Highlight of the past few days without doubt was David’s visit on Mothering Sunday (yesterday). Dot and I went to church before his arrival – a Holy Communion followed by what should have been the DCC annual meeting, except there weren’t enough people for a quorum. In fact there were as many people in the worship group (Phil, Dot and I) as in the congregation (Judy, Matt and Liz Day). Some were on holiday in exotic places like Morocco and Naples, others enjoying Mother’s Day events.

We cooked a chicken roast and apple and berry crumble and had a pretty relaxing time. We even went for a walk to see if the new car park has any charging points. It has. David is on a mission to track down charging points across the country because he is thinking of buying an electric car.

We also watched a bit of the Lithuania-England football match, which was fairly dire, although we won it. David has given me a list of Netflix must-see shows; so we are fairly tied up for the foreseeable future.

During the last week or so someone has damaged our back gate. I suspect that a tree was felled, or at least a big branch lopped, on the footpath behind us, and it smashed part of one of the cross-bars. However, no-one seemed to see it; so I can’t prove it. In similar vein, Dot has also had a tooth removed, following which she felt pretty traumatised; so on Friday and Saturday we did very little.

On Thursday I went to the doctor to check on my kidney results. It seems I’m fine, which is hard to believe. However, I’m certainly much better than either of my brothers, for which I’m extremely grateful . I spoke to Andrew on the phone this morning, and he was very grumpy, but at least he managed to say something, which is an improvement on last week at this time. Meanwhile Dot has gone to North Walsham to put some flowers in the cemetery. After some sunny days, it has turned cloudy, and throughout there has been a very chilly wind.

My DNA results have come in. Rather disappointing – I am over 60% British/Irish, just over 20% East European, and the rest Spanish and Italian. Nothing much happening there.

Well, we did walk to the Greens’ for a Julian evening on March 14, and very pleasant it was too. As it was also Howard’s birthday, there was champagne and nibbles, as well as Julian. Bethany and Niki also put in an appearance before disappearing for wild nights out. Or something.

The next day Dot went to the dentist and got some bad news – one of her teeth has to come out and be replaced with an implant. This of course involves huge amounts of money, which Dot not unnaturally resents.  But what can you do?

On the Thursday Naomi came round to discuss the Paston Footprints Activity Plan, and to have a meal with us. She was pretty upset about the Paston situation, because she had been taken on as project manager to produce an Activity Plan, and no sooner had she got her teeth into it than Karen produced one, which left her rather in limbo. I was sympathetic and backed her up at the Footprints steering committee at Mundesley  the following day, as did Lucy, but it seemed it was a done deal.

So the PHS family is not a very happy one at the moment. I produced minutes that Rob wanted to change; so he came round this morning to discuss that, and I readily agreed to make the changes. He did not look particularly well. There’s a chance that all PHS members will be ill soon. Naomi has been ill ever since she came round here. She says it wasn’t the food.

On Friday evening I drove to Pinky’s at Halesworth and read some poems that went down very well. I have also joined the Suffolk Poetry Society and will be reading at the Stowmarket Festival.

On Sunday I led the service, but we didn’t take part in the St Augustine’s Way walk to the Gibraltar Gardens afterwards because I had an ultrasound kidney scan at the hospital at 2pm. In an astonishing twist, Dot and I arrived at 1.40pm,  and I had had the scan and was out by 2pm. I was told my kidneys were normal.

Reassured by this, I drove to Warwick yesterday to see Andrew, who is in St Michael’s Hospital (Ferndale Ward). He was pretty distressed when I arrived, lying in a chair in the communal lounge with his pyjamas on, and uncommunicative. After I went and spoke to one of the nurses, he revived somewhat, sat up and had a cup of coffee, but all he really said was that he didn’t know where he was or where he was going.

Without my pushing for it, the deputy warden arranged a meeting for me with the consultant, a junior doctor and a medical student. They wanted to know just about everything about him – a tale I have told before but which doesn’t seem to have made its way on to any permanent notes. However they were very helpful and gave me nearly three-quarters of an hour. I was impressed by all the staff and by the atmosphere in the ward. Which doesn’t necessarily help Andrew.

