Winter has returned. There was snow on the roofs this morning, and it’s bitterly cold, which I feel is pretty unreasonable, given the time of year. This morning I was about to get into the bath when the man arrived to service our alarm. He was an hour early – because of the traffic, he said. There wasn’t any. Apparently no-one could get into Norwich because of accidents on the approach roads. I took this with a pinch of salt, which is good for icy roads.

The Red Lion meal I alluded to went off pretty well, though sprats turned out to be something different to what I thought, and the halibut was only average. As we neared the end of the meal I caught sight of Sheila Greenacre having a drink with her husband David; she came over for a quick chat.

There was a cold north wind on Saturday; so Dot suggested going to Thetford Forest to reconnoitre possibilities for the summer – and to do a three-mile walk to boost her exercise ratings. This worked out really well, although the walk made us very tired. We had a sandwich afterwards – the tea and coffee were also excellent. The place we went to was called High Lodge, and it contained many activities, including walking at the top of trees, Segway, cycling, archery and, of course, walking. We decided it would be a good place to bring Oliver and Amy.

On the way home we called at the nearby Warren Lodge, which was the remains of a lodge for people who killed rabbits – formerly a big business in the area. Maybe not for Amy.

On Sunday we had a Communion service with the vicar which seemed really odd: a long, rambling sermon and a strange atmosphere. However, spirits were revived with Anna’s cake for Phyllis’s birthday, and we then gave the Greens a lift up to Unthank Road, thinking Grapes Hill would be OK on a Sunday lunchtime. Unfortunately Grapes Hill is never OK.

Nevertheless we dropped them off and escaped from the city in time to get to Beachamwell for lunch with the Knox Whittets at 2pm. Rob and Penny were also there, and we had a really good time. I unveiled my latest plan for a Norwich-Paston-Walk-with- Poems book, and they seemed to like it. Penny praised my new Paston poem, which just shows how perceptive she is. The drive home was very pleasant: practically no-one on the road.

Yesterday Colin came round early to look at the work we wanted him to do. As  result he will be resurfacing the drive on Thursday/Friday and repairing the porch at the back, as well as putting in a safety rail on the steps. I have warned some of the neighbours about the likely noise in the drive.

More excitement in the evening as we went to the annual church meeting, meal and entertainment. I use the word “excitement” loosely. Dot walked to the Greens; I picked her up and we transported Howard’s bottle of champagne to Simon, who had done a lot of work on the accounts. Howard went to see King Lear instead, though it was his last meeting as churchwarden.

We had thought it was bring-and-share, but it trend out to be Karen’s usual delicious meal, which made me wish I hadn’t had a crisp sandwich earlier. Before that there was a brief PCC meeting to accept the accounts. I abstained. After the meal we had some singing from a local celebrity, accompanied by a pianist who Dot knew from her orchestra. The singing wasn’t all that good (or all that bad), but the pianist was excellent.

Afterwards the annual meeting dragged on till nearly 10pm, and I abstained again. Then there was another meeting of the PCC to choose new officers, and I pointed out that I had resigned, as no-one seemed to be taking much notice. As it was getting late, not much was said, and so I’ve written an e-mail this morning to the vicar and churchwardens, pointing out that I’m not going to just carry on, as they seem to think.

Icy showers are persisting outside.

Most of the week I’ve been in the process of trying to dry old cans of paint out using cat litter (surprisingly, this is the approved method), and I’m nearly there – the only problem being that dried-out paint is still pretty heavy. I may have to put it in several different bin bags.

This morning I finished Stella’s latest book, The Immortal Throne, which was very enjoyable. I think prefer it to her first one. Meanwhile my book of Lent tanka has been accepted by a publisher – Skylark – at the urging of my friend Joy McCall. This is pretty exciting.

As I mentioned, I have laid aside the church treasurer’s job, and this has been generally acknowledged by kind e-mails. Still the figures linger on, and I have been answering e-mails from the accountants and from Simon. Despite much work from Simon, the loss figure for both churches is in my view much too high and so I have declined to accept the accounts. Everyone else will accept them, though, so I will simply abstain. What will actually happen in the real world after the agm next Monday is not at all clear.

