All posts by Tim Lenton

Meandering through the marsh

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Andrew at Brandon Marsh nature reserve
Andrew at Brandon Marsh nature reserve

Managed to fit in a visit to Coventry this week, travelling out late on Tuesday and staying the night at the Premier Inn at the junction of Leamington Road and Kenpas Highway, where I had stayed before. Very welcoming place, the only downside being the lack of a bathroom. As last time, I bought sandwiches from the M&S shop in the petrol station opposite for the evening, but enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the hotel, where I was the only diner just after 9am.

Arrived at Andrew’s not long after 10am, and we walked through Coventry to the Transport Museum. It was warm and quite crowded in the city, though the museum was fairly empty. Not the most exciting museum I’ve been in, but as it was free you couldn’t complain. Andrew bought a book about old buses in the shop afterwards, and we got him some handkerchiefs in Primark (formerly Owen Owen).

Back at the car, Andrew decided he wanted the toilet, so we popped back into the house before heading for Brandon Marsh nature reserve, which I had discovered online. Not easy to get to past the still ongoing mega-roadworks at Baginton, but appealing in a kind of amateurish way. It has clearly not been around too long and is growing into something that may be exceptional in due course.

We had sandwiches and a drink in the cafe before venturing on to the paths that meandered through young woodland and past a number of lakes, taking in some reedbeds, hides and the edge of a golf course. It was very warm, and Andrew was too tired to take the whole place in, but we had a very pleasant walk, with frequent stops to try out the benches. Got some quite nice photographs.

After driving back to Minster Lodge, Andrew decided he’s quite like to see our old homes, and so we drove to Beanfield Avenue and The Chesils. Back at Minster Lodge, we had a cup of tea and coffee in the lounge before I left for home at 4.30pm. Getting out of Coventry and thought the junction of the A14 and M6 took a lot of time, but from there the journey was fairly straightforward. I stopped at Cambridge Services for some fruit and chocolate and got home around 8.15pm. Dot was at orchestra practice.

The previous day (Monday) I had been out in North Norfolk again, attending a meeting of the Paston Trustees at Mundesley and then dropping in on Jessie, where Dot had spent the whole afternoon. Before that the two of us had had a lovely lunch at the Knees’.

Thursday and yesterday were fairly quiet days. The warmth had been successfully quashed by a chilly wind, but I did venture out to the Rosary on my father’s birthday, leaving some bluebells from our garden on his grave.  I eventually got into contact with the right guy at the Bicycle Shop cafe and established that Phil’s amplifier would be OK, and 5-6pm would be good for rehearsal on May 4. Feeling rather less worried about it now.

Norwich City ended their winning run in front of 27,000 at Carrow Road last night – a number that included Dot. We had walked down together. Their 0-1 defeat to fellow aspirants Middlesbrough means that automatic promotion becomes much less likely, but there are still the play-offs!

Wrote a couple of poems in Coventry and another one on my return; so my rather barren period seems to have ended.

Losing track of time

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Dot, Sue and Fred on the beach near Beeston
Dot, Sue and Fred on the beach near Beeston

An exceptionally busy week goes by, and the busyness continues. This afternoon I head for Mundesley for a Paston trustees’ meeting, and tomorrow I drive to Coventry to visit Andrew. Fortunately my health continues to improve. But back to the past…

Tuesday last week saw another Archant coffee morning, this one with the addition of Maryta, plus Brian Caldecott and Tricia. Clearly an EDP subs’ takeover is in the offing. Good to see Brian, who looked well although he isn’t (he has rheumatoid arthritis).

Saw Maryta again the next day, when the Hendersons took us on a North Norfolk trip, starting with a longish dog walk at Felbrigg Hall, where we saw frogs mating and enjoyed a light lunch, continuing at Beacon Hill (Roman Camp), where they lost the dog – sadly not permanently; it returned to Dot and me while they were off down the ravine looking for it – and on to Blakeney, where we had a shorter walk and then an excellent afternoon tea at the Blakeney Hotel, overlooking the marshes. Discovered to our surprise that the Hendersons had not been to Blakeney before: that’s what comes of living south of Norwich. Weather fine, with a chilly wind.

On Thursday Dot had a violin lesson with a friend from the orchestra and completely lost track of time, so that I had to ring her and remind her to come home and see Sam, Lucy and Elliott, who had dropped in during a short visit to Norwich. Elliott very smiley and crawly; Sam less so.

