Monthly Archives: September 2008

30 September 2008

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Back from Switzerland yesterday after an amazing week. The picture was in fact taken in Italy – at Tirano, our furthest point south, after crossing the Bernina Pass on a one-day excursion. Just time for a truly average pizza, then back again. The people with Dot are Glenda and Peter, with whom we spent a lot of our time. They live near Chelmsford. We had a really good time together.

We spent the first Saturday night at a Travelodge in King’s Cross, which was not bad. We travelled there by taxi, and the driver very helpfully found the right place for us instead of the one I would probably have ended up at. Walked down to St Pancras, had a glass of champagne in the famous bar, and then a meal at an Italian restaurant. Very early start the next day, though once we had reached St Pancras at 6.45 and handed in our Eurostar tickets, we had to hang around till about 9 before boarding. The train left at 9.20. Clocks forward an hour for the Continent. At Paris we walked form the Gare du Nord to the Gare d’Est, where we had a snack, as did a large number of very tame sparrows. The tour manager was Paul Irving, a former geography teacher froom Newcastle but without a Geordie accent. He proved to be first-class, going out of his way to be helpful. At Paris he guarded our suitcases while we got snacks, and he did this on other occasions too. We got to know Glenda and Peter from Essex, and we struck up a friendship with them through the holiday: we had most of our meals together, and the four of us went to Zermatt on our own one-day excursion later. From Paris by TGV to Mulhouse: not terribly exciting scenery, but an impressive train, more comfortable than Eurostar. Got into Mulhouse at tea time and had a very good meal in the hotel; had some trouble with my usual problem, but used a second catheter to solve it, and after that the holiday was trouble-free in that as in all other areas.

On the Monday we set the alarm an hour too late but still made both breakfast and the local train to Basel. A dull and chilly start quickly warmed and brightened up as we travelled from Basel to Chur on a double-decker train, arriving early afternoon. After booking into a delightful room in the Drei Koenige Hotel in the old town, we strolled round and had a wonderful cake each at a cafe. Then walked up the mountainside for a view of the town. Evening meal at the hotel – Rostli – and an early night followed.

Tuesday was an amazing day on the Bernina Express. The weather was not promising, and by Pontresina it had started snowing. But this gave us some fantastic views, contrasted with when we came back, when the sun shone brightly and a lot of the snow had melted. Finished off the day with a meal at a Greek restaurant. The following day was bright and warm for the journey on the Glacier Express across the Gotthard pass to Sierre, passing close by the cable car to Bettmeralp, where we spent a fortnight in 1971. From Sierre we transferred by coach to Crans Montana – the Mont Paisible Hotel, which was very impressive. Sadly we didn’t get a room with a view, but it was still excellent, and the restaurant was first-class.

Every day was good, but the next two were absolutely stunning. On the Thursday we went by coach to Chamonix (because there were engineering works on the railway), and from Chamonix up by cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842 metres (12,605 feet), comfortably higher than anywhere I’ve been on land before. (Even our hotel was higher than Ben Nevis!) The views from the summit were absolutely brilliant, and we took the lift to the very top. Dot felt a bit dizzy with the altitude, and so did I for a moment, but we were surprisingly OK generally. On the way down I managed to get a picture from the cable car of a Brocken spectre (shadow of cable car projected on to cloud and sourrounded by a halo-rainbow) which just about put the icing on the cake. Back in Chamonix we had a meal and then looked round the town, buying one or two things. At the hotel we made the mistake of ordering Chateaubriand for two, and after finishing a first plate we received another! A little bit de trop.

Friday was even brighter and just as warm. Glenda, Peter and the two of us took on a trip to Zermatt on our own. No-one else was interested, despite urging by Paul. We left just before 10 and took the funicular to Sierre, where we got a train for Visp, changing there for Zermatt. Lovely rail journey to Zermatt followed by something even better – a cog railway ride up to Gornergrat, which was over 10,000 feet. On this we had a “wow” moment even more striking than seeing Mont Blanc from Chamonix. We had been trying to make out which of many mountains might be the Matterhorn when we rounded a curve, and there it was – massive, clear and totally unmistakeable: a truly remarkable mountain and looking quite unclimbable. At Gornergrat we had cheese fondu and beer and would have liked more time, because the view was fantastic. But we had to catch the connections back to our hotel – all carefully worked out for us by Paul. And it went like clockwork. The walk from the funicular was hard going, but we made it in good spirits and even manage a reasonable meal – taking care to avoid anything excessive like Chateaubriand.

