Monthly Archives: November 2015

Idyllic walk out to the Bure and St Benet’s

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Sunset near South Walsham.
Sunset near South Walsham.

Strangely, the eye test turned out to be nearly as traumatic, though not as painful. Everything seemed OK, and the ophthalmologist said my eyes were healthy, but then he noticed  something at the top of my left eye, which he wondered about. He thought it could be a problem with the retina. On one hand he said it was probably nothing, and he was just being cautious, but on the other he said that if I got a shadow in my eye I should rush to A&E, in case my retina had become detached, which could blind me in that eye. Yippee.

I also needed two new pairs of glasses, in which I was assisted by a very nice girl called Becky, who was a trainee but very thorough and determined to get everything right. I eventually chose two new frames and ordered them. They will be ready next week. I also have a hospital appointment to look at my eye. This is on December 31, which may or may not be a good idea, but the next option was well into January. Needless to say I have had funny feelings in my eye since then, but I’m sure they’re just psychosomatic.

Back at the dentist, this morning’s session was even worse than the first one, and when Allison asked me when I wanted to come back, I said: “Never.” The procedure was pretty painful, and the idea of using three different toothbrushes to clean my teeth is pretty unrealistic. The hygienist is a fanatic: I think I shall go back to Ross for the check-up in three months’ time. Or four. Or five. Or eighteen.

The next day (Wednesday) I had my hair cut, which was totally painless.

Thursday was Dot’s day in London with Anne, and they had a great time, particularly the afternoon tea at the Bloomsbury Hotel. I surprised myself by going for a walk, starting at South Walsham staithe and walking along the bank of the dyke out to the Bure, opposite St Benet’s Abbey. I got some really good pictures and in many ways it was idyllic: not too cold, very still and the light fading, with mist over the marshes. I didn’t pass anyone after I left the metalled road. The only problem was that the path was very muddy – I couldn’t make up my mind whether it was a result of the damp weather we’d been having (and are still having) or if the recent hight tides had overtopped the bank. Still wonderful, though.

On Saturday I went out to Mundesley for the second writing workshop, which was good again, and then met Dot at North Walsham rail station, taking her to Jessie’s, where we had a cup of tea before going to the Banningham Crown for an evening meal. This was another very good meal. I had a steak and ale pie, which was probably a mistake in terms of getting a decent night’s sleep, but it tasted good. Also there were Roger and his girlfriend Debbie, who is very easy to talk to. The service was again excellent.

Sunday turned out to be very sporty. Dot and I watched the Davis Cup final, in which Murray won the decisive match, accompanied by extremely noisy spectators, and then we watched the Norwich v Arsenal match on Sky, courtesy of NOW TV. Good game too. The result was 1-1, and City could easily have won. After supper, or possibly during it, we then watched the highlights of the final F1 race of the season.

Birthday celebration for three at the Norfolk Mead

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Birthday snow for Dot
Birthday snow for Dot (the night before)

After the Evetts went last Friday and Dot was catching up with some paperwork, I drove to Pinky’s café in Halesworth and read two of my poems to a packed house, nearly all of whom were also reading poems, though not at the same time. I read Counting Water and Autumn at Wells. Sat with Sue Mobbs, who often reads at the Seagull. Ollie did a blasphemous verse: I was tempted to offer to tell him what Christianity was really about, but the opportunity didn’t arise.

It was a breezy drive back, and Saturday was so wet and windy that we were glad not to be going anywhere. We did sneak in a quick visit to Morrisons without getting soaked.

Sunday was Dot’s 70th (59th) birthday. There was snow on the ground, and Anna did a cake for church. We took a bottle of Prossecco, and Howard bought another one. After lunch Anne and Philip called in with a present (more fizzy) on the way to a birthday party for their grandson Charlie, who is three.

David drove up from Caddington, and we all went to the Norfolk Mead at Coltishall for an evening meal. It was superb, as was the service. Really nice having the three of us together, and extremely kind of David to pay for the meal. Earlier he had gone into the city to take his phone to Apple (and buy Dot a present), but he had to return to the Apple store the next morning to get it fixed.

Dot had got up early to give Paul a lift to a Diocese team day at Letton Hall, and I had scraped ice from the car. I had a bath while David was in the city, but had to leave for a dentist’s appointment half an hour after he returned. Fortunately, he was about to leave anyway.

The dental appointment turned out to be a bit traumatic, because Pip (the hygienist) decided I needed a deep clean. She did one side of my mouth under anaesthetic, and left the other to be done next Monday. Well, that’s something to look forward to – and all for only a few hundred pounds.

I decided to go straight home. Dot had a long day and went into the Hendersons for a cup of tea when she dropped Paul off; so she didn’t get home till about 6pm. Today she has already been to the UEA for a bit of medical research, which went well (apparently she has a healthy body; I knew that). Now (12.15pm) she has just left for Elveden, where she is adjudicating an RE Quality Mark application. I have an eye test this afternoon, which should prove less traumatic than the dental experience, though I suspect I may need new glasses; so it may be almost as expensive. It’s very damp out.

