A robin giving itself a thorough wash in our garden.
Saturday morning, and we’re about to go to the Robinsons’ for lunch with them and the Stedmans. Feeling a bit better. Have just been watching a robin washing itself in a bowl of water in our garden. It spent almost as long in the bath as I do.
Yesterday Dot went to Ipswich for the launch of a philosophy folder which has her name in it, because she helped to put it together. By the time she got back, I had left for North Walsham and the private view of Lucy’s latest exhibition at the Griffon Gallery. I was first there and got at the cheese and crisps outside, because it was a warm evening. Nice selection of prints: some new, some older. Spoke to Sue Willis, one of the helpers and to Lucy when she eventually arrived with Jonathan and Naomi, who looked very striking. Caroline also arrived while I was there, and no doubt there were others, but I had to leave after half an hour to travel to Wymondham, where I had a chess game for Dons B against the Eagles. Played Andrew Donnelly, who is graded about the same as me, and managed to win a very exciting and tactical game, which was extremely satisfying. Earlier in the day went round Brian’s with the key again, but still no answer. Suspect something has happened.
On Thursday had what I believe is called a long lunch with poet Joy McCall at the Rushcutters in which she elicited so much information from me that I suspect she is writing my biography. Don’t buy it – it’s not true.
You’ll be relieved to hear that Jessie’s bus and Dot managed to be in roughly the same place at the same time, and as a result of some inventive parking by Dot, the rendezvous was achieved, as was lunch with A Ethel. I was at home, because you don’t want to interfere with that sort of thing. Meanwhile the roof saga came to a conclusion, and I have to say the result is impressive. Yesterday the final bits of scaffolding were removed and, what with the shorn hedge, the house seems quite naked, without cover of any kind – except of course the roof. When it rains properly (there were a few drops this evening) we’ll see how well the new system copes.
Barbara also came round yesterday for lunch with Dot and a conversation with the accountant. Both worked out well, as did subsequent discussion on the publishing venture. I had written a story which turned out to be not quite what they wanted as an introductory piece, and the two of them have now worked out a more coherent structure. Now I have to write a coherent story, which is not my strong point. Still…
My chess game on Monday was aborted because the guy I was playing was double-booked, and I ended up playing progressive chess against Joe Bell, a precocious youngster from the Norfolk & Norwich club. As I had no idea what I was doing, the games didn’t last long. We also had some rapid games of normal chess, and I managed to win three of them (but lost several more). Haven’t been sleeping well, and today I feel listless and disorganised. I was tired at Tuesday Group last night, as spotted by the perceptive Bridget, but since several people had their eyes closed during the CD and there was the odd snore, I was evidently not alone in this.
Have received numerous e-mails from Barbara about our holidays next year. Terrifying. She’s booked a hotel in Venice that looks rather nice. Or upscale, as I believe they say in upscale circles. Dot and I have both switched our ISAs to get more interest, which means we may be able to afford it.
Amusing story in the EDP yesterday morning under the heading “Council draws up a radical transport blueprint for city”. The first sentence reads: “Radical changes to the way people get around Norwich are on the cards as transport chiefs look to cut gridlock by closing roads…” Yes, that should work. Is gridlock something that can be cut anyway? Doesn’t it have to blown up? Or simply avoided?
Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.
The start of a new week, and the roof men are still hard at it. They would have finished, but for two things: I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday and had this sudden feeling that they hadn’t put the gutter-guard in to protect the gutters from the huge amounts of leaves we get from the trees behind our property. This turned out to be true, though how I knew and why I woke up thinking about it remain mysteries. This was going to add a couple of hours to the job, and while one of the guys was off getting the materials from the yard, the other one cut himself really deeply on the hand, and we had to get him to hospital. So no more work that day. I was quite worried that he might have damaged tendons, or something, but happily he had “only” nicked a vein, and he is back today with a handful of stitches and a certain amount of pain. I asked him if he thought he should be working. He thought he should. What can I say? It will be nice to have it finished.
The hedge has been cut too – on Saturday morning, by Colin – and we suddenly have light in the kitchen. No injuries reported.
