Monthly Archives: September 2009

Getting together

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Ed cuts the cake, with his fiancee Jenny taking a keen interest, and Dot in the background
Ed cuts the cake, with his fiancee Jenny taking a keen interest, and Dot in the background

Dot is in the garden, filling the brown bin. I’ve been in the city paying in the odd cheque – specifically one to cover payment of our roof work. Barclays inform me this cheque will not be cleared till Tuesday, which seems ridiculous. Still, I’ve discovered that I can pay the entire bill without a horrendous penalty, so by this time next week it should all be done and dusted. I hate having large sums hanging over me – unless they fall into my lap, of course. But you can never rest: I have booked a hotel in Venice for next June, and am about to start looking at flights to and from Toronto for February/March.

One of my former colleagues at Archant – Julia Carter – has just died. She had had cancer for a while, and I’d visited her some time ago in Aylsham hospital. Last saw her at the BUPA hospital in July when I was in for my third operation. She was walking past and seemed in good spirits. Apparently she died in her sleep after her most recent session of chemotherapy and a blood transfusion. The funeral is in a couple of weeks, and I shall be there, barring accidents. I heard about it from Yarmouth reporter Stephen Pullinger on Monday evening: his team was playing our B team at the Gas Club, and I was waiting vainly for another player to play a knockout game. I emailed Martin Throssell, who already knew, and I have since been rung up by both Ivor Harvey and Bernadette. Meanwhile Lucy had a bad reaction to her chemotherapy and had to be rushed back into hospital with a lot of pain from a sinus infection. She is now home, but very weak. On the bright side her white cell count is dramatically down, from 50 to 4. Which is good, I understand.

On another bright note, two of our friends have got engaged – Ed Reed and Jenny Weston. Ed has been coming to our Tuesday Group for a long time and has been going out with Jenny for a while now. Bridget brought a cake and we had a celebration last night.

On Sunday Dot and I went to Cromer because it was such a nice afternoon. We had a stroll on the beach and on the pier: very warm and relaxing couple of hours. In the evening we had an Ambient Wonder social gathering at the Workshop cafe bar on Earlham Road, which turned out to be very pleasant. Had a long chat with Annie and her ex-boyfriend John, as well as with Anna, Paul and Heather. Annie is going to Haiti to do some health work, and we said we’d be interested in giving her some support. Dot already has ideas of going there.

On Monday we drove to Metfield for a P4C meeting with Barbara, and while they discussed various esoteric possibilities I wrote a couple of stories intended for their assemblies folder. Pretty pleased with them. Helped Caroline a little with an arts proposal which Lucy instigated but was too ill to complete. The idea is to extend the Paston project into new areas, mainly outside. Have finished a self-imposed course of antibiotics and am feeling quite a lot better. There’s a robin in the garden which comes up close to Dot when she’s working: lots of birds in the hedge, and I spend a bit of time watching them. Much more valuable than most of the things I spend time doing.

Chess and tea

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Dot, Mick Stedman, Anne Robinson, Philip Robinson and Gill Stedman drinking tea at Poringland
Dot, Mick Stedman, Anne Robinson, Philip Robinson and Gill Stedman drinking tea at Poringland

Just back from Poringland, where we enjoyed lunch with the Stedmans and Robinsons, followed by afternoon tea on the lawn – well on a table on the lawn. So you can tell that the weather is pretty warm, though it was turning chilly towards the end. We’ve known each other since the mid-70s, when Mick Stedman was a vicar in the Bramerton Group, and the Robinsons’ home was in Alpington, the adjoining village. We lived in Holly Bank at Yelverton for 12 years. Dot is about to go on a girls’ night out: she never stops.

Here’s the game I played last night:

1 c4 e5 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 Nc6 4 Nc3 Bc5 5 e3 0-0 6 a3 a6 7 Nge2 Re8 8 0-0 Ne7 9 d4 exd 10 exd Ba7 11 Bg5 Ng6 12 Nd5 c6 13 Nxf6+ gxf 14 Bf4?! d5 15 cxd cxd 16 Rc1 Bg4 17 f3 Qe7 18 fxg! Qxe2  19 Rc2! (Having foreseen the coming sacrifice) Bxd4+ 20 Qxd4 (Kh1 is also possible) Qxc2 21 Bh6! Re2 22 Bxd5 Ne5 23 Rxf6 (With all kinds of threats) Rd8 24 Rxf7!

