Monthly Archives: May 2010

Calm, warm and hardly anybody

Uncategorized, ,
Dot
Dot on the railway bridge at Whitlingham Lane, Thorpe.

Sad news from Coventry this morning: Andrew became progressively worse over the weekend and had to be taken into hospital this morning. Can’t say this came as a huge surprise after seeing him on Friday, but sad nevertheless.

We had a quiet weekend in his absence. Dot and I went for a walk down on the Thorpe side of Whitlingham on Saturday afternoon: calm, warm, and hardly anybody about beside the river and  across the meadow. The next day, however, she had succumbed to a cold that had been creeping up on her and stayed in bed with a very bad throat and cough while I went and led the service at church. Pentecost! Matt’s first stab at preaching, and he was very good.

Annette in wig
Annette tries on a wig found in one of Rupert's boxes

In the afternoon I went to Bally for Open Studios – pretty much a must, as the artists have all had sudden notice to quit by mid-June. End of an era. Excellent main exhibition, but few people there: it was very hot, and I guess many of the potential attendees were on the beach. Spoke to Rupert and Shirley, then Martin Laurance – provisionally buying a painting of his – but spent most of time being shown round the exhibition by Annette. Some good new stuff from her, and if she spent as much time praising her own pictures as she did extolling the virtues of others, she might sell more. Such a nice girl.

Towards the end of yesterday the weather started to turn cooler, but not until after I walked into the city to pay in a couple of cheques. In the evening I drew my final chess game of the season after getting an advantage but not making it count. My 50% tournament score means I stay in the second division next season, though I keep wondering whether to give chess a rest. Dot stayed in bed most of yesterday, but has got up this morning, saying she feels much better. Had a call from Riding Lights theatre company yesterday asking if I knew anyone who could put up some of their troupe who are coming to Norwich next month. We’re going on holiday at the crucial time, but I’ve put out feelers. Nobody has grasped one yet.

Goats, piano and a cold cathedral

Uncategorized, , , , , ,
wisteria
Wisteria flowering in our back garden for the first time in a quarter of a century

The warm weather persists. Today we are in the mid-20s: one of those warm, calm summer days we don’t see enough of. We’re trying to resist the temptation to hurtle out in the car, on the grounds that everyone else will be doing the same. Still, we might venture a walk later on. We had expected Andrew to be with us this weekend, but he was not well enough to come. In fact when Phil and I went to Coventry yesterday to move some more of his stuff from Gareth’s to The Langleys, we found him to be in a sad state, and although I was intending at first to bring him back with us anyway, the longer we were with him, the worse he seemed, and in the end we decided it wasn’t practical, either from his point of view or from ours. It was sad to see him so fearful. We did manage to get quite a bit of his stuff moved, including three or four storage cubes which have given him more space in his room to accommodate it. I tried to get him to select what he wanted to bring, but he wasn’t able to do it, and eventually I had to make the decisions, while Phil, with a lot of help from Gareth – Andrew’s former carer, who is talking of moving to Portugal to rear goats – shifted the heavy stuff. Phil and I left for home about 4pm, but because of heavy traffic and a couple of diversions didn’t get to Norwich until 7.30pm. Admittedly, we had a meal on the way …

Dot and I completed our nap hand of Norfolk and Norwich Festival Concerts on Wednesday and Thursday. Dot had been at Overstrand on Wednesday morning, but got back in time to take the bus up to Castle Meadow and walk the rest of the way to the Assembly House for a piano recital by Reinis Zarins, who journeyed from Prokoviev to Liszt by way of Schoenberg, which made for some surprisingly hilly scenery. Amazing technique. I was a little surprised that the hall wasn’t full, but the Roman Catholic Cathedral was packed for our final concert of the festival, billed as Tallis in Wonderland (see what they did there?). This was a group of six singers – British, despite their name,  I Fagiolini – who used a rather innovative approach to 15th and 16th century music. Unaccompanied voices, but a lot of strange presentation, particularly running round the church and singing from different individual positions, with additional words and singing from loudspeakers. I found the concert annoying at first, but eventually liked some of the ideas and movement; however, the overriding feeling was that it was very, very cold and I wanted them to get to the end as quickly as possible. This was made worse by the fact that it had been a warm day, and so no-one was wearing heavy clothing. The temperature inside the cathedral must have been about 15 degrees colder than outside. Felt sorry for the performers, who had to do it all again later in the evening. Felt even sorrier for the people who were going to come to the second, and presumably even colder, performance. Suggested on Twitter that it should be renamed Tallis on Ice.

