Monthly Archives: June 2015

Attracted to sunny Swaffham

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Julia and Dot in the garden at Swaffham.
Julia and Dot in the garden at Swaffham.

I know I’m always saying this, but the last few days have been really full. At least the weather seems to be improving; today is warm, and we’re promised a heatwave toward the end of the week, when we go to Blakeney.

On Wednesday we travelled west to Swaffham to visit our friends Julia and Allan, who have just moved there to be close to their daughter. Their house is a town house on three storeys, bigger than the one at Newton Flotman and nicely designed with spacious rooms. As it cost only £160,000 it made me wonder about moving to Swaffham! Went for a short walk after lunch: Allan gets very short of breath, which is worrying. And I still can’t hear: my right ear is buzzing all the time. Not to worry – I have an appointment with the nurse on July 8, if I am still alive then.

In the evening, while Dot was at orchestra I went to the cinema to see Mad Max: Fury Road. Not really the sort of thing that would normally attract me – I’m not into dystopia – but I’d read a couple of interesting reviews, and it wasn’t bad. What made it a bit different was that it had women in prominent roles – and not all glamorous women.

The next evening we went to the Red Lion in Eaton for a meal with the Robinsons to celebrate Anne’s birthday. Bit late, but they’ve been through a traumatic time with their daughter Sophie: one of her two twins died in the womb, but happily the other (Iris) was born in good health, which might not have been the case.

Friday evening saw us on the move again. We went to Wells to see Godfrey Sayers’ private view. It was only a small gallery (Quayside) but very attractive, with a great view of the harbour. The paintings were good too, and we’re thinking of getting one for my 70th birthday. I also got Godfrey to sign one of his books. Afterwards Dot and I wandered around and took some photographs. It was a beautiful evening, despite rain on the way there. We had come by an odd route as we had to get out of Norwich in the rush hour; so we took in Spixworth, Aylsham and Melton Constable. From there the satnav took us on a route which was no doubt shortest but consisted  largely of narrow lanes, sometimes with grass down the middle. Interesting.

When we got home we went round next door for drinks and nibbles because Felix was on a rare visit home, and I’d met Mary on the way back from the city earlier. Very pleasant couple of hours, but it pretty much sabotaged our semi-fasting day.

Saturday was the big day for our new vicar. Dot and I arrived at St Luke’s just after 1pm to find the diocesan synod breaking up. Dot ran into her “boss”, Andy Mash, who was very complimentary to and about her. The worship band consisted of Simon Snell (vocals and a bit of a drum), Steve Fiske (bass guitar), me (guitar) and Dot (violin). Several people had dropped out. This meant that I found myself more or less leading into all five songs, which wasn’t what I’d anticipated, especially as my guitar was amplified. Worked out all right, although the violinist complained about my not waiting for her to compose herself.

Good service, and an excellent sermon as usual from the Bishop, who welcomed David (Austin) to a “Premiership diocese”. Dot took part in the service in another way, presenting the vicar with a jug of oil symbolising healing. Howard was pretty much in charge locally, as the other churchwarden, Elaine, was on holiday. All very jolly, with excellent cake afterwards.

In the evening we had the Hendersons and the Knees round for a meal that Dot had cooked in advance and frozen. It worked out successfully, especially the starter, which was a delicious mackerel and cheese pate.  Very pleasant evening, with no high-powered debating. Rob and Penny had come by train; so departed just before 11, but Maryta and Paul stayed for another half hour. We’d more or less finished the clearing up by midnight.

By way of relaxation, I preached the following day to a small congregation that would have been even smaller if Ruth and Steve hadn’t turned up with their three children. Howard led and forgot the first hymn. At least, I think he did. Who knows?

Am I hearing you right?