Position after 24 Rxf7
Position after 24 Rxf7

Rg2+ 25 Bxg2 Qd1+ 26 Qxd1 Rxd1+ 27 Rf1 Rd8 28 Bd5+ Kh8 (If Rxd5, Rf8 is mate) 29 Rf8+ Rxf8 30 Bxf8 Nxg4 31 Bc5 Kg7 32 Bxb7 1-0. Of course, the most exciting possibilities never happen on the board.


Long bath

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A robin giving itself a thorough wash in our garden.
A robin giving itself a thorough wash in our garden.

Saturday morning, and we’re about to go to the Robinsons’ for lunch with them and the Stedmans. Feeling a bit better. Have just been watching a robin washing itself in a bowl of water in our garden. It spent almost as long in the bath as I do.

Yesterday Dot went to Ipswich for the launch of a philosophy folder which has her name in it, because she helped to put it together. By the time she got back, I had left for North Walsham and the private view of Lucy’s latest exhibition at the Griffon Gallery. I was first there and got at the cheese and crisps outside, because it was a warm evening. Nice selection of prints: some new, some older. Spoke to Sue Willis, one of the helpers and to Lucy when she eventually arrived with Jonathan and Naomi, who looked very striking. Caroline also arrived while I was there, and no doubt there were others, but I had to leave after half an hour to travel to Wymondham, where I had a chess game for Dons B against the Eagles. Played Andrew Donnelly, who is graded about the same as me, and managed to win a very exciting and tactical game, which was extremely satisfying. Earlier in the day went round Brian’s with the key again, but still  no answer. Suspect something has happened.

On Thursday had what I believe is called a long lunch with poet Joy McCall at the Rushcutters  in which she elicited so much information from me that I suspect she is writing my biography. Don’t buy it – it’s not true.

Another story

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Dot, Amy and bear cuddle up.
Dot, Amy and bear cuddle up.

You’ll be relieved to hear that Jessie’s bus and Dot managed to be in roughly the same place at the same time, and as a result of some inventive parking by Dot, the rendezvous was achieved, as was lunch with A Ethel. I was at home, because you don’t want to interfere with that sort of thing. Meanwhile the roof saga came to a conclusion, and I have to say the result is impressive. Yesterday the final bits of scaffolding were removed and, what with the shorn hedge, the house seems quite naked, without cover of any kind – except of course the roof. When it rains properly (there were a few drops this evening) we’ll see how well the new system copes.

Barbara also came round yesterday for lunch with Dot and a conversation with the accountant. Both worked out well, as did subsequent discussion on the publishing venture. I had written a story which turned out to be not quite what they wanted as an introductory piece, and the two of them have now worked out a more coherent structure. Now I have to write a coherent story, which is not my strong point. Still…

My chess game on Monday was aborted because the guy I was playing was double-booked, and I ended up playing progressive chess against Joe Bell, a precocious youngster from the Norfolk & Norwich club. As I had no idea what I was doing, the games didn’t last long. We also had some rapid games of normal chess, and I managed to win three of them (but lost several more). Haven’t been sleeping well, and today I feel listless and disorganised. I was tired at Tuesday Group last night, as spotted by the perceptive Bridget, but since several people had their eyes closed during the CD and there was the odd snore, I was evidently not alone in this.

Have received numerous e-mails from Barbara about our holidays next year. Terrifying. She’s booked a hotel in Venice that looks rather nice. Or upscale, as I believe they say in upscale circles. Dot and I have both switched our ISAs to get more interest, which means we may be able to afford it.

Amusing story in the EDP yesterday morning under the heading “Council draws up a radical transport blueprint for city”. The first sentence reads: “Radical changes to the way people get around Norwich are on the cards as transport chiefs look to cut gridlock by closing roads…”  Yes, that should work. Is gridlock something that can be cut anyway? Doesn’t it have to blown up? Or simply avoided?

Alternative route

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Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.
Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.

The start of a new week, and the roof men are still hard at it. They would have finished, but for two things: I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday and had this sudden feeling that they hadn’t put the gutter-guard in to protect the gutters from the huge amounts of leaves we get from the trees behind our property. This turned out to be true, though how I knew and why I woke up thinking about it remain mysteries. This was going to add a couple of hours to the job, and while one of the guys was off getting the materials from the yard, the other one cut himself really deeply on the hand, and we had to get him to hospital. So no more work that day. I was quite worried that he might have damaged tendons, or something, but happily he had “only” nicked a vein, and he is back today with a handful of stitches and a certain amount of pain. I asked him if he thought he should be working. He thought he should. What can I say? It will be nice to have it finished.

The hedge has been cut too – on Saturday morning, by Colin – and we suddenly have light in the kitchen. No injuries reported.