We walked briskly home afterwards and snuggled up in front of the television for an hour or so. Earlier in the day Colin had come to re-lay a bit of our drive, which was cracking up. He discovered that our downpipe didn’t go anywhere except under the drive, so he changed plans (after discussion) and eventually – after discovering a gas pipe – went for a kind of stone-filled soakaway covered by pebbles. We are thinking of putting in a semi-circular water butt to solve the where-will-the-water-go problem. Meanwhile we now have a large soil-filled, wood box for vegetables in the back garden – but the really big news is that our wisteria has flowered for the first time in 26 years! It has got together with some honeysuckle and looks really good.

Football with a French accent

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,
children
An enthusiastic Amy tries to put a spring in Oliver's steps

At last the weather has turned warmer. Walked three miles back from Joe’s at lunchtime after beating him 3-0 at chess (the first luckily on time, but the other two quite good games), and stepped into John Lewis’s to research TVs for Andrew, adding a diversion to Timberhill to buy Claxton Opera tickets. Very pleasant.  The weather was quite good at the weekend too, which we spent at Caddington to celebrate prematurely David’s 38th birthday – actually today. On the Saturday we were joined by Philip Coomes and family, and had a really good time, rather too much of it spent playing football in the garden, which meant I was exhausted in the evening and went to sleep through Dr Who.

Oliver is developing into a really good little footballer, and Lydia and Alistair aren’t bad either. Meanwhile Amy has developed a French accent, though only while talking to her dolls. The various French numbers feature strongly, but although I didn’t recognise any other words, they sounded as if they ought to be proper French words, even if they weren’t. Taught Oliver a bit of guitar after I managed to get it roughly in tune and Dot finished it off. Oliver is also learning cello, and Vicky came round in the evening to give him a lesson. Amy has a keyboard in her bedroom, so it’s just a question of time… On the Sunday we had lunch at the Harvester nearby: just right for a family, though Oliver was feeling rather poorly, with a cold suddenly developing. Had a decent steak.

On the way home we decided on the spur of the moment to call in to see Joan at Baldock. Against the odds, she was in and had a couple of friends with her. They insisted we stay, so we had a pleasant hour or so there. The female friend had been to Wall Hall College, so she and Dot had something in common, though they weren’t there at the same time. Joan has just had another granddaughter (Harriet’s) and is going up to Leeds to see her today.

Yesterday Dot had to go to Acle school in the morning, but she got back in time to come with me to the lunchtime Norfolk and Norwich Festival concert we’d booked for at the Assembly House. Good value at £7. Superb cellist Jessica Hayes paired with Polish accordionist Rafal Luc. An unlikely team, but I thought it worked well, though Dot was not as convinced. Both agreed that the accordion solo of Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No 6 was brilliant, sounding just like an organ: tremendous force and amazing dexterity and feeling. Called in at John Lewis afterwards for tea and looking for an iPod dock, but couldn’t find what we wanted: similarly failed later at the Apple Store.

We’ve been fortunate with our Festival choices: on Friday we went to St Andrew’s Hall for the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, which was absolutely brilliant, especially during the opening Borodin. The final Shostakovich I found less memorable, though it was technically well-nigh perfect. Violinist Chloe Hanslip was great (except in actual stature) for her performance of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No 1, which I thought was brilliant. At the end the orchestra did a couple or encores featuring their livewire redhead drummer Alla Mamyko. The percussionists were fascinating throughout.

Scarves, face paint and flags

Uncategorized, , ,
Norwich City players tour the city centre by bus to celebrate the championship

Weather is still chilly, but the forecast is warmer air moving in over the weekend. About time. Still, it’s not bad walking weather – when it doesn’t rain. Yesterday I did about 4 miles, starting through the Rosary, down Ketts Hill and up to St James’ Hill, then walking across the other side of Mousehold to Sprowston Road, then a bit further round the “inner link” before getting a bus to Tombland and walking home. Hard going at first, but easier the further I went.

Later on Dot and I did some additional walking when we went up to Castle Meadow to witness the open-top bus tour by Norwich City players, champions of League One. Got a reasonably good view and some excellent pictures, considering the crowds. Sun was shining brightly: atmosphere enthusiastic in that slightly self-deprecating way that is typical of Norfolk people. Of course there are also the wild enthusiasts, to whom football is a religion. Lot of slightly bemused little children in scarves, wearing face paint and waving flags. Also salesmen selling expensive cheap memorabilia. Helicopter and motorbikes, ambulance and bus: how could it not be fascinating?

Managed to finish editing the book yesterday and have sent off a few queries to the author before letting her have the final version. A strange book, skating over what appear to be serious events and going into great detail about trivia. the subject of the book herself is undoubtedly interesting, though to tell the truth a bit irritating at times. But you have to admire her perseverance and positive attitude to all kinds of problems.

