[written Aug 31]

Today is Friday, but I can’t get the delusion that it’s Saturday out of my head. I thought yesterday was Friday. And so it goes on. Still can’t log in to my Blog or website, but what I thought was a scam using the Easily website was actually genuine, and I’ve now paid my bill. Walked up the city today to buy a book for Jessie, some chocolate for Joy and some fruit for us (Victoria plums and blackberries from the market). Met Des and Chris on the way back, as I so often do, wherever I’m coming back from.

Norwich lost 3-0 to Leeds last Saturday, but during the week beat Cardiff City 3-1 away in the League Cup, which is an excellent result. Dot also got her new glasses last Saturday; so she is now restored to full equipment after her losses on her Canada flights.

Bit nerve-racking having to preach in front of the new vicar last Sunday, but it went OK. Quite a good congregation, too, considering quite a few were at Greenbelt. Later in the day Dot and I went round to Elwira’s to help her friend Agata with her thesis on Tea and Literature, on which I’m obviously an expert. Agata is not a merry little soul, but Elwira had another friend present who was. She also had some very creamy  cakes, one of which I managed to eat. I’m not sure my advice to Agata was helpful, but I jotted down three pages of notes on the Monday and sent them to her. Hope she does well, but as she got her own e-mail address wrong, I have my doubts. Or perhaps she didn’t really want me to be involved… Elwira can be hard to argue with.

On Monday Dot went on her own to see Jessie and did quite a lot for her, not returning until just before the Hendersons arrived for afternoon tea. This went OK, but the following day Paul came round on his own to say there had been another bust-up and he had decided to leave M. This he will do next week, following the visit of his Australian friends. He’s looking for a flat and is considering the one that’s vacant in Aspland Road. M is taking this surprisingly calmly. Meanwhile, David has returned from safely from Canada, to the delight of his children (and parents).

On Tuesday Dot went to see Paul Dunning, her “boss” at the diocese, and he was very enthusiastic about the work she’s doing and wants her to train some guy to spread it around other schools. This is mainly collective worship led by children. If there was any justice Dot would be in charge of a department at the diocese and earning large amounts of money, but there you go. She’s doing a lot of good, and has time to clear out the loft.

In the evening I went up to Hungate for a talk by an expert on the church (and other Norfolk churches) – Dr Nick Groves. Interesting and not a little eccentric. Rob and Penny were there; also Matt, Karen, Rebecca and Jude. I walked home with Jude, who was interested in Jessie’s condition. I am trying to get her to come to other Paston events. Jude, not Jessie.

On Wednesday we went to the cinema and saw Adrift, which was surprisingly good in view of the limited cast. Bit of a rainy day, but I got my steps in!

Yesterday, which was Thursday despite my belief that it was Friday, Dot and I both went to see Jessie, who seems relatively perky, though she has a funny throat. I helped her walk to the garage to see her new freezer, which was clearly pretty exciting for her. We also went to Sainsbury’s twice (once for her and once for us) and after the first visit Dot bought some fish and chips, which we took back to Jessie’s and consumed. Excellent quality.

While Dot was buying it I disposed of cardboard and paper that Dot had ejected from our loft earlier, then got rid of some non-recyclable stuff in Jessie’s black bin. After leaving Jessie we went to the cemetery, where we encountered a gentleman who had a grid with all the graves on it (he was trying to find service men’s graves for Remembrance Day). He was quite keen to locate the graves of both Dot’s grandfather and grandmother – both of them unmarked. I took pictures; so now we should be able to locate them next time, and maybe put something on them.

Have arranged, almost by accident, to spend a couple of days at Fred and Sue’s caravan at Beeston Regis next week. And, not so much by accident, today marks a triumph in that August has been my best month’s walking in the last year – over 90 miles, and it’s not even midnight yet. If I had the energy I might make it to 200,000 steps. But I don’t think I have. (I hadn’t.)

