One of the busiest weekends in living memory – well, perhaps not, but there was a lot going on. First, I had to be at the Norfolk Record Office by 9.45am on Saturday to take part in the Paston Footprints launch for volunteers. I gave a very brief talk on Blofield and Norwich, met the project manager and one or two other volunteers who I’d met before, plus one I hadn’t, then returned home just in time to have lunch with Heather and Simon, who had just arrived by train from Leicester.

Dot made a fairly quick exit after lunch, because she had a rehearsal for a Sillars concert, which was at St Andrew’s, Eaton, in the evening. I had to meet Robin and Shelagh Limmer, plus the Hendersons, because I had their tickets. That went OK. The church was packed, but we got quite good seats, although unfortunately I couldn’t see Dot. Still, I had a very good view of the percussionists. Concert was excellent.

Afterwards we called in for a quick drink with the Hendersons, during which Dot made the mistake of saying she liked the Russian piece. We were a bit late leaving, considering the clocks went forward and we lost an hour.

On Sunday I was preaching, and afterwards we had lunch with the Greens at the Woolpack Yard – a pub in Muspole Street. We booked, but it was almost empty. The menu was very brief, but the food was excellent. Then in the evening we decided to go to a concert at St Luke’s featuring the work of a local composer (“Before Pilate”) and Vicki Ellis on flute (not a solo, just part of St Gregory’s Orchestra). It was quite good, and again the church was packed.

Which brings us to Monday, when we decided to go and visit Jessie, who we hadn’t seen for a couple of months because we didn’t want to infect her. She was in good form, and she also had Janet visiting her. Afterwards we went to Sainsbury’s and then on to the cemetery and back via Wroxham because we’d noticed on the way out that the North Walsham road was closed. Couldn’t help noticing, really.

Yesterday Annette called round for a cup of tea, arriving just as Dot got back from one of her schools. Had quite a long talk, partly about Lisa, who seems to be having a hard time in Australia. She (L) had asked me to find out something to do with a church in Norwich that Blossom had heard on a Podcast, but despite trying hard, I couldn’t help. I think they may have got some details wrong.

In the evening we took Judy to Cake and Compline at the Archers, which was quite relaxing, in a hectic sort of way. Today it’s raining again, and I have to go to a meeting with the Archdeacon and the Rural Dean about the interregnum following the vicar’s departure on April 15. It’s not just the three of us: several others are coming from St Luke’s and St Augustine’s.

I managed to do the Norwich Paston walk on Tuesday, despite my ankle still being swollen and a very nasty shade of blue-black. In fact it wasn’t really very painful, just a bit sore. It was also a cold evening, but my new coat worked really well, and I wasn’t too uncomfortable. Meanwhile several of the City Guides who I was guiding abandoned before the end because of the cold. At least, that’s what they said. They were all very appreciative, though.

The guy who had fixed it all up – Paul Dickson – was ill (probably caught Rob’s virus); so I had to meet a group of people I didn’t know outside St Andrew’s Hall. From there, for the record, we went to St Peter Hungate, down Elm Hill, Past the Maid’s Head to Whitefriars Bridge, round the back of the Cathedral to the ruins of the Lady Chapel, then up to King Street and along to Heydon’s House, Dragon Hall and the Music House.

Earlier that day I had a blood test at the surgery, and yesterday I had a rare appointment with Dr Hampsheir, mainly to check the blood test and talk about my medication. I was amazed to discover that the blood test results were through (I’d had to postpone the test  because of earlier snow) and very good. My cholesterol level is fine, and my kidneys in much better condition than I’d been led to believe.

As I was there, I showed him my ankle, which didn’t seem to be making much progress and contained a large very black bruise. He examined it and said I should go up to A&E for an x-ray, which I did, being a compliant sort of guy. I was in A&E for two and a half hours, and the x-ray showed I had a small crack fracture at the bottom of that bone there – fibula, lateral malleolus; call it what you will. Plus a rather bad sprain. Happily, this didn’t require any drastic action: none at all, in fact. I could carry on walking, but nothing too extreme and on the flat.

Everyone in A&E was very friendly, except the woman on x-ray reception, but the reception to the minor injuries unit was shut, which confused everyone. There were instructions to put our card in the tray (which card? one or both?), and it would be picked up by a member of staff. I sat opposite it to make sure, and the member of staff turned up 45 minutes later, which as far as I was concerned was at least 35 minutes too late, raising anxiety to unnecessarily high levels. You don’t mind waiting if you think everyone is paying attention.

I got the bus home, but didn’t go upstairs. In the evening we went to an exhibition of Joe’s photographs in Colegate, which were as impressive as I thought they’d be. Phil and Joy were there too. It was Sam’s birthday. He was in Southampton. By the end of the evening I was exhausted, for some reason.