On Wednesday evening we went to the Theatre Royal to hear John McLaughlin and band (the 4th Dimension) as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. The technique of the musicians was stunning: some of McLaughlin’s guitar-playing was almost unbelievable, and keyboardist Gary Husband was also exceptional, as were the bass guitar player, Etienne M’Bappe, and drummer Mark Mondesir. Hard to pin down the type of music – sort of progressive and jazzy – but it is the kind that becomes very samey after a while. You are amazed at the virtuosity of the musicians but yearn for a tune or, more particularly, a singer. For the connoisseurs, certainly, and there were times, especially in the first hour, when I was spellbound. But…  We actually left early, not because we we were bored but because Dot had a very early start for a school inspection the next day. The audience was also a bit odd: there was a lot of coming and going to the loo, starting as early as about a quarter of an hour in, and the woman sitting in front of me was exceptionally irritating because she would not sit still. She sat back, then forward, then put something on, then leaned over on to her partner, then went through the whole cycle again. And none of it in time to the music. All in all, a rather unreal evening.

Eccentric in more ways than one

Uncategorized, ,

OK, this is for the chess enthusiasts among you. Right, so that’s just me, then. This is a position I reached in a rapid game (15 minutes each) last night at a club tournament. I was pretty proud of my next move, which was Kh1. Black is pretty tied up, so played Rd8, allowing me to carry on with my plan, which was Ng4. If I hadn’t played Kh1, he could now play Nxg4 check, but now this move, without check, would lose to Qxe7. So he is doomed. He played Rxd4, and after Nxf6 he retreated Kh8. Probably the neatest move now is Nh5! but the clock was ticking fast, and I played Qe5. He played Qd6, and I immediately played what I had planned, namely Ng4+, which wins after Qxe5; Rxf8+, but not as prettily as the alternative to Ng4+, which is Nxe8+, Qxe5; Rxf8 mate. Rapid chess, eh? Who needs time to think? Eventually ended up with 2½ out of 5, which is not bad for me. Boringly predictable, in fact.

Have just edited another couple of chapters of the book, which had more examples of eccentric English, mirroring the eccentric behaviour of the lead character. Really strange. About two-thirds of the way through now. Later today I have to do the meal for the Tuesday Group, because Dot has to go to a church school in South Norfolk as a representative of the Diocesan Office. They are choosing a new head teacher, and Dot is there to advise. I am glad one of us has done really well in their career.

Yesterday went to the dentist for a quick clean round, so of course my teeth are uncomfortable today. They really don’t like being disturbed. Like their owner, I expect. After the dentist, I went for a walk and probably did about three miles altogether. Ought to go out now, but it really is pretty cold and unpleasant, though it seems to have stopped raining. The owner of the end house on our road seems to have moved back in again, following the tenants moving three houses down for reasons that need not detain us. The couple opposite seem to have disappeared, probably temporarily.

Had a pleasant meal on Saturday with the Higbees. It turned out to be an egg curry, because some other friends who are vegetarians were supposed to be joining us, but one of them was ill. Not usually mad about veggie, but this was quite nice, I have to say. Well, eggs are almost meat, aren’t they?

Naked feet on the edge of the bath

Uncategorized, ,
Red ball
Part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, this giant red ball will be appearing in various parts of the city. Yesterday it made its debut outside the station.

Got quite a bit of work done on the book yesterday, and also fitted in painting the bathroom ceiling: well, parts of the bathroom ceiling, after Dot revealed that she had in fact painted it last year. So I was just painting over a couple of deteriorating bits, and now it all looks brand new. I was prepared for it to drip all over the place, so painted in old shorts and a T-shirt, with naked feet. Actually naked feet came in useful for standing on the edge of the bath.

The book is a bit odd: parts of it are quite professionally written, but then you come to a paragraph that’s barely English. Ah well; it shouldn’t take too long, though I’m feeling a bit below par today. This may be because I think I have another UT infection, or it may be the really lousy weather (wet and cold) or it may be because I got very little sleep last night after a late meal at Delia’s Restaurant with the Robinsons. The meal was excellent and quite reasonably priced, but late eating doesn’t suit my metabolism, what with the sherry, vodka and wine. Not excessive; oh, no. Just a bit too varied. Had interesting conversation with Philip Robinson about the Election and What Happens Now. If pressed to compare Delia’s with the Swan, the Swan would just get my vote. But Delia’s is good.

Today has not been great so far, especially as Norwich City managed to finish the season in triumph with a pretty pathetic 2-0 defeat – just what you want when they’re going to present you with a trophy. But the Higbees will be joining us for egg curry later. Annette and Mike have cried off with illness, and I tried to contact others to join us, but was unsuccessful. Dot is feeling a bit down after knocking her glass butterfly onto the floor and breaking it. Hope this does not affect the weather thousands of miles away. Perhaps someone has broken a butterfly in China.

