Bad few days. Eventually I had to ring 111 about my stomach, then go to the drop-in centre, then a couple of hours later to A &E. Dot couldn’t stay because of the Covid regulations.

I made slow, tortuous progress. They gave me morphine but didn’t ask me if it worked, which it didn’t. So I was in considerable pain with very little happening (Not sure if the y have fully comprehended the concepts of “emergency” and “urgency”) and eventually ended up in Dilham ward for assessment, then on Easton ward about 2am.

I had another Covid test, given me by a nurse (her first time) – and it almost made me sick. No-one told me whether it was positive or not; so I suppose it wasn’t. That makes three identical tests, all negative. I think I am impressing David with the number of tests I’m having.

I saw a couple of doctors, then a surgeon in the morning, but no-one was sure what was wrong. I was probably giving wrong answers to questions, because on reflection my head hasn’t been right and the pain did move about. The surgeon  wanted me to have a CAT scan (or CT scan, as they call it in Nottingham), but there was no slot available; so Dot picked me up mid-afternoon on Sunday and I have been home ever since.

My condition has varied a lot. Watched St Augustine’s on Zoom on Sunday, but was definitely not feeling well enough yesterday to take part in Cake and Compline, and Bridget organised it. Dot said it was good: I feel I have a lot of people praying for me. I feel quite a bit better at the moment.

Sheila Crisp from Poringland rang on Monday to say my last remaining aunt, Thelma, had gone into a care home – frail but mentally OK. Had quite long talk with Sheila after Dot took initial call.) There will be a lot to do there in due course, my being next of kin and all.

Have been eating  no-fat food on doctor’s instructions in case I have gallstones. Spoke to Paul at some length, and to Andrew on Sunday just after arriving home from hospital. Feeling very tired a lot of the time.

This evening however have had a reasonable meal. Halfway through watching The Sailisbury Poisonings. While flopping about have also watched The Take, an excellent thriller and several episodes of Mayans MC, which no-one talks about but is very good, though rather violent. We also saw Sticks and Stones, which was flawed but quite well done.

I am not in a good place at the moment, as they say. It has been raining most of the afternoon, and most of last night I was in a lot of pain with a stomach ache and the usual worries – could it be appendicitis, kidney infection etc? In fact I think it was a combination of things. I had forgotten to take my pills, including Lansoprazole, which blocks stomach acid, and I had some rather sharp grapes before going to bed, as well as some goat’s cheese earlier.

I was awake from 2am with what I think was painful gas, and nothing would shift it. In the end I had a bath, then went back to bed and took Paracetamol. Eventually I dozed off and woke at 10.50 this morning. Been feeling tired all day, of course, and my guts are not right.  Had a very small snack (biscuits and cheese) for lunch, and we’re going to have tinned fish on toast this evening.

I have not had the result of  my COVID test yet. I sent off for it on Saturday, and it arrived after 4pm on Monday – just to late to do the test that day because I couldn’t book a return courier after 4pm. So I had to wait till Tuesday morning to book a return courier, and couldn’t actually register and do the test till after 9pm. All very complicated again, with the additional problem of putting a cardboard box together. Not feeling too good, though Dot told the vicar I was fine, so I must have been.

Partly for that reason we didn’t wake up early enough on Sunday to attend St Luke’s Zoom service, but I led St Aug’s Zoom in the evening, though I forgot to include the agape meal. Liz Day did a good talk.

We have finished Season Three of Cardinal and have watched four out of six episodes of the most reason season. It’s not due to finish till next Wednesday, but we may watch it on iPlayer tonight.

Have been housebound for several days, except for one walk up to the Cathedral. Dot has been getting new soil from the people at No 7 and is doing good things to the garden. The blackbirds are multiplying, which has been fascinating.

A couple of days P came round out of the blue. He was in a bad state because his car had been hit by a visiting vehicle, and I had to calm him down and explain what he needed to do. He is not helped by his Parkinson’s in such situations. He stayed a long time. Bit worried abut him, but spoke to Joy, and I think things are being sorted out.