Sadly Norwich City lost their match against Sunderland 3-0, and so we have all stopped worrying about whether they go down or not. If they don’t, it will be a pleasant surprise.

Dot spent the night in Puckeridge on Sunday, with friends of Barbara, before delivering some P4C to a school in Hoddesdon the next day. This went very well. On the Sunday night a strange thing happened. I was sitting on the sofa after a latish meal and watching a programme about the Renaissance in Venice, when I went to sleep. So I wound back (as it were) and started watching the second half again. This was about 9.30pm. I then woke up just after midnight, having missed three texts from Dot, which must have made quite a sound on my phone but which I was evidently too fast asleep to hear.

This threw me right out. I woke up early the next day and felt very strange all day. Also the TV has been misbehaving – it keeps saying there is a weak or no signal. Perhaps it’s the aerial. Still I have put together a plan for a bigger Chronicle / Pastons in Norwich walk book to fit in with the Footprints project.

In the evening on Tuesday we had the usual suspects (minus Claire) round for Biscuits and Compline, and that had a nice feel about it. We are all going on a retreat at Clare Priory one weekend soon.

On Wednesday Dot saw the nurse about her alleged diabetes and has been put on a regime of exercise and restricted sugar intake. No drugs, though. She has to wear something that measures the calories she’s using; so of course she’s using much more calories than usual.  Which just goes to show that it’s not just in the quantum world that reality changes when you watch it.

Dot and Anna took Phyllis to the eye clinic on Thursday, while Martin Smith came round to look at the church website with me. Afterwards I was able to make some changes that made it look more current. I gave Phyllis a book from which I’d quoted at church on Sunday and thought I’d sent off for a replacement from Amazon. However, it turned out I’d sent for three other books, which is fine, but I need to send for the one I had. I’ve done that now.

In the evening we went to Prezzo with the Hendersons at short notice. Dot is now in the city paying a cheque she received for recent P4C work – and, I suspect, looking round the shops. Later we will have a meal at the Red Lion in Eaton to celebrate Philip Robinson’s birthday. Last Sunday was my father’s birthday. He would have been 103.

I know: they’re all busy weeks. But Tuesday was one of the busiest days for quite a while, packed with excitement and incident. First, David arrived back in the UK from Canada; then Carrie and friends took our old sofas away; then I went up to the Archant agm, which turned out to be very long but quite promising, for everyone except Maryta.

Dot arrived for the buffet, having stayed at home to supervise the exit of the sofas, and we chatted to a number of people, including Doug Bird. Afterwards we ran into Tim Bishop, formerly editor of the Evening News, then head of Radio Norfolk and now top man at the Forum. He was keen to chat about Archant: his wife still works there as a journalist and is less than enthusiastic, despite the agm announcement that 70% of employees were “satisfied”. Presumably the other 30% were journalists. At some point during the agm I chatted to current EDP editor Nigel Pickover, who told me to send him a poem. I’m not sure his idea of a poem is the same as mine.

Later the same day we had our hair cut and then went to the Julian meeting at Howard’s, which was as enjoyable as usual.

The same could not be said of the meeting with the church accountants that Simon and I “enjoyed” the next day. It was not the accountant in question – Fiona – who was charming and intelligent. Nor Simon, who knows a lot more than I do about accounting. However, it became clear after I had provided some specific figures later in the day and felt the blood rushing round my head that I needed to relinquish the post of treasurer. The next day I wrote the necessary e-mail, but have had only two responses – from Carrie and Eleanor, both very kind. The others probably think that if they ignore me I will carry on.

In a week of sofas, our new leather one arrived on Friday, together with a chair that turned out to be broken. It was taken away again, and we await news of a replacement. In the evening we both went to the Paston agm (something that the computer denies exists, insisting on “age” or “ago”), which was held at the Manor Hotel, Mundesley and went very well. A nice bunch of people and far too many sandwiches.