Back to Friday night, when I had an invitation to the Twenty Group’s FourSite saga… sorry, I mean party… to celebrate the end of their Bally exhibition. Dot came for the start and left me chatting and wandering around while she picked up a present for Oliver from A Ethel for an hour or so before returning and picking me up. Most of them I didn’t know, but I chatted to John Rance, his wife Caroline and daughter Rachel, plus Hilary Mellon, Liz Clark, Kate, Philippa Fawcett and Ruthli. No sign of any InPrint members. When Dot returned she stepped in for a few minutes and found herself, amazingly, talking to someone (Caroline) who was involved in an educational issue she had been discussing with a head teacher earlier in the day.

After the hedge was finished we had a quick lunch and shot off to Caddington. Very quick journey and a lovely weekend. All three of them were a lot healthier than they’d been earlier in the week, and Oliver was keen to get to grips with his presents, which included a walking pole and a Lego Star Wars model. Despite the walking pole he showed no inclination to leave the house, and spent most of the weekend building the model and playing with it (he’s a talented builder) and then playing Wii games, partly against David and partly against me. I performed pretty miserably, which I think suited him. He’s amazingly proficient at them. Amy is still more interested in her invented doll games, which are wonderful, and is saying some really bright things. Left after they were asleep (Dot read them The Tunnel by Anthony Browne on the first night, and I read Oliver some of The Hobbit on the Sunday). Good journey home by the alternative route, because the previous day we’d seen a notice warning of night closure of a key road. Dot drove, and although it was about ten miles further, it didn’t take much longer because there are some fast sections.

The weather has improved again: over the weekend it was pretty warm and today it’s quite pleasant. Dot has gone off to rendezvous with Jessie as she alights from the bus at Anglia Square (a mission fraught with hazards), after which she is taking her to see the other aunt (Ethel) at Hethersett.

Noble service

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Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a front assault on our house.
Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a frontal assault on our house.

I am surrounded by scaffolding and vehicles carrying ladders. The house is midway through its transformation, with nearly a half of the new bargeboards and fascia boards in place and the street nicely disrupted. The district manager of the company came round yesterday, and suddenly it became necessary to erect proper scaffolding at the top end of the house. This is also in progress as I write, with the scaffolding lorry at first blocking exit from the Wildlife Trust but now tight in behind the company van. Two cups of tea, two of coffee just delivered. Wife in south Norfolk, visiting a school and about to return for lunch if she can find somewhere to park. Autumn still in the air but in more benevolent mood, with rain threatening but holding off and the temperature up a bit. Hoping the wall doesn’t fall down as the scaffolders clamber over it.

The roof guys were here yesterday too, and completed quite a bit before dashing off to Watton to deliver a water butt. Dot was at Yarmouth for lunch with Anne and the perennial challenge of finding her way out of the town afterwards. For some reason this takes much longer than it should. We have consulted maps and plan a new approach next time, but I have to agree that the signs in Yarmouth are considerably less than helpful. # I put that # in because I just discovered how to do it on a Mac keyboard, which strangely doesn’t have it as a dedicated key. It’s alt+3, in case you were wondering.

Vicar Nicholas came round for tea. He is pretending not to be in the city, because he is still on sabbatical, but he made an exception for the tea and for going to see Quadrophenia with me at the Theatre Royal. He has just written the first draft of his book on Developing Consciousness, and has left it for me to look at. Quadrophenia was very impressive both musically and as theatre, with four actors/singers playing the lead role and some extremely clever direction. Always liked The Who, and the music was easily identifiable as theirs. The drummer was not Keith Moon, said Nicholas. He was correct. Keith Moon is dead. I did have this slight feeling while watching it that one attitude fostered by it – that a job serving other people is for some reason degrading – might be symptomatic of one of the faults in our society. Everyone wants to be served, but no-one wants to serve. Can’t work, can it? Service is a noble calling.

Tuesday was asbestos day, with a company from London coming up and identifying the guilty substance in its various guises, and then removing it. Much sucking of teeth at first, but it didn’t take them too long to get rid of it and head off back to Epping. Barbara V was also here, and she and Dot (with a little help from me) looked at how they were going to approach the publishing project centering on assemblies using Philosophy4Children. It was decided I would attempt to supply a series of stories based on six diverse characters. So I will attempt that. Inspiration, you may strike here.