Very early start homewards on the Saturday, with the coach leaving the hotel at 7.35am and taking us to Sierre. Connection to Brig, from where we got a tilty train to Basel, which was very, very quick. I suspect it also left us feeling a bit ill, but maybe we were just exhausted. We got to Mulhouse just after lunchtime and walked into the town, deciding to have lunch at the the Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse, which we discovered later has quite an enviable reputation. I had some nice duck, but Glenda got something which claimed to be rabbit but was largely uneatable. Afterwards we had a drink with some other Treyn people in the main square and then looked at an interesting exhibition – The Word in Art – in the big church there. A choir and orchestra were practising for a performance later, and Glenda and Peter went back for it, but Dot and I were feeling totally whacked out. My head was going round, and we both had a bath and lay down for a while. Had a light evening meal in the hotel with Glenda and Peter, then another early night.

The final Sunday was again bright and warm, only getting very cloudy and threatening rain as we approached Norwich. We left Mulhouse at 8.28 on the TGV and were through Paris like a breeze, the Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at 2.40. We shared a taxi with Glenda and Peter and parted from them on the concourse at Liverpool Street, catching the 15.30 to Norwich – which, needless to say, was late leaving (though it arrived on time). We arrived home just after 5.30pm.

We spent Monday catching up. I played chess against Yarmouth in the evening and drew with Kevin Shaw on Board 4 in a not-very-interesting game. Today has been rain all the way, with more catching up. Tim Mace, our house-sitter, called in to return the key on his way to London!

20 September 2008

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We’ve stumbled into some lovely weather. Yesterday Dot and I sat in the garden for a while, and this robin came and kept us company. We have two or three mirrors in the garden, and it seemed mystified by the appearance on an extra robin in odd places. Very loud song. We also walked to Morrisons to buy a few things and stopped at one of the bars on the way back through Riverside for a glass of wine and Smirnoff Ice. Sat and watched the river and felt quite continental. Dot has checked the weather for Switzerland, and it looks good. Should also be good for Oliver’s party with his friends today: hope he’s feeling OK – he had a sore throat yesterday.

I had a really bad night: only about three hours’ sleep, and it’s not likely to be much better tonight. As a result I feel quite hazy; I started on antibiotics this morning after no improvement in the usual area. Tim M has been round to pick up the key: he’s staying here while we’re away. Also Menita and her children called but didn’t stop – apparently Alex wanted to look at where they used to live (opposite).

I’ve sent out the Paston Private View invitations and caught up with just about everything I had to do. The Flip people say they’re sending me a replacement, which will no doubt arrive while I’m away, so I hope it doesn’t go astray.

Ian Bullock came round on Thursday night and stayed for about three hours. Had a good conversation about our days at the EDP: he left a couple of years ago to go freelance, and he and his wife have had a number of health problems. Good to see him.

We shall be leaving for London in a couple of hours – staying at the King’s Cross Travelodge tonight. Hope it’s even more wonderful than it sounds. Dot is keen to get a glass of champagne at the long bar in St Pancras station this evening.

18 September 2008

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Oliver demonstrates his tree-climbing prowess on Dunstable Downs. Lovely day again today: we went out to lunch at Park Farm – excellent fish and chips – and then called in on A Ethel to deliver a scanned photo of her parents. Stayed for about an hour, then continued to Bally to deliver prints from Lucy (delivered to us by Simeon earlier). She wasn’t there, but we saw Rupert and Martin Laurance – then came upon Annette walking down Hall Road on our way home. We turned round and gave her a lift. Now we’re home. Ex-colleague Ian Bullock is coming round later. I think I have another urine infection and am about to start on the antibiotics, which is a bit of a drag.

