Some slight respite today after a very busy six days – until M turned up at lunchtime and wanted a lift home. She’s becoming quite annoying: I was in the middle of writing some articles for Parish Pump. Even more annoyed when some idiot walked out in front of me at some traffic lights on the way back, and then seemed to think it was my fault. Presumably colour-blind.

Last Tuesday I did go to Jurnet’s and read a couple of poems. Quite enjoyable, because Rupert was there and seemed pleased to see me, and the guest poet was Helen Wells, who turned out to be very good.

Wednesday was the Paston Heritage Society’s big day. We were all in costume for a meal at the Maids Head to celebrate the anniversary of the first mention of the hotel/inn in a Paston letter (in 1472). I had written a script including letter excerpts and poems to be read out during the meal – all went down very well, including the food. Jude managed to get there despite her injuries and said she enjoyed it.

It was also of course Dot’s birthday, and she took the birthday cake to heart. I also arranged for her to read the last poem. Altogether a very good evening.

The next day we popped out to see Jessie again before going to the Cote Brasserie on Exchange Street with the Robinsons for Dot’s real birthday meal. All very good. Had a steak.

On Saturday we popped over to the D’Souzas for a drink before walking up to the Cathedral with them and friends (plus Jessica, their daughter) to see and hear the Norwich Community Choir, which was 100-strong on this occasion. The nave was absolutely packed, and the choir were good – particularly good at the Miserere, surprisingly. David Archer and Chris D’Souza were singing.

To the Cathedral again on Sunday, but not until after a Communion service at church led by Liz Cannon. Over 20 present again. I tidied up the noticeboard and we then gave Phil a lift home. Then after lunch we walked up to the Bishop’s Farewell Evensong, which was extremely moving and very well done, as you might expect. The place was crammed: we were in the north transept but had a good view of one of the screens. Dot decided she wanted to shake the Bishop’s hand; so we had to queue up for quite a while – much like a wedding. Ran into John Drake, Nick Miller, Heather Cracknell, Suzi Heybourne and Philip Butcher.

Really glad we went.

Yesterday was the funeral which, as predicted, was too big for the crematorium chapel: so we were standing, although we were some of the first there (we took Des and Chris). Quite moving, but we still haven’t seen a copy of the service sheet. Queued up again afterwards to speak to the family. Then, after we’d been home for a while and had a coffee with D & C and they’d gone home, we were invited round for a wake which we hadn’t known was happening. They were very apologetic that they hadn’t asked us, but of course you can’t think of everything. D & C didn’t come: I think they’d already started on their evening meal.

We stayed for a long time, talking to Sean and Kiera, Bob and Mary from next door, Maureen from No 6, a nurse friend of Mairead’s, an Irish cousin, Maria – a half-Greek who’s the wife of Sean’s friend and really nice – plus Mairead’s friend Rachel and her sisters Teresa and the other one, plus briefly Freddie and Phoebe, both of whom seem to be holding up. Very difficult day for them. Really like Sean and Kiera: it will be nice to see more of them.

Lots of things going on in the background: my knee has been quite uncomfortable for a few days, and after seeming much better yesterday is now not so good again. Mairead’s funeral has been fixed for Monday at Earlham – quite surprising, as we thought it would be the RC Cathedral, like her husband and mother. And the Thursday Paston dinner at the Maids Head is looming large: yesterday Dot and I called round the Knees to try on costumes. Dot and Penny looked terrific, and I looked as bad as usual.

Meanwhile we have seen Jessie a couple of times. Yesterday, pre-costume, Dot bought her some new slippers by request, and we delivered them to her. They fitted, and she liked them, which was nice. On Saturday Eleanor visited her and Roger turned up too, which was ideal as far as Jessie was concerned (Eleanor will be taking Jessie’s funeral). We didn’t go – thought it would be over the top.

Reading a lot of poetry at the moment. On Friday I went to what used to be Pinky’s at Halesworth but is now the Swan, since Pinky’s burned down a few months ago. The pub is much noisier, but we have quite a big room upstairs. Had a chat with Nina Roffey, an artist/poet from Beccles whose poetry I like very much, and I read three poems, including (by request) Chasing the Moon, which was commended in a recent competition.

On Sunday Dot and I went to the Seagull, where she read a series of tanka I had written about a Canadian bear, and I read six poems altogether. Oliver the thatcher was there and his usual exuberant self after a successful gig at Edinburgh! Tonight I shall be going to Jurnet’s – all being well – and will read one or two there.

Before I went to Pinky’s – and Dot went round the Greens for a mass reading of Mark in the King James version – we went to Swaffham for lunch with the Higbees in their new house. Yes, they have moved again. Very pleasant, though the weather wasn’t good enough to go outside. As a result I have been asked to speak about the Pastons to the local WI some time next year.

I got back from Halesworth before Dot emerged from Golden Dog Lane, and as the result of a mix-up I went to pick her up before they’d actually finished. So she missed the last two chapters of Mark and will never know what happened. I understand there was a good meal, though. As I write, she is meeting Sue, Helen and Karen for lunch at Presto’s. And it is raining and cold.

