Andrew playing on the giant wooden xylophone at Dunston Common, where we went for a walk on Boxing Day.
This will have to be a quick one. Dot is in the loft with the children, and David has gone into the city. I haven’t finished preparing the New Year quiz, and I’m sure I’ll be in demand very soon. Hold on – yes, Amy wanted to come out of the loft. Now she’s gone up again.
We’ve had a pretty busy Christmas, which I suppose goes without saying. I fetched Andrew from Coventry on Christmas Eve and took him back on the 27th – two drives of nearly 300 miles, which was tiring, although road conditions were good each time. David arrived in Norwich on Christmas Eve – about an hour after I got back with Andrew – then went back for the children on Boxing Day, then left again on Wednesday to visit the Coomes at Bishop’s Stortford and go on to Caddington before returning here with the children yesterday afternoon. They are staying until tomorrow. Are you following this?
The cold weather has thankfully abated, to leave a murky greyness, which is not exactly thrilling but doesn’t obstruct the traffic. Dot and I went to Christmas Eve Midnight Communion and led Silent Night on guitar; we also did a couple of readings and I assisted with the chalice (slightly unnecessarily). The church was warmer than I expected, and I took the collection away in the absence of treasurer Vicky, looking after her new baby, George.
Jessie, Roger and Philip joined us for Christmas Day, which went well, with the help of a lovely bird from Morrisons and some of Jessie’s scrumptious mince pies. Andrew seemed to enjoy himself. Phil, Joy, Sam and Lucy came round on the morning of the 27th, and I took Andrew over to Clarke’s to get some new shoes. The planned new TV/DVD player will have to wait till things calm down. Andrew seemed short of clothes when I fetched him, and I meant to give him some of mine, but forgot at the last minute. I will probably send him a parcel.
On the 28th David, Oliver and I went into the city, and I bought Dot a new MacBook Air, which David has now set up for her. I also got a cover for my iPhone, and Oliver one for his iPod. Apple seems to work on a different price structure to everything else on the planet, but we go on buying from them, because their stuff is so good. A lesson for others? Or not?
Now Dot and the children are at the shops, buying prizes for tonight’s New Year quiz. So I’d better work on some questions. Should just mention that among many other brilliant presents (some solid reading and watching ahead) David and Bridget came round last night to bring us a voucher for afternoon tea at the Assembly House. Must lose weight.
Intended to pick up Andrew from Coventry, but worst-case scenario materialised: no, not wall-to-wall snowdrifts, but uncertainty about the drive back. Sleet and snow was predicted for the entire route, so discretion won out over valour, and I postponed the attempt until tomorrow. Not sure if this was the right decision, but it did enable me to finish off my pre-Christmas tasks: lots of cardboard and other rubbish to the tip; hit-and-run card to Phyllis Todd (car park crammed); old books to charity shop; cheque paid in; and took bus to see Kathleen with card and book on Zimbabwe (The Last Resort) that I thought she might like to read. I was picked up from Kathleen’s by Dot, which gave her the chance to bring her a plant. All good.
The haircuts passed off without incident on Thursday, and were followed by a present-bearing trip out to North-East Norfolk, starting at Aunt Sheila’s and continuing at Sainsbury’s and then a bitterly cold cemetery. We went on to make a brave foray out to Buck Brigg on less-than-ideal roads. This went smoothly on the outward journey, but on the way back we had trouble emerging up a slope on to the Hanworth Road and I had to take a run at it, with Dot keeping a lookout for oncoming traffic. Then I skidded impressively turning the corner in Swafield in an attempt to get some momentum for the upcoming hill. Managed to recover and make it up the hill, thanks to nothing coming the other way. Roads very slushy. Temperature hovering around freezing, but main roads just wet – until we reached Aspland Road, which mysteriously had a covering of snow. After Buck Brigg we had mince pies at Jessie’s. She does make a good mince pie.
Couple of cancellations on Monday and Tuesday. Didn’t make it to the chess tournament on Monday; instead did some work on the loft door to make it shut properly – as well as wrapping some presents. Or was that Tuesday? I think it was, because most of Monday afternoon (after Lucy called round for my signature on a Paston document) was spent at Joe and Birgit’s. We thought it was just for drinks, but it turned out to be proper sit-down party food, and very nice too.
On Tuesday I was in and out of some shops, I seem to remember. We also had to cancel the Tuesday Group too after the Archers had some kind of stomach bug. But on the plus side, Julia and Allan called round in the morning after their return from the South-West – a journey which turned out not to be as bad as expected. There has been some really bad weather in places, but not everywhere – or at least not everywhere at the same time. It all reminds me of 1963: very cold, and snow lying on the ground, but not an awful lot falling. That’s in Norfolk, anyway.