On Friday we were off to the north coast again, this time to visit Fred and Sue at Beeston Regis. We visited Cookie’s at Malthouse and the called at the Cley Wildlife centre, which has been much improved, despite being pretty good to start with. Our neighbours the Norfolk Wildlife Trust can’t be short of money. From the centre the marshes looked much more open; most of the trees had disappeared following the tidal surge.

On the way back to Beeston we stopped at Sheringham, where I had a delicious gooseberry ice cream and we watched a girl called Karen lovingly construct a message in stone on the beach to her boyfriend Len (we’re making several assumptions here). Back at Beeston we took a stroll along the beach, where I managed to lose the eyepiece to my binoculars. Again, a lovely dry day, but with a chilly wind in the evening. It even rained on our way home, but that was probably very localised.

On Saturday Dot spent most of the day (if not all of it) preparing for the visit of Chronicle and spouses (Rob, Penny, James, Ann) for an evening meal. This was supposed to include a discussion about the progress were were making on the next Chronicle project, but we had such an interesting discussion on other matters (some theological) that we never got to that. I will raise it today when I see Rob for lunch.

Yesterday I preached a bit, and Eleanor led a Holy Communion in her lovely understated way. Vicky came, as did Ruth and Steve, so we had four children in the congregation. We have discovered that the new vicar is gay, or if not exactly gay, unnecessarily happy. In the afternoon Richard came round with the delightful Maddy and Darcy, and we had an Easter egg hunt followed by other excitement and a certain amount of food. Norwich scored a last-minute goal to beat Bolton, which meant Dot was pretty happy too.

A series of tanka I wrote for Lent has been accepted for inclusion in the spring edition of the Atlas Poetica, published in America. Surprised and delighted.

Walking with the Romans

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Amy, oliver, Paul, David and Dot at Caistor St Edmund, hunting for fragments of pottery
Amy, Oliver, Paul, David and Dot at Caistor St Edmund, hunting for fragments of pottery

Unusual follow-up to one of Dot’s meetings, in that it led to the exposure of someone putting in false expenses – who claimed to be there, but wasn’t. Despite his prolonged and protested innocence, it was eventually proved that he was lying in his teeth. As a result he was “embarrassed”. Can’t say who it was, or where the meeting.

On Tuesday last week we had a compline and hot cross bun at Judy’s in the company of the Archers. A nice evening, except that the cool temperature (18C) led to my suffering a bit of a relapse. In fact I’m still not right, and nor is Dot. We both have a bit of a cough, have few reserves of strength and (in my case) tend to shiver and (in Dot’s) get too hot. Still, we have managed to carry on, because mostly it’s not too bad. Very irritating, though, as it affects our sleeping too.

Despite that we had a great time with the grandchildren and with David. We picked Oliver and Amy up at lunchtime on Wednesday and got the bonus of a very nice potato and leak soup from David. Good journey home and a rather late night after watching some of The Ark on TV.

The next day we visited Gressenhall. The weather was unexpectedly good – sunny and not too cold – and we were outside most of the time, taking pictures and making videos in the wood, and going for a lovely walk by the river and an exceedingly boring tractor ride. The cafe was pretty good, and there were some interesting old things to be seen, like a schoolroom and a shop. Also saw a horse ploughing in the distance. Drive home was rather convoluted after I avoided going through Dereham (probably unnecessarily). Saw the rest of The Ark. Pretty good.

On Good Friday Dot was helping some people from church with some singing on the Haymarket. After David arrived in late morning, Oliver and I went to meet her, and we all went to the museum to gather material for a project for Amy.  Built bridges and arches and played old games.

The Hendersons invited us to walk with them at Caistor St Edmund on Saturday, and we just made it before they gave us up (10.35). Pleasant walk, encompassing the new bridge and field across the Tas. Paul very good at teaching Oliver and Amy Roman things. He has a real gift. Afterwards we had lunch (pizza and salad) at theirs. Later we had a roast meal at home.

On Sunday, despite feeling pretty awful when I got up, I went to church to play music and do the prayers for the Easter Communion. By the time I got there I wasn’t too bad. Adrian arrived and accompanied me on his acoustic bass, and Howard joined in on the piano for the final traditional Easter hymn (Christ the Lord is risen today). Howard took the service, and Eleanor preached. All very lovely;  I found myself last to leave, which was not what I had intended at all.