As well as the COVID test kit, several other things have arrived, including some more cheese, some device for cleaning my ears, and some first class stamps. Ear thing worked reasonably well, but still have a noise in my head all the time.

Yesterday I had a longish chat with B, whose husband has been put under a restraining order because of his unreasonable behaviour. He had told her she was schizophrenic, and i had to reassure her. She isn’t, of course.

Real change in the weather today; although there have been occasional bursts of sun, it has been mainly wet and cold – so much so that I had to turn the heating on again. I have hardly been outside, and it seems unlikely that I shall fulfil my quota of 4000 steps – the first time for over two months.

This is partly because I’ve been feeling quite unwell over the last day and a half, and am on Paracetamol for the first time sine the coronavirus scare started. I feel very tired, my head is stuffed, and I have had a dodgy throat – though that seems to have improved this afternoon. I also have a sore foot, though that must be a side issue – or possibly a foot issue. Dot seems to be fine, thankfully.

Over the last few days we have watched two full seasons of Cardinal, which is set in Algonquin Bay. Very well acted and plotted detective series, though on the minus side it’s extremely gory. We started watching it on iPlayer because a new series has started this week, and we thought we ought to see the earlier seasons. We got about an hour into the first one before realising we’d seen it years ago. I don’t think we’d seen the second one, though.

Our weather is not being reflected in Canada, where the sky is blue and the weather warm. It was like that here last Sunday, and we had lunch outside after St Luke’s Zoom Service for Pentecost, for which Dot and I shared a reading. Afterwards we went up to the Rosary, noting that there were more people around. Then there was St Augustine’s Zoom service , which ran rather late, partly because Howard, who was hosting it and therefore had a pivotal role, was late. He had been laying a patio. Vicky was also late. Afterwards we watched Great Expectations, during which I fell asleep two or three times. Old film, rather badly miscast, except for Mr Pocket.

Dot put some new soil down on Monday. It came from Matt and Angela (No 7), and they have since supplemented it with more. Had lunch outside, and had a lie down afterwards, followed by a walk to the Cathedral. Saw the Dean and said hello.

Tuesday was quite busy. It was still warm, and Anne came round in the morning for coffee in the garden after a walk with Dot up to the Rosary. I walked up on my own later and found some gravestones I’d been looking for which marked a train crash at Thorpe Station in 1882. At tea time we had a FaceTime meeting with Julia and Allen Higbee, during which I suddenly developed hay fever, which is odd because awe were in the living room at the time. It may be that that led to my feeling ill yesterday and today, but it had subsided by the evening, when I led a Cake and Compline session. Our tech expert David A completely lost track in the middle, and I had to take over as host, which was the first time I’d done it.

Hello Fresh arrived on Wednesday, and we began to catch sight of baby blackbirds being fed. Dot and I walked around the new development at St Anne’s Wharf, which is very nice if you have a flat looking on to the river, and I developed a pain in my right foot for no apparent reason. Not quite gone, but much better. David FaceTimed us in the evening: actually he FaceTimes us a lot, but I don’t always mention it. Really nice to be in contact with what’s going on in Canada.

Yesterday Dot did quite a lot of work in the garden, clearing out a new area under the hedge, and I had a very long phone conversation with Matt, followed by a short walk during a sunny break. Wasn’t feeling very energetic and went to bed early.

Felt pretty rotten first thing this morning, but took Paracetamol and had a bath, after which things improved. Caught up with e-mails. Dot did a lot of DSSO work, partly on computer and partly on the phone, and we spoke to David and Chrissy on FaceTime. More baby blackbird incidents. Evening wine in the street session cancelled because of the weather. Apparently Peter Stibbons is not well and has been in bed today.