And so the new cold-type winter continues. Dashed out to A Ethel’s on Thursday to fetch forgotten item to be relayed elsewhere, and got back just in time to enable Dot to take the front-wheel-drive car to Thurton for a farewell do at the school. Snow was forecast, and there was sleet on the bypass, so it seemed sensible not to take the MX5, but in the event she was able to get there and back fairly easily. I gather she spent much of the time with one of her old admirers, who is rather well known around Norwich, so I had better not reveal his name. She has so many old admirers, unsurprisingly.
Snow overnight put the Archant Christmas Lunch at risk, and the brave lads from EDP subs all declined to risk the journey. So I found myself on a table dominated by Evening News subs, which was a bit unnerving. But I had my former training colleague Frances Burrows to my right, together with ex-electronics engineer Ken Prentice, who is quite a talker. So we held fast, even during a speech by Archant Norfolk chief executive Stephan Phillips which didn’t quite catch the mood, although I thought it was amusing.
Very cold on Saturday, so Dot and I walked to Morrisons and found that walking on packed snow was relatively easy. However, we didn’t fancy taking the car to Menita’s in the evening for her annual Christmas party, which consisted largely of sweet and sticky Euro-cake, mulled wine and the Italian version of tombola. So we got an A2B taxi, which didn’t fancy coming up our hill, so we met it at the bottom. Pleasant couple of hours in a multi-national way: sat next to Italian woman with almost perfect English. France and Germany were also represented. Eugenia was away in Italy with Francesca, so her husband Roberto stood in. He is from South America and speaks Portuguese. Needless to say everyone could speak English, and did. Taxi took us home by about 11.30 and although tired, we watched highlights of Norwich City’s win earlier in the day before going to bed.
Today was hectic: our St Augustine’s alternative carol service, followed by Christmas lunch. Unloading the car at the outset took an age, because Dot was supplying some of the food, plus table dressings, and then there were the musical instruments, stands and a few presents and cards. Nicholas was already there with Harriet, so the place was warm.
I was slightly panicky about the organisation of the service, which was in my hands as usual. Because it’s impossible to get anyone to rehearse, we had to plunge right into it, and I was leading, playing music, singing (sometimes) and taking part in the drama. My guitar playing wasn’t up to much, but we got through, and everyone seemed to think it had gone well, to my amazement. I used a couple of my songs, a couple of my poems and a new drama I’d written. It’s nice to have the opportunity, but I do wonder sometimes if I’m monopolising the whole thing. The fact is that they seem to like my getting on with it, because it means no-one else has to worry.
The lunch was a joint effort because Vicky had just produced a baby boy, George, and is in no position… It all went very well; too many cooks did not spoil the broth, and the food was delicious. Very nice to have the two Green girls, Anandi and Bethany, there. Had quite a long chat with Beth, who is thinking of applying to Oxbridge to read geography, but a bit worried about the work involved.
Spent much of the afternoon and early evening wrapping presents. Still very cold outside. Our haircuts have been postponed until Wednesday. What kind of margin for error does that leave us?
Lots going on, as you might expect for the time of year, and more travelling too. Last Saturday Dot and I went with Phil to watch Norwich City lose 2-0 to Portsmouth. Actually, that’s not why we went – we went to see them win, but I suppose our run of seeing only victories had to end some time. Phil came because Jonathan had three spare tickets. Quite a pleasant day, but it got cold rapidly after darkness fell.
Huge amounts to to take to church on Sunday, what with Christmas presents and music stands, and it was one of those mornings where things did not run smoothly. Nevertheless, an excellent talk from Mark Heybourne and a good atmosphere, with Howard leading. Dot was playing at a Julian Window music and meditation event later, and I picked her up so that she could come home and change before going (driven by Heather Cracknell) to an evening meal (cheeses,quince jelly, beef wellington) with the Archers at the home of the Greens, who must come close to being the perfect hosts. Lovely food and intelligent conversation, with plenty of humour. And Bridget drove us home, so I didn’t have to watch my wine consumption too carefully.
Highlight of Monday was my chess win for Dons B against a player ranked well above me. I didn’t play the opening well and got into a position where I had to sacrifice the exchange for a pawn to avoid losing my queen. But after that he played too passively and got into bad time trouble: I got a really nice attack and sacrificed a knight which won against anything really, but with seconds left he played the worst line, and walked into a mate. Satisfying, but not the prefect game by any means. We lost the match 3-1.