I got a replacement Flip delivered on Tuesday, but that doesn’t work either, which is also a bit of a drag.

Yesterday Lisa came round early to pick up some leaflets for the Paston exhibition, and I’ve been putting together an illustrated note to go out with my invitations to the Private View. We also had our hair cut yesterday, so we’re all ready for the holiday… The organisers rang us up this morning to say we needed to be at St Pancras before 7am on Sunday because of the ongoing repair work in the Tunnel. If it goes on being that relaxing, it will clearly be a holiday to remember.

On the plus side, I have filed my tax return online, though not without putting in the wrong figures the first time and having to file an amendment.

16 September 2008

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Oliver and Amy on the slopes of Dunstable Downs, where we all went kite-flying last Saturday afternoon. It was a warm day with intermittent wind, and we managed to get both kites up high at one point. There was a lot of glider activity from the field below the downs, so plenty of entertainment all round. In the evening we looked after the children while David and Vicky celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary with Philip and Jane (20th) at Bishop’s Stortford. Oliver had plenty of presents and was consumed by his Nintendo DS, for which we got him an extra game.

On the Sunday afternoon we went to Stockwood Park, two miles away, which is now even better since the creation of a Discovery section: lots of play areas and gardens. We all had an ice cream, and I watched a mother patiently teaching her son how to play chess on the open air board while Vicky took a conference call from work and the others explored their surroundings. Afterwards we all had a look round the motor museum, which is also very interesting. And no charge for any of this (except the ice cream). Even the weather was excellent again. We stayed at Caddington till the children had gone to bed, then had a cup of tea and left just after nine, getting home just after 11pm. Dot drove both ways.

Annette came round yesterday to deliver leaflets and invitations for the Paston Private View. She stayed for tea, and we discussed the arrangements for exhibiting in the church, which seemed at best obscure. We sent a joint e-mail to Lucy, who replied later with quite detailed plans, so that seems to be all right. I’ve finished off my poems leaflet and have sent some notes on the origins of the poems to Lucy: I’m not sure what she’s going to do with them.

In the evening I played chess against Colin Payne and lost convincingly, never getting a halfway decent position. He is someone I have normally beaten in the past, so I could be going down the tubes. But we’ll see.

I now have 14 friends on Facebook, including, astonishingly, Monica Estruch from Spain, who we haven’t been in contact with for many, many years. We stayed in her family’s house on Menorca in the 90s, after her brother had stayed with us in York.

Barbara is here at the moment, working on Philosophy 4 Children with Dot. They now have a domain name registered, thanks to David, and I think are well on the way to a website. From what I can hear in the distance, I think they have been consulting with David today. Dot has produced a nice draft for an introductory leaflet.

12 September 2008

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As I mentioned last time, I’ve been putting together a birthday present for Oliver that consists of my story Little and the new year game illustrated by a variety of photographs, most of which I took specially. There is a red bus in it that is not the tour bus for Norwich, but it’s the only red bus I could find. Several other pictures are similarly approximations, but I’m pleased with them generally. Hope he likes it.

Won my first chess game of the season on Monday. Got a good advantage out of the opening, then gradually frittered it away until I was probably losing, but by that time he was down to about 30 seconds, and I won on time.

Dot has a new job: she’s a DSSO, which is a diocesan schools support officer: it’s for 28 days a year, and she has more than 20 schools to visit on a kind of pastoral basis. There are four DSSOs altogether, and I guess you could say she was headhunted for it, which is pretty good. Her career has been pretty much a huge success, unlike some people’s I could mention. Today she heard that she got an “outstanding” in the distance learning task she did for her other job as a church schools inspector. She’s quite a star, and I shall bask in her reflected glory. I do quite a good bask.