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June is continuing along its dull and generally unpleasant path as far as the weather is concerned. Today is very grey, and there are occasional spots of rain. Dot is having lunch at Biddy’s with her friends Sue and Helen, and I will shortly be transporting Phil and Joy to the opticians. I have a bit of trouble with my ears and called in at the surgery this morning to see about an appointment with a nurse. It was suggested that I ring up for an on-the-day appointment or go to a walk-in centre. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my hearing…

James Finley came to St Luke’s for a return visit on Friday and Saturday, and this went well even without Nicholas. I was assisting with various day-to-day things, and I also managed to get Agape to record it, and the Christian Resource Centre to come with their bookstall; so that was good. Cathy from Agape bought six of my Iona books, and someone else bought one too, which was an unexpected bonus.

Dot was not there on the Saturday because she was rehearsing for a Sillars concert at Salthouse in the evening. But before that Colin came round to fix the garage door again, and he also fixed the gate and provided a new coping stone. I went to the concert, of course, as did Anne and Philip and Maryta and Paul. Sounded pretty good to me, but of course my hearing is deficient at the moment. Dot took a guest clarinettist, Tammy, in her car.

On the Sunday I was leading the service again, as Eleanor had a double booking. Dot decided this was one of our 2 days (in our 5-2 diet), but this proved difficult to maintain in view of the stuff we were doing, which included a little bit in the garden.

Yesterday we dodged the showers and went up and had a giant teacake each at Jarrolds. I paid in the church cheques and Dot went on to do a bit of shopping and cooking while I made some real headway on the talk I’m giving on the EDP to my CNS colleagues next month. I now have a 30-slide PowerPoint presentation in place and just need to get the final version of the speech sorted out.

Amy has just spent a week on the Isle of Wight with her school, which seemed to go very well. Oliver is having trouble with his dental brace and with his skin (impetigo?), but apparently he now has help with both of these and is feeling happier.

Birthday meal hits spot

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Rather poor picture of our table at the Wensum View Hotel. Mary is on the left, Rachel is to the left of my vacant chair and Barbara to the right.
Rather poor picture of our table at the Wensum View Hotel. Mary is on the left, Rachel is to the left of my vacant chair and Barbara to the right. Dot is sitting next to a pilot whose name I forget.

Mary Thrower’s 70th birthday meal last Saturday turned out to be a delightful event, despite our not knowing anybody but Mary and Neville – plus, amazingly, Bernadette from Archant, who turned out to be their next-door neighbour.

The setting, despite rainy weather, was beautiful, with the room at the Wensum View Hotel looking way out over the golf course and the Wensum valley generally. The food was really delicious, despite the party being over 60 in number (quantity often reduces quality). And the six people who sat at out table were all very easy to get on with – in fact when nearly everyone had gone, our table was still all present and correct.

The number included Mary’s son Jamie (really nice guy) and his equally nice wife Rachel. I think the others were friends rather than relations: one couple came from Carleton Rode and the other from further away.

That was on Saturday. The following day I roused myself to lead the service at St Augustine’s in the presence of the new vicar, who was attending for the first time, as an observer. He stayed a long time afterwards and spoke to everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of his aims is to get the two churches to do things together. That should be interesting.

The rest of the day was dull and rather oppressive: we couldn’t rouse ourselves to do anything much. But on Monday Colin came and fixed the garage door handle – which has unfortunately gone wrong since. He is coming again on Saturday. In the evening we had a PCC meeting at which for the first time in living memory St Augustine members almost made up 50% of the attendance. Howard didn’t make it, of course, but Eleanor and Judy did. I think we were a little less formal than the new vicar would have liked (what? no votes?), but no doubt there will be  conversion process, one way or the other. Simon gave a presentation on our registering as an individual charity, which you have to do when your turnover exceeds £100,000.

On Tuesday Barbara and her dog came to sort out some video for their p4c DVD and commandeered my computer to do so. I went to pay some cheques into the bank and wondered over to the Forum, where a young guy asked if I’d like to play chess (there’s a board game section in the library there). We had a good game, but he beat me after I hung a rook. I suggested he joined a local club. Enjoyed the game, but it sort of showed me I wasn’t up to what used to be my standard.

Yesterday was dull again, though warm. I got some work donned then went to Morrison’s with Dot for a fairly large bout of shopping before she disappeared to orchestra. An odd day.