Back to Friday night, when I had an invitation to the Twenty Group’s FourSite saga… sorry, I mean party… to celebrate the end of their Bally exhibition. Dot came for the start and left me chatting and wandering around while she picked up a present for Oliver from A Ethel for an hour or so before returning and picking me up. Most of them I didn’t know, but I chatted to John Rance, his wife Caroline and daughter Rachel, plus Hilary Mellon, Liz Clark, Kate, Philippa Fawcett and Ruthli. No sign of any InPrint members. When Dot returned she stepped in for a few minutes and found herself, amazingly, talking to someone (Caroline) who was involved in an educational issue she had been discussing with a head teacher earlier in the day.
After the hedge was finished we had a quick lunch and shot off to Caddington. Very quick journey and a lovely weekend. All three of them were a lot healthier than they’d been earlier in the week, and Oliver was keen to get to grips with his presents, which included a walking pole and a Lego Star Wars model. Despite the walking pole he showed no inclination to leave the house, and spent most of the weekend building the model and playing with it (he’s a talented builder) and then playing Wii games, partly against David and partly against me. I performed pretty miserably, which I think suited him. He’s amazingly proficient at them. Amy is still more interested in her invented doll games, which are wonderful, and is saying some really bright things. Left after they were asleep (Dot read them The Tunnel by Anthony Browne on the first night, and I read Oliver some of The Hobbit on the Sunday). Good journey home by the alternative route, because the previous day we’d seen a notice warning of night closure of a key road. Dot drove, and although it was about ten miles further, it didn’t take much longer because there are some fast sections.
The weather has improved again: over the weekend it was pretty warm and today it’s quite pleasant. Dot has gone off to rendezvous with Jessie as she alights from the bus at Anglia Square (a mission fraught with hazards), after which she is taking her to see the other aunt (Ethel) at Hethersett.
Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a frontal assault on our house.
I am surrounded by scaffolding and vehicles carrying ladders. The house is midway through its transformation, with nearly a half of the new bargeboards and fascia boards in place and the street nicely disrupted. The district manager of the company came round yesterday, and suddenly it became necessary to erect proper scaffolding at the top end of the house. This is also in progress as I write, with the scaffolding lorry at first blocking exit from the Wildlife Trust but now tight in behind the company van. Two cups of tea, two of coffee just delivered. Wife in south Norfolk, visiting a school and about to return for lunch if she can find somewhere to park. Autumn still in the air but in more benevolent mood, with rain threatening but holding off and the temperature up a bit. Hoping the wall doesn’t fall down as the scaffolders clamber over it.
The roof guys were here yesterday too, and completed quite a bit before dashing off to Watton to deliver a water butt. Dot was at Yarmouth for lunch with Anne and the perennial challenge of finding her way out of the town afterwards. For some reason this takes much longer than it should. We have consulted maps and plan a new approach next time, but I have to agree that the signs in Yarmouth are considerably less than helpful. # I put that # in because I just discovered how to do it on a Mac keyboard, which strangely doesn’t have it as a dedicated key. It’s alt+3, in case you were wondering.
Vicar Nicholas came round for tea. He is pretending not to be in the city, because he is still on sabbatical, but he made an exception for the tea and for going to see Quadrophenia with me at the Theatre Royal. He has just written the first draft of his book on Developing Consciousness, and has left it for me to look at. Quadrophenia was very impressive both musically and as theatre, with four actors/singers playing the lead role and some extremely clever direction. Always liked The Who, and the music was easily identifiable as theirs. The drummer was not Keith Moon, said Nicholas. He was correct. Keith Moon is dead. I did have this slight feeling while watching it that one attitude fostered by it – that a job serving other people is for some reason degrading – might be symptomatic of one of the faults in our society. Everyone wants to be served, but no-one wants to serve. Can’t work, can it? Service is a noble calling.
Tuesday was asbestos day, with a company from London coming up and identifying the guilty substance in its various guises, and then removing it. Much sucking of teeth at first, but it didn’t take them too long to get rid of it and head off back to Epping. Barbara V was also here, and she and Dot (with a little help from me) looked at how they were going to approach the publishing project centering on assemblies using Philosophy4Children. It was decided I would attempt to supply a series of stories based on six diverse characters. So I will attempt that. Inspiration, you may strike here.
