Monthly Archives: March 2009

29 March 2009

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Yes, as I said, more to be done. Unfortunately I’ve been ill again and am taking ages to recover. This time it’s a urine infection “and possibly something else”, to quote the very charming doctor I saw on Wednesday morning. I am on antibiotics, which have done enough to allow me to tick over but certainly haven’t got rid of it. Still, another two days of them to go. Saw David last weekend (Mothering Sunday), and we had steak and chips at home before visiting the Rosary and the cemetery at North Walsham. Happily I was still well then.

Spent most of Monday and Tuesday in bed, having cancelled chess and the Tuesday Group, but managed to stay up after seeing the doctor and have been wandering vaguely around ever since. Managed to get a bit of an appetite back: at one point my weight was down to what it was when I came out of hospital. Managed to get up to Cow Hill to record my four poems for the Twenty Group exhibition: went well. Am now about to leave for the launch of the Paston Exhibition. More on that story later, as Kirsty Wark would say.

20 March 2009

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As promised, another Winterton dunes picture: this time it’s Amy investigating one of the ruined structures at the village end of the valley. She heard us calling them sand dunes, so she decided to call them flower dunes. Very independent-minded girl.

I was wrong about the gas man: he arrived very early and said our boiler was not totally efficient but was working fine. This means the company has to tell us we should buy a new “green” boiler, but there’s nothing wrong with the old one, so throwing it away doesn’t sound very green to me. I am being environmentally friendly by continuing to use the one we have.

I won my fourth chess game in a row on Monday evening, and on Tuesday Dot, Barbara and I worked on a new leaflet for Philosophy4Children, which worked out quite successfully, I think, using Pages.

On Wednesday I visited my artist collaborater Ruthli and saw her second picture. I got quite a bit of inspiration as I looked at it, and several phrases sprang to mind. When I got home (after her husband Douglas showed me his amazingly organised garden) I managed to write a poem quite quickly, which was fortunate, because I had to get all four poems for the Norwich 20 Group exhibition in by the next day. This I managed to do, which was a relief. I quite like the poems, too. Ruthli’s house is amazing – absolutely full of art works of various kinds. The garden has sculptures too, so there’s no getting away from it. It’s totally wonderful.

In the afternoon, after Dot’s DSSO meeting, we had another visit from our financial adviser, who seems to be sorting out the best thing to do with Andrew’s money and Dot’s life insurance. I sense some coherence returning to our financial affairs – until, that is, we try to do Dot’s next tax return. This was followed in the evening by a district church council meeting and a distinct loss of coherence. For some reason these meetings always leave me depressed, even though 90 per cent of this one seemed quite uplifting. Then we started talking about decision-making and dialogue, which is all to do with whether we should attach ourselves to organisations like Transition Norwich, which in my view is quite wrong, since it is nothing to do with Christianity, is purely political and represents a point of view that would certainly not be shared by everyone in the church. Me, for instance.

Yesterday was quite cold and grey after some sunny days earlier in the week, and I was reluctant to go for a walk, though this is what I had planned to do while Dot was away on P4C business in Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich. In the end I got in the car and set off half-heartedly. I parked by a public footpath (part of Boudicca’s Way) at Arminghall, and the path over the field looked so inviting I decided to go a little way. But I was lured on and eventually did nearly four miles, round the lip of a quarry and across hilly fields to Caistor Lane, and then back by a slightly different route. Really enjoyed it in the end. Although the quarry is only yards from a road I have known well since my childhood, I had never actually seen it before. Since it is an amazingly large hole, this is quite surprising, but it is well shielded. I have become very fond of the countryside in that area around Caistor St Edmund. I suppose that area was part of my childhood, and I’ve always liked it.

I have more or less finished all the work I can do on the Paston Guidebook at the moment and need to try a couple of the walks and get back to Lucy for discussion. At the moment she is more concerned with the Grapevine exhibition which is coming up at the end of the month. I have sent out a large number of e-invitations and printed out some other stuff for it. More to be done, though.