[written Aug 25] 

You’d think we were well over our Canada trip by now, but last night was one of the few since then that I have got a good night’s sleep. Would probably have slept longer too, but Dot had to get up to go and receive her new glasses at 9.45, and afterwards she suggested we visit the Ivy; so I went up and we both had a glass of wine and some sourdough bread. In fact because they were a long time with the bread, we got three glasses of wine and some olives too (the latter items on the house). The Ivy – an offshoot of the London restaurant – opened this week in London street, and we were pretty impressed. Great look, and plenty of attention. Chatted to two bar staff and some others.

Afterwards we went up to the Castle to see the Paston Treasure exhibition, which was pretty good. Will probably go again. Shortly Dot will go to Carrow Road.

Quite an eventful week, as the weather has become gradually cooler (it poured with rain yesterday for a while). On Monday I played my knockout chess game against Dave Dempster, and despite getting a good position from the opening I managed to lose it through making a move slightly too quickly and overlooking something. Still, I fought on for nearly 50 moves and had some chances. Left my score sheet behind by mistake and had to ask my opponent to send me a copy.

On Tuesday we had our hair cut and then went to see Jessie with Jude. Car park full but I was lucky enough to get a space when someone pulled out in front of me. Later we took Judy to Cake and Compline at Claire’s. Claire had a slight medical emergency, and so Dot took her to the walk-in centre while Judy and I ate cake and had a pot of tea, but they returned fairly quickly. David and Bridget were also there.

The next day we had a surprise visit from Fred and Sue, who arrived while Dot was up at the West Norwich getting her legs looked at. We walked up to the Cathedral Refectory and had tea; Dot joined us a bit later, with legs in good shape. Later I dropped her at the hospital with Jessie’s going-home clothes, which Dot had washed, and she got a bus home. Later still Dot went to the Norwich-Preston match, which ended 2-0. Our first win of the season.

Thursday we were on the road again, taking Phil to Coventry to see Andrew. Dot and I shared the driving, and it wasn’t a bad journey. Stopped both ways at Cambridge Services, and on the way back had a snack at Patisserie Valerie. Andrew was quite well and liked our present – a National Geographic book of stunning photographs. Andrew took him a collage picture of his family, which he’d done pretty well.

Yesterday Dot had a massage early on with Verena, and I wrote my sermon for Sunday.

[written Aug 20]

Our plane left late on Tuesday; so we went for a walk and then packed, following which Roger and Barbara took us for a drive over the Caledon hills – first to Hockley Village (where I barely got out of the car because I was feeling temporarily a bit under the weather), then to Violet Hill, by which time I had recovered. It was very warm. We got out and looked in the local shop, Granny Taught Us How, which was delightful and a bit like something you might find in Blakeney.

We left for the airport around 6pm and eventually met up with David, Chrissy and the kids in the departure lounge. We followed Oliver (and David) in getting our baggage labels and then dropping off the bags (we had checked in online earlier, obtaining neighbouring seats by comparing notes on Facetime). Then, after a bit of reluctance from Amy, the four of us went through Security (all of us except Amy being stopped for checks), waved goodbye and headed for gate C32.

There we ordered some food and drink at the iPhone café, and all went smoothly and more or less on time. Gatwick was much quicker than Toronto, and Dot managed to leave her glasses on the plane this time. However, Oliver and Amy had no problems, and their mother was waiting in the Arrivals hall. After we found the right phone, our lift arrived, and we were taken back to the hotel and our car.

We still had to get home, of course. On the advice of our shuttle bus driver we stopped at a nearby pub for focciato bread and tea and coffee, then headed out through some ludicrously slow speed limits which made driving much harder, especially if you were already very tired, which I was. No real hold-ups, though, and I just made it to the M11 Services without going to sleep (though it was a close thing). Here we took a quick nap before continuing, and eventually arrived home without further incident by about 5pm.

Here, however, we discovered that our fridge-freezer was off and had been for a few days. The trip switch had been triggered, possibly by a thunderstorm. So we spent an hour or two clearing it out and putting spoiled food in the food caddy. Just what you need…

The last few days have been a bit hazy. I haven’t been getting enough sleep, except for Friday night, when we both woke up around 11am. The next night I got about two hours, and this morning I woke at 6am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Head is buzzy and I feel very heavy, which bodes well for my chess match tonight. Not.