I’ve been feeling a little tired since Monday evening, when I had a mammoth 71-move chess game against a guy from Thetford. I was at a disadvantage for most of it, but hung in until I had three or four minutes left and he had about one, when he made a slight miscalculation and I scraped a draw with an intermezzo check from my knight enabling me to get back and cover a pawn which had been about to queen. He was a bit upset, and so would I have been. As it was, I was delighted but so strung out that I found it very hard to sleep, especially as I was feeling a bit sick, for some reason. Still, I guess it was worth it. How can you tell?
Back gate from Dayspring, looking towards the cliff at Paston
And now it’s turned to autumn again, quite cold and windy, though not as bad as yesterday. Dot has been out all day today – first at Overstrand as a diocesan support officer and then at Catton, introducing Philosophy4Children. Good opportunity for me to catch up on some vital jobs, but after starting reasonably well, I have tailed off badly, even sinking so low as to change my profile picture on Facebook. The trip to Sainsburys went quite well, though a couple of requests from Dot eluded me. I followed this by taking Bernadette to lunch – something I had been intending to do for some weeks, ever since she assisted me by checking some shorthand for my Hull trainees. We went to John Lewis, and she refused to accept more than a baguette – or to be ruthlessly precise, half a very hard baguette that was a real challenge to eat. I was not impressed: should have taken her to Caffe Italia.
Yesterday had a good morning service at St Augustine’s, led by Heather. I preached on Careless Tongues Cost Lives – well, not quite, but something like that. Watched Jenson Button get back on the world championship trail in the afternoon, then off to Ambient Wonder in the evening. Very few of us there, and a little chilly: the same went for the pizzas. Didn’t sleep very well last night. Don’t know why. Keep dreaming about holidays and living elsewhere, and Dot driving brilliantly. Strange. Finished Stefan Zweig. I see Stieg Larssen’s third and last book is out next month.
Jessie's friend gave us a bag of plums. Worryingly, this is not all of them.
OK, so now it’s summer again. Confused? Me too. Lovely warm sunny day today: walked up to church at lunchtime to sit in as cyclist-counter for the sponsored cycle ride in aid of local churches. Discovered previous three cyclist-counters had not turned up. Counted only five cyclists, and they all came at once. Cyclists are like buses… However, several people called in to look at the church (Stuart the church history man officiating) and I spent some time talking to two eight-year-old girls who didn’t believe in God but wanted some balloons, biscuits, drinks, stickers and a postcard. If they don’t believe in God, where do they think the balloons came from? Ha! Nice girls, actually.
After Ann and Howard turned up to take over, I met Dot at Caffe Uno and had a pleasant lunch, then – acting on a tip from Howard – discovered a church on the corner of Queen Street and Tombland which I’d never noticed before: St Mary the Less, entered by a narrow gateway and surrounded by other buildings. Disused now, it used to belong to the Walloons from Holland and Belgium. Contains impressive copy of a Rembrandt portrait. Walked home through the Close and along the river, pausing to watch a few minutes of a rugby match. Then completed sermon for tomorrow while Dot did some work on her Philiosophy4Children scheduled for Monday and did some ironing in the garden. Well, it’s sunny, so she has to.
Last night drove out to Corpusty for a private view of Annette’s latest exhibition, which she shared with Diane Griffiths and a couple of others. Met a few of her friends and Marilyn Jeffries,a founder-member of InPrint who now goes her own way at Wells. Also met a wonderful painter called Susan who cornered me delightfully for about quarter of an hour. It was Oliver’s 7th birthday – didn’t speak to him during the day, but his Dad sent a picture of him eating a birthday meal. Today he rang us while we were at Caffe Uno, and we had quite a conversation. The family were on their way up to Nottingham and enduring some traffic problems.
Earlier yesterday visited the andrology nurse at the hospital – Liz Rooney the cyclist (they’re everywhere) – and she showed me how to inject myself in a very tender place in an attempt to put right a technical problem. Didn’t have any effect, except some aching and itching. On the whole I decided I’d rather have the problem, and I shall tell her so when she rings on Monday. Bit depressing really. Am still reading Stefan Zweig and enjoying him enormously: gets to the root of emotions superbly but also keeps the story moving forwards.