Very warm today. Dot has being doing a little work in the garden, and we have just sat in the garden listening to the weekly Julian podcast, followed by a walk up to the Cathedral. Our various packages arrived, and so we have started on the Cley Smokehouse pates, and Dot has eaten her dressed crab. We have also made a start on the new Neal’s Yard cheese; so we are living quite well.

We had a minor Zoom issue at St Augustine’s last Sunday, when Carrie couldn’t utter a sound for no apparent reason. That wouldn’t have mattered so much, but she should have been giving a talk; in the end Howard read out a copy of it. Pity – would probably have been better directly from her. But she has been having a hard time of it recently, with members of her family ill or in difficulties. Not unusual, but… Her husband Al is now having antibiotic injections for a leg infection.

Monday continued warm, and we were FaceTimed by the Murrays. We agreed how lucky we were with our children and how happy we were that they were together. It is quite extraordinary, really. We walked up to the Rosary and then watched The Enforcer, with Humphrey Bogart, an old film which was strangely stilted, but quite amusing, though it wasn’t meant to be. Apparently the idea that criminal “contracts” on people involved killing them was quite new at the time. Later we watched Slumdog Millionaire, which was excellent. I thought I’d seen it, but I hadn’t.

Tuesday was still warm but with cloud. We did a longer walk to the Cathedral, and Dot sorted out the Hello Fresh boxes, which we discovered can no longer be returned. She also cleaned out the freezer. I’ve been working much harder (ho, ho), writing three poems in a couple of days. Not sure how good they are. We also watched Top Hat (Astaire and Rogers), which was wonderful because Astaire and Rogers are wonderful. Quite funny too. We also watched most of Unorthodox on Netflix, because it was highly recommended by the Murrays.

The next day we watched the rest of Unorthodox, which is about a woman who breaks free of an Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg and goes to Berlin. There was a lot more to it than that, and it was very well done. The next day we watched Educating Rita, which we couldn’t help noticing had a very similar theme to Unorthodox, in that the young woman involved was trying to break free from a stultifying background by becoming educated. Again, much more subtle than it sounds, and the acting was brilliant, as was the writing (by Willy Russell).

Earlier that day Dot had gone for quite a long walk with Anne out at Poringland. When she got back we had lunch (I had stayed in because we were expecting deliveries), and I then went for slightly longer walk than usual on my own, trying to find a couple of Tudor houses that Peter Stibbons was looking for because they had been rendered into a 3D digital form by a group whose name I have forgotten, and if they were Paston-related he was going to try and borrow them for his fast-expanding Paston page. I had a couple of ideas but they were wrong. In the end I found one of them at 24 Princes Street, which may have been a Paston site, but who knows? It certainly wasn’t a Paston house.

When I got home I thought I might be able to find the other one online, and eventually I did. It turned out to be Bacon House on Colegate, and it had a historical connection to Kett’s Rebellion in that it was owned by the Sheriff of Norwich, Henry Bacon, at the time of the Rebellion (1549), and he sheltered the Earl of Warwick when he was being chased by rebels. There is a Paston connection to the Rebellion, but probably not enough to make it a Paston site. Quite satisfying to have found it, though.

On Thursday, which was again warm, we took the radical decision to drive to North Walsham and put some roses from our garden on the graves there. That went well: we met a guy of 91 who was visiting his wife’s grave: she had died 10 months ago and he went up every day. He stood a bit close to me, but I couldn’t push him away – also I have developed a deafness in my left ear which makes social distancing quite difficult.

Afterwards we intended to go to Happisburgh, but we got diverted to Walcott, which was packed with cars; so we gave it a miss. Happisburgh car park was closed because of you-know-what, and we gave up the idea of walking on the beach, partly because the toilets were all shut as well, and we needed to use some. So we went home, pausing only to pick up my prescription from the chemist’s. This took about 24 hours to order, as opposed to four or five days before the crisis.

When we got home and had used the toilets, we walked over the Julian Bridge so that Dot could see the new development, and the ancient house that’s falling down. I put a picture of this on Facebook. It looks pretty dangerous to me. The house, not Facebook.