David and the children left in late afternoon after a second shot at Amy’s new game, which involved setting up shops and telling stories and making money. She is quite a girl.

Today I took some flowers up to the Rosary while Dot went to watch Norwich City beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 and moved to second in the Championship. I think we’re safe from relegation now.

Wanderers in the Cathedral

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I still have a bit of a cough, but am feeling considerably better most of the time. The meal a week ago at the Sugar Beat in Swainsthorpe with Julia and Allan was first class, and in a very pleasant setting. So nice, in fact, that we considered booking it for the visit of David and Kristine, but by the time I got round to it (worrying a bit about possible cancellations), there was no room at the inn.

Instead we were lucky to be able to book at the Norfolk Mead in Coltishall for Saturday night, and this turned out to be excellent. Again, the setting was superb, and the food was very good indeed, though I didn’t like their interpretation of an “Eaton” Mess. The service was also near-perfect and worth the extra expense. The place is now under new management and attracting a much bigger clientele than it used to.

Our weekend with the Coomes was beset by bad weather, but we managed to get up to the Cathedral on the Saturday afternoon, where we saw the very moving sculpture installation  currently in residence, as pictured above. They are Ana Maria Pacheco’s Shadows of the Wanderer. Sculpture is not normally my thing, but this was sensational.

We lingered in the Cathedral out of the cold wind, listening to a rehearsal of St John’s Passion and visiting the shop, when we happened upon Mick and Gill Stedman, who must be around 80 but seemed very sprightly. We arranged for them to stay with us in September.

On the Sunday David and Kristine came to church with us as usual, where by some mishandling of the rota, I was down to preach. I managed to get through without David heckling, though Adrian did interrupt to ask who Ruth was. Actually it all went pretty well, and we returned home for one of Dot’s special salads with blueberries and chicken. Some furious squalls of rain and wind during the afternoon, but by the time they left things were improving, and their journey home went pretty well.

Yesterday I remembered just in time to go to the Requiem Mass for Alan Atherton at St George’s Church on Sprowston Road. Huge turnout. I entered with Mike Pollitt and sat with the Limmers, but many others from Archant were there. Afterwards I had quite a chat with Gerald Nunn, then with others from the former copy-taking pool, the ex-librarians – Frances, a couple of Pats and a couple of others whose names I’ve forgotten. Also there were Eric from the stone; Patrick, a Mercury sub; plus Ann Crane, Bob Easter and Johnny Hustler, who surprisingly gave one of the eulogies.

Just before I left Philip arrived to park his car while he went over to the station and bought a ticket for his upcoming visit to Sam’s (actually for the journey back, because he will be travelling down with Sam). On Friday I had given Joy a lift to the dentist’s and back, shortly before Linda came round to cut our hair. What a social whirl 🙂

Dot has been quite busy. Yesterday she spent most of the day at Barbara’s preparing for upcoming events, including the university one at the end of next month. Click here. On Thursday she was at the Cathedral for a very good head teachers’ conference.

From Lithuania with love

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Spent the week making a gradual recovery from my head infection. Haven’t quite got there yet, but will be giving it a good test in an hour, when we go for lunch with the Higbees at the  Sugar Beat in Swainsthorpe. Still feel very clogged up and am prone to the occasional coughing fit.

I did, however, make it to church on Sunday, when Eleanor baptised a little Lithuanian girl called Gabriele. Her family were all in white, and a few had come over from Lithuania specially. We had a lunch afterwards, and I had a chat with those who could speak English, especially the slightly older daughter (5-6), who goes to Catton Grove school and can speak English, Lithuanian and Russian. Following the lunch (and the Lithuanians’ departure) Dot, Phil and I did a bit of a rehearsal which included my new song, Julian Blues. We were joined for a while on piano by Carrie.

Saw Carrie again last evening (5.30pm), when I attended Golden Dog Lane for a Carrie support group meeting. Only four of us (Carrie, Howard, Debbie H + me), but we had a good talk, and the cake tasted excellent. Dot had been at Mildenhall much of the day doing an RE quality mark assessment; so she had her evening meal while I was out, and I did my own after I walked back.