Thursday was mainly taken up by buying Dot a new iPhone 8 from O2 (and cover from Apple), plus ordering a new pair of glasses. Then at 6pm I went up to Jarrolds for a book launch featuring Keith Skipper, Chris Fisher, Bill Woodcock and one or two others. The book was published by Adrian Bell, and he, KS and CF gave very good speeches. An Archant old boys’ photo was taken afterwards, and I had a chat with Adrian Bell’s wife, who I hadn’t met before. (Adrian, aka Mousehold Press, published a couple of my tanka collaborations with Joy; he is also a chess player.) The book, incidentally, was Harbert’s News from Dumpton, a collection of Norfolk dialect articles by former EDP London editor Maurice Woods.

On Friday we grabbed a moment to go round Des and Chris’s and thank them for looking after our plants, but I can’t remember much else. Must have been to the shop at some point. We also heard that Jessie was in hospital. Roger came round and told us she’d had a fall, and as a result of the subsequent scan it had been discovered that she had some cancer spots in her brain, and the prognosis was not good. We went up to see her at the N&N, and she was mostly cheerful and looked well enough, though this was clearly deceptive. She is having radiotherapy as well as steroids this week.

On Saturday Dot went into the city to see Anne, but returned in time to listen to Norwich City losing 2-1, thus completing an opening three games of =1, -2. Oh, joy.

On Sunday we crawled to church for a contemplative communion, and I sang one of my songs (I lift my eyes to you); afterwards David Cannon asked for a copy of my song book! Quite a good attendance, but Howard was painting Anandi’s boat. Afterwards went to see Phil and thank him for part in plant-watering, and we stayed for a couple of hours. In the evening we watched the rest of Picnic at Hanging Rock, which was mysterious.

On Friday, August 10 Dot and Barbara went into town to get a manicure. Meanwhile Roger and I went for a walk in the woods at Mono cliffs, initially to find some ancient cedars, but we took an early wrong turn and found ourselves negotiating lesser used parts of the Bruce Trail, which was OK.

Later we all went to Adamo’s winery for a small-plate meal, and Dot and I had another bottle of Gamay Rosé, which is excellent. A two-man group were playing, and they did an excellent version of a couple of Elton John songs and The Weight. We congratulated them on the way out, while they were taking their break. Back at home, watched episodes 3, 4 and 5 of State of Play.

Saturday was warm, and we all walked the Palmer Circle figure of eight, before watching the final episode of State of Play, which was a bit disappointing. Still, as a whole it was very good. Then drove to Oakville for meal with Nick and Shirley (barbecue), after which we walked into town to see the music festival in progress. Excellent group called Whitehorse playing, but unfortunately while we bought gelato it started raining, which made the walk back to their house a bit damp.

Had a chat before driving home. Nick and Shirley’s house was very unusual, getting a lot into a small space. Impressive. I have booked a cottage in Ballater (18 Golf Road) next August so that we can host N&S with B&R for five days on part of their European tour. Before then, however the Murrays are going to Australia and New Zealand, and as I write are looking at a tour of Peru and the Galapagos for November.

Sunday was warm and dry, and the four of us walked the Mount Hope loop (about three miles). We then went to Adamo’s for a wine tasting but returned home to eat after we couldn’t get into the either Adamo’s or the nearby resort to eat. One had a wedding reception, and the other was full. Still, we had a nice meal at home and then watched all three episodes of The Politician’s Wife, which was satisfying. Couldn’t quite remember if I’d seen it before, but we all knew what was going to happen. Not enough Minnie Driver.

Afterwards we went outside on damp grass to try see some Perseids, and we did see one or two.

Yesterday was cloudy, but warm as usual. We drove to Sherway Gardens Mall, where we split up. Roger and I went to Indigo bookshop, but then separated. I did quite a lot of walking and almost got trapped in Hudson’s Bay. Roger and I got back to the cocktail bar in time, and I had a Cosmopolitan, but the girls were 22 minutes  late, though they did have cocktails anyway. Noted that Indigo had four sections on pets, but none on poetry.

Later finished my birthday present sci-fi book from David. Really imaginative stuff, and compelling. Interesting that it was written by a Chinese and so saw everything from their angle.