Mark has not come back; so presumably he made it to Alabama all right. On Thursday evening we did what is said to be the final “clap” for NHS and other key workers, and last night we did the special Aspland Roadwine evening to commemorate VE Day+21. More people attended from lower down the road, including the new occupants of the flat next to Des. I had quite a long chat with Freddie, who seems to have some good ideas about what he wants as a career, and some good contacts too. I think he should be OK. Phoebe brought out her ukulele again, but only played it very quietly.

Had a FaceTime with David and Amy, who was very disappointed that we knew nothing about the Elon Musk space launch due tonight. We are going to try and catch it at 8pm to restore her faith in us.

It’s been pretty windy the last three or four days, but not cold. In Canada it’s now much hotter than here – a dramatic turnaround. Last Tuesday was a fairly dramatic day for another reason: Dot had a DSSO Zoom meeting in the morning that went on for about two hours, and then in the afternoon we popped into Des and Chris’s garden for a drink – observing all the necessary precautions, like taking our own drink and sitting away from each other.

While we were there David and Chrissy FaceTimed us and told us they were getting married! We needed to write a letter for the Canadian authorities to tell them we were pleased and how long we’d known Chrissy – clearly they needed to know it wasn’t a marriage of convenience designed to get David permission to stay in Canada.

In the evening we had our usual Cake and Compline Zoom session, which went pretty well, except that Eleanor couldn’t connect because David A hadn’t sent her the full link code. Vicky was busy making a video for her friend’s daughter; so she didn’t make it either.

Wednesday was very warm. We went for a short walk by the river. Hello Fresh arrived, and we ordered some more cheese from Neal’s Yard – two cheddars and a blue. The following day we also ordered another selection from Cley Smokehouse, followed closely by some stuff from Amazon, but that may have been on Thursday, which was Ascension Day.

That day we also started an eleven-day morning series of Thy Kingdom Come sessions leading up to Pentecost. Only about six minutes a day, led by Sarah, but really helpful. In the afternoon we took some coffee recycling stuff to the shop on Rosary Road, and then continued into the Rosary for a longer walk. Annoyingly, we have discovered that Hello Fresh no longer take their boxes and insulation materials back for recycling; so we have to dispose of them ourselves. Understandable, I guess.

In the evening there was a special Ascension Day service for the Deanery, which we attended on Zoom. We are “attending” a lot more services than we would normally do, which is interesting. This was followed by the usual clapping for the NHS and chat with the neighbours. I had been writing stuff for my website and articles for Parish Pump, the last of which I completed on Friday.

That turned out to be a busy day . We had a long conversation on the phone with Dave and Julia about David’s wedding plans (mainly). Everyone has seemed really happy about it. Then Des and Chris paid us a return garden visit, and we went for a short walk, followed by the VE Day +14 wine-in-the-street session, with Phoebe on ukulele. After quite a long while, during which we discovered that Mark is making another attempt to return to Alabama, via Heathrow and Dallas, I went in to cook the evening meal. Apparently this was quite impressive (my cooking it, not the meal itself). Roger and Adrian were both in touch with Dot.

Another windy day on Saturday. My cousin Ann had e-mailed me to say she was staying at Llandudno and it was blowing a gale. Not sure how she managed that. Spoke to David and Amy on FaceTime, then rang Phil to tell him about David’s marriage, and my cousin Barbara to see how she was. Dot and I walked up to the Cathedral.

Today I heard most of St Luke’s service, which included a good illustrated talk by Simon Snell. Dot was still in bed, finishing Underland, the book I had so enthused about. She was similarly very taken by it. Over lunch we were FaceTimed by David and Chrissy, and my e-mail correspondence with Ann has turned into a bit of a marathon. I don’t think she has much to do. Mark left early this morning; we wait with bated breath.

David’s 48th birthday today! We have just had a four-way FaceTime with him and Oliver and Amy. Everyone seems on good form. Our books got to him, but the children’s present hasn’t arrived yet. Here in England it’s a beautiful warm and sunny day, and Dot is painting the second gate. She painted the one by the bins yesterday.

