can play at that game 🙂
The next day we saw him (and Judy) again when we went carol-singing in Anglia Square. There had been a lot of confusion leading up to this as to prospective musicians; so I didn’t take my guitar, which turned out to be a good decision. We had one guitarist, a guy named Richard from St Luke’s, and with amplification that worked well. There were about 14 of us – an equal number from each church – plus the vicar, who was pretty pro-active with carol sheets and giveaways for watching children. We both enjoyed it, as did most people who came by. About £80 was collected for refugees.
Before we started, Dot ran into Rupert Mallin, and we had a chat. Good to see him.
That evening Joe and Birgit came round for supper. Both of them seemed in good health compared to recent months, and Joe’s business seems to be getting somewhere. They are going to Germany for Christmas. Phil and Joy are going to Southampton to be with Sam, Lucy and Elliott for nearly a fortnight; so I guess they must be feeling better too.
On Sunday I preached and followed it up by assisting Dot in dramatically changing the rooms round to accommodate Oliver’s bed downstairs. We put the big filing cabinet in the hall, where it looks surprisingly in place, and I used the opportunity (both on Sunday and Monday) to weed out lots of redundant paper from the files. I have now been through the top three drawers and will leave the bottom drawer until the new year and I’ve forgotten how painful the other three drawers were. The bookcase went into the kitchen and then upstairs. I have now contacted Colin (At Your Convenience) to come and move the shelves on Saturday, so that Dot has a study upstairs. I will of course have to buy her a printer, preferably one which uses the same cartridges as mine.
That still leaves the garage to be restored to some sort of order…
Also on Monday I went up to Boots to collect my new glasses, which are rather startling frame-wise, but fortunately Dot is happy with them. My eyes seem reasonably happy too, though they have been watering a lot over recent weeks. I have a hospital appointment on December 30, after having been booked into the wrong clinic by mistake on a different day. No problem with my vision, I’m happy to say.
A couple of frustrating days followed, when I was unable to get to grips with stuff I needed to do for various reasons. But on Tuesday we had a Christmas “meal and compline” at our house, with David, Bridget, Judy and Vicky. We all supplied part of the meal.
Yesterday, while Dot was attending a DSSO meeting at Easton with Paul, I posted a wildlife magazine and letter to Andrew and then bought some flowers for Mum’s grave, as it was her 104th birthday. I took them up to the Rosary in the afternoon while Dot was shopping. I also managed to almost finish my Paston short story and got a reasonable ending out of it.
Meanwhile, sad to say that Jack Earl has died – aged, I believe, 102.
Go-go Canary dragon. You don’t see many of them about. Birthday gift from Roger (and Debbie) to Dot.
On Monday, we had natural disasters. Dot, Judy and I drove in appalling weather to Holy Trinity to hear a distinguished scientist from the Royal Society talk about whether natural disasters were acts of God. He seemed a very pleasant fellow, and much of what he said was interesting, though hardly original. I would liked to have disputed his view of climate change, but the atmosphere was wrong (see what I did there?). Dot asked a question on whether things were all that different now compared with the past, but he misunderstood it, probably accidentally.
On Tuesday I made it to the Archant coffee morning, but Dot was deflected by the Diocese: she has been extremely busy this week. Quite a pleasant time; spoke to Paul quite a bit afterwards and then went to pay in church cheques at the TSB and buy some Christmas cards at Revelations. I decided to abandon my pedantic objections to having the three kings on Christmas cards because they didn’t come at Christmas. Just another example of one of those myths becoming so widely accepted that it’s futile pointing out that it’s wrong.
On Wednesday I at last managed to obtain my prescription pills – just in time, because I was on my last Perindropril. The chemist had forgotten to put my order through to the surgery last week; so I had to remind them on Monday. They were apologetic. On leaving the chemist I was phoned by Dot, who had been having lunch with Carrie (plus a bit of shopping) and had arrived home without a key. Fortunately I wasn’t too far away…
Earlier I had bought some Christmas stamps at the sorting office and taken a walk through the Rosary – a few weeks since I’d been up there. While there I got the inspiration for a poem. Lost count of how many poems the Rosary has inspired..
Thursday was the maddest of several mad days for Dot. She was supposed to finish with a governors’ meeting at Little Plumstead, but when she arrived home from Catfield at 5.30pm, we realised she had left her phone behind – the realisation coming mainly because the Find Friends app said she was still there. She thought she must have dropped it at the side of the road where she almost fell over, and foolishly I let her go back to look for it, as I was cooking dinner.
Obviously (about five minutes after she left) I realised it would have made a lot more sense for me to have gone with her, or at least have lent her my phone. As it was, we were out of contact. I kept checking to make sure no-one had picked it up, and eventually Dot arrived at Catfield – happily, to find the school open; so she was able to ring me. At first she couldn’t find the phone, but then I enlarged the Find Friends map, which in combination with Google Earth seemed to indicate it was inside the building. I rang back to tell her, but when she answered she said she had just found it – in the toilet. Well, not actually in the toilet, but in the small room housing the toilet.