16 March 2009

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After a quiet week, a full weekend. David and the children came up, and David and I took Oliver to see Norwich City play Plymouth at Carrow Road – his first professional football match. Happily City won 1-0, and Oliver joined in all the excitement. He also showed good staying power. I think he enjoyed the whole experience. He seemed to like being part of the crowd walking home as well. The weather was quite good, though there was a chilly wind. While we were at the match Dot took Amy into the city with Anne, and they bought her a new dress. She seemed to have a great time.

Yesterday was another nice day, and we went to Winterton, where we had a picnic in the car park before venturing into the dunes. The children had a wonderful time (so did we) tracking each other and ambushing. It’s a real favourite place with them. Got some nice pictures, one or two of which will appear here in due course. Today’s picture is of Oliver in his Canary kit, back from the match. After the dunes, Dot got the children in the garden, playing farms, while I watched a bit of rugby and David had a rest while listening to Spurs beat Aston Villa 2-0 (away). Oliver and Amy both got into the garden experience and in fact really exhausted themselves by supper time. Oliver could barely make it into the car for the trip home after their bath and story.

Today – another sunny day – we were up early and Dot is now on her way to Garboldisham for a church school inspection. I am waiting for the gas man to come and service our system. He’s scheduled to turn up between 8am and 1pm, so will probably arrive at about 12.55, if we’re lucky. In preparation , I had to take a surprising amount of stuff out of the drying room. Had no idea there was so much in there.

14 March 2009

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A picture I took quite a few years ago now, when the River Bure froze. Lost a bit of its colour, but I like the composition.

Quite a quiet week for me, though Dot has been pretty busy, returning to Terrington and visiting a couple of other schools. I won another game of chess, in the club tournament, and I need to maintain this winning streak to finish in a reasonable position, though I won’t win it. I’ve sorted out the Paston Guidebook material – though I haven’t started editing it – and printed off my own booklet of Paston poems, as well as laminating a few poems for the Grapevine exhibition. Bit of a panic with poems for the 20 Group exhibition: the poems with Sandra’s pictures are now sorted out, but I’m not seeing Ruthli till Wednesday, and I have to have all four poems in by Friday!

Took my brother Phil’s birthday presents round on Wednesday, but our conversation was cut short when his neighbour came round, so he came round yesterday to complete it. Now we’re awaiting the arrival of David and the children: David and I are taking Oliver to Carrow Road this afternoon in the hope that the team can maintain their form of Tuesday, when they won 2-0 against Cardiff. But they are still in dire straits. Dot is taking Amy into the city to meet Anne. The weather has warmed up markedly in the last few days, and it’s beginning to feel like spring. I need to get walking again.

7 March 2009

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This is a picture received from Howard Morgan in New Zealand, or possibly Australia. It has my grandmother (centre) with her son Ken (lounging behind) and Ken’s wife Eve (next to mother-in-law). The others are a bit of a mystery, because they don’t look much like my uncles, though there is a theory that the man at the right in the foreground could be my father. If so, where is my mother? And what beach is it? Note the beach gear, de rigeur for the 1940s. Howard’s father Frank stayed with my grandparents in Caistor Lane shortly after the war. He had been a PoW, and they looked after him for a while. Today I saw my aunt Kathleen, who apparently took him under her wing, going with him to the beach and cycling with him to Whitlingham. She remembers him and kept Howard’s e-mails, though she didn’t want the pictures. She seems in rude health, apart from arthritis in the legs and back. I arrived back before Dot, who had been enjoying a late lunch with her friend Anne.

I have finished compiling and illustrating a new story for Oliver, entitled Little and the Dark Machine. I wrote it quite a long time ago, but it is not one of the ones that was published in the EDP. I think it’s quite good, he said modestly. Better than the last one, anyway. Speaking of the EDP, yesterday it was announced that about a third of editorial jobs in Archant Norfolk were going – that’s over 50. Life may continue, but not as we know it. It will be interesting to see how bad the EDP becomes, and how quickly.