A last-minute offer of a ticket to Norwich City’s match against Millwall meant I was at Carrow Road last Saturday to witness one of the best matches I’ve seen. Norwich were 1-0 down at half time, but playing quite well, and it was no surprise when they went level just after the interval with a really good goal by Pukki. It was even less of a surprise when Pukki missed a penalty shortly afterwards, but then Leitner scored a great long-range goal to put us 2-1 up.

We then turned off and lost two goals very quickly, which meant we were 3-2 down approaching full-time. At this point I’m delighted to say several people went home, but not us – which meant we saw City equalise through Rhodes in the 90th minute and then score the winner through Pukki  in the 95th. Interesting player, Pukki. He seems to score from the most unlikely situations. We were quite excited.

Afterwards we walked up to Hungate for the Vanishing Points exhibition, which comprised photographs by Nick Stone with a first world war battlegrounds theme, and information about local people who had died – particularly those from Paston School. Very effective: Rob and Penny were there, but Karen is in hospital again after her insulin pump failed.

Sunday was Remembrance Day (the big one – 100 years) and following the service at church we had a talking circle which I think was supposed to be about church services but never really got that far. However, Sarah said she had felt very welcomed and had a sense of belonging – which was not what she had been led to expect. And our two newest members – Marjorie, who is in a wheelchair and nearly 100, and her daughter-in-law Sharon spoke about about how much they enjoyed being there, which was very moving and worth all the rest put together.

Dot had various appointments in the city on Monday morning (she had a brief coffee with Maryta in Jarrolds), but afterwards we went to see Jessie. Before that I had had a call from Jude Sayer to say that she had been one of the two women stabbed in an incident that made the papers last week. We told Jessie, who was quite upset and gave us money to buy flowers. Both of us felt Jessie seemed weak.

So did we after the PCC meeting at St Luke’s, which ended at about 10pm.

On Tuesday we had our hair cut in the morning, and in the evening we gave Judy a lift to the Archers’ for cake and compline, which was nice as always. Vicky was there, but not Claire, and Eleanor was on duty.

Dot was out till about 1.30pm on Wednesday. I did quite a bit of work, but spent 90 minutes with Jude in the morning, taking her flowers round from Jessie – and a card from all of us. Jude was a bit shaky but looked Ok apart from her arm, which was in a sort of crafted basketwork cradle. Her fingers are Ok, but the thumb is numb, and there are worries about the nerves in her arm. I opened some mandarins and a packet of soup for her before I left.

It turns out she was injured while defending a friend of hers from the friend’s husband, who had been abusing her mentally for a long time but hadn’t been violent before. A neighbour intervened and took the man’s knife, but he did quite a bit of damage. He later tried to commit suicide but the police got him to hospital in time. One is tempted to add “unfortunately”, because it means he is still a threat in his wife’s eyes, but of course wishing someone dead is not good.

Today Dot has been walking and I’ve been compiling the next edition of the Paston magazine, which is going quite well, though I had the usual problem with page numbers. When Dot gets back we are going over to Jessie’s again.

Dave and Julia have been with us most of this week, but on Monday we were the sole St Augustine representatives (apart from Carrie) at the Bonfire event at St Luke’s. Dot had been intending to play in the ceilidh band with Phil and Anna, but Anna was ill; so it was called off – fortunately, as it turned out, because it wouldn’t really have fitted in with the rest of the evening, which which was a combination of hot dogs downstairs and bonfire and sparklers outside.

We ended up in the kitchen, serving the hot dogs, onions and chips to a throng of local families, while several St Luke’s people cooked them. Dot helped with the washing up and I  put quite a few tables away. Felt rather virtuous afterwards, which is obviously a bad thing.

On Tuesday morning Dot and I made it up to the coffee morning (no Maryta, and Paul is in Sri Lanka), with new members Bill Woodcock and Geoff Doy. It’s getting to be quite a gathering. We hurried back, but no need: the Evetts didn’t arrive till 1.30pm.  After lunch we went for a walk in the city, and in the evening had dinner at the Ivy, which was pretty good, I thought. Had the same excellent dessert as last time.

On the Wednesday, which was a bit blowy and not too warm, we went to Blickling with our new NT membership and visited the bookshop and cafe before going into the house. Quite interesting; as usual the volunteer room guides were first-class. Thought about going for a walk afterwards, but it was chilly and we turned back. Dot had intended to cook, but Julia didn’t like beef, and the other projected meal would have taken quite a long time; so we ate out so that we could go to the cinema.

Started at Coast-to-Coast, but they had no steak, which upset Dave; so we had to leave. Instead went to Queen of the Iceni, where the food was quite a bit cheaper and pretty good. Dot and I had fish and chips, and Dave was able to get his steak. Afterwards we saw Johnny English Strikes Back, which is not, as Dave said, very intellectually challenging, but by way of compensation was extremely funny. Dot  was laughing out loud a lot.