One under on Mousehold

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Three figures in a haze on Scarborough beach.
Three figures in a haze on Scarborough beach.

Colin still hasn’t returned with our new handle for the garage door, but Dot has devised a cunning method of opening and closing it. Pretty exciting – but even more excitingly,  we have a blue recycling bin. It only took one e-mail to Norwich City Council and it suddenly appeared today, at roughly the same time as the window cleaner, who is recovering from quite a serious operation.

On Wednesday I went to see Sharon, and we agreed that my shoulder was all right now, so “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. She tested my reach and made some suggestions but didn’t charge me anything, which is more than reasonable.

The second half of the week (up to a very wet today) was warm and sunny. On Thursday we took the MX5 in for a service and MOT, then in the afternoon took the radical step of taking in a pitch-and-putt game on Mousehold. Bit worried when we turned up to find ourselves behind five teenagers, but they very kindly asked us to go first, which made the tee-off a bit tense but worked out very well afterwards, as we completed a round without any problems. We both played reasonably well and ended up minus one ball, which is pretty good considering that we lost three. I was a bit worried about my shoulder, but there have been no drastic repercussions.

Yesterday was even warmer, and I felt a bit silly carrying a jacket to the cinema to see Far From the Madding Crowd. As anticipated, however, the cinema was considerably cooler than outside, despite the warmth generated by us and the two other people watching the film 🙂 Good film, though I felt the wrong man was playing Sgt Troy – he was on the brink of being a Monty Python parody.

This morning we are preparing to go to a birthday meal for Mary Thrower – wife of one of my classmates at the CNS and a colleague of Dot’s in the Sillars Orchestra. Can’t imagine we shall know anyone apart from those two.

Speeding at Scarborough

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The finest view in England (they're looking at it).
The finest view in England.

My shoulders are much better, despite (or possibly because of) strenuous exercise in Scarborough. Still, I think I will go to see Sharon on Wednesday and see what she says.

Pre-Scarborough, we enjoyed a compline and cake evening at Howard and Anna’s with Vicky, Judy and the Archers, which was as convivial as regular readers (Dot and I ) would expect. This was followed by something almost as exciting – the Archant pensioners’ coffee morning, though the only editorial presence apart from myself were Robin and Shelagh. We had quite a long chat with Hazel, Alan’s widow.

Dot and I took the train to Scarborough, and the journey up there was very pleasant, with plenty of room in the trains and everything on time. The Evetts met us at the station at about 2.15pm, and after refreshments we walked into town from their flat by the high-level route, which we hadn’t done before, and after a snack in M&S (and purchase of wine and biscuits) got the No.7 bus back– our only casualty being a seagull bomb attack on Julia’s jacket.

The next day was pleasantly warm, and we walked in to town by way of the beach, stopping en route for tea/coffee at the Palm Court cafe and buying hats  to protect us from the sun. After lunch at the Cafe Columbus it was suggested (I cannot say by whom) that we talk a ride on the speedboat advertised opposite. Julia demurred, but the rest of us went for it and found ourselves on the faster of the two vessels – the Rocket. It was an exciting ride round into North Bay and back: only ten minutes but pretty exhilarating, with plenty of up and down as well as side to side. Happily, we did not get wet.

Afterwards, we walked round the harbour and had an ice cream before walking back up into the town (quite a climb) to catch the bus home. Quite along wait for the bus on this occasion.

Friday dawned much duller and with a spot of rain to start with. However, that was not repeated and by the time we had driven to Cedar Barn, near Thornton le Dale, the sun was shining so much that our outdoor snack with Janet and John (not the famous literary drop, but friends of Julia and Dave) was eaten under considerable heat. Dot and I had a Sally Lunn (an agreeable kind of Yorkshire teacake).

After leaving J & J we travelled to Sutton Bank (just under 1000ft), where we took in the “finest view in England” (James Herriott) before undertaking quite a strenuous walk to the Kilburn White Horse. This landed us too close to said horse to see it clearly; so after returning to the visitors’ centre for refreshment we drove to Kilburn itself for a fine view of it, thence returning to Scarborough past Byland Abbey and through Ampleforth.