I had rung Little Plumstead to say she wouldn’t make it to the meeting. This was a Good Thing. I am trying to persuade Dot to stop being a governor, because it’s so time-consuming.
Tonight we are having the vicar and Judy for a meal. We are not trying to pair them off. We have been to Morrisons and Dot is now making a cake, because she knows he is coming (literary reference). There will ensue a mad dash to clean the house. Later I will be cooking a child con carne. Actually that’s a chilli con carne. I rarely cook children. Predictive text can cause all sorts of trouble, particularly as it has no way of knowing it’s being extremely stupid.
Speaking of stupid, we are now bombing Syria, a small country far away of which we know little.
Strangely, the eye test turned out to be nearly as traumatic, though not as painful. Everything seemed OK, and the ophthalmologist said my eyes were healthy, but then he noticed something at the top of my left eye, which he wondered about. He thought it could be a problem with the retina. On one hand he said it was probably nothing, and he was just being cautious, but on the other he said that if I got a shadow in my eye I should rush to A&E, in case my retina had become detached, which could blind me in that eye. Yippee.
I also needed two new pairs of glasses, in which I was assisted by a very nice girl called Becky, who was a trainee but very thorough and determined to get everything right. I eventually chose two new frames and ordered them. They will be ready next week. I also have a hospital appointment to look at my eye. This is on December 31, which may or may not be a good idea, but the next option was well into January. Needless to say I have had funny feelings in my eye since then, but I’m sure they’re just psychosomatic.
Back at the dentist, this morning’s session was even worse than the first one, and when Allison asked me when I wanted to come back, I said: “Never.” The procedure was pretty painful, and the idea of using three different toothbrushes to clean my teeth is pretty unrealistic. The hygienist is a fanatic: I think I shall go back to Ross for the check-up in three months’ time. Or four. Or five. Or eighteen.
The next day (Wednesday) I had my hair cut, which was totally painless.
Thursday was Dot’s day in London with Anne, and they had a great time, particularly the afternoon tea at the Bloomsbury Hotel. I surprised myself by going for a walk, starting at South Walsham staithe and walking along the bank of the dyke out to the Bure, opposite St Benet’s Abbey. I got some really good pictures and in many ways it was idyllic: not too cold, very still and the light fading, with mist over the marshes. I didn’t pass anyone after I left the metalled road. The only problem was that the path was very muddy – I couldn’t make up my mind whether it was a result of the damp weather we’d been having (and are still having) or if the recent hight tides had overtopped the bank. Still wonderful, though.
On Saturday I went out to Mundesley for the second writing workshop, which was good again, and then met Dot at North Walsham rail station, taking her to Jessie’s, where we had a cup of tea before going to the Banningham Crown for an evening meal. This was another very good meal. I had a steak and ale pie, which was probably a mistake in terms of getting a decent night’s sleep, but it tasted good. Also there were Roger and his girlfriend Debbie, who is very easy to talk to. The service was again excellent.
Sunday turned out to be very sporty. Dot and I watched the Davis Cup final, in which Murray won the decisive match, accompanied by extremely noisy spectators, and then we watched the Norwich v Arsenal match on Sky, courtesy of NOW TV. Good game too. The result was 1-1, and City could easily have won. After supper, or possibly during it, we then watched the highlights of the final F1 race of the season.
After the Evetts went last Friday and Dot was catching up with some paperwork, I drove to Pinky’s café in Halesworth and read two of my poems to a packed house, nearly all of whom were also reading poems, though not at the same time. I read Counting Water and Autumn at Wells. Sat with Sue Mobbs, who often reads at the Seagull. Ollie did a blasphemous verse: I was tempted to offer to tell him what Christianity was really about, but the opportunity didn’t arise.
It was a breezy drive back, and Saturday was so wet and windy that we were glad not to be going anywhere. We did sneak in a quick visit to Morrisons without getting soaked.
Sunday was Dot’s 70th (59th) birthday. There was snow on the ground, and Anna did a cake for church. We took a bottle of Prossecco, and Howard bought another one. After lunch Anne and Philip called in with a present (more fizzy) on the way to a birthday party for their grandson Charlie, who is three.
David drove up from Caddington, and we all went to the Norfolk Mead at Coltishall for an evening meal. It was superb, as was the service. Really nice having the three of us together, and extremely kind of David to pay for the meal. Earlier he had gone into the city to take his phone to Apple (and buy Dot a present), but he had to return to the Apple store the next morning to get it fixed.
Dot had got up early to give Paul a lift to a Diocese team day at Letton Hall, and I had scraped ice from the car. I had a bath while David was in the city, but had to leave for a dentist’s appointment half an hour after he returned. Fortunately, he was about to leave anyway.
The dental appointment turned out to be a bit traumatic, because Pip (the hygienist) decided I needed a deep clean. She did one side of my mouth under anaesthetic, and left the other to be done next Monday. Well, that’s something to look forward to – and all for only a few hundred pounds.