Later still went to the resort (after booking to make sure we could get in) and had an excellent meal. The best chicken I’ve had in a long time, with some cheesy fries as starters! At home watched film – Catch me if you can – till 12.40.

Today has been warmer. Dot and I started with figure-of-eight, then had a swim followed by a  shower, followed by packing. Before this had checked in and booked seats in co-ordination with David; so we will be sitting with Oliver and Amy on the flight. Not expecting either of them to be very happy. We’ve also been for a drive round the north country, taking in Hockley, Violet Hill and Rosemont. Within the hour we shall be starting off for the airport.

August 6 was Andrew’s 70th birthday, and of course we weren’t there. I did however get in touch with Minster Lodge and arrange for a present to be delivered. They made sure he had a celebration. In Canada it was still warm but breezy, and I walked round Palmer Circle before it started raining at about 3pm. Meanwhile Roger was giving an art lesson to Amy who, by the time they left yesterday, had produced a pretty good still life – unfinished, but well on its way.

I finished About the Size of the Universe and started the book David had given me as a present, The Three-Body Problem – a Chinese sci-fi epic.  Am now about a third of the way through. Really original and thought-provoking. Roger thought it might be a detective novel.

On Tuesday Dot and I went with Roger to Bolton, where we withdrew enough cash to pay Barbara for the Niagara tickets. We also paid for the wine and accompanied Roger with the food shopping. Nothing much happened after that, but I went in the pool for the second time and remembered how to swim. I didn’t do it; I just remembered it. Watched an episode of Gilmore Girls that we’d already seen.

Heavy rain yesterday. Barbara decided we were all going to the Mall, but then made the mistake of going to the farm shop, and during her absence we revised her scenario. As a result, following a fried late breakfast Dot, Amy and Sophie went to the Mall with Barbara, and the rest of us stayed here. It cleared up during the afternoon (though there were downpours and flooding in Toronto), and I walked to the mailbox with Roger, David, Chrissy, Oliver and Seth. No phone, and we walked the long way back. I was unexpectedly tired. Talked to David about the future. More rain here later.

In a bizarre twist I received an e-mail from Margaret Blackman, who I used to work with at the BGEA, and who is now Maggie Rome. She was contacting me to see if I was the same person. I assured her I was, but I haven’t heard any more. Earlier I wrote my tenth poem since we came to Canada – about David Coomes and Kristine, called Since You Left. Last night watched Page Eight, a movie by David Hare starring Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz. Very good. Quite late in bed.

First of two visits to Treadwells on August 2, just after I bought a new baseball cap – top quality, of course, from Beauchapeau on Queen Street. The meal at Treadwells was excellent, especially the starter, which was very thin strips of duck breast with goat’s cheese and water cress. Jewish couple at next table queried it (they thought it might be ham), but it was actually both duck and delicious.

The meal was followed by a play at the King George III Theatre – Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl. Totally brilliant in every way.

On our final day in Niagara on the Lake, we did a little tourist shopping and then walked down Queen Street to where it hit Lake Ontario, and then back down a parallel street. Had a light lunch at Treadwells (mussels in my case), then saw two more short plays at the George III – both by Shaw. Well acted, but not a patch on Stage Kiss. Admittedly I was dozing off a bit after 6oz of wine. There was a dash of rain while we were in the theatre, but it had cleared up by the time we walked back to the car (still at the hotel) and drove to the Ravine Winery, where I had a burger (pretty good) followed by Blueberry Tea cocktail, which is basically a mixture of amaretto, Grand Marnier and tea. New to me and superb.

From there we drove home quite quickly and watched some more of W1A.

Very warm next day (Saturday), and the children arrived early afternoon. Excellent buffet around teatime. David brought me birthday presents (an owl coaster spotted by Oliver, a Chinese sci-fi novel and a book on why Canada is so wonderful). Later Dot and I had a drawing game with Amy, and then watched some more W1A. We are now halfway through the last series.

Today is August 5, and by the time I got out of bed, the Paston Mannington event was more or less over, the children had done two walks, and Dot was off to the farm with everyone else of a female persuasion. I had a bath and read quite a lot more of the Icelandic saga. Later I took a dip in the pool after everyone else came out, and David checked Dot’s phone details, marking it as lost on the Apple site and noting that no-one had used it on O2.