The journey was not particularly difficult, but it was 314 miles. I arrived home just after Dot had left for a PCC meeting, which was a distinct plus. I think she sort of enjoyed it.

Today after chatting with Rob I went to Plumstead Road library for a talk on the Rosary given by Nick Williams. Walked through the Rosary and left some flowers for Mum and Dad’s grave. Nice talk, and I had a chat with him afterwards, as well as asking a question!

This evening we are having Cake and Compline at Judy’s. It has turned quite cold and windy. Lots of rain on the way to Warwick yesterday.

Dot has bought a Fitbit after discovering her Pacer was eating up her battery. Took us some time to get it started, but I think it’s OK now.

The weather has turned spring-like and mild, while New York State is covered with snow. Dot has been out most of today, and this evening, all being well, we will walk with Judy to the Greens’ for a Julian evening. I have spent most of the day trying to get publicity about a future Speaker on to various websites, which is more difficult than it sounds.

Yesterday it was so warm that we felt obliged to go for a walk in the afternoon. Only about two miles round by Carrow Road and the Riverside, followed by a bit of light shopping, but we were both exhausted when we got home. Still, Dot’s visit to the doctor for a medication check this morning was very encouraging: it appears she’s pretty fit. I knew that, of course. I myself have a rash on my abdomen, among other things. Meanwhile Andrew has been taken into the Caludon Centre again…and I’ve just heard that he’s so bad they’re thinking of moving him to Warwick shortly.

Last Thursday also seemed pretty warm from a distance; and so we drove to Stiffkey marshes for a stroll in mid-afternoon, and just after high tide. It actually turned out to be pretty chilly, but it was still worth doing. One of my favourite spots. The following day Dot went to Holt with Anne: I missed their departure as I was having yet another blood test. Happily I still have some left.

On the Saturday we were about to leave for the hospital, but having failed to raise Joy or anyone else, I tried Birgit’s mobile. Joe answered and said Phil had been discharged the day before. We called in to see him with his birthday present in the evening, and he seemed very well. Much, much earlier, I went to the supermarket at about 8.30am, filled up Dot’s car with petrol and got home by 9am, when I had a bath. Very strange behaviour. In the afternoon Dot went to see Norwich draw 2-2 with Blackburn after ditching their manager. She has just bought a full season ticket for next season, at a cost of about £900.

After the service on Sunday, Dot stayed behind to practise some music with Howard and Anna, and I walked home. In the evening we went to the Seagull, and it proved a very good evening. I read six poems, and Ivor did a very funny song about buying shoes. Oh yes he did.

Quite a pleasant day again today, and we will probably go to the coast this afternoon. Things are getting back to normal, though we are still not 100%. However, our energy has returned – just in time.

On Sunday I led the service (Eleanor was preaching) and after some of Anna’s birthday cake – delicious, made by Dot – and then lunch we went to North Walsham, visiting the cemetery and Jessie. Jessie had a diagram of part of her family tree supplied by Ron Fiske, and I have since looked at it and compared it to what I’ve got. It’s mostly similar, But Ron has a few mistakes, I think. However, he has mentioned a couple of things that I can add to mine.

In the evening, because it seemed to be raining, we got a taxi to the Greens’ for Anna’s birthday party. Had a really good time. I even – against expectations – quite liked the South Indian gluten-free, vegan buffet. Other guests included Sophie, who runs a business bulletin in the Golden Triangle; Robert and Robin, who did some work on the house many years ago and have remained friends since; Jane, from Trowse, who is about to move to Aylsham and who we’d met before; and Roger and Nola (?) – Nola was the only one I didn’t really talk to, but Roger works at the UEA in the languages department and knew Heather Savigny. Very nice chap. Most enjoyable conversation and wine. We walked home.

The next evening we were out again, with Judy to a “religion and science” lecture at Holy Trinity. Very big audience for a talk on Science and Miracles. The speaker wasn’t the best, but there was a lot of interesting stuff. I think if he’d stayed away from David Hume and probability theory it would have been much better. Hume liked himself far too much, and probability theory is basically rubbish. You may think that’s because I don’t understand it, but I think it’s because I do.