This week she’s also put some work in on the third string to her bow, which is her Philosophy for Children project in partnership with Barbara. She went down to Suffolk to see Barbara on Tuesday, and on Wednesday she had a meeting of the Norfolk Association of First and Primary Head Teachers (Nafphte), so it’s been a busy week for her. I feel positively inert in comparison, but I did join her earlier on Wednesday in meeting her Aunt Jessie at Wroxham and visiting her husband, who is in a home there. We then went on to Wroxham Barns, intending to eat there, but were put off by a coachload of scavengers and went instead to Divine, a new restaurant at North Walsham, where we had an excellent meal.

In the evening of the same day we both went to the DCC meeting at Horsford, giving Howard G a lift. Howard joined us from the Cambridge train, and the next morning was flying from Norwich to Manchester and back. He’s just returned from a trip taking in Denmark, Finland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekhistan, China, Tibet and Nepal. Howard makes Usain Bolt look as though he’s standing still.

Went to see Dr Hampsheir yesterday for some precautionary antibiotics for our trip to Switzerland. I’m still catheterising daily, and I didn’t want to be stuck halfway through the holiday with an infection. He was very helpful, and I got the impression he would have prescribed me just about anything.

Yesterday was Oliver’s sixth birthday – we chatted to him on the Web – and today is David and Vicky’s tenth wedding anniversary. We’re going down to stay with them tomorrow and Sunday. After a couple of nice days it’s turned wet and overcast again, so Dot and I went to see The Duchess at the cinema this afternoon: it would have carried more conviction if someone could have made Keira Knightley’s hair look less like a misshapen ball of wool, but it wasn’t bad. Some interesting locations, among which I’m sure were North Norfolk, in the Salthouse area, but I could be mistaken.

I’ve put a bit of commentary on my website, but I’m getting to the point where there’s not much more to say on the subjects of speed and climate change. Some bandwagons are impossible to divert. I have however introduced a LATER slot on the home page! How innovative is that…

8 September 2008

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This is the bowl that Allan Higbee made for us for our ruby wedding anniversary. We also received a lovely orchid from Hazel Savigny, some roses from the Coomes, a lovely bottle of Benedictine in a spectacular tin from Dave and Julia, three bottles of wine and three bottles of champagne, among other things. If this is what happens when you say “no presents”, I wonder what might have happened if we hadn’t. People are very kind.

Have had a lot of frustration in the last few days with my broadband connection, which comes and goes at random. When it’s on, it’s often very slow, and will drift in and out constantly. It was off all day Saturday. I haven’t got anywhere with BT yet, but I discovered from Martin, who lives opposite, that he and others nearby have been having similar problems. I am writing this blog on TextEdit and will paste it in when I can catch the connection. It seems to be on at the moment, but… anyway, it won’t matter after Wednesday, when the Large Hadron Collider experiment in Switzerland will probably create a black hole that will destroy the world, or at least disrupt our holiday on Swiss railways later this month. I’m looking on the pessimistic side, of course. Alternatively, it may reveal new secrets about the universe.

Our hedge has had its annual clipping, together with much else in the garden. Let Colin loose with a pair of clippers, and nothing is safe. Result: the house seems much lighter and the garden has that “just had a haircut” feel, which is actually good. Colin is coming again next month to do some more work, Large Hadron Collider permitting.

On Friday, while Dot visited her aunt in Hethersett, I went to a chess simultaneous display at St John’s Cathedral, which was supposed to be given by Owen Hindle, but he had to go to Scotland because of family illness, and David LeMoir took on 32 people instead – in aid of John Charman, a leading light in Norfolk chess and editor of En Passant. I arrived at about 7.15pm and stayed for just over two hours, by which time he’d beaten two people. I could see it lasting long into the night, so I came home. Nice to see some familiar faces, though. Back into the new season tonight, when I play Chris Tuffin in the club knockout competition. He’s a hard man to beat.

I’m getting nearer to completing a book I’m putting together for Oliver’s birthday, combining my first Little story with some photographs, most of which are in place. I have to take a few more, but the weather is not good. It’s grey again today, with occasional light drizzle, which is not good photography weather. Hope the sun might break through this afternoon.