I’ve been feeling a little tired since Monday evening, when I had a mammoth 71-move chess game against a guy from Thetford. I was at a disadvantage for most of it, but hung in until I had three or four minutes left and he had about one, when he made a slight miscalculation and I scraped a draw with an intermezzo check from my knight enabling me to get back and cover a pawn which had been about to queen. He was a bit upset, and so would I have been. As it was, I was delighted but so strung out that I found it very hard to sleep, especially as I was feeling a bit sick, for some reason. Still, I guess it was worth it. How can you tell?

Hard lunch

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Back gate from Dayspring, looking towards the cliff at Paston
Back gate from Dayspring, looking towards the cliff at Paston

And now it’s turned to autumn again, quite cold and windy, though not as bad as yesterday. Dot has been out all day today – first at Overstrand as a diocesan support officer and then at Catton, introducing Philosophy4Children. Good opportunity for me to catch up on some vital jobs, but after starting reasonably well, I have tailed off badly, even sinking so low as to change my profile picture on Facebook. The trip to Sainsburys went quite well, though a couple of requests from Dot eluded me. I followed this by taking Bernadette to lunch – something I had been intending to do for some weeks, ever since she assisted me by checking some shorthand for my Hull trainees. We went to John Lewis, and she refused to accept more than a baguette – or to be ruthlessly precise, half a very hard baguette that was a real challenge to eat. I was not impressed: should have taken her to Caffe Italia.

Yesterday had a good morning service at St Augustine’s, led by Heather. I preached on Careless Tongues Cost Lives – well, not quite, but something like that. Watched Jenson Button get back on the world championship trail in the afternoon, then off to Ambient Wonder in the evening. Very few of us there, and a little chilly: the same went for the pizzas. Didn’t sleep very well last night. Don’t know why. Keep dreaming about holidays and living elsewhere, and Dot driving brilliantly. Strange. Finished Stefan Zweig. I see Stieg Larssen’s third and last book is out next month.

Hidden church

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Jessie's friend gave us a bag of plums. Worryingly, this is not all of them.
Jessie's friend gave us a bag of plums. Worryingly, this is not all of them.

OK, so now it’s summer again. Confused?  Me too. Lovely warm sunny day today: walked up to church at lunchtime to sit in as cyclist-counter for the sponsored cycle ride in aid of local churches. Discovered previous three cyclist-counters had not turned up. Counted only five cyclists, and they all came at once. Cyclists are like buses… However, several people called in to look at the church (Stuart the church history man officiating) and I spent some time talking to two eight-year-old girls who didn’t believe in God but wanted some balloons, biscuits, drinks, stickers and a postcard. If they don’t believe in God, where do they think the balloons came from? Ha! Nice girls, actually.

After Ann and Howard turned up to take over, I met Dot at Caffe Uno and had a pleasant lunch, then – acting on a tip from Howard – discovered a church on the corner of Queen Street and Tombland which I’d never noticed before: St Mary the Less, entered by a narrow gateway and surrounded by other buildings. Disused now, it used to belong to the Walloons from Holland and Belgium. Contains impressive copy of a Rembrandt portrait. Walked home through the Close and along the river, pausing to watch a few minutes of a rugby match. Then completed sermon for tomorrow while Dot did some work on her Philiosophy4Children scheduled for Monday and did some ironing in the garden. Well, it’s sunny, so she has to.

Last night drove out to Corpusty for a private view of Annette’s latest exhibition, which she shared with Diane Griffiths and a couple of others. Met a few of her friends and Marilyn Jeffries,a founder-member of InPrint who  now goes her own way at Wells. Also met a wonderful painter called Susan who cornered me delightfully for about quarter of an hour. It was Oliver’s 7th birthday – didn’t speak to him during the day, but his Dad sent a picture of him eating a birthday meal. Today he rang us while we were at Caffe Uno, and we had quite a conversation. The family were on their way up to Nottingham and enduring some traffic problems.

Earlier yesterday visited the andrology nurse at the hospital – Liz Rooney the cyclist (they’re everywhere) – and she showed me how to inject myself in a very tender place in an attempt to put right a technical problem. Didn’t have any effect, except some aching and itching. On the whole I decided I’d rather have the problem, and I shall tell her so when she rings on Monday. Bit depressing really. Am still reading Stefan Zweig and enjoying him enormously: gets to the root of emotions superbly but also keeps the story moving forwards.