It’s been quite a busy week, as lockdown weeks go. On Wednesday I drove to Leiston for my COVID-19 test. It was the nearest testing station to Norwich, you will not be surprised to hear. In the end Dot didn’t come with me, which I think was the right decision. Let me say right away that the results were negative, but I didn’t find that out till Friday.

The only problem on the way to Leiston was that the A146 was shut; so I had to cut through Yelverton to the Poringland-Brooke road; from there it was pretty much plain sailing. I arrived 20 minutes early, but the Army – for it was they – didn’t worry about that. I got waved straight into the Leisure Centre car park, where they tried to speak to me through a closed window but eventually resorted to showing me a number that I had to phone. That worked well. I was phoning someone about a metre away. Obviously I was in the car, and he wasn’t.

I had to do my own test, which involved unpacking the gear (which was thrown into the car through the side window) and the instructions, which were even more complicated. I had to swab my throat without touching any other part of my mouth, and then put the same swab up one of my nostrils. That was the easy bit. I then had to detach a couple of bar codes from a sheet and put one of them on a small tube, into which I then inserted the swab, breaking off the end and screwing on the lid. I then had to put the tube into one bag, put another bar code on that, then put that bag into another bag, drive round and throw it into a large sack. I then drove home.

Or I could have driven home. I was temptingly near Aldeburgh and other beaches, but I thought it wouldn’t be fair on Dot if I went to the sea; so instead I went to Leiston Abbey, which I could see from the road and which I expected to be closed. But it wasn’t, and there was just one car in the car park. So I parked and walked round the ruins, taking a few photos. It was quite chilly, but dry.

Something really bizarre happened on the journey home. I took the back route from Halesworth because I was behind three slow highway maintenance lorries. It’s a road I know very well, but it was surprisingly busy. Not far from St Cross I decided to put my satnav on, just to see how it directed me. This only involved pressing one knob, because it was all set up. Immediately afterwards I noticed a road going off to the right that I didn’t recognise, but I carried straight on and the road became unexpectedly narrow. I passed two groups of walkers and a Royal Mail van. I was driving very slowly because it was so narrow, and I quickly found myself entering Homersfield, which should have been about four miles away. I drove into the village, which I sort of recognised and found myself exiting close to the A143. It didn’t make any sense.

Anyway, I then drove home by the road through Alburgh, which I know extremely well, and the satnav kept telling me to go a different way, which is stupid but normal. I got home in very good time.

The following day things reverted to normal-for-lockdown. It was a bit chilly, but after Dot did some violin practice we walked up to the Cathedral, and at 8pm we had the usual applause for the NHS. It was Dot’s father’s birthday.

On Friday I got my test results, which were as expected. We walked up to the Cathedral again, and Dot spent a long time sorting through some old letters, bringing back memories. I did some Paston letters and put together some old photos for David, with extended captions. At 6pm we had wine in the street (VE Day + 7) – a long chat with an even bigger group of neighbours. I spent a great deal of time talking to Michael (No 16).

Saturday was a bit warmer, but not much, and after feeling pretty lifeless all day I managed to gather enough energy to walk to Cow Tower with Dot. Had a long chat with Amy on FaceTime, but didn’t do much else. I was a bit dodgy yesterday too, taking Paracetamol for the first time since lockdown – felt queasy and totally stuffed up. Feel better today, although I’m still quite stuffed up.

On Sunday we attempted to join the St Luke’s service on Zoom, but there was some major issue, and it wasn’t working properly. I did manage to access it later; so heard part of the sermon! Our own service in the evening went pretty well: I led it, and it was attended by Marlene from St Luke’s and Heather Vesey from Aspen, Colorado. Also by Sarah the vicar, though she remained sound only. Anna did a sermon which was bit long and obscure for my taste, but I’m sure everyone else enjoyed it.