Nicholas preached a good sermon on prayer yesterday, and we stayed for church lunch. In the evening we also went to the Ambient Wonder review meeting, when “wine and nibbles” turned out to be a full-scale buffet. Pity we’d just had a normal-sized tea…

4 September 2008

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It’s official: we can get 13 people round our kitchen table. Twelve in the picture (after our ruby anniversary) and me slotting in on the left. From left going round: Jane, Philip, Jennie, Julia, Amy, Alistair, Lydia, Oliver, Dot, Dave, Vicky, David.

Major excitement in that our brown bin (garden rubbish) was emptied today. I suggested ringing up the council to tell them, but Dot demurred. She has been ringing up regularly to tell them it has not been emptied, so it seemed only fair.

More problems with the computer internet connection, so I rang BT, who tested the line. Unsurprisingly, it was OK. In the end the guy suggested trying it with the Ethernet connection, but I said I had, and that didn’t work either. So then he suggested changing the filter on the phone line. So I did that. I also removed the laminator from near the hub (it was switched off) and removed everything else from the electricity socket (time machine, scanner) and suddenly it worked, and has been doing so ever since. I have no idea what’s going on.

It rained extremely hard this afternoon, and has been unpleasantly overcast. This evening, though, is much brighter (at the moment). Dot has gone off to a governors’ meeting at Gillingham. Earlier we tried out my new guitar pick-up, which worked very well on a couple of songs. My stomach is still not right, so I have resorted to a high dosage of acidophilus, and have been OK for a few hours.

This morning the Higbees brought us a wooden bowl that Allan had made: very beautiful. They looked at our photos and stayed for coffee.

3 September 2008

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The big event is now over, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted. The weather stayed good for all but the last couple of minutes of our ruby wedding celebration on Sunday, so people were able to spill out on to the terraces at Dunston Hall Hotel, and the children could let themselves go a bit. They deserved it after staying the course really well for the food and speeches. Amy laughed a lot during my speech, which gave me the opportunity to ad lib, and Oliver was on his best behaviour as always. David gave a lovely speech which was very moving, and I think everyone had a good time. At least, anyone who didn’t kept very quiet about it.

The picture was taken by Pete Stokes, who supplied us with 122 on disc within two days – a brilliant and very kind gesture. Most of Dot’s college friends were there, and we had 62 guests in all, only three unable to come at the last moment.

We had a full house for supper afterwards: David and his family, Philip Coomes and his, together with his mother, and Dave and Julia. I was feeling totally shattered and barely held it together, especially as a stomach upset I had picked up the day before resurfaced. Happily it was absent for most of the celebrations. Dave and Julia stayed the night, and it would have been nice to go for a walk the next morning, but I was in no fit state, so they went into the city with Dot. Later I managed to join them for lunch in the bar at Dunston Hall, where they had left their car overnight, and they then departed for home.

Tuesday seemed very quiet, and my stomach was still dodgy. It poured with rain nearly all day. It was Joy’s birthday, and Dot took her present round as I was feeling bad. My general unease was not helped by the fact that the computer’s internet connection keeps dropping out, and I spent some time on the phone with David trying to sort it out – but to no avail, largely because I don’t have any of the passwords I need. I tried various different connections, but nothing had any effect. Now it varies between no connection and full on. Interestingly, it seems to improve as son as I try to do something, then fades out when I don’t. Totally baffling. One minute it’s like greased lightning, then it crawls. I hate this intermittent stuff. Later on things improved generally, and we had three of our friends round for a cowboy pie. I had had a brief sleep around 6pm when I felt very shaky. A bad day ended well.

Today Dot and I went shopping, and it turned out to be one of those days when everything flowed. First we bought just the jacket I wanted, then found a suitcase that was just right, as well as a small hand-luggage bag on a stall in Brigg Street. Then got a couple of presents for Oliver before shooting up to pick up my guitar pick-up that Dot had ordered some time ago. After that we had lunch at Cafe Rouge (my stomach is improving, though by no means perfect) and got some Swiss currency at the post office before walking home. Dot has done a little gardening to fill our brown bin up and is now relaxing in front of the TV.