We returned to Norwich on Saturday, a windy but quite pleasant day. This journey was more trying as the trains were pretty full. On the first stretch to York we sat next to two young couples who disposed of two bottles of wine in 45 minutes; on the next stretch (after our own modest refreshment at Costa) our neighbours were sharing what appeared to be champagne and looking extremely guilty. On the final stretch we were adjacent to a woman who had left her “vital” valuables in a hotel safe and was making arrangements over the phone to retrieve them.

In the evening we had arranged to go to a performance by Adrian and Bridget Plass at the Central Baptist Church. We went with Judy and met the Archers there. The new vicar-elect was also present, with some St Luke’s members, and we were introduced to him. Janet and Graham of Montauroux fame were also there. Had the opportunity to chat with Adrian and Bridget and bought the new book. It was an excellent evening, extremely funny at times but also moving.

It was a rare Sunday, as I was neither leading nor preaching, and I managed to avoid falling asleep (we were still both very tired after the journey and Dot had proclaimed a “2” day – we are on a 5-2 diet. In the evening however we were invited in impromptu manner to the Hendersons’ for a drink and both had a glass of wine there. But I had only one crisp.

Today is very pleasant. We discovered an attempted break-in yesterday that had damaged the garage door at the back; so it was fortunate indeed that builder Colin was due to come today to look at a few jobs that needed doing. He arrived while I was in the bath; so I had to get out to speak to him. I then got back into the bath while Dot went to a meeting at Thorpe High School, and Colin came back again to remove the door handle for comparison purposes. So I had to get out of the bath again. What fun.

The best news of the week happened before we went to Scarborough. Dot visited the doctor to get the results of a blood test and was told she did not have diabetes, and the relevant readings were all down. A weight off our minds.

Arsenal win after extra time by Suffolk poets

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Dot settles down to a bit of navigation in Frejus.
Dot settles down to a bit of navigation in Frejus.

 

Here we are in a new month, and my shoulders are feeling a bit sensitive. I don’t know why, but no doubt a forthcoming visit to Scarborough will put them right. Or not.

Not quite such a busy weekend, though we spent the afternoon on Saturday at the Suffolk Poetry Festival in Stowmarket. We decided to take the train, which proved a sound idea. The weather was quite reasonable, and dry.

We were part of a group representing the Seagull and organised by Kaaren Whitney, wearing a Massachusetts T-shirt. Dot and I did some tanka and I read a couple of other poems. Other readers were Sue and Elizabeth, and I think we held our own quite well. James Knox Whittet was also there, as president of the society, but he was not reading. As always the quality varied enormously, but overall it was enjoyable until a trio from Woodbridge went way over their allotted time. We had intended to stay a little longer, but we were so irritated that we left early and so were able to catch the Cup Final on TV. Arsenal beat Aston Villa impressively, 4-0. Dot left her jacket behind, but Sue rushed out with it as I was returning for it.

On the Sunday I was preaching again (shortage of alternatives), and after lunch Dot and I went to see Jessie, dodging the showers. She seemed quite well, and the cake was ginger. Before that, of course, we visited the cemetery, where again we managed to avoid getting wet, except underfoot.

Earlier in the week we had our hair cut (Wednesday), and on Thursday Dot helped to interview Paul Henderson for the role of DSSO. She also gave him a lift to Diocesan House and I went to pick him up, because she had to stay on and do more interviewing. I had tea with him, and when Maryta returned from a bout of horse-riding, I was shown the garden and its vegetables. I got home just before Dot.

On Friday the Eagles came for supper and stayed till about 1am, by which time I had been asleep for a short while. I’m finding it hard to stay awake if it’s late, because the conversation was certainly not boring, and we are much on the same wavelength. We played them some music and showed them some pictures, and Sue and Dot completed the minutes of a meeting earlier in the week which – sadly – wound up the Norfolk Association for Primary Headteachers (NAFPHT). All good things…

Apparently we are involved in a 5-2 diet, which involves not eating much on two days out of seven. I have lost a bit of weight, as well as impetus.