Not as straightforward a week as I had expected it to be. I spent quite a lot of time on the Paston Database, but then found I had to do three articles for Parish Pump (on Jill Dando, Daniel Defoe and Manchester City FC) as well as update the Paston Blofield leaflet. Dot has had a cold/cough; so in spite of the generally very good weather we have been rather restricted in what we’ve done. We hadn’t seen Jessie this week until yesterday, when we decided to ignore Dot’s cough, which is intermittent, though sometimes impressive.

I also have a bit of a cough, but nothing like as bad as Dot’s. I am just hoping it doesn’t get worse, as we are heading for Buxton next weekend.

We did go for tea with Paul on Sunday afternoon. No-one has decided what will be best for Maryta, but happily Paul has taken my advice (and that of Pete Kelley) to resist functioning as her at-home carer, because I don’t think he would last long if he did. He has frequent chest problems and had just had extensive varicose vein surgery. Dot went to see her yesterday, and she was not as angry as expected, though she is aware that she is not being discharged any time soon. (I went for another walk in the cemetery.)

Dot didn’t go to Centering Prayer on Monday, for fear of breaking out coughing during the silence; so I gave a lift to the two women who come regularly by train. On Tuesday I went to the Jurnet’s poetry session and it turned out to be really good. I read two older poems – Italian Time and Playing with Fish – which seemed to go down quite well, and I spoke to a couple of young first-timers, one of whom did a very Christian poem in semi-rap style.

The last three days have been quite warm and sunny; on Thursday Dot and I decided to go to Cley. We walked to the hides and had a look at some birds, including a barn owl, which put in a guest appearance. Lots of stunning lapwings, and plenty of others. We then wandered back to the cafe but discovered that it shut at 3.30pm (it was then 3.34pm). This, though idiotic, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because we drove into Cley, parked round the back on Fairfields and went to the cafe on the corner, where we had an excellent scone (me) and rocky road (Dot) before it too shut at 4pm. We also bought some fish cakes and mackerel from the Smokehouse and have already eaten them both.

Yesterday we had our hair cut and – after going to see Jessie, who was very, very weak (she thought she was dying the previous night) and having a chat with Roger – we drove to Happisburgh and walked along the cliff towards Cart Gap. Beautiful late afternoon, but a lot more of the cliff has fallen on to the beach. A pill box which used to be well into the ploughed field is now virtually on the edge. Back at home we watched a 2013 action film on TV called Olympus Has Fallen, which – while pretty unbelievable – was certainly entertaining.

Dot has visited a lot of schools this week, and possibly as a result went down with a cold yesterday; so we had to cancel Kristine’s visit. Actually we didn’t cancel it: we offered her the opportunity to cancel, and she quite rightly took it; Dot is in fact up and about today, but probably infectious. Would have felt uneasy if Kristine had come.

Eleanor called in this morning to bring a card to the people at St Augustine’s who she has just said goodbye to and who gave her a gift in excess of £100. We walked to her induction at St Helen’s on Thursday evening, and it was a lovely occasion: very relaxed and, surprisingly, warm. Quite a few people from St Augustine’s there, and I spoke to her sister Elizabeth (from Slough) afterwards. If it were possible, she seemed just as nice as Eleanor. St Helen’s is part of the Great Hospital and really beautiful – extremely old, of course. For the record, Eleanor (or Canon Langan) goes from being top chaplain at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital to being vicar and chaplain at St Helen’s and the Great Hospital.

Earlier in the day we had been to see Jessie. We had also been two days before – on the Tuesday – and both times she seemed very fragile. Roger is going in every day, and she has several other visitors regularly. This week the weather has improved, and it’s been predominantly sunny and quite warm for the time of year. I put this down to the fact that magnetic north is moving quite swiftly north-east. No-one knows why; so that’s all right.

I went up to the Rosary by a circuitous route yesterday and sat on a bench for a while. Beautiful afternoon, but I felt strangely lacking in energy. Huge number of crocuses.

On Wednesday I paid my second visit to Verena and she paid a lot of attention to my legs and lower back. I have a number of exercises from her which I can never remember to do.

The day before, Rob came round to discuss Blofield and the Pastons. We decided it would probably be best to do two leaflets, and I have kind of made a start, though I had a lot of trouble with my computer yesterday, which for some reason refused to connect with iCloud until I gave it a new password, which seems sort of self-defeating. Have been putting quite a bit of information into Peter’s Paston Database and discovered two duplicate entries. I enjoy doing it, but it can take up a long of time.

Dot went to see Maryta on Monday. She has been diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia, and it now remains to be decided what they are going to do with her. In fact Paul will have been to a meeting about it yesterday. Both Pete Kelley and I have cautioned him against taking responsibility for her care, because I know that the NHS will seize on any opportunity to do as little as possible if there is someone else to do it. We’re going for a cup of tea with Paul tomorrow (if Dot is well enough), and will find out what has been decided.

While I write this Dot is listening to Norwich City playing away at Bolton, and unbelievably they are winning 4-0 in the 60th minute. They couldn’t lose 5-4, could they? They have of course missed a penalty. Again.

Dot and Anne are walking in the city; it’s a bright but cool day – a distinct improvement on the chilly, wet and windy days we’ve had recently. I’ve been doing some work on the Paston Database – a list of people mentioned in the Letters or otherwise associated with the family.