Dot and I have been listening to a series of podcasts on Julian of Norwich by an American woman with three names: Veronica Mary Rolf. Surprisingly for someone with three names, they’re very good.

Dramatic news this morning: I have been selected to have a COVID-19 test. This is as a result of filling in a Q&A regularly on a research App and reporting feeling unwell over the last two or three days. In fact I think I had a stomach upset followed by unusually bad hay fever (unusually bad for recent years, that is), but this was enough to get me qualified for the test. They’re probably using me as a control.

I have to go to Leiston in Suffolk tomorrow morning. There are no test sites in Norfolk, of course. Why would there be? Dot insists on coming with me, though she can’t be tested as she has no symptoms.

This morning we went out in the car again (we’d been to the chemist on Friday), starting with the chemist, where Dot had to pick up her prescription, and then proceeding to B&Q on the ring road where we did click-and-collect to pick up some paint Dot had ordered. She is intending to paint the gates and possibly the wall by the bins, when it gets a bit warmer. The last three days have been pretty chilly, though today is the best of the three, as the wind has dropped. The B&Q operation was impressively straightforward, possibly because Dot was the only person doing click-and-collect. We have just walked up to the sorting office to post some cards, and it wasn’t too bad. There are markedly more people about.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week were warm. On the Thursday we walked up by the Cathedral and in the evening did our usual clap for the NHS with the neighbours. This was followed on Friday – after a walk up the Rosary – by a glass of wine for VE Day at 6pm. All the usual suspects came out into the street with their glasses of wine, and we met a couple from further down – Matt and Angela. The latter comes from Peterhead; so we had a little chat about Aberdeenshire. All every pleasant, but not up to the standard of Carrie’s street: she has been given a busking amp by some misguided individual, and led some singing from the green at the end. We didn’t sing, but talked quite a bit, sometimes creeping a bit too close to each other but mainly not. In the end it rained (the only time for days), and we had to break it up.

On Saturday it was very warm, and we did a long walk down by the river and beyond Carrow Road, then back along the footpath by the railway. Halfway round David FaceTimed us, and Oliver and Amy joined in, which was a nice surprise. It’s quite long walk, so I was feeling pretty tired at the end of it. Nevertheless I did some more Paston stuff.

During the night I felt a bit ill – head and stomach. I think it was something I’d eaten, and I haven’t really felt right since, because I developed this sort of hay fever which got a bit out of control. Nevertheless I had a good night last night, and I think the worst is over. Sunday was a rough day generally – wet, windy and cold. We Zoomed into the St Luke’s Service in the morning, and I led the St Augustine’s one in the afternoon. It seemed to go quite well.

The hay fever was bad yesterday, making me feel very tired, and I found it difficult to muster 4000 steps inside the house. Nevertheless, I did get there. We are now well into Season 3 of The Expanse, and in odd half-hours we’re watching a rerun of Gavin and Stacey, which is very funny. Spoke to Andrew on Sunday and Phil yesterday, as well as Dave and Julia, who seem to be surviving quite well.

And so we saunter into May, with the weather warming up in a misleading sort of way, as it’s forecast to be very cold during the latter part of the coming weekend. On May Day itself, last Friday, it was mixed but not too cold. After receiving the groceries from Des I updated the Compline for Tuesday (our eight-strong group is now Zooming fortnightly), and because his battery went flat at the supermarket we decided to take the car for a run and end up with a walk at Dunston Common.

The best-laid plans. Dunston Common car park was thoughtfully taped off, and so I drove on to the lane above Caistor Roman Camp, where I often park for a walk down the lanes and across the fields. There are usually two or three cars there. On this occasion there were between 12 and 20. So much for blocking off car parks. We eased our way between walkers and back into the city, where I went for a walk in Carey’s Meadow, where there was one car in the small car park. Dot went home to take the washing in, because rain was threatening, but then joined me. It was quite pleasant – not too many people and only a few spots of rain. In the evening we watched the last two episodes of Blood, which was quite a good thriller.