I have now written seven poems plus two tanka, which is quite pleasing. For me, anyway.

Golden wedding meal at Adamo’s winery: Roger, Chrissy, David, Barbara and Dot

We went to the Greens – insanely or not – and had a very interesting evening with Greek orthodox priest Brendan Pelphrey and his wife Sharon, plus Carrie. Lovely meal and good conversation. Carrie gave us  lift home afterwards.

On the Wednesday we drove to our hotel near Gatwick, and for some reason missed it at first, but found it easily enough when we went back. Quite a pleasant hotel: we had an evening meal there despite reading bad reviews online, and it was fine. Good breakfast in the morning and caught the hotel shuttle to the airport. We were the only people on the shuttle.

We went through all the airport procedures easily enough, had a drink at Starbucks and bought an improved adaptor while walking through to our gate. The trip went pretty well – watched a couple of films – but on leaving the plane Dot must have left her phone behind, because despite many efforts we have been unable to locate it since. She fell over on the way to customs, but we don’t think she dropped it there, though it’s possible.

Baggage reclaim took a couple of hours because of “extreme weather conditions” (rain), and it was at this point that Dot discovered she didn’t have her phone and reported it to Air Transat. No luck, so we eventually emerged into the rush hour with the thousands of others, to be greeted  by huge crowds including Roger and Barbara. Back at Palgrave Circle, we had nibbles outside. Very nice too.

A surprisingly good sleep followed, and in no time at all it was our actual Golden Wedding Anniversary. It was a pleasantly warm day. Dot and I walked to the mailbox in case the airline had sent her phone, but no luck of course. I gave my first lot of completely wrong directions when  a driver asked where Palgrave was (to be followed a couple of days later by the second when a guy in a truck asked me the way to Highway 50, which someone had apparently moved).

Later we drove to Adamo’s winery, about half an hour away, and had a really nice meal with David and Chrissy, who had driven much further. Great to see them. The winery experience included a singer (a blonde with a guitar) and a really nice rosé which Dot and I shared. The cost of it all was shared by David and Roger, which was nice. We swapped cars, so that D & C had a seven-seater to convey all the children home from the airport on Tuesday. Meanwhile in Norfolk it was apparently raining. Quite hard.

The following day (Saturday) was quiet, though I did have a cooked breakfast. Later I walked to the mailbox again (second misdirection), and we had charcuterie, though not at the mailbox. Later we watched a couple of films – Mercury Rising, which I thought was really good, and Miss Sloane, which was less so, though it had its points. We then started watching W1A. We have not finished it yet. Three series.

Sunday was almost entirely dry despite forecasts, but a little cooler. Lyn and Jim came for a a rather spectacular lunch, the details of which now elude me. Jim is a really nice bloke – very upbeat despite having cancer badly in his sinuses and then his arm.

The next day (30th) was pleasantly warm, and we went for a long walk around Island Lake – about six miles plus. The heat made this tiring towards the end, and my legs and feet were having trouble moving at any speed. Fortunately Dot stayed with me as the others forged ahead. Happily we went straight home afterwards, stopping only to buy fruit at a farm shop. I don’t think I could have managed the suggested walk in Orangeville.

August dawned still warm and brought with it the start of an action-filled few days. The children arrived in Canada on the 1st while the four of us at Cedar Mills drove into Toronto (well, as far as York) fairly  late on for a meal at the Cheesecake Factory, which wasn’t bad. The wine was very good. Following this we walked to the cinema for a showing of Mission Impossible: Fallout, which was of course totally impossible but extremely entertaining. Meal and viewing took place in a huge mall which vastly increased our number of steps walked.

Yesterday we drove to Niagara on the Lake, where it was warm but windy. We are staying at the Harbour House Hotel, which is very pleasant in many ways, but has a very loud air-conditioning system, which kept me awake last night. We walked into town and had a drink at Starbucks, then strolled back by the shore of the lake, with the USA a short distance away on the other side (New York state). Later I walked down to the end of our road by the water and took some pictures of baby geese.