Happily, I now also have the correct reading glasses: I picked them up from Boots last Wednesday.

On Thursday Dot and I drove to Kirby Bedon for the annual sugar celebration at Chris and Wendy Lamb’s rather impressive house. This consists of a selection of impressive nibbles and some champagne to celebrate the collection of huge amounts of sugar from schools just before Christmas for the benefit of shelters and charities helping the homeless. Dot encouraged some of the the schools to participate, and I helped transport the sugar to an obscure site near North Walsham – bit like drug-running, but with the opposite effect on the end-users. Sue and Roger Eagle turned up late after being prompted by a phone call from Dot: Sue was in fact at a meeting with Rob Knee about her new Paston role, arranged by me!

Afterwards we drove to North Walsham to see Jessie, who is not too good. Roger was there, too. She is in some pain, and the doctor has given her only a few days – but she has already exceeded the previous estimate by some weeks. Called in at Sainsbury’s before driving home.

On Friday I had my first professional massage – by Verena at Little Plumstead. My knee had been giving me some pain, as had my lower back, and Dot persuaded me to go. Verena was very thorough and took nearly 90 minutes if you include the preliminary chat. Felt good afterwards, but the next day everything was very painful. Happily by Sunday it had subsided, and I know feel pretty good, as far as knees and backs go.

Yesterday was busy. Dot went to the High Noon derby match against Ipswich, leaving me to hold the fort at church, where Matt joined the worship band on jazz piano for one of the hymns. Sounded pretty good. It was Eleanor’s last Sunday, and she gave a lovely sermon based on Isaiah 6 and Luke 5. She is going to the Great Hospital as their chaplain and vicar at St Helen’s Bishopgate. We gave her a gift of John Lewis vouchers, and Sarah baked a cake. There was a quick PCC meeting afterwards (small influx down from St Luke’s) to agree that a number of people should be put forward as authorised worship assistants. I am one of them. Next step, bishop.

Meanwhile Luke (and his wife Michelle) had been at Aspland Road installing some LED lighting in the kitchen. I was back to receive them on their return from the match (together with, or slightly before Dot), and Luke finished off the fitting, though he still has to install the switches and a bit more tubing (for want of a better word). Norwich had beaten Ipswich 3-1; so everyone was happy, apart from the Ipswich fans.

The previous day we had had Sean, Ciera, Freddie and Phoebe round for roast chicken, and Freddie had been very bullish about the likely score. Sean and I tried to prepare him for a possible reverse, but he was adamant – and, as it turned out, right. It was a nice meal and a really good evening.

Andrew is back at Minster Lodge and seems to be recovering well. They are planning to put him in a bigger bedroom, with a double bed and a sofa.

Just back from the monthly Archant coffee morning, with Robin and Shelagh, Brian and Tricia, Bill Woodcock, Neville Miller and many others. Maryta still in hospital, of course. Afterwards I went for a walk round the Mall to get some steps done, as I have been very lax the last three days – partly because of the bad weather. Dot is now at Alpington School, where David went as a child, to talk to both staff and pupils.

Andrew is still in hospital, and Walsgrave seems to be set up specifically to prevent patients being located, or for anyone to find out their condition. Minster Lodge tell me he’s nows stable, having been through the antibiotics, but is still suffering from diarrhoea. Apparently he’s now on Ward 30, but according to the hospital website, that doesn’t exist.

Still trying to catch up with some Paston Database work (editing material provided by Rob and Peter), which will be followed by a partial rewrite of the leaflet and some words for the Monument display board, both at Blofield.

Last Thursday went up to Boots to get my new glasses, only to find they had been wrongly put together and had to be returned to the workshop. I haven’t been feeling too great over the last week – fuzzy head, bad knee and achey back; so I could have down without the pointless walk, but I guess the exercise was good for me. Dot has now booked me in with Verona for Friday, mainly to look at my knee. That should be interesting.

On Saturday we went up to the church hall to “help” with sorting out the store room, but I didn’t feel I did much, especially as I couldn’t lift because of my back. Dot went to Screwfix and bought some glue. Carrie was very busy, but she’s better at doing than delegating; so the rest of us were mainly at a loose end, and we eventually went home to watch Norwich beat Leeds 3-1 away. The team played very well, and Dot got quite excited.

Later we went up to Ipswich Road for a meal with Paul and Holly (my god-daughter), which was very pleasant. She is in the midst of plans to leave the Navy, where she is a Lieutenant-Commander, and work as a logistics expert for Amazon, somewhere near Manchester. She had her dog with her. As dogs go, it was OK.

On Sunday I led the service, standing in for Liz Cannon, and Liz Day did an excellent sermon on 1 Corinthians 13 – love, which she applied to people (especially politicians and the media) taking a positive attitude towards each other instead of looking for conflict. Afterwards Dot and I visited Jessie. Roger and Debbie were already there, but that was fine. Jessie doesn’t seem any worse.

Yesterday it poured with rain and was very cold. Julia and Allan visited us from Swaffham, and Dot did a lovely meal of individual shepherd’s pies. Very pleasant afternoon. Dot took a couple of people from the station to a centering prayer meeting in the evening.