Ignoring Hallowe’en in time-honoured fashion. David and grandchildren here for a few days, and this afternoon we walked up to Kett’s Heights, which is quite a climb for Norfolk. Felt pretty tired, but was happy to complete the course.

Yesterday I was signed off by the doctor at the hospital after a very swift journey through x-ray and everything else. My bone still looked pretty crooked to me, but he seemed satisfied, as did the registrar, a strikingly attractive Muslim woman. And the arm is certainly a little better every day in terms of use. However, I have arthritis in my thumb (apparently a side-effect of plaster casts), and certain movements are still quite painful. Still, could be worse.

We also spent spent quite a time yesterday getting ready for our family’s visit, part of which was shopping, and got fairly tired; so when Dot decided she would go to orchestra, I decided to stay at home.

The previous day Dot and I decided to go and see the latest Shaun the Sheep movie, Farmageddon, which was brilliant. Typically the cinema thought this was a children’s movie and so gave us a string of boring children’s ads, plus (for some reason) a very loud soundtrack. Are our children all deaf as well as obese?

Before this we played host briefly to Maryta and Holly, one of whom was very interesting and brought biscuits. Lovely to see my god–daughter.

On Sunday after church I was offered a ticket to see Norwich City play Manchester Utd; so I went with Dot. Jonathan and Naomi were there but left before Norwich scored in the 86th minute through Hernandez. By that time we were 3-0 down, having given away two penalties to VAR (one of them quite wrong, and probably both). To be fair, both were saved by Krul. We played quite poorly in terms of organisation.

The day before we had spoken at length to David on FaceTime after watching England beat New Zealand in a brilliant rugby match. Later Jo brought Maryta round. It was nice to see him. We were able to tell him we understood his job now that we had seen Official Secrets. He took this in the spirit it was intended.

Anne has just arrived for coffee: she and Dot will go into the city in due course. (They did.) For a change it’s not raining at the moment, but more is forecast before we get some settled, dry weather next week. I hope.

Yesterday it rained a lot, but we made it to the cinema to see Official Secrets, about a GCHQ employee who revealed the secret pressure exerted by the US to force a war with Iraq, and the lies told by Bush, Blair and others. Very well done. The GCHQ woman was charged, but I can’t tell you what happened because it would be a spoiler, despite the fact that it’s a true story and everyone should remember. Oddly, no-one does.

The previous day I went to Sillars orchestra practice again and spent an hour and a half in the Farmhouse pub with Neville, who is making very good progress. Turns out he was a pretty big wheel at Aviva, travelling the world, but he is very straightforward about it – plays it down if anything.

On Tuesday we had the first Cake and Compline for some time. The Archers gave us a lift to Judy’s, and we had the usual pleasant evening. Vicky and Carrie both made it, which is unusual. It’s been quite a quiet week for me – I did go into the city on Wednesday to buy some acidophilus; it was a sunny for a while, and I walked round the Cloisters on the way back, but was pretty tired afterwards.

Dot had a massage from Verena on Monday. My arm has been gradually improving. There is still some swelling around the wrist, but nearly everything is functioning properly.

Paston has been quiet. They had the Yarmouth symposium last Saturday, but I didn’t go and heard nothing about it. Sunday, of course was Amy’s 15th birthday, and we had a chat with her on Facetime after church, but she wasn’t feeling very well.

In the afternoon we went to Blofield Church for a concert by St Gregory’s Orchestra, conducted by Martin Wyatt and including Vicky Ellis on flute. Angela, Rodney, Andy and Donna were there and saved Dot and me a seat on the front row! I enjoyed a close-up of the violins, though the feeling may not have been reciprocated. Excellent concert, including much Tchaikovsky. Chatted to Martin about A, who had been disruptive again at church, and to David and Barbara Pilch about Paston events at Blofield, and exactly what was wrong with my arm (David is a GP). All good.

Had a message this morning to say that my uncle Paul had died in the early hours. He was 96 and the last surviving Lenton of his generation. For the last few years he had been living in a care home at Horsford and had a kind of dementia. I visited him last Christmas, and we talked a bit about when we used to play football together.

Mark (his youngest son) sent the message, and I spread the word by sending a text to my cousin Jonathan and an e-mail to Ann in Liverpool. I then rang Barbara but found that she and Roy had been living separately for the last three months; so I spoke to Roy, then rang Barbara In Cromer.