I decided to go straight home. Dot had a long day and went into the Hendersons for a cup of tea when she dropped Paul off; so she didn’t get home till about 6pm. Today she has already been to the UEA for a bit of medical research, which went well (apparently she has a healthy body; I knew that). Now (12.15pm) she has just left for Elveden, where she is adjudicating an RE Quality Mark application. I have an eye test this afternoon, which should prove less traumatic than the dental experience, though I suspect I may need new glasses; so it may be almost as expensive. It’s very damp out.
Julia and Dave left after lunch for Aylesbury, but had trouble getting our of the city. They got stuck in traffic, then had to return for a forgotten bag, then decided to go out via Thorpe, which can’t have been quicker. Ah well. We had a good time while they were here.
They arrived for lunch on Tuesday just after the gas man had fixed the radiator in their room. It had been cold – as a result, it turned out, of an airlock under the floorboards. Our man, Kevin Ansbro, who happens to be a novelist when not working for British Gas, sorted it all out and then chatted for some considerable time about literary stuff. Then I gave him a copy of one of my poetry books, and he left.
After lunch we went up to Marks and Spencer (I forget why) and had a hot drink before returning to the house for supper. In the evening it rained a lot, but by the next day it was quite pleasant, and we went to Fairhaven Water Gardens at South Walsham, which turned out to be very pleasant indeed – much bigger than I thought, with lots of paths and dykes. Dot saw a kingfisher for the first time ever, and we spent some time working out what some strange birds in the distance were. They turned out to be young cormorants (much whiter than the adults). The garden walks lead to the Inner South Walsham Broad, and you can do boat trips in the summer.
In the evening we went to Cafe Rouge again (by bus), managing to dodge the rain that had returned after we left Fairhaven. Another excellent meal and another excellent waitress (not the same one).
Chocks away! Dot in the cockpit at the Radar Museum.
On Thursday it had turned cooler, and we went to the Radar Museum at Neatishead, which proved about as interesting as it was last time and went down well with the Evetts, I think. Very few visitors, so we got close attention. In the evening we went to Prezzo and followed that by going to the Odeon (Imax) to see Spectre, the latest James Bond film, which was extremely impressive. We went to the Gallery for the full experience, but this was much less enjoyable than last time, and I doubt if we’ll be doing it again. We got massive soft drinks (which you don’t really want before seeing a 2½-hour film), some nachos, popcorn and very poor service, because they were understaffed. Anything alcoholic had to be paid for, and the seats were not comfortable.
Today has been markedly colder. I stayed at home this morning while Dot went to the doctor to get validated for her renewed prescriptions, and then she and the Evetts went up to Marks and Spencer again to do some shopping.I had to get lunch ready for 12.30, because they wanted to get away early. Dave was here, but Julia and Dot arrived just before 1pm. Meanwhile I’d posted some cards and a magazine to Andrew, who is now back at Minster Lodge.
Pre-Evetts but after my last post Dot went to Lichfield for some p4c, staying overnight on Sunday. This went well as usual, but unusually the hotel was also excellent. I went on my own to the Seagull and read some poems, which seemed to go down well. We even had an audience of four. I tried a different route on the way back, but it turned out much further, rather as anticipated.
On Monday evening I went to a PCC meeting at St Luke’s, where both churchwardens announced their resignation – nothing to do with the new vicar; they had been planning to do so for some time. The vicar said ideally he’d like four churchwardens – two for each church – but I fear this will not happen. Still, who knows? The meeting itself was not terribly interesting, as it was primarily St Luke’s-orientated, but then there were only three of this there from St Augustine’s (Howard, Judy and me); so we could hardly grumble. We didn’t grumble, of course. We don’t do that.
Very little horizontal movement this week for me, though on Tuesday Dot went to Hull and back in a day, against all sensible advice (mine and others). To be fair, it wasn’t her decision, because Barbara was driving, and the Philosophy session went well.
Dot has been very busy this week, and has now been asked to write an article for The Magazine. It’s all go for her.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time getting rid of paper from my filing cabinet, and am not much more than halfway through the big one. On the plus side, I have disposed of large amounts of paper, some of it shredded, and have discovered some interest historical items (my history, that is). I have also emptied a box of miscellaneous items that has been cluttering up the study and redistributed some of it. Most of this is done sitting down, but it’s still very tiring.
Both bins are practically full, and they won’t be emptied for over a week. The brown one is nearly full of leaves, since it’s been quite windy. One binful of leaves went on Monday.
The piano tuner came yesterday, and earlier in the week I took Dot up to Dipples to buy her birthday present – a rather nice watch. She seems quite pleased.
I have just written an e-mail to the vicar making it clear than I am not acting for the church in the matter of Anglian Water, who have now decided the leak is not fixed as stated earlier but is probably on church property, and therefore it’s up to the church to find it and fix it. It’s costing huge amounts of money (we’re paying over four time the amount we were paying last year at this time) and needs to be sorted. I have suggested the vicar and churchwarden are responsible. I may be excommunicated, but at least I won’t be losing sleep over it 🙂 I hope.