Tuesday was even busier. We went to the Archant coffee morning with the usual suspects, except Shelagh and Robin, who had a migraine. I left slightly early because I had to guide a couple of guys round the Paston sites in Norwich. One was a travel writer from Newton Pagnell and the other a lawyer from Bacton. They were both called Richard and in fact were friends who hadn’t seen each other for 3-4 years. Inevitably this meant that they spent much of the time catching up on each other’s news and when I wanted to tell them something, it felt as if I was interrupting.

Nevertheless, we got round, and we had lunch with Rob in the Ribs of Beef, which was quite pleasant. Richard Meredith had had trouble finding the starting point, travelling to various points in Norwich before parking at the Forum and getting lost on the way to Elm Hill. However, Richard Barr talked him in, and I spotted him outside St Andrew’s Hall; so that was all right.

After I left Richard M at the Forum car park at the end (I couldn’t trust him to find it on his own), I walked home and encountered chess player Johnny Danger in the market, looking like a down-and-out with very dodgy teeth. We had a talk about the relevant merits of Broadland and Norfolk and Norwich chess clubs (he’s walked out on Broadland). I quite like him: he’s totally eccentric and probably needs looking after.

Yesterday evening, while Dot was at orchestra, I paid another visit to Phil in hospital after getting lost after going in the wrong entrance and finding parts that I didn’t knew existed. Phil seemed upbeat, though he had been expecting me much earlier and had almost given up. A  lot of people expect me earlier, but even more don’t expect me at all. I spent nearly two hours talking to him about various deep issues, including the relative merits of  different types of film. This arose because Dot and I went to see Hidden Figures at the Odeon earlier (half price, thanks to a code from Des over the road). In my humble opinion the film is totally brilliant in almost every way, including the title. I cried quite a lot. Goodness affects me like that.

Spring must be getting closer: today is quite sunny and much milder. It is just after 3pm, so Dot has started listening to the football. Earlier I went up to see Phil in hospital, but not before calling in on Chris and then Mairead to see if they knew who had parked across our drive. They didn’t, but I had a chat with both – a longer one with Mairead and her brother Sean.

While I was visiting Phil, the offending driver and his girlfriend showed up and were confronted by Dot. Unsurprisingly they were very apologetic, apparently not realising what they’d done. My view is that if you can park across a driveway without noticing what you’ve done, you probably aren’t observant enough to be driving.

Phil seems to be improving a lot. When I visited him on Wednesday he was lying with his head lower than his feet, which left him quite disorientated. This time his head was higher, and he was much more relaxed. He is not in pain at the moment and quite cheerful. Today he ate his lunch while I was there (we were joined by David Harding, with whom we had an interesting reminisce about Surrey Chapel in the early days). On Wednesday the pastor, Tom, arrived as I was leaving. Neither David nor Tom remembered my name, or exactly who I was. I must have that kind of face.

After leaving Phil on Wednesday I totally forgot I was supposed to be going to the Ash Wednesday communion at St Luke’s, which was a bit embarrassing. I e-mailed David to apologise but have had no response.

No such problems with Shrove Tuesday, except that Vicky forgot, or just didn’t come. Those of us who did – Judy, Anna, Bridget and David Archer – enjoyed some excellent pancakes by Dot, though we had to comfort Bridget (and David) as they’d just had bad news: the sudden death of a friend who they had felt responsible for.

Early the next day I went to see the doctor after I had left a query on the website about continuing to take Perindopril if I had a kidney problem. I got a call asking me to come in, and he was very thorough; however I didn’t get an answer to the question because I forgot to ask it again. Happily I have no urine infection, and he doesn’t think I have kidney stones.

On Thursday it was again quite pleasant weather; so I went up to Swinton’s to renew my car insurance (both cars). Ii then continued to the bank, where I put in an order for a new chequebook. I hardly ever use cheques nowadays, but I don’t like to be out completely.

In other news I have finished putting the Paston newsletter together, and we have chatted on FaceTime with Chrissy, who is staying with David (until tomorrow).  We haven’t managed to get to see her in the flesh, because we didn’t want to curtail the time she spent with David, and neither of us is 100% still. They went out to Loch Fyne in St Albans on her birthday.