Since my last post we’ve had a surprisingly excellent meal at the Castle Carvery in Bowthorpe, paid for by one of our friends at church who felt we needed it and saw a promotional deal offered in the paper. She also supplies us with cooking apples, so we shouldn’t starve, whatever happens. We’ve also got a new financial adviser, who I brought in to explain an incoherent document from the people with whom I have life insurance on Dot. I’m not really sure why I have it. The new guy offered to take leaflets about Dot’s business to his clients who were in schools, so it might be a good idea if we organised the leaflets.

I saw my consultant yesterday, who told me my blood was “perfect”, which means the operation successfully removed my cancer. At least I assume that’s what he meant, rather than that I had produced blood that was the best ever seen. However, I am due to have tests to see if my bladder is working properly, because I still have this extremely odd sensation… which it’s probably best we don’t go into.

And I’ve won another game of chess – another quite good game as a guest on Board Two for the C team at Wymondham. Unfortunately we lost 2.5-1.5 and the team will probably be relegated, as will Norwich City if they carry on the way they’re going. Another loss today, and no room for manouevre.

3 March 2009

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Strange kind of existence at the moment, as if living slightly out of kilter with reality. But the same old things keep on happening, if not in the right order. Today I have been busy sorting out our finances and (I think) avoiding any embarrassment or extra charges over late payments. For the first time ever, I forgot to pay my road tax before it expired, but I believe you have days of grace. Two lots of car insurance haven’t helped the cash flow, especially as my car was also serviced and MOT tested last Thursday. Dot hasn’t been paid for work she’s been doing for months, but no doubt it will sort itself out eventually. Today she has been with Barbara working on her Philosophy, after going to a meeting this morning which actually took place yesterday… At least the days are getting longer, and we’re not providing food for the Tuesday Group tonight, which means we can relax a bit when Dot gets home. Maybe.

My chess doesn’t seem to have been affected. After travelling to West Runton on Friday night to play for the B team (and drawing a game I felt I should have won), I played for the A team last night against the prospective league champions, and managed to win quite a good game. The team also won, 2.5-1.5, so there was general rejoicing. Earlier in the day I had been to Paston to discuss the Paston Guide Book, which I now feel I am closer to understanding. Lucy is not at all well, though. Towards the end Annette turned up: haven’t seen her for a while. For lunch I went to Wroxham Barns to meet Dot and her aunt Jessie, who had been visiting Frank at Wroxham. We had a good lunch. I returned home, and Dot took Jessie back to North Walsham, also visiting the cemetery and Sainsburys.

Sunday was also quite busy. After Holy Communion we stayed for lunch, and then Dot went for coffee with Anna at Greens (the health club) while I came home. In the evening I went to Ambient Wonder, which seemed to go very well, though in silence!

Saturday had been very pleasant. We went to visit Mick and Gill Stedman (pictured) in Framlingham. Mick was our vicar when we lived in Yelverton. We had a lovely lunch and were able to engage in in-depth discussion about our mutual difficulties. We then went for a walk round the town, which was appealing – plenty of old buildings and a wonderfully picturesque castle – as well as being just the right size. Weather was sunny and not too chilly.

In the past few days I had two pleasant surprises from the past. One was a phone call from a woman who I knew when we were in our teens and who I had a bit of a crush on (unrequited). I couldn’t believe it when she said her name, because for some reason I thought she was dead. She was trying to help a woman she knew who went to Paul’s church, so I gave her his phone number – and my cousin Barbara’s, whose friend she was in those far-off days. Hope she got a good response. She now lives in Hethersett. It would be initeresting to meet her.

The other surprise was a contact from Genes Reunited: a guy from New Zealand whose father used to know my aunt Kathleen during the war and who apparently stayed with the family afterwards. He had been a prisoner of war, and apparently the Lenton family fattened him up while he stayed at what must have been their place in Caistor Lane. The son, who is about my age, was overjoyed to hear that he had got the right person and is sending photographs, which should be interesting.

Oh, and last Friday I went with Joe to hear a talk by a Franciscan. The named Franciscan couldn’t make it, but the substitute turned out to be Roger Rayner, David’s old piano teacher. He gave a pretty good talk, hitting most of the right notes.