Bizarre behaviour by weather. Yesterday it was probably the hottest it’s been all year. The car thermometer registered 29C as we passed through North Walsham on the way back from a visit to Lucy’s at Paston. Today at least 10C cooler: I made the mistake of wearing just a shirt and light pullover for a train trip to Wroxham, which meant I was decidedly chilly when I got there to wait for Dot and Jessie to arrive by car. So I started walking, and we coincided very quickly. After that I avoided standing around outside. We visited Wroxham Barns and had a meal (cheese baguette), then on to Jessie’s for a chat and further refreshment. Dot had driven out to meet Jessie at Frank’s residential home in Wroxham, but I wanted to get a bit of work done, so took the train. On the way back from North Walsham we got stuck behind a painfully slow Clio the whole way, with a persistent stream of cars from the other direction. Where is a machine gun when you need it?
Just kidding. I say that in case this site is being monitored by the Government, who might mistake me for a terrorist. I am not a terrorist. I do not like terrorists. Or very slow Clios.
Been quite busy, actually. On Monday, Dot was in a high-level P4C meeting with Barbara at Metfield and got back almost too late to have her hair done. I decided to forgo the whole process, as my hair has not recovered from last time, when I went very short, and instead toddled off to the Norwich Print Fair PV in St Benedict’s, where I met Harriet, then Lisa, Annette and Mike. Oh, and Sandra. Had quick chat and look round – some good stuff on show – then on to the chess club for a Quickplay (10-min). Won the first two games, which is always a mistake, since you get paired against better players subsequently. The clever method is to lose the first game. I ended up playing all three of the best players in the club, and losing to them all. However, I did get another win, so ended up with 3/6, which is about what I usually end up with. Very good game in Najdorf Sicilian against Merv Hughes (not the Australian fast bowler).
Lunch with Lucy at Dayspring was followed by a very pleasant Tuesday Group gathering at the Archers’, featuring scrummy raspberry cheesecake left over from Sunday. Have just read The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig. Impressed. Not just with the story but its accuracy as regards chess.
Dot, Amy and Oliver taking full advantage of the swimming pool that came with our holiday cottage
Autumn has arrived, coming in with a blast on Wednesday (September 2), which was blustery, cool and very wet: the sort of thing that would have wrecked Greenbelt. It didn’t wreck us because we were staying in a lovely cottage with two delightful grandchildren, and there was a swimming pool, which was marginally wetter than outside. There was also a huge range of games, both indoor and out, and as well as swimming twice we played pool, bar football, table tennis, dominoes, backgammon and, in a dry moment, croquet – which Oliver loved. Also made it to Sainsbury’s to stock up again. Children had a great time, and so did we. The next day was marginally better, but we did the same sorts of things, eventually leaving the site to drive up to Cleeve Hill, where we went for a very windy walk among the sheep dropping and golfers. Oliver found some chalk and what might have been a fossil to show at school. From there descended a steep narrow lane and ended up back in Cheltenham searching fruitlessly for a fish and chip shop. Eventually gave up and bought fish, sausages and chips from Sainsburys to eat at home. Made us rather late eating, and thus late in bed. As long as Daddy doesn’t find out, we’re OK. Earlier had several croquet games with a very keen Oliver.
On Friday, after a night disturbed for me by noisy farm machinery, we left early (well, 9.50) and took the same route back as far as Milton Keynes, stopping again at Thrift Farm, which is run as part of a scheme for adults with learning difficulties. Very good tea room. Arrived at Caddington in good time and left before 2pm. Journey home was pretty uneventful, though I was pretty shattered by the time we got in, and didn’t even unpack properly. We went out for a meal at Frankie and Benny’s on the Riverside complex, and really enjoyed it. Good quality, reasonable price (except for the wine, which was good quality but pretty expensive). By the way, my neck problem has put itself right, more or less, and I’m feeling fairly well.
Would have liked a long lie in on Saturday, but our friend Bridget was being licensed as a reader at the Cathedral at 10.30, and we just made it, having met Vicky on the way. Sat at back by open west doors, which was unexpectedly chilly, but the 90-minute Communion service led by the Bishop was very good, and we were allowed to take the wine, so the swine flu threat must have subsided. Afterwards we gave Phyllis S a lift up to St Thomas’s Church for a buffet, which was extremely pleasant. Spent a long time talking to Heather, who I’d met some time ago at a Developing Consciousness course, I think. Also her husband. Similar tastes in holidays – Canada, Scotland. Later chilled out watching a fair bit of television and catching up with e-mails.