Delicious remains

Uncategorized, , ,
Blossom in the Rosary

Caroline’s poetry book launch party at Fakenham on Monday turned out to be brilliant, with crowds of people sardined into her terraced house, and just enough room for her and her friend Dee to punctuate the afternoon with songs and poetry. It was a cold, windy day, so inside was a good place to be. At first we knew no-one but Caroline, but later Annette and Mike turned up, plus Martin Laurance and Geoffrey Lefever, another artist from Bally. Also Kay Riggs, one of the Paston poets. Met quite a few new people, and renewed acquaintance with Alex Gilfillan, who used to be a subs’ runner at the Eastern Daily Press about the same time as David. She is also the daughter of Susan Lee (a former sub) and a niece of Caroline. She now has a husband and two young girls. Good to see her again.

Interesting week food-wise. As well as some lovely sweet items at Caroline’s, we have also benefited from the delicious remains of the church Sunday lunch at our Tuesday Group evening, and braved an adventurous paella at a friend’s birthday meal yesterday. The adventure consisted largely in deciding how much of the chicken to eat, as it was clearly undercooked, but there was also the added challenge of sitting down at the table, as the house was beyond description: to use the word cluttered would be an understatement of huge proportions. Six of us managed to get near enough to the table to eat, and the sweet was actually good, but there was not a lot of hanging around afterwards. Dot offered to wash up, but it became clear that there was actually nowhere to put anything. Felt like ordering a skip and depositing the entire contents of the house into it. Make that several skips.

At the other extreme, this morning we called on my aunt Josephine in her immaculate Cringleford bungalow and had some lovely scones and biscuits. Very civilised. Spent a long time talking. Tomorrow we are going to Delia’s Restaurant with the Robinsons to celebrate Anne’s birthday, and on Saturday we are having friends round here. From the sublime to the very ordinary, in a few minutes we are having fish fingers. Earlier we had our hair cut and tomorrow we shall have what to do after firing – no, wait, that’s a poem by Henry Reed. Earlier still Dot and I played a round of pitch and putt on Mousehold and both broke 100. This may not seem much of an achievement, but it is a long time since we played. We were pretty evenly matched. Just before that we went and voted (differently). I changed my mind as I approached the polling station, and still probably got it wrong.

Anyway, the more important selection story of the week was Spurs qualifying for the Champions League by finishing fourth in the Premiership, beating Manchester City 1-0 away to do so. So a good season for both Spurs and Norwich, who seem to mirror each other’s ups and downs surprisingly often. Meanwhile the bank cleared a large cheque just in time for me to pay my credit card bill, which was nice. Getting on well with the book editing, though I didn’t manage to fit any in today. Planning to give it a real go tomorrow.

Roaming in the Rosary

Uncategorized
White among the blue

Have spent some time in the Rosary this weekend. Saturday evening was glorious: thousands of primroses and bluebells (including some white bluebells), plus cherry blossom and in the distance a couple of green woodpeckers. Never realised they were such big birds: very colourful. Explored most of the paths and found Ruth Dix’s recent grave in the old part of the cemetery, next to her parents’. The place was so idyllic on Saturday evening that I phoned Dot to come up, which she did, despite being immersed in sorting out her finances. Yesterday I walked up there again in late afternoon, following lunch at St Augustine’s: another great meal, the remains of which we’ve been donated for the Tuesday Group. This time saw a jay. Much chillier than the day before, and today it is worse again – wet, windy and cold. But it’s bank holiday, so of course everyone will be out and heading for the coast, hoping for a miracle. We will be going to Fakenham this afternoon for the launch of Caroline’s poetry book, Yes. There was an original launch earlier in the year, but the weather was so bad (snow and ice) that few people could make it.

Archbishop, Ruth and Katherine

Uncategorized, ,
Eddie's daughter Jo bubbling along

Sudden late decision to go to Cathedral at 10am to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury and Ruth Padel dialoguing on the subject of poetry and prayer. Turned out to be fascinating, and as we were buying tickets we ran into Katherine Venn, who is doing poetry at the UEA, so we sat together. Some really interesting stuff lasting till 12.30 and including a brief service, featuring poetry, at the end. Also ran into Bill Smith, the EDP photographer, with additional glimpses of Rowan Mantell (EDP writer), the Rev Richard Woodhams, and the Kiddles from St Luke’s. Tea / coffee halfway through in the cloisters, and afterwards Katherine came back to ours for lunch (dropped in at Budgens on the way). Had a long chat with her about various things, including her UEA project. Weather cooler than of late, but not as bad as had been predicted.