At around 5pm we drove to the Two Sisters winery, where we had a first class meal (I had steak and vegetables with croquette, all just right) and excellent wine. Service was very slow, however, and we had to rush to the Shaw theatre, where we saw the musical Grand Hotel, which was set in Berlin in the 1920s and had definite echoes of Brecht-Weill. Extremely well done indeed. We had very good (and very expensive) seats.

It is now late afternoon and I am typing this in the hotel, hoping that Dot will return soon. I can’t contact her, of course. We did a winery tour this morning in the company of some people of a Chinese persuasion and led by Corey, who was excellent in a very enthusiastic way. Barbara was also enthusiastic. We bought her some wine.

Yes, it’s still warm: in fact it’s getting warmer. Yesterday it was almost painful walking up into the city to go with Dot to get some Canadian currency from M&S: she had been to Jarrold’s for some nail work. Everything seems very hectic at the moment. The Hendersons came round in the afternoon, and in the evening I played my annual chess game in the club knockout tournament. That’s usually it, but unexpectedly I won; so I have to play another game when I get back from Canada.

This morning Linda is cutting our hair, and then we will go out and buy another suitcase for Dot: the ones she has appear to be either too big (for the airline) or too small (for her). Then we will pack, and this evening, insanely, we are going round the Greens’ for a meal.

Last Friday I dithered between going to Halesworth for a poetry evening and going to Martin and Sam’s for a cocktail evening for the two churches. I decided on the latter, which was probably right. I only had one cocktail, because I had to drive Dot home. She had arrived late because she’d had a busy day. The Smiths have a cocktail bar in their garden, which was quite entertaining. Spent a long time talking to the Eastons, and the vicar was there too.

Continuing the social whirl, on Saturday we took Judy to Vicky Myers’ house-warming in Costessey. This was quite pleasant, although we didn’t know most of the people, who were at least a generation below us, with small children. Buffet eaten in the garden, mainly. Nice house but up a sort of private track with limited parking. Helen Street was there with Florence and Mabel, but she appears to have discarded her latest husband, who was a nice bloke, and probably still is.

Kristine came on Sunday morning, and was met off the train by Dot while I was preparing to the lead the service. The two of them arrived at church just in time, and Dot even played violin! The vicar was in attendance to see how we did things and definitely not checking up on us. Oh no! Actually she seems very nice and also seemed to enjoy herself. Howard preached, and we had two cakes afterwards : birthday cake by Anna for Phil and golden wedding cake from us.

After lunch I took Kristine for a walk because Dot had a stomach upset. It was pretty warm, but we went by the river and then up to the Cathedral. In the evening Dot was better and we all went to the Seagull at Lowestoft, where I did a couple of songs (one with Dot) and three poems – one of them the poem I had written for David Coomes, which Kristine found quite moving. [Woman in the Window, Didn’t Think it Would Come to This, Coming to Life, The Third Field and Passing Through]

Kristine stayed the night, and I took her to the station, where she caught the 11.30 while Dot was in the city (see first paragraph).

Still quite warm in Norfolk: a long time now since we’ve had rain. So we’ve been making use of our garden to entertain people. Last night our neighbours Des and Chris came over for supper, preceded by drinks outside.

Much of the food (though not all of it) had been surplus to requirements on Tuesday, when we celebrated our golden wedding again – this time with friends from church. We decided to order a selection of party food from Morrisons, which didn’t turn out quite as anticipated, as they sent it to Northampton by mistake.

The staff at our local Morrisons couldn’t have been more apologetic, rushing round to get as many of the items as they could off the shelves there, and substituting what they couldn’t. Most of the substitute items came free, and Dot also got a bottle of Prosecco and a bunch of flowers. Result: complete lack of admiration for Morrisons’ organisation of party food orders, but loads of admiration for their staff in Norwich who, to be fair, must have had the authority to deal with us as they did – which does say something about the company.

Anyway, we had more than enough food and a really nice evening, ending with a Lindisfarne compline, slightly adapted by me. Almost all the congregation attended.