Braving our unhealthy atmosphere

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David and Chrissy outside Number 22

Our optimism was ill-founded. I was feeling so ill by Saturday evening that I couldn’t join David, Chrissy and Dot for dinner at The Dining Rooms. Dot herself had been bad but was improving a bit by then and was able to have a good time with them. I managed Sunday lunch at home with them before taking to my bed again.

All very disappointing, but it was lovely to see them both happy despite the unhealthy atmosphere (David himself wasn’t too well, having caught something off the children), and it was great that they could come.

On the Friday I had had to cancel my intended visit to the launch of Godfrey Sayers’ book in Holt, and on Sunday I didn’t make church, of course. On the Monday I missed the PCC, as did Howard, who also had some kind of virus. There’s a lot of it about. Dot heroically attended as St Augustine’s sole representative.

This was a full-blown case of the kind of upper respiratory tract infection that I used to get routinely when I was younger – debilitating in the sense that you can’t do anything involving your head for more than a minute or two: talking to people, reading, watching TV and so on. I haven’t had it like this for years, I don’t think, and hoped I’d grown out of it, as I seem to have more or less grown out of hay fever.

Dot wasn’t feeling at all well either for some days: she gets a lot of catarrh and sneezing, but not quite the acute facial discomfort, I don’t think. Perhaps she’s just more resilient, or more determined. But I don’t think so, obviously.

She was out in the city yesterday, and has been to have lunch with Carrie today. I managed to get up to the Rosary, where there was brief bit of weak sunshine, but I still feel very tired and clogged up. The hounds of spring are on winter’s traces, but let it pass. (You have to be a big James Thurber fan to get that one. Unless you happen to click here.)

I should have mentioned that Phil popped round last Friday afternoon for a cup of tea, despite my virus warning. He declined a lift home.

Checking on the corbels

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Phil’s birthday, and winter has come back in. Very cold wind today as I walked up to the sorting office, only to discover they were tarmac-ing the drive. Very nice woman said it would all be done in half an hour. Dot is in the garden, despite being under the weather since having a facial: she believes it affected her sinuses. Lot of sneezing. I am in more or less the same state but didn’t have a facial, so don’t know what to blame. We are both optimistic for a quick recovery.

It being Phil’s birthday means that it’s the anniversary of both my parents’ deaths – my mother yesterday and my father tomorrow. And it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday; so more than one reason to take some flowers up to the Rosary. I shall do that. Oh yes I will.

Last Saturday we had a “light” supper at the Hendersons’. This consisted of a starter, a roast and a sweet; so we should be grateful it wasn’t a heavy supper. Very pleasant evening, especially as Norwich City had won again.

On Sunday I preached at St Luke’s, with Karen Wimhurst leading and Steve F on sound. Interesting. The sermon went quite well, and afterwards I popped down to St Aug’s for another cup of tea. In the afternoon I walked up to St Peter Hungate to check the corbels. Glad to report they were there, and might well have represented John and Margaret.

The reason for this bizarre behaviour was that I was assisting Rob Knee on Wednesday with guiding two groups of Cromer historians round some of the Paston sites, and I wanted to make sure I knew where everything was.  In the event it turned out that the corbels were the least of my worries: when my group of 18 reached St Peter Hungate I couldn’t open the door, and broke the handle (in a minor sort of way) in the attempt. We continued unabashed to St Andrew’s Hall, where there was a school choirs event; so of course we couldn’t go in. So far, so bad.

From there it improved. When we got back to St Peter Hungate, Rob had opened it (and repaired the handle). Some of my group were very slow; so we were behind schedule, and when we bumped into Rob’s group again opposite the Cathedral, some of mine defected and headed for the refectory. By the time my group got there (having covered everything), there was little time for the promised snack before the bus left.

Happily I was not on the bus; so I could finish my delicious egg and cress sandwich (paid for by the historians, who also gave me £30). As I was relaxing I was asked to give a quick repeat tour to a couple of ladies who had been waiting in the wrong place and so missed the whole thing. So I went round again, really enjoying it this time, because talking to two people is much easier than talking to 18. They were very grateful.

Not much action the rest of the week. I have put more Paston letters into modern English and edited an article by Lucy on John Fenn & Co. And I’m keeping up with the Lent tanka, as well as stringing along with Joy. Oh, and updating websites.

Which reminds me, yesterday I called on Phil and Joy with Phil’s presents. They were both quite perky, though tired. Joy has taken to painting in a studio upstairs. Earlier in the day (or was it the day before?) I had bought Phil a couple of books and a bottle of wine.