Kingfisher fails to fly under Dot’s radar

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Dot, Dave and Julia at Fairhaven
Dot, Dave and Julia at Fairhaven

Julia and Dave left after lunch for Aylesbury, but had trouble getting our of the city. They got stuck in traffic, then had to return for a forgotten bag, then decided to go out via Thorpe, which can’t have been quicker. Ah well. We had a good time while they were here.

They arrived for lunch on Tuesday just after the gas man had fixed the radiator in their room. It had been cold – as a result, it turned out, of an airlock under the floorboards. Our man, Kevin Ansbro, who happens to be a novelist when not working for British Gas, sorted it all out and then chatted for some considerable time about literary stuff. Then I gave him a copy of one of my poetry books, and he left.

After lunch we went up to Marks and Spencer (I forget why) and had a hot drink before returning to the house for supper. In the evening it rained a lot, but by the next day it was quite pleasant, and we went to Fairhaven Water Gardens at South Walsham, which turned  out to be very pleasant indeed – much bigger than I thought, with lots of paths and dykes. Dot saw a kingfisher for the first time ever, and we spent some time working out what some strange birds in the distance were. They turned out to be young cormorants (much whiter than the adults). The garden walks lead to the Inner South Walsham Broad, and you can do boat trips in the summer.

In the evening we went to Cafe Rouge again (by bus), managing to dodge the rain that had returned after we left Fairhaven. Another excellent meal and another excellent waitress (not the same one).

Chocks away! Dot in the cockpit at the Radar Museum.
Chocks away! Dot in the cockpit at the Radar Museum.

On Thursday it had turned cooler, and we went to the Radar Museum at Neatishead, which proved about as interesting as it was last time and went down well with the Evetts, I think. Very few visitors, so we got close attention. In the evening we went to Prezzo and followed that by going to the Odeon (Imax) to see Spectre, the latest James Bond film, which was extremely impressive. We went to the Gallery for the full experience, but this was much less enjoyable than last time, and I doubt if we’ll be doing it again. We got massive soft drinks (which  you don’t really want before seeing a 2½-hour film), some nachos, popcorn and very poor service, because they were understaffed. Anything alcoholic had to be paid for, and the seats were not comfortable.

Today has been markedly colder. I stayed at home this morning while Dot went to the doctor to get validated for her renewed prescriptions, and then she and the Evetts went up to Marks and Spencer again to do some shopping.I had to get lunch ready for 12.30, because they wanted to get away early. Dave was here, but Julia and Dot arrived just before 1pm. Meanwhile I’d posted some cards and a magazine to Andrew, who is now back at Minster Lodge.

Pre-Evetts but after my last post Dot went to Lichfield for some p4c, staying overnight on Sunday. This went well as usual, but unusually the hotel was also excellent. I went on my own to the Seagull and read some poems, which seemed to go down well. We even had an audience of four. I tried a different route on the way back, but it turned out much further, rather as anticipated.

On Monday evening I went to a PCC meeting at St Luke’s, where both churchwardens announced their resignation – nothing to do with the new vicar; they had been planning to do so for some time. The vicar said ideally he’d like four churchwardens – two for each church – but I fear this will not happen. Still, who knows? The meeting itself was not terribly interesting, as it was primarily St Luke’s-orientated, but then there were only three of this there from St Augustine’s (Howard, Judy and me); so we could hardly grumble. We didn’t grumble, of course. We don’t do that.

Dot was still on her way back from Lichfield.

It’s all overflowing – water, leaves, paper

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Very little horizontal movement this week for me, though on Tuesday Dot went to Hull and back in a day, against all sensible advice (mine and others). To be fair, it wasn’t her decision, because Barbara was driving, and the Philosophy session went well.

Dot has been very busy this week, and has now been asked to write an article for The Magazine. It’s all go for her.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time getting rid of paper from my filing cabinet, and am not much more than halfway through the big one. On the plus side, I have disposed of large amounts of paper, some of it shredded, and have discovered some interest historical items (my history, that is). I have also emptied a box of miscellaneous items that has been cluttering up the study and redistributed some of it. Most of this is done sitting down, but it’s still very tiring.

Both bins are practically full, and they won’t be emptied for over a week. The brown one is nearly full of leaves, since it’s been quite windy. One binful of leaves went on Monday.

The piano tuner came yesterday, and earlier in the week I took Dot up to Dipples to buy her birthday present – a rather nice watch. She seems quite pleased.

I have just written an e-mail to the vicar making it clear than I am not acting for the church in the matter of Anglian Water, who have now decided the leak is not fixed as stated earlier but is probably on church property, and therefore it’s up to the church to find it and fix it. It’s costing huge amounts of money (we’re paying over four time the amount we were paying last year at this time) and needs to be sorted. I have suggested the vicar and churchwarden are responsible. I may be excommunicated, but at least I won’t be losing sleep over it 🙂 I hope.