Saturday was slightly warmer, with clouds but no rain. I changed the water filter, started sorting out all my Paston stuff and sent off some money to charity. We walked in the Rosary.

On Sunday the weather was pretty nondescript and uninviting; so I did my walking in the house. We had our usual Zoom service with St Luke’s and then in the evening an experimental session with St Augustine’s, featuring much news-sharing and a lectio divina from Anna. After this we watched Van der Valk, a reincarnation of an old series with good characters but a script verging on the mediocre.

Next day was warmer, and I finished Underland, a book by Robert Macfarlane that David bought me for Christmas. Clearly not a book you read quickly, but absolutely brilliant in its description of the various underground areas of the planet. Some of his exploits were remarkable: I’m quite surprised he’s still alive. And his writing is beautifully poetic.

Sarah rang (she is very good at getting in touch with her “flock”), and Dot and I had a 20-minute chat with her. Dot has just discovered how to use both telephone receivers at once, which means we can have three-way chats. Obviously, because we can, we do. I did a bit more of the Paston stuff but didn’t actually finish it till Tuesday morning. Later Dot and I walked up Bishopgate and back, and in the evening watched Killing Eve, followed by The Sense of an Ending, which was a very good film about how we tell ourselves stories about what our life was like, when in fact…

Yesterday a beautiful package of cheese arrived from Neal’s Yard, ordered by David from Canada. We’ve already had some of the Cheddar, which is superb. You can actually just sit and eat it without accompaniment, and there’s not many cheeses you can say that about. Did a bit of Paston work again, starting with some editing and ending up with writing a page on Captain Robert Paston, who was shipwrecked off Nova Scotia in 1711. Fascinated? Here’s the link. We also walked up to the Rosary again, though we were both feeling tired.

At the end of the day I got a surprise e-mail from Canada (via Joy McCall) about one of my poems – Alien, which I wrote back in 2008 or 2009. Apparently this Canadian teacher has been using it to discuss poetry with her classes and wanted to know more about it. She was surprised not to find it on the Internet or discussed in learned journals. I like this woman. So this morning I wrote her an e-mail back telling her what it was really about and saying a few other things about poetry. I also sent her another poem, White Wolf, which she will probably hate. Quite exciting.

Alien

There is an alien in the garden
huge and shiny
lying there, behind the hedge

He is not dead:
we see him from the window
breathing in and out
under the wind and rain

We have seen inside him too:
he has been crying:
his stomach is wet and tastes
like another planet

We have swum there:
he has swallowed us whole
but we escaped
three times into the storm

The alien watches:
he is waiting for us
to come back

Another month passes with no sign of the lockdown ending – and now the weather has broken. The last two days have been wet and chilly, and today rain is due within the hour. As a result I haven’t walked anywhere outside over the last couple of days, but have been pretty assiduous inside the house. I think that’s legal. Despite that I have completed more steps this month than I have on any month since our accident last August.

I didn’t really keep up with the note-taking; so again I am vague about what happened on which day. We “attended” the Zoom service at St Luke’s on Sunday, and now there is talk of having our own St Augustine’s event – largely because Carrie is getting very restless. The Greens are not keen on having a service because they don’t think Zoom is suitable for it. The word “integrity” was used, but I’m not sure why. As I result, I think we’re having some sort of experimental event at 6pm on Sunday.

Earth Day and St George’s Day have passed us by. Dot has been doing a lot of work in the garage, which looks much neater. She is also tackling her mother’s stuff, which is taking her a long time, as it would. We spent quite lot of Tuesday watching six episodes of a Nordic drama called Twin, which surprisingly worked although none of it could possibly have happened unless the police were determined to come to the wrong conclusions and children didn’t notice their father was suddenly a different person. Good scenery.