Vicar surprises us

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Three-handed chess set – a gift from Karen

It’s a sunny, warmer day, and Dot has just been out in the garden (with a little help from me), tidying up. Norwich City are already on the radio, and she is in the kitchen.

The air has been gradually losing its chill over the past week, but last Sunday, when we went to the Seagull at Lowestoft after I had both led and preached in the morning, it was still pretty cold, with a chill wind. Phil was unable to come with us; so Dot and I played a couple of Julian songs in the first half, and I did “I Want to Catch Fire” on my own later. This is a song I wrote many years ago, but I have only just worked out how to sing (and play) it. It seemed to go all right.

On Monday it was still very cold; so Dot and I decided not to walk to the Greens’ for the DCC. We had a longish meeting, with a rather relaxed discussion at the end. The new vicar turned out to be not the one we had anticipated, but everyone seemed happy about him. His name is David Austin, and he is a big devotee of Facebook: he has been posting a great deal this week, not all of it uninteresting.

Next morning I walked up to Archant in murky weather for the monthly coffee morning: Su Lee was in attendance, as was Bob Easter, with news that Alan Atherton was extremely ill and not likely to last long. It was rather a subdued gathering after that, but a new chairman, Eric, was elected (can’t remember his surname: he was a print room supervisor), Alan having stood down.

On Wednesday Dot and I managed to get to the cinema, with two free seats (accumulated points) to see The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which we enjoyed tremendously. Intelligent script, good direction and beautiful, relaxed acting. We were smiling all the way through and for some time afterwards.

Thursday was quite busy. We went out to North Walsham to put flowers on the graves (it was Doreen’s birthday) and then called in on Jessie for a cup of tea and biscuits: she seemed in very good form. We had to get back in time to let in Naomi, who came for the night so that she could get to a course at UEA the next morning. Having let her in, we abandoned her and walked to the Greens for an evening meal with them and Vicky and Helen Ward, who was staying for a few days. Typical Green hospitality left us replete and walking back home just before midnight.

The next day everyone except Dot went to UEA. Slight exaggeration – Naomi left early for her course, and  I followed not long after (by bus) for a meeting at the Registry with other Paston trustees and Dr Karen Smyth, who gave me a three-handed chess set. We also spent a long time talking about the Heritage Lottery Fund bid, and continued the discussion after a lunch in Vista (the top cafe). I had fish and chips, which was excellent. Naomi joined us at her own expense and went back to Mundesley with her mother..

I returned home by bus and spent quite a long time catching up with paperwork. Dot arrived home from lunch with Anne shortly after I arrived, and after a bit more work we spent much of the evening watching TV. After the fish and chips, not much supper necessary.

Still managing to keep up with Lent tanka. Just.

Lunching with the Bishop

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Our Christmas present from Oliver – a rose – has produced two lovely new blooms.
Our Christmas present from Oliver – a rose – has produced two lovely new blooms.

Rather a lot of paperwork to bring the month to a close this week, and so a regrettable reduction in physical activity. Not much to record there, other than a trip into the city to pay a cheque and a walk round the Rosary yesterday. And here I am at the computer again while Dot ventures into the city. On her return we head to the church hall to rehearse a few songs with Phil.

The paperwork included researching and writing three article for Parish Pump – on the Armenian Genocide, Einstein and the Mt Tambora eruption in 1815 – writing a sermon, and compiling a financial report for the year for the DCC. I am also trying to write a tanka a day for Lent. In addition I have spent about half an hour on the phone renewing my car insurance, and a further quarter of an hour (most of it waiting) to sort out our lost Gift Aid repayment. I have also booked some tickets to see Adrian Plass in June, which is more complicated than it sounds because I had to do it in batches of three. The e-mail replies are the ticket, and the five of us may not go together, partly because Dot and I are due to return from Scarborough that day, with hold-ups always a possibility.