On Monday we went to a science/faith lecture by Prof Mike Hulme at the Cathedral on the subject of climate change. Mildly interesting, but precautions were taken to prevent any meaningful discussion; so I guess his “deny-them-oxygen” attitude hasn’t changed. Interesting phrase (he did use it, but only in the questions section).

It’s been pretty wet all week. On Tuesday we called in to see Maryta on her birthday and to eat a bit of cake. We arrived shortly before them (they’d been out to lunch) and when they did arrive Maryta wanted to leave immediately for St Benet’s Abbey. We declined this option, but the offer was repeated after the tea and cake. We declined again.

The next day I went with Dot to orchestra so that I could spend time with Neville Thrower in the nearby pub. He had been having problems following his therapy for prostate cancer and had seemed to contract a kind of epilepsy, which meant he couldn’t be left alone (his wife Mary was playing clarinet with the orchestra). However, he had recovered well following an adjustment of his medication, and he seemed fine. We had a good talk, and I managed to carry two glasses of drink from the counter across to our table, only realising halfway that I was using my left hand. I didn’t spill much.

The next day it rained again, but I took advantage of a dry period to walk to the Norfolk Record Office for a volunteers’ session on data manipulation on the Paston website. There were only two volunteers there –Sue from Mundesley and Nick from Norwich – but Peter and Gary Tuson were there with data genius David Viner. I actually understood quite a bit of it. Dot picked me up at 6.30, and we had a quick beans on toast before proceeding to St Luke’s for the book club with Carrie, which was not quite as good as last week, but OK.

Yesterday we had our hair cut and then went to Morrison’s. I put the shopping away while Dot went to pay a cheque in in the city (plus one or two other things). On her way back she got drenched in a thunderstorm downpour between the bus stop on Thorpe Road and our front door.

Still raining. Pretty miserable month weatherwise so far. Couldn’t sleep last night; so I’m feeling a bit under the weather today. On the plus side, spoke to both David and Amy on FaceTime yesterday, and got an e-mail from Oliver to say he’d been driving between Aylesbury and Caddington; so he’s getting some good practice in. David’s apartment is beginning to look good.

In the past week Dot has been to the dentist to get some chips on her teeth dealt with at some exorbitant price (about £250). However we’ve paid for her new computer without breaking into her ISA; so that’s good. I think I could probably drive now, but we’re managing Ok with just the MX5 at the moment; so I’m in no great hurry to buy a new car. Checked with Swinton’s to see if I had to declare my three points, but apparently I don’t until I renew. So that’s good too.

On Wednesday last week we went up to Jarrolds for the launch of Keith Skipper’s new book and new publishing company – The Norfolk Almanac and Harnser Press. Two very funny speeches – one by Keith and the other by Richard Batson. Sat with Robin and Shelagh and said hello to Adrian Bell of Mousehold Press and to Terry Reeve, the sage of Bungay. Apparently Angela Kennedy was there, but I didn’t see her. Don’t know how I managed that, because I know her very well. Dot skipped off after Keith’e speech to go to orchestra (we had parked in Colegate).

The next day the weather wasn’t too bad; so we drove to North Walsham to put flowers in the cemetery – hadn’t been for some time. Afterwards decided to call in on the Knees. Just Penny at first, but Rob turned up later – he’d been to Norwich! Again, hadn’t seen them for some time; so it was nice to have a chat and catch up with the latest on the Footprints project. (Matt has resigned but doesn’t go till the end of the year.) Picked up my regular pills on the way home. Still taking the occasional paracetamol for my arm, but codeine only very rarely.

Paul came round on Friday afternoon for tea and cake. Nice to see him on his own and with no shouting. On Saturday Dot and I walked to the shops. Loads of traffic around. Yesterday drove to church for Holy Communion. Really good sermon from Sarah, but she seemed a bit down.

Bit drier today after a very, very wet Sunday, with continuous rain nearly all day and lots of flooding in and around Norwich. We got to church all right, though – which is just as well, as I was leading the service. Quite a small congregation, boosted by a couple of visitors, who apparently were impressed by the way we handled a pretty disruptive A, who arrived late and tried to make himself the centre of attention even more than usual. Not sure what was wrong with him.