Quite interesting, though I guess predictable, that phone calls become longer and longer as visits cease. Spent a long time talking to Paul the other day while Dot was on FaceTime with Amy. Paul and Maryta are still going to St Benet’s Abbey, though a police car followed them in the other day. To Paul’s disappointment/relief (he wasn’t sure which), the police car then drove off without asking them what they were doing.

Had a long chat with Mark while Dot was putting some plants in the front garden (plants obtained by Des and Chris). It turns out that he has had COVID-19 and is just about getting over it. He almost certainly got it on his trip to Aberdeen and was laid out for four or five days and has been pretty exhausted since. He is just over 50. He rang 111 but didn’t go to hospital, though they said he definitely had it. Bit uneasy having it so close to us!

Today I have completed writing the minutes for the Paston Society annual meeting. Tricky, because it didn’t happen, obviously, but someone told Rob we could do it by e-mail; so we did. Would have thought we could have done the meeting by Zoom, but there you are. Bit of a challenge, but I had the chairman’s and treasurer’s report and one person’s response…

I’m about to write a shopping list for Des and have taken over our shopping bags. I have a bit of a headache. Adrian sent us a really good poem by Max Boyce about the current situation. It’s here.

I did take some notes this week, but my big achievement was to complete the labelling and editing of the Holy Land pictures (and some taken since that). This was a huge job, and I am not good at huge jobs. Lots of little ones are much better. Still, I felt great on Wednesday, when I completed it.

It’s been sunny all week, and gradually getting warmer. There was a cold wind on Sunday, when Dot and I walked by the river for a bit in the afternoon. In the morning the Zoom service from St Luke’s went pretty well. The next day it was a little warmer, and Dot cleaned the lounge while I was working on the pictures. Afterwards we walked up to the Rosary, and in the evening we watched the end of Sunderland ‘Til I Die – a shorter season, after which I suspect they may have given up. Interesting, though.

There was still a chill in the air on Tuesday. Dot and I drove to Mousehold and went for a walk, discovering the new cycle/foot path from Britannia Road down towards the Julian Bridge. I responded to an e-mail from Denise in the Orkneys and then we had a Zoom cake and compline. Dot baked a very nice sponge, and David Archer offered to take over the organising of the Zoom element, as he is a tech expert. As a result it went badly wrong, because he sent out the wrong invitation. Heroically I saved the day by finding the right link, which had appeared on my iCal. After that it went quite well, though I am going to have to make changes to the next Compline, because saying things together just doesn’t work.

On Wednesday I did some editing on the Gresham page on thisispaston.co.uk before we both walked up to the Rosary again. This time we met a guy who was doing some work there – a real cheerful Norfolk guy despite a terrible experience with his son, who was infected with meningitis at birth and has to be cared for all the time – probably because of a hospital error. It was good to talk to him (at a safe distance).

Later on we watched the end of Season 2 of The Expanse, and I tidied up my filling cabinet, re-doing about half a dozen files and making sure none of them were falling apart or unlabelled. (Some were to start with.)

Yesterday was very warm. I did some more on Gresham and then helped Dot with tidying up the garage. We put away the table tennis table and got most of the loose stuff into piles ready to go (to the tip, charity shops, or returned to Hello Fresh), though of course we can’t actually get rid of anything yet. Can you imagine the queues at the tips when they reopen?

Later we walked up into the Cathedral Close for a change: it was teatime but there were surprisingly few people about. I’ve noticed more cars on the roads, though. I made a fruit salad and wrote a bit of Parish Pump stuff, which I finished this morning. We watched an old film, The Spy who Came in from the Cold, which was surprisingly lacking in emotional impact, though good in other ways. David FaceTimed us, as he does frequently, which is great.

This morning – sunny again – Des delivered our groceries. I had got up early, but he delayed, thinking we might still be in bed! All was well, though: both Dot and I were available and dressed when he arrived. Apparently far fewer people at Morrisons today. Dot is now in the garage again, and we are planning to go up to the Rosary again later. Oh, we have placed an order with the Cley Smokehouse. It should arrive on Tuesday.