The highlight of the week was probably the lunch at St Luke’s on Monday with a select company including the Bishop, the Dean, the Archdeacon and two prospective vicars. We gave one of the vicars (and his wife) a tour of the parish in our (borrowed) car afterwards and discovered parts of it that we didn’t know existed. Well, not as part of the parish, anyway. “Our” vicar seemed very nice, and we rather hope he will be selected, though that is hardly fair on the other one, who we didn’t really get a chance to chat to. We believe the name of the “lucky” man will be announced tomorrow, if he has said yes. The Bishop and Dean were very pleasant, and the Bishop remembered Dot’s name; so that’s all good 🙂

After the lunch and tour we picked up Dot’s MX5 from the coachwork off Hall Road (just far enough off to make it hard to find). It looked immaculate. I then returned the Corsa to Enterprise Car Rentals and was given a lift home. Normally I would have walked from Heigham Street, but the wind was icy and I was carrying a file of documents that I didn’t want to lose.

Because the MX5 was finished early, Dot had to take our Mazda 2 to Kent (the P4C whiteboard won’t get in the MX5), which was a pity because of the additional mileage. Nevertheless, she had a good journey both ways, paying the Dartford Crossing toll online for the first time.

While she was away, Rob came round to discuss his forthcoming tour of Paston Norwich for the Cromer group he is giving a series of talks to. As the group is quite large, he wants me to help. One or two small bits of new stuff to me, but the next day I was coming back from the city when I noticed St George’s Tombland was open; so I popped in to see the dragon. This is the model dragon that’s used for the Lord Mayor’s procession each year, symbolising the Guild of St George, which is linked to Dragon Hall. While at the church (and being given a thorough tour by a kind elderly gentleman) I noticed that it also had a monument to Thomas Anguish by Nicholas Stone, who is well know for various Paston links.

On the same day we had our hair cut – a week after the scheduled date, so not before time. On Friday I had a routine blood test, and it was after that that I walked for a while in the Rosary, which I always find moving. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and thousands of crocuses were blooming, together with a few snowdrops. Did I mention that I had also dropped in my accounts file to Susannah (the St Luke’s treasurer), and later the cheque books and paying-in books? I hope the accountants can make some sense of them.

Troop ship to China

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Dot with the temporary Corsa
Dot with the temporary Corsa

Half-term week seemed empty, but it filled up fairly rapidly. The first three days saw blue skies, but yesterday it rained in the afternoon and evening, and today it’s just chilly and grey. I’ve just been up to the city to buy some new paper for the printer and was picked up by Dot on her circuitous way back from collecting her pills. Well, that paper is pretty heavy.

On Tuesday we eventually managed to fulfil our promised visit to Mairead and Simon for a cup for tea. The children were with his father; so we had a fairly uninterrupted hour or so, if you don’t count the dog. Simon seemed a lot better, but still awaits news of what they can do about his leg, which gives him a lot of pain. In the afternoon Dot and I went up to the Castle and heard Rob speaking in the person of John Paston III abut the Pastons in Norwich. Nice costume. Penny was there too, and so was David Clegg, the lutanist, who I failed to recognise without his hat.

In the evening we gave a lift to Judy when we visited Claire for Pancakes and Compline. I have a great fondness for pancakes, and it’s sad that we seem to have them only once a year. All present and correct, which was nice.

On Wednesday morning I at last managed to visit Mary Welander at Eckling Grange, which was a strange experience. She is 98 (almost) and has very poor eyesight, but is quite alert. Once I’d explained who I was things went reasonably well; I replaced the battery in her clock and read her post to her. She has nice little bungalowette in the grounds of the main house, and has been there for about 30 years, since her return from Malaysia, where she had been as a nurse for the previous 30 years.

She has connections with Surrey Chapel (as well as being Joy McCall’s niece) and she went out to China as a nurse/missionary in December 1945 on a troop ship to Bombay, followed by a train across India and a light plane into China. She was at a hospital in north-west China, near the Gobi Desert, until she was deported by the Communists. She returned to England, working for a while in 1951 at North Walsham Cottage Hospital (amazingly enough) before someone realised that the nurses who’d been in China (and could speak the language) would be good in Malaysia, where there were a lot of Chinese. So off they went.

I left when her lunch of liver and bacon arrived. It didn’t look very exciting, unlike the first part of her life. Later in the day Dot and I visited Jessie, who is a mere 82 and very lively. Excellent tea and buns. I always enjoy seeing her.

Yesterday evening Paul and Maryta came round for supper of fish pie and carrot soup, though not in that order. Paul seems to be feeling at a bit of a loose end after his retirement, though he says he’s writing a book about being a headmaster. Maryta is doing lots of riding and dog-walking. Both of them are worried about their neighbours’ proposed extension, which does sound a bit intrusive.