Hoping for inspiration from wall paintings

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Looking at the wall paintings, prior to writing. Anna Metcalfe is obscured behind Lucy.
Looking at the wall paintings, prior to writing. Anna Metcalfe is obscured behind Lucy.

Quite relieved because I’ve just sorted out the problem of YouTube going silent. Followed advice on the net and it came back. Anyway… the weather is autumnal, Dot is at Thorpe High School and I am waiting till it stops raining so that I can go up and pay some cheques in.

Last time I posted we were about to go for compline and cake at Judy’s. That went very well: good to have such a nice group of friends. Only Claire didn’t make it. The rest of the week consisted mainly of catching up with a huge list of to-do items, none of which are of much interest. We did have our hair cut on Wednesday (postponed from Tuesday), but that was only moderately exciting.

On Friday we had a delicious meal at Cafe Rouge with Angela and Rodney. It was the city’s firework night; so it was a bit of a struggle getting up there. Several roads were barricaded off (even for pedestrians), and there was a persistent drizzle. The restaurant was packed when we arrived, but it emptied shortly afterwards, presumably with people going to the fireworks or to the theatre, where there was apparently an appearance by a Strictly Come Dancing star, to use the word loosely.

Angela and Rodney were late because they were in a long queue to get in the car park at Chapelfield, but they arrived halfway through our initial glass of champagne. Excellent food and very good service by a smiley Polish waitress. Had a good chat about Auntie Ethel’s remaining money and what to do with it. Angela is very conscientious and efficient. Afterwards they came back for coffee.

On Saturday I braved heavy rain to go out to Mundesley for w PHS writing workshop run by Anna Metcalfe from UEA (organised by Lucy). Fortunately the rain stopped by the time we had to go up to the church to look at the wall paintings on which our writing would be based. Eventually the sun came out, and Anne ran a good session. I was impressed. There were eight of us in all, including Diana George and Naomi.

Meanwhile Dot was watching Norwich beat Swansea 1-0; so that was all good. Neither of us was very hungry; so we had a teacake before walking up to St Andrew’s Hall in the evening for The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar, performed by the Norwich Philharmonic, with Paul Henderson one of the basses. Made you realise what a genius Handel was, but the performance was excellent. I liked the contralto soloist in the role of an angel, but Dot didn’t. Afterwards we went to the Hendersons for a drink and nibbles. Got to bed a bit late.

After the Remembrance service on Sunday I discovered that Howard was intending to step down as churchwarden. Apparently I had been suggested as a possible successor, but Dot has forbidden it. It is in fact no temptation at all – and anyway, they may not ask me. The problem is, no-one wants to do it. Ho hum.

We went to see Jessie in the afternoon and had mince pies. She is very good at mince pies. I had three.

A touch of fireworks and a piece of flint

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IMG_3162On Thursday last week we had a short-notice and very welcome visit from David and the children. They stayed overnight, and we had some fireworks in the garden – though not too many, because we realised that several of them required you to be 15 metres away, and our garden is not that big. So David took some home with him. We lit a fire in the chimenia and some candles and had a generally good time. It wasn’t too cold. Dot cooked some jacket potatoes and chicken drumsticks, plus a chocolate pudding thing.

Earlier David had gone into the city, and over the two days we played table tennis, Dixit (Amy brought her new cards) and Coppit. Oliver and Amy both composed tunes on Garageband. Towards the end it became obvious that Oliver had a bad cold – or possibly a reaction to his flu jab.

Things went very quiet on Saturday, especially as Norwich City lost again – 2-1 to Manchester City. Rather unlucky. On Sunday we went to church and Carrie preached on saints. Dot and I both agreed her mother was one, in the sense that her character was attractive and an example to others. I mentioned my aunt Dorothy.

Later in the day Dot left for Kensington, where she stayed the night before doing her philosophy training for a very large group in a primary school yesterday. For a change they stayed in a nice “boutique” hotel. Meanwhile I took that car in to Wrights to have the back tyre looked at, and Wayne the mechanic found a piece of flint was causing a slow puncture. Hopefully that is now OK; I still have to get the MX5 tyres sorted. I also managed to get the car washed (did it myself at the garage) and filled with petrol, deposited the Humax box at the tip and paid the church cheques in. Not simultaneously. Later I peeled some apples.

Today Dot and I went to the Archant coffee morning; Brian and Tricia, Robin and Shelagh and (eventually) Maryta and Paul all there. Afterwards we walked down with the Hendersons to London Street to see their photographs in Boots’ window (ice and gorillas) and then on through the Close and home. This afternoon we entertained Dot’s accountant and will shortly be going to Judy’s for compline and cake. Slowly catching up on a pile of paperwork.