Yesterday it rained all day, and today Granite Man came to arrange for a new set of kitchen tops for us. He was very chatty, and we eventually made a choice – or Dot did, as I was not particularly worried. So within a couple of months we’ll have a new worktop in the kitchen. Wonder if it will happen before the replacement chair arrives. Meanwhile, we await the critical encounter between Norwich City and Sunderland, which could decide the future of the club as far as the Premiership is concerned.

I have just started putting the rubbish out: so of course it’s started raining after being dry and quite warm all day. David is on his way to the airport in Toronto, and Dot has just arrived back from Bedford, where she has been delivering P4C training. I have taken delivery of two crates of wine to see us well into summer, and have been invited to send my Lent poetry book to a publisher. I have also booked a holiday in the Outer Hebrides for the end of July and taken a call from Minster Lodge, where Andrew seems a bit shaky: had quite a long talk with him, though. I have been planning to go and see him later this month.

Quite a lot of things going on at the moment. The accountants’ version of the church accounts bears little resemblance to either mine or Simon’s, and he’s trying to arrange an appointment with them. I have to put together a book of poems and narrative that will also double as a kind of guide to the Pastons in Norwich. Most of the material already exists; so it’s a question of designing and editing.

This is one of the things that came out of our first Paston Footprints steering meeting, at Rob’s house on Friday afternoon. There is an awful lot of work required to go on to the next stage of the NHLF bid, and of course it’s all in the air still. Ho, hum.

Following the meeting Rob and I had a drink at the Ship in Mundesley, and when it transpired that they didn’t do sandwiches on Friday nights, we progressed to the Bacton chip shop, which produces good stuff but is excruciatingly slow. While in the queue we met Susan Curran and her husband; she was giving the talk at Bacton Village Hall to a joint meeting of the PHS and the Bacton Local History Society.

It was a good talk, but not totally uncontroversial. Were the Pastons serfs? She thinks so, but I’m not so sure. How come a serf could marry the daughter of a notable lawyer? The talk was actually on the hilariously expensive Funeral of John Paston, and she is an interesting speaker, with lots of research under her belt.

Dot was not at the meeting because she was rehearsing for her SIllars concert at St Cuthbert’s the next day. This turned out to be another good one: not only Paul and Maryta but also Carrie were in the audience, as well as a few others. The Hendersons came back for a coffee/tea afterwards.

On Sunday I was preaching again, and the service (led by Eleanor) was followed by a surprise PCC meeting (in the sense that we’d all forgotten) to agree the parish reports and accounts. Needless to say the latter was not possible. Nice to have the St Luke’s PCC members come to St Augustine’s for a change, though. Lunch was bit late as a result, and as it turned out, Dot was a bit late leaving for Bedford. Still, she arrived at about the same time as Barbara, who was coming from Devon.

Felt a bit lethargic today, but did manage to get into the city to pay in some church cheques.

After quite a pleasant few days, winter is showing signs of coming back again. Nevertheless, we are about to go to the supermarket. It’s not really that bad, just a bit chilly and the occasional downpour. Got caught in the rain a couple of times on Monday when we took some old paint tins to Crown Paints as part of an “amnesty” and then walked up to Santander to make a small change to our ISAs. We now earn ridiculously little interest instead of infinitesimal. I’d been putting this visit off for ages, but eventually gave up looking for anything better because life is too short…

Also got round to doing a number of other things that had been in the back of my mind and gathering dust. I’ve applied for – and obtained – a new visitor parking permit, which now comes in two forms: four-hour and scratch card. Anything to make life more complicated. Dot and I also filled in a long survey about how active lives we are leading – clearly too active  to fill in a survey form promptly. There was other stuff too.

Have just discovered that our second new sofa will be arriving next Thursday, and (more sadly) that my former colleague David Paull has died. He was in a bad way the last time I saw him – been battling prostate cancer for many years. Have supplied a quote for the EDP and got lots of comments on Facebook.