Hot and cold

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Licensed reader Bridget Archer
Licensed reader Bridget Archer

Bizarre behaviour by weather. Yesterday it was probably the hottest it’s been all year. The car thermometer registered 29C as we passed through North Walsham on the way back from a visit to Lucy’s at Paston. Today at least 10C cooler: I made the mistake of wearing just a shirt and light pullover for a train trip to Wroxham, which meant I was decidedly chilly when I got there to wait for Dot and Jessie to arrive by car. So I started walking, and we coincided very quickly. After that I avoided standing around outside. We visited Wroxham Barns and had a meal (cheese baguette), then on to Jessie’s for a chat and further refreshment. Dot had driven out to meet Jessie at Frank’s residential home in Wroxham, but I wanted to get a bit of work done, so took the train. On the way back from North Walsham we got stuck behind a painfully slow Clio the whole way, with a persistent stream of cars from the other direction. Where is a machine gun when you need it?

Just kidding. I say that in case this site is being monitored  by the Government, who might mistake me for a terrorist. I am not a terrorist. I do not like terrorists. Or very slow Clios.

Been quite busy, actually. On Monday, Dot was in a high-level P4C meeting with Barbara at Metfield and got back almost too late to have her hair done. I decided to forgo the whole process, as my hair has not recovered from last time, when I went very short, and instead toddled off to the Norwich Print Fair PV in St Benedict’s, where I met Harriet, then Lisa, Annette and Mike. Oh, and Sandra. Had quick chat and look round – some good stuff on show – then on to the chess club for a Quickplay (10-min). Won the first two games, which is always a mistake, since you get paired against better players subsequently. The clever method is to lose the first game. I ended up playing all three of the best players in the club, and losing to them all. However, I did get another win, so ended up with 3/6, which is about what I usually end up with. Very good game in Najdorf Sicilian against Merv Hughes (not the Australian fast bowler).

Lunch with Lucy at Dayspring was followed by a very pleasant Tuesday Group gathering at the Archers’, featuring scrummy raspberry cheesecake left over from Sunday. Have just read The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig. Impressed. Not just with the story but its accuracy as regards chess.

Windy walk

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Dot, Amy and Oliver taking full advantage of the swimming pool that came with our holiday cottage
Dot, Amy and Oliver taking full advantage of the swimming pool that came with our holiday cottage

Autumn has arrived, coming in with a blast on Wednesday (September 2), which was blustery, cool and very wet: the sort of thing that would have wrecked Greenbelt. It didn’t wreck us because we were staying in a lovely cottage with two delightful grandchildren, and there was a swimming pool, which was marginally wetter than outside. There was also a huge range of games, both indoor and out, and as well as swimming twice we played pool, bar football, table tennis, dominoes, backgammon and, in a dry moment, croquet – which Oliver loved. Also made it to Sainsbury’s to stock up again. Children had a great time, and so did we. The next day was marginally better, but we did the same sorts of things, eventually leaving the site to drive up to Cleeve Hill, where we went for a very windy walk among the sheep dropping and golfers. Oliver found some chalk and what might have been a fossil to show at school. From there descended a steep narrow lane and ended up back in Cheltenham searching fruitlessly for a fish and chip shop. Eventually gave up and bought fish, sausages and chips from Sainsburys to eat at home. Made us rather late eating, and thus late in bed. As long as Daddy doesn’t find out, we’re OK. Earlier had several croquet games with a very keen Oliver.

On Friday, after a night disturbed for me by noisy farm machinery, we left early (well, 9.50) and took the same route back as far as Milton Keynes, stopping again at Thrift Farm, which is run as part of a scheme for adults with learning difficulties. Very good tea room. Arrived at Caddington in good time and left before 2pm. Journey home was pretty uneventful, though I was pretty shattered by the time we got in, and didn’t even unpack properly. We went out for a meal at Frankie and Benny’s on the Riverside complex, and really enjoyed it. Good quality, reasonable price (except for the wine, which was good quality but pretty expensive). By the way, my neck problem has put itself right, more or less, and I’m feeling fairly well.

Would have liked a long lie in on Saturday, but our friend Bridget was being licensed as a reader at the Cathedral at 10.30, and we just made it, having met Vicky on the way. Sat at back by open west doors, which was unexpectedly chilly, but the 90-minute Communion service led by the Bishop was very good, and we were allowed to take the wine, so the swine flu threat must have subsided. Afterwards we gave Phyllis S a lift up to St Thomas’s Church for a buffet, which was extremely pleasant. Spent a long time talking to Heather, who I’d met some time ago at a Developing Consciousness course, I think. Also her husband. Similar tastes in holidays – Canada, Scotland. Later chilled out watching a fair bit of television and catching up with e-mails.

Today our preacher failed to materialise, so we had an interactive sermon led by Phil, which turned out surprisingly well. Followed by delicious church lunch. Dot is now talking about going for a walk, as it’s not raining for a change.