Last Saturday we went to a Norwich Philharmonic concert which featured Paul in the choir. It was snowing again, and because of my ankle we decided to drive up and park in the Monastery car park, grabbing one of the last couple of places. Strange concert. The first half lasted about 15 minutes and the second half (Mendelssohn) about an hour and a quarter. Judy was stewarding, and in the interval we met Sue and Roger Eagle, plus Maryta, who was sitting towards the back. Afterwards we drove to the Hendersons’ for a bite to eat.

On the Sunday I led the service, and Anna (back from India) led a lectio divina. Still very cold then. Quite warm now in comparison, but they say it’s going to get cold again, which I for one could do without.

Odd that I should have sprained my ankle while discussing Footprints. Strange that I sprained it at all, really, because I was inside a house and simply picking up my jacket from Lucy’s bed. In case of confusion, I should add that the meeting was held at Lucy’s house in Bowthorpe, and she has only just moved in. Hence the bed in the living room and a tight fit for the meeting, which also included Rob Knee and Peter Stibbons.

To make it worse, two people arrived to install Broadband in the middle of the meeting, and immediately discovered the main problem: no aerial. There were other problems involving a robbery at Mundesley Post Office and the loss of a package containing equipment, but when you know Lucy, that’s not surprising.

Anyway , the ankle was very painful and considerably swollen. When I got home Dot attacked it with ice, and by this morning it had gone down quite a bit, though it’s still very uncomfortable. Bit worrying, too, because I’m supposed to be leading a 90-minute Paston walk on Tuesday.

The meeting, which was actually for PHS Trustees, was a bit tense, with Lucy as usual having different ideas to everyone else. Still, there were biscuits, and it was warmer. Today it’s very cold again, and I’m shivering in my study while Dot is shivering at Carrow Road.

There was another meeting at the Maid’s Head on Thursday, involving myself, Rob, Paul Dickson and Georgina, who I gather is something to do with sales at the hotel. This was a good meeting, with everyone singing from the same hymn sheet and some excellent ideas about how the Maid’s Head can get involved in Paston celebrations.

It was nice to have a bit of warmth in the air, especially as we had our hair cut on Tuesday, but now it’s snowing, though it doesn’t appear to be lying. A bit of summer would be nice: I see the clocks go forward next week.

By the way, at the Bowthorpe meeting Peter delivered me my copy of the de luxe Paston Treasure book produced by Yale. Impressive, and only £45. With discount.

It’s that time of year. My youngest brother is 66 today, my father died yesterday (1956), and my mother died tomorrow (1994). Not very nice for Phil to have his birthday framed in such a way, but when we saw him and Joy yesterday they looked pretty well, all things considered. Spent an hour or so chatting after delivering presents.

We ourselves can’t shake off our virus, which we’ve had for about a month. Both still have a cough and feeling very tired and heady: I had to go to bed this afternoon after spending about an hour and a half at lunchtime washing up for the Monday Club lunch at church – about 40 takers altogether. We were only able to go because we’d had to cancel our trip to Kristine and David’s in Leyton to avoid the risk of infecting them. I don’t think we’d infect people with normal immune systems, but David has an auto-immune disease on top of his ataxia.

After lunch we went to the supermarket, which probably finished me off. Watched a TV programme, discovered I had slept through half of it and so went and lay down on the bed for just over an hour. Felt better after that, but haven’t done much else.

Went to church yesterday. Phil was leading, with Liz doing Godly Play on Mother Julian (Mothering Sunday).  Quite a long chat afterwards with Phil and Judy about the imminent interregnum and who will be able to do what.

On Thursday took my iPhone in for a new battery, which took about a couple of hours altogether. Had to wait around the mall without being able to do anything. Didn’t want to walk anywhere, because it wouldn’t have registered (!); couldn’t phone anyone up, or play games or check my family’s whereabouts. Or anything else really. Strange how you  come to depend on mobile phones. Delighted that phone now charges properly. Again, odd how pleasing this is.

The weather has turned much milder, but it ‘s still very rainy. Haven’t done much walking, because I was pretty exhausted after my one attempt, and it’s probably not a good idea to tire yourself out after having a virus.

Almost forgot. We went see Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri on Saturday evening, and I thought it was really excellent. Brilliant script and plenty to think about. The plot is totally unpredictable. Afterwards we ran into my former colleague Sandra Kessell (formerly Frazer) and her husband Toby.