Today our preacher failed to materialise, so we had an interactive sermon led by Phil, which turned out surprisingly well. Followed by delicious church lunch. Dot is now talking about going for a walk, as it’s not raining for a change.
Sitting in upstairs lounge at Woodpecker, our cottage at Hunting Butts on the edge of Cheltenham, about half a mile from Greenbelt, which is on the Raceourse. Weather overcast and threatening rain. Cooler than yesterday, when warm sun and cooler cloud cover alternated. Greenbelt Sunday service has just finished (probably). We didn’t go in the end, because we got involved in conversation with the Greens and because the format with thousands of people didn’t really appeal. The Greens are sharing the cottage with us, and Beth has been staying the night too, surprisingly. Thought she would be a camping girl.
Yesterday we spent much of the day on site. It impressed me for quite a while as a vision of hell, with crowds of people milling around apparently not going anywhere, long queues for anywhere you did want to go and complete confusion. Not me at all. Left to buy cherries for Ambient Wonder event and a bottle of wine to replace one that had broken. Eventually found our way to the Grandstand area and listened to a bit of world music while waiting for Alistair McGrath to talk about Dawkins. He was excellent and attracted a big crowd. We used the camping stools we’d bought in Norwich, and they worked very well. Back to house again, then a bit of smaller chaos while Ambient Wonder got organised. However, it went very well and was so popular that people got turned away. After returning stuff to house returned for drink with Cracknells in Blue Nun, where we chatted up very bored bouncer. Bought delicious organic burger and very messy crepe, then got free tea in contributors’ area, then back to house.
The journey on Friday wasn’t too bad, despite huge amount of traffic on road. Lured happily on to Bedford, Milton Keynes route by queues on A14. Stopped at Thrift Farm after Milton Keynes (we had Mark from Poringland with us), then Dot drove the rest of the way, often on B-roads by a route she had worked out. Successfully avoided most of traffic and arrived at cottage 3.40. Greens arrived 5.40, and girls half an hour later. Took them into Greenbelt, then took Howard to supermarket and stocked up on food and wine. Back to house for food and long talk.
Paul and Heather Cracknell, Ambient Wonder supremos, listening to Dot in the Jesus Arms
Monday 31st
Drifted down to the Hub , where some guy was speaking on These Dark Materials as epic. I booked and spent half an hour with a priest from Essex named Patrick. Liked him very much, and the chat was quite uplifting. Met Vicky and Amy and took them back to the house with Jared. Vicky had shower. Later went into Greenbelt with Anna and Beth and had food (paella in my case) . They then went off to queue for something or other, and we looked round stalls then dropped into the Performance Café because it started raining and heard a folkish band called Scenic Routes – quite good. Re-invented Ambient Wonder at a very small youth venue went pretty well. Afterwards took car home then went back for a drink with the Cracknells and Annie in Jesus Arms. Later dropped into Soul Space then later still watched Cornershop (not very engaging) and Athlete – very good indeed, but not as good as Duke Special the previous night, who were outstanding.
Athlete on mainstage: very good indeed
Tuesday 1st September
Heavy rain interspersed with some sun. Chillier. Shopped at Sainsbury’s in the morning – David and children arrived just before 2pm and we had lunch – later swam in pool, then used games room, played dominoes and had evening meal. David left at 7.15 and got home about 9.15. Children a bit reluctant to go to sleep, but not too bad.
Kristine Coomes on brink of the abyss – or to put it another way, at the west door of Norwich Cathedral
Quiet couple of days. Popped into city, got glasses tightened, cancelled papers – that sort of thing. Delivered Joy’s birthday presents. Phil has been ill with flu-like illness for a couple of weeks, so we didn’t stop. Also managed to update website with article and a couple of new poems which are on the leaflet I’ve printed for Greenbelt. Which is where we are about depart for: Dot is completing her packing etc, and we’re awaiting the arrival of Mark from Poringland, who is getting a lift with us. Spent some time looking at map, but there’s no obvious route. We’ll have to wing it. Weather has turned a bit fresher. I’ve had a painful neck for a few days: hard to look right more than a bit. Head generally feels pretty strange, and odd twinges elsewhere. It would be nice to feel completely fit. Not sure if I’m looking forward to Greenbelt: being one of a huge crowd has never been appealing to me.