On Tuesday Dot and I ventured into Suffolk again. Dot left fairly early for Metfield, where she spent much of the day planning for a P4C event at Dulwich College Prep School in January. After rushing around preparing in various ways for Christmas, I joined her late in the afternoon, after nearly losing the MX5 in a skid on mud near Harleston. I would say it was beautifully controlled, but there was nothing very beautiful about it: I just reacted instinctively and apparently did the right thing, since I was still on the road at the end of it. We left the MX5 at Metfield and drove to Little Waldingfield, near Sudbury, after a tortuous, dark drive down the A143 in a tail behind a huge lorry doing a constant 40mph. In the end we took an alternative route and heard on the radio immediately afterwards that we had avoided a big hold-up. Still not easy, though, and even after we got to Little Waldingfield (after taking the wrong road out of Lavenham because of a misleading map) we took ages to find the B&B. I walked up and down the main street, then we looked at the directions and found that the place was far from where the computer postcode-generated map indicated it would be. All got a bit tense, but the place itself was fine, though not nearly as grand as it seemed on the web.
Our B&B at Little Waldingfield: hard to find, but a nice breakfast
The following day there was ice on the windscreen, and after an excellent breakfast I had to scrape around before dropping Dot at Great Waldingfield School, which left me about seven hours to fill. I returned to the B&B for a bath and cup of tea, then ventured out into a cold, misty landscape that had nothing very appealing about it at first. First stop was Lavenham Church, where I talked to a couple of people, including a guy burning solidified candle wax off a candle holder. The previous night we had dined at the Swan Inn (excellent fish and chips, ate too much) and met another guy who was staying at our B&B. He had mentioned the window at Lavenham Church and told us about a man who had shown him the sunset through it, which he describesad an unforgettable experience – “as if it was on fire”. It turned out that the candle-burning guy was the man he had met. What are the chances of that happening? Well, reasonably high, because he was the verger, but still unexpected.
After this I drove into the middle of Lavenham and walked briefly, but it was very cold. So I drove to Kersey, a village recommended on a leaflet I’d bought at the church. It was truly stunning: a long narrow street running down steeply on both sides into a valley, with a ford running through. I drove right through and up to the church, where I stopped briefly. Very nice feeling to the whole area. Not far away I stopped at the 13th century St James’s Chapel, which was bare and cold, but atmospheric. Wanting to warm up I drove into Sudbury, then back to Lavenham, where I bought a cheese baguette and took it back to a viewpoint not far from the chapel, where I ate and read for a while. Afterwards I drove on again through beautiful countryside (despite the damp and mucky weather) and even found Kettlebaston, home of one of Dot’s college friends. Unfortunately I also found lots of mud, stemming from the sugar beet harvesting going on nearby. When we got home later I had to get the car cleaned, as well as checking the tyres and replenishing the screen-wash.
After hearing from Dot that she would be finished by 4pm, I paid a brief visit to Long Melford, but it was getting too dark to see much, so I returned to wait for Dot, who had unsurprisingly found the school outstanding. We drove home by the normal route, but it was tiring, because of the diversion to pick up the MX5 at Metfield, and it was over two hours before we arrived in Norwich.
Today it is raining steadily and we are awaiting icy conditions again, with a threat of a white Christmas on the horizon. I say “threat” because of the difficulty it might cause with travelling for David, the grandchildren and myself. Dot is out doing a bit of essential shopping: picking up some table coverings for church, mainly. I’ve just finished another poem, which I’m quite pleased with. After a period of writing nothing much, I’ve written several in the past few weeks. Quite exciting. For me, not for anyone else.
A glimpse into the past – and the future. The 13C St James's Chapel in Suffolk. See next post!
A great deal of coming and going this week, much of it involving cars. Poet Caroline left hers with us while she travelled to London on Tuesday. At the same time Colin was putting boards down in our loft, so his lorry was in need of a space during the day, and in the evening there was Tuesday group. Dot and I both needed to use our cars, so we couldn’t just shut them in the garage-stroke-driveway. So quite a bit of fun was had popping them in and out. Happily the cold weather was in the process of abating, which meant there was little possibility of skidding into walls in the process.
Dot had a very busy Wednesday, with a school visit, a talk with the diocesan director of education and a music rehearsal. I meanwhile was driving down to Caddington for a rendezvous with Julia at David’s house, where we had lunch before driving to Beechwood Park for a Christmas concert for “senior citizens”. Oliver’s class did a mime of a typical school day, which included him scoring a goal and celebrating. Others, more traditionally, sang and played instruments. It all finished much earlier than expected, and there were mountains of refreshments to follow – and we still had time to join David and meet Amy out of her classroom, much to her excitement (plus a certain amount of confusion at mismatched grandparents). I looked after her at home for a while after Julia left, and while David collected Oliver an hour later. Julia actually arrived home after I did because of huge hold-ups on the M1. I left at 5.20pm, amid rush-hour traffic, and got home at 8pm.