In between these two evening extravaganzas I went by train to Coventry to see Andrew. The journey went well, and I was able to get the 1830 out of Liverpool Street to Norwich because the 1900 was cancelled. I had an off-peak ticket, but was able to use the 1830 because it was substituting for the 1900. Happily I had arrived at Liverpool Street before 6pm so was in a position to take advantage.

Andrew was quite chirpy  at first: we had a long talk in his room and then went for a walk into the city (not too far). After a while he decided he wanted an ice-cream and got quite het up when we couldn’t find a shop that sold them. He also seemed pretty exhausted; so we walked home in short stages, sitting down to rest several times. He got over it once we were back at Minster Lodge and I had managed after much fiddling around to get his DVD to work. (Paddington 2)

David has been in Canada since Monday and will be there for six weeks. Amy is on her way home from a school trip to Germany as I write, and she and Oliver will be off to Ireland tomorrow.

Last Sunday, after another experimental Communion, I walked up to Kett’s Heights in the heat to watch a performance by Crude Apache of Turning of the Tide, which is a new play about the wherrymen. Dot was too tired to make it, but it was really good (as they always are). Happily they will be putting on an expanded version at Dragon Hall next year. They made good use of the space and walked through the audience, which was fairly thin – possibly because the afternoon also featured the men’s singles final at Wimbledon and the World Cup Final.

I watched the latter on my return. It was quite a good match, though a little unfair on Croatia, who probably played better for most of the match but lost 4-2. The penalty given against them was heavily disputed by all the pundits, but I actually thought it was a penalty. So I find myself in the minority yet again.

Have had several e-mails from my cousin Ann in Liverpool, who has not been well since the death of her husband. She wanted some pictures I’d taken when she was in Norfolk, and I sent them off to her. They were taken in 2008 and 2014.

Another warm and sunny day, following a few cloudy ones. I’ve just been up to the little park because Mairead called to say they’d installed a Book Swap cabinet. Spoke to Crispin from the Library Wood Collective and said I’d supply some books, though I suspect the cabinet may be ripe for vandalising. Hope it works.

Have just about decided not to go to Hellesdon Paston event today, because I have a lot to do, and England’s World Cup third round match is on at 3pm.

Highlight of the week undoubtedly was my birthday on Thursday, when Dot took me out to lunch without telling me where we were going. It turned out to be the Blakeney Hotel, and the lunch was delicious. I had a ribeye steak, followed by an exotic fruit plate with tuille, which was terrific – almost as terrific as the large glass of claret I had with it. Afterwards we walked to Morston and back, which was no small achievement, ending with tea in the upstairs lounge at the hotel.

Really love the whole area around Blakeney.

Just got back in time for the licensing and installation of our new vicar, the Rev Sarah Quantrill, who seems really nice. Dot played violin, but I stood down from guitar duties, partly because I had to present the vicar with a Bible (in conjunction with John Easton). Rather thrown by John getting the words wrong, but I think we got away with it, because I didn’t mention the war. Rather jolly nibble-fest afterwards.

Yesterday, after Dot got good news about her knee from the nurse, we popped over to North Walsham to see Jessie, who seemed a little frailer than usual but still made a good cup of tea. Afterwards Dot and I called at Sainsbury’s before going to the cemetery, then driving home via Wroxham, which was full. Neither of us have got into Wimbledon this year (too much worship of the tennis gods), but I caught the end of the longest singles match in the history of the universe (well, Wimbledon), when Kevin Anderson beat John Isner 26-24 in the final set.

Going back a bit, I preached at the service last Sunday, mentioning David’s funeral and “there’s a crack in everything”. Full congregation of about 20, including two visitors. New vicar came for coffee before the service, but didn’t stay. Afterwards we went up to St Luke’s for a rehearsal for her installation. Not really happy with playing guitar for various reasons.

On Monday we had a long overdue meeting of the Footprints Steering Committee, held at the Maids Head, where I failed to take the opportunity to find out what happened in Aylsham, when Past Alive were supposedly left stranded. Other than that the meeting went quite well, though I wasn’t feeling too good, for some reason. Had recovered by the evening, when Dot and I went with Angela and Rodney to Coast to Coast, an American restaurant on Riverside, which turned out to be surprisingly good. I had a rump steak which was beautifully presented and also tasted excellent.