Dot and I declined an invitation from Debbie to go with her to North Norfolk in the afternoon to hear some talks on Israel – partly because of the weather and partly because we were tired after a busy day on Saturday. I had walked with Dot to Carrow Road – where I had a brief encounter with former colleague Trevor Burton – then later up to St Andrew’s Hall, where we heard the Mozart Orchestra play some very good Smetana, some rather ordinary Ravel and some scintillating Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade). Brilliant violin from Fiona Hutchins.

Ran into a number of friends at the concert – most interestingly former colleague Annie Ogden, who had broken her wrist in August while on holiday in the Orkneys!! Amazing coincidence, especially as she did it in Pierowall on Westray, which was one of our favourite places. What is it about the Orkneys and broken bones?

While on the subject of broken bones, I should mention that my plaster came off on Wednesday, which was a tremendous relief. However, having a former plaster is no fun either. Though my arm is getting more mobile, it is still swollen and very sore (especially around the wrist), and the skin continues to be itchy. Still, at least I can get at it. The doctor seemed very smug that his no-operation policy had (apparently) been successful.

While I was having my plaster off Dot was spending 25 minutes parking the car, which meant she lost track of me, but I found her when I emerged from x-ray – where there had been long queues – to see her sitting in the main orthopaedics area with Mary and Neville Thrower. Neville has been in a bad way recently with prostate cancer and complications which mean he can’t be left on his own.

In the evening Dot dropped me at the Adam and Eve, where Peter Sargent was having a reading of his new book with Paul Dickson. Not many people there, but it was great to see Rita, the licensee, who used to run the ECN social club. She seemed very pleased to see me. Not sure why. Also had a good chat with Milton Lindsay, a former weeklies sub-editor, and with Pete himself.

On Thursday evening Dot and I decided to stir ourselves and went to the book club session being started by Carrie at St Luke’s. I had no high hopes, but it turned out to be very good. Also present: Sarah, Harriet, Judy, Nicky… The book was by Brian McLaren.

Had to get up early this morning because we had the stair carpet cleaned at 9am. Haven’t been upstairs since.

And so we edge hesitantly into October. It’s still reasonably warm, but we’ve had large amounts of rain in the last few days, some of it very heavy. This morning I just got back from the Archant coffee morning as it started again. Dot stayed in the city to lunch with Sue and Helen, and needed her umbrella on the way home.

Robin and Shelagh are in the Brecon Beacons, but we got over that. My plaster cast is still a conversation piece. I hate it. I would burn it if I were not in it. Too heavy, too itchy.

We got a “get well” card today from Amy and Oliver, depicting a snail, which is roughly how I feel. Very nice of them, though. Dot actually went to Lionwood surgery this afternoon and got a clean bill of health on her ribs/lungs. She may have a fungus under her toenail, but apparently it’s not serious and nothing to do with diabetes, which is what she was worried about.

I’ve finished Dark Fire, which is an excellent, compelling book. We’ve started watching Unbelievable on Netflix, which is also very high quality.

Dot went to orchestra last Wednesday and got on pretty well, though she had to take a break in the middle. The next day Phil and Caren Gazley brought us a meal, which they cooked here and ate with us. They also left one for the following day. Very kind people, and nice food too.

I saw Phil again the next day (after we’d had our hair cut), when he explained his vision about training teams of volunteers in the community. He wants me to edit the training manual. I have curiously mixed feelings about it: basically it’s a really good idea, but the mechanics are a bit off-putting, though that may be just me. It could certainly be useful these days, when professional social workers are so thin on the ground. It probably needs an app.

Continuing our Gazley connection, we met the in the city on Saturday to go to a couple of art shows – one in the undercroft and one in the Theatre Royal. The latter (photography) was particularly good. We tried to get in the Assembly House for lunch, but it was full; so we ate at M&S. Afterwards we got rid of our non-legal-tender £10 note and paid in a cheque (road tax refund) at the bank, then picked up my bent glasses from Boots, who had miraculously straightened them. I had laid on them on the bed while trying to put my trousers on.

Sunday was the big day, though it rained again. We had a joint service at St Luke’s, at which I was commissioned as an authorised worship assistant, which is only 39 steps below Bishop. This legitimised what i had been doing for about a quarter of a century; so that’s all right. Ten others were similarly commissioned by the Dean, who did a great job. All being well, we shall be going to Israel with her. It was a really nice occasion.