On Thursday we drove to Snape, which at one point seemed to be a bit too far, what with the dithering traffic and Suffolk’s ludicrous speed limits, but it turned out well. It was a beautiful sunny day, and after eating lunch in the cafe near the entrance we walked the path by the south of the River Alde towards Iken, which was extremely picturesque, with boardwalks and great marsh and river views.

We didn’t get all the way to Iken Church, because the path was getting muddy, and we wanted to see a bit more of the Maltings. We returned for a cup of tea in the same cafe, and split up for a walk round the shops. The  two exhibitions I had intended to see proved elusive: one had closed the day before and the other (a Maggie Hamblin installation) had shut down for the night by the time I got to it, though I got a glimpse of it in the dark. Dave and I went over to the concert hall entrance complex, which was actually quite interesting. Dot and Julia visited some shops.

The drive home was much easier, though it was dark and very busy (mainly in the opposite direction) and included a tour of Beccles instigated by yet another road closure. We ended up exiting via Gillingham. A little local knowledge is sometimes quite helpful. At home we had some lamb shank and tried to interest Dave and Julia in some songs, but I don’t think they’re really into songs, except possibly for those by Nina Simone.

Yesterday morning we walked up to M & S, where I got a new shirt and jumper and Dot got a new medium-sized handbag. I don’t know why: it all started with a voucher. After meeting with Dave and Julia, who seemed to have gathered in quite a lot of stuff, we went up to Presto and had a light lunch, before D & J left us to go to the bank and get some lingerie (two separate events, I believe). We walked home.

The Evetts left at about 3.15pm for Blakeney, where they had booked for three nights at the Manor. We left just after them to go to see Jessie, who was cheerful enough, but neither of us thought she seemed too well generally. We returned home and more or less collapsed. A quiet evening ensued.

This morning we heard the very sad news that Mairead, who went into hospital earlier in the week, had died overnight.

Have just had Adrian and Tish from Wales with us overnight – Tish’s first visit to Norfolk for many years. They came of course to see Jessie, but arrived yesterday afternoon, and after chatting we walked up to Ali Tandoori in Magdalen Street for an Indian. As usual had trouble eating it all. Had a chicken biryani. Think I might try something else next time.

Spent the rest of the evening watching football – Norwich had beaten Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 away, and Liverpool had just failed to beat Arsenal. This morning after breakfast Tish and Adrian set off for North Walsham via Morrisons (for flowers). Have just heard (6.30pm) that Jessie was over the moon to see them and flung her arms round Adrian, which is quite an effort for her!

We went to church of course: I led the service, and Howard did a very erudite sermon on “one God”. This afternoon I worked out a tune for Highway Nine, and we did some other songs, but Dot eventually went on to play her ceilidh tunes.

Actually we were at church yesterday morning too: six or seven of us doing some odd jobs like painting the toilets and putting the gate back on its hinges. The latter was achieved by one of Carrie’s clients, and another couple of them helped me with the gate. Or maybe I helped them. Phil arrived late because of a domestic crisis relating to heating, but then did a thorough job of removing mould from the windows. While we were having food afterwards, three people arrived looking for the Quaker graveyard at Gildencroft. We gave them a drink and chatted to them – very nice people who looked vaguely of Indian extraction – before Carrie showed them the way to the graveyard.

Last Tuesday went to a Paston talk at Hungate by Dr Vic Morgan. Quite interesting though scholarly, lightened by many slides. Jude was away in Hampshire, and Dot didn’t come because it was very cold and she’d had a busy day and was tired (Anne had been round). Ron and Penny were there, as were Karen and Liz, and of course Matt. I think I’m safe in saying that it was the coldest lecture I’ve ever been to. He stopped just in time (after 50 minutes), with ice creeping up everyone’s legs.

The next day Rob came round at 9.45 and we walked up to the Maids Head for a meeting with Georgina and Paul about November 22. We have a problem with poor advance bookings, and  my idea of subsidising it and offering cheaper tickets hasn’t made much impact – at least not yet. Paul took some pictures of Rob in costume for publicity.

On the way up there we were accosted by a sight-impaired man who was trying to find a solicitors’ office on Cathedral Street. I walked there with him while Rob went ahead. Nice to be able to help (cf encounter with graveyard-seekers). Seem to be reading a lot about hospitality recently.

On Thursday Dot and I walked up to see Rupert Mallin’s latest exhibition at Studio 20 in Wensum Street. Very interesting, as always, though I have my doubts about the machine gun (which, to be fair, wasn’t his but his colleague’s). Met Martin Laurance and Tonia Jillings, two artists we’ve known a long time. Bought a very small print for £10.

Have more or less decided not to have Dot’s MX5 repaired through the Mazda recommended people (£975), and I think it’s now too late to claim from insurers, who would probably want to get rid of the car anyway. I toyed with the idea of doing it myself, but Carrie has recommended someone who will do a much cheaper job; so I’ll take it up there (off Harvey Lane) this week.