The next day I was en route to Caddington again, this time with Dot. After a good journey we arrived early and had to wait at the Harvester for Julia and Dave (and David) to arrive. Had the usual Harvester meal (very helpful waitress) and then Dot and Dave went off to see Amy perform as a traveller in her class’s Nativity. Only room for two: this was the grandparents’ event. Apparently she did very well. All four grandparents then played with Amy (in the sense that she told us what to do: Amy heaven) while David collected Oliver again. Dave and Julia left, but we stayed for soup. We left as they had a bath, and again the journey was good. Mucky roads, though. I played some games of chess with Oliver: he is really coming on very well.
Yesterday it was considerably milder, and I went for a longish walk after moving bookcases (and books) around in a dramatic reorganisation. Funny how boarding the loft has this sort of effect. Delivered a couple of cards and was then invited in for a cup of tea by Dorothy Rayner. Good to catch up with her. Dot picked me up from The Cedars as I delivered my last card. Bit unnecessary, as I could have got a bus, but she had been doing school inspection preparation all day and wanted to get out.
Loft boards unloaded from the lorry and waiting to be fitted
Friday was bitterly cold, so we gave a miss to two open studio private views: Annette’s at Diss, and Rupert and Martin’s at their new home above Fitt Signs in St Augustine’s. We hardly stirred, in fact, but we did make it to Fitt Signs on Sunday after Morning Worship (it’s about 100 yards from the church) and found the dynamic duo in good form: spent some time talking to them and so gave the other two studios in the building a miss. Bought a few small things. St Augustine’s has at last, after many months, reopened to traffic, which is pretty exciting. To be more accurate, not at all pretty and only mildly exciting, but it doesn’t take much… Still lots of work going on in the vicinity, and I’ve no doubt there will be for many, many months.
On Saturday we had been invited to the Kibbles’ for evening meal: had a very good time, with the conversation registering a high number of words per kilo. Rod is pretty intellectual in a nice way and tells a good story: Val knew several people I used to know in my youth at Surrey Chapel, as well as several others (different ones) that Dot still knows in the educational world: so plenty of fuel there.
Our main meal on Sunday was taken care of too: one of our regular visits with Heather, Simon and Sam to the Ali Tandoori for curry, after a brief foray into the King’s Head, where we ran into artist Martin Laurance again and Dot claimed to be stalking him, to the apparent consternation – or was it bemusement? – of the two women he was with. Good meal and even better service at the Ali, where the staff treat Heather – and therefore the rest of us – like one of the family. Excellent conversation again, but I got acid reflux afterwards. Interestingly, it was exactly the same meal and the same result as last weekend. Must be very sensitive to something in it. Pity.
Don’t think I’ve mentioned that we now have a VHS player/recorder: a Christmas present from Dot and me to ourselves. Have played bits of one or two old tapes – one of them a film I took when I borrowed Derek’s camcorder and filmed extensively on our first visit to Scotland, plus a bit on our return, featuring several relatives and our son! More excitement: the skirting board man (who Dot taught, if you remember) came on Saturday and fitted out the living room – an excellent job, as far as I can see, and very reasonable. Then today Colin came and put some boards down in the loft: he’s finishing off tomorrow. Another guy who’s very thorough and, as a big plus, didn’t fall through the ceiling.
Dot and I popped into the city around lunchtime to do a bit of shopping and exchange a sweater, and we somehow ended up in Jarrold cafeteria. Don’t know how that happened. Had a scone. Am rather concerned because I’ve started putting on weight again; so I shall be watching what I eat for the next couple of weeks, before succumbing to Christmas. Well, you can’t watch what you eat over Christmas.
It’s still very cold, with a sprinkling of snow overnight and a lingering mist today. But much easier to walk around in that it was last Saturday, when the temperature was actually higher. Thass a mystery, as we say in Norfolk. On the way home from the curry restaurant on Sunday we thought we saw smoke and flames coming from the Cathedral, but it was just mist lit up by the floodlights. I hope.
Strange week so far. Unusually cold weather, partly because of a sharp east wind over the last couple of days. Not so much snow as expected, but plenty in other parts of the country. Haven’t been out much; Dot has been driving my car to various appointments. I took her to get her blood tested on Tuesday, and driving was fairly straightforward, though side roads were slidey with slush.
Today she went to the shops at Longwater and came back with armfuls of presents, though not the table coverings she went for (on order). I was meanwhile meeting Sue Moore and Jo Stone at Pizza Express in the Forum: as one of them came from near King’s Lynn and the other from Sheringham, I was surprised they made it, but we had a good chat about times past and present. On emerging just after 3pm I was so frozen by the biting wind that I didn’t call in at the shops as planned, but hastened home. Even indoors it was hard to warm up.