I was able to divulge this information (obtained from Frances) to the Archant pensioners at the coffee morning yesterday. The usual suspects were in attendance, and I was able to discuss with Paul which of us would have been able to bowl four balls that weren’t all hit for six against the West Indies in the last over, enabling them to win with two balls to spare. We agreed that the answer was probably both of us, which means one of us should replace Stokes in the England team.

Directly afterwards Dot and I drove to Swaffham for lunch with the Higbees, which was pleasant as always, though Allan has had a chest infection all year. I blame the sawdust (he’s a woodcarver).

Moving backwards, Dot went to Carrow Road last Saturday to see Norwich City beat Newcastle 3-2 by scoring in the 93rd minute, which is almost exactly the opposite of what they usually do. This gives us a real chance of staying up, but we could very easily blow it. Dot was very excited, and I must admit I was too, especially when I was watching Final Score and they said: “There’s been another goal at Carrow Road.”

Later in the evening we went to the Hendersons for a meal. Holly was home for a break before heading out to somewhere in the desert for a six-month stint of logistics. She had her skiing trophy, which she won for finishing the downhill first of those not in the British team. Magic.

The next day I led the service, and we went to see Jessie in the afternoon before heading back to the Cathedral for a trimmed down Soul Circus that turned out to be really good. It was called Tales of the Unexpected and featured a journey round the Cathedral, some stories, some cake and water and an unusual take on the Road to Emmaus story. I may adapt this into a poem. It was led superbly by Canon Andy Bryant and was very moving.

This is not an April Fool post. It is the real thing. The week was given wings by the arrival of David, Oliver and Amy on Easter Sunday, following a joint service at St Luke’s at which I played guitar. Dot decided to stay at home and prepare lunch and a few other things.

On Monday Amy wanted to see Allegiant, which is the most recent film in the Divergent series. The second was Insurgent, which we saw the end of at home during the afternoon to give us a taste of what was to come. The film was surprisingly good, and we all enjoyed it. I suggested the next one might be called Detergent, but this did not go down well with Amy. Afterwards we went to Nando’s. This was my first visit, but again I found it a very pleasant experience.

On Tuesday we had a roast beef dinner before David returned to Caddington to prepare for his flight to Canada the next day. Needless to say, he is there now. Earlier in the day Dot had her finger checked by the nurse: it seems to be healing properly.

We took a day boat out on the river on Wednesday, and this was a big success. The weather was dry and not too cold, and we took a picnic. Bit of a wait at Wroxham, but eventually we had a boat for two hours and did the usual trip down to Wroxham and Salhouse broads, then back and a little way up towards Coltishall. Oliver And Amy proved very proficient pilots and really enjoyed it, I think. Dot hailed an ice cream boat on Salhouse Broad, which added to the excitement.

Afterwards we called in at Wroxham Barns and visited a few shops – unfortunately we were just too late for the mini-golf. Ran into Claire Carrington. Back home we had pasta and bacon with cheese and onion. And if you think that was healthy, on Thursday we went the whole hog and had a Kentucky Fried Chicken before driving the children back to Caddington, where we had another sort-of picnic before handing them over to their mother at around 6.30pm. Dot drove down and I drove back. No problems en route.

While Oliver and Amy were with us Amy made a volcano and we worked how to play Skip-Bo, which turned out to be quite a good game. The Murrays first taught us at Palmer Circle, when we taught them Bridge –a life-changing event), but we had forgotten it. Oliver also showed us some card tricks and reminded us how to play Rummy and Knockout Whist. I also had a few games of B ackgammon with him.

Today I caught up on some routine stuff, mainly to do with church, and Dot caught up on washing and housework. We went to the chemist’s to get our pills and then to the doctor’s to get our blood test results. Mine was a bit high on the cholesterol scale (6.1) and I have to see a nurse at the end of the month. I suspect this will be a bit of a waste of both our times. Dot’s swab from her finger has yielded no results yet, but the finger seems fine.

Tomorrow the children head for Lanzarote with their Mum, Matt, Julia and Dave, which means all our family are out of the country. What could possibly go wrong?