We did go to Wales. A thaw set in late on Saturday as forecast, and the school contact in Barry thought things would be OK by Monday; so no postponement. Fortunately Dot was feeling better by Sunday morning. I still had a cough (and still do), but went to church, as I was down to preach and lead the prayers. Happily I managed to get through this without succumbing to a fit of coughing, apologised to Eleanor for not being able to attend her installation as an Honorary Canon at the Cathedral in the afternoon, and drove home to pick up Dot.

We eventually got on the road by about 12.50pm and had an excellent journey, stopping only once to change drivers. The roads were no problem and quite empty of traffic. As we got into Wales, there was a lot of snow in the countryside – quite spectacular. We arrived around 5.30pm at Gail’s Guest House and met Barbara. Nice room. Side roads in town still very snowy. We all went to find the school, which we did eventually, and then had a meal at  Brewer’s Fayre.  Later I went for a walk round local streets and got some excellent views out across the Bristol Channel. Many of the roads were circular, and I was surprised to arrive back near the guest house from the opposite direction, before retracing my steps.

Not a particularly good night’s sleep. Had breakfast immediately after the others left, paid and negotiated a late checkout for noon. Had a shower, then went and filled the car up at Asda (card only) before bringing it back, parking nearer the guest house and putting the luggage back into it. Had a chat with woman who was cleaning the rooms. I originally asked her if she was Gail, but apparently Gail is dead. She was Marian – very lively and easy to talk to.

Eventually I left, drove around for a bit and then parked at the top of the hill before walking along the clifftop, until I had a view of the main beach. Then I walked back on a lower path, which eventually reached a fairly secluded beach. I crossed it, then walked back on a path up the cliff to a point I had found the previous night  – only a couple of hundred yards from where I’d parked the car..

Drove down to Asda again to buy a sandwich and go to the loo, then returned to the same road, which had a nice view of the sea, and ate it. The sandwich, not the sea. Weather had deteriorated, with quite a bit of rain, but in a dry gap I walked round for a bit , then helped a guy who had got stuck in the snow at a nearby roundabout. Gave him a bit of a push and showed him where he could find a spade. Found a £10 note in the snow.

Eventually drove back to Asda again and at 2.45 found myself parked outside the school. The dynamic duo emerged at 3.10, armed with excellent feedback. Apparently, however, the school had been very cold. We drove (in convoy) back to Asda again to have a drink and go through the feedback, then left for home – and a much worse journey than the one the previous day.

Very bad hold-up on the way to the M4 (caused by traffic lights on a roundabout), then lots of rain. Dot drove as far as services on the M5, then I drove as far as Corley services on the M6, where we got a Kentucky Fried Chicken from a guy who seemed as if he had only recently been introduced to the concept.

I continued driving to Cambridge Services, where we stopped. The weather improved, but the A11 was blocked at Thetford, and we had to follow a diversion through Shropham. Just what you want after a journey of nearly 300 miles. At home we managed to get everything out of the car before collapsing into bed.

I went to the Archant coffee morning this morning (all present and correct) but felt exhausted. Dot was too tired to come. We went to the supermarket in the afternoon, and Dot roused herself to watch Norwich City draw 0-0 with Nottingham Forest.

Just got Dot’s car in the garage in time. Neither of us went to church on Sunday because we still had bad coughs, and the next day it started snowing. Still Dot managed to drive to Brooke before it started, to take part in interviews for a new head. She was still pretty bad and had to come home early in the afternoon because of excessive coughing. I walked up to Morrisons to get in some supplies.

By then it had started snowing. Not too much that day, but very cold. On Tuesday Dot drove to Brooke again, to find the school shut, but eventually everyone turned up to continue the interviews – in fact only one candidate had been asked back, and he got the job. Dot is optimistic about him. II walked up to Swinton to renew our car insurances – got it reduced a bit – then diverted through the Close because it was sunny and quite pleasant, as well as picturesque. As I was doing so I got a call from Dot, who was about to come home at the end of the interviews.

That night and the next day it snowed a great deal, and we ended up with about a foot of snow. I walked down the shop in the afternoon, which was easy enough and the main roads were clear, but hardly any traffic and no buses.

Today much of the snow remains, and more is threatened. Very cold. Dot is quite a lot better, but I still have a cough, which is very annoying. I was supposed to walk up to the Maid’s Head this morning for a meeting with Paul Dickson and Rob Knee, but Rob could not get out of North Walsham: snowdrifts on roads, no buses and no trains. So we postponed the meeting. Dot and I checked Des’s house, which seems fine. He is in New Zealand.

I cancelled my blood test tomorrow, because it sounds as if things may be worse again. Could probably get car out, but it might be difficult to get it back again. Dot still doesn’t know if she’s going to Wales, but it’s very bad there at the moment and will probably be worse tomorrow. We’re rather hoping they’ll call it off.