That was an extremely odd Christmas. With David, Oliver and Amy having a very noisy time in Canada, we expected to be quiet and relaxed, but it was anything but. It started last Sunday with the alternative carol service, which as usual – and by popular demand (ie no-one else wanted to do it) – I wrote and directed.

It seemed to go very well and received multiple plaudits. Sarah was there but was manifestly unwell. Howard was ill in bed, but Matt took on his role as first angel. Dot and I were certainly not 100% but both thankful to be up and running – or at least walking slowly. The service was followed by a lengthy meal. We’d forgotten the Yorkshire puddings, but their absence was not a huge problem.

We didn’t do much the rest of the day, but the next day we visited Rosie, getting the usual Christmas cake and sherry, both very rich. Rosie seemed on form, although she obviously has back problems. Had an interesting talk.

We called at Morrisons in Catton to buy some top-up food, and were back home in time to greet Philip, who called in with presents and received ours for him and his sons’ families. Then we had to prepare for the Neighbourly Nibbles, which went surprisingly well. All our neighbours turned up and were joined by Denise and Peter. All our neighbours =Jonathan; Mark and Sarah; John and his three children; Des and Chris; Mary, Bob and Oscar, who was home for a few days and who had a surprisingly good time; and Sean, Ciera, Freddie and Phoebe. A surprising number of bottles of wine were drunk, but as most of them were brought by visitors, that was no problem!

On Christmas Eve (I think) Roger and Debbie dropped in for a couple of hours. Later we were off to the Hendersons’ for another nibble evening. Chatted to Harriet and Neil, as well as to Jozef and Holly, but not so much to Paul and practically not at all to Maryta, who went to bed before we left. Dot drove, but I drank hardly anything. I don’t know why.

Last night we went to the Midnight Communion at St Augustine’s. Had to be there a bit early to take the Advent Candles, and I got landed with reading the Gospel, which I like doing as it goes (yes, there was a Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special). All good: spoke to Steve Fiske and to Chris Denton and her two children – a rare occurrence seeing them together, as Zoe lives in Melbourne and Ben in Guam. Lovely to speak to them afterwards. Didn’t get to bed till well after 1am and had to be up fairly early to help at the church on Christmas morning.

We weren’t in time for the said Communion at 9.15am, but we had breakfast there and helped with the buffet afterwards, speaking to some interesting and quite alternative people, including Chris, who had some interesting views on St Thomas’s and Park Road Methodist church; Tara, who had extraordinary fingernails; and Erica, a German who lived most of her life in Scotland. Judy was there, and Dot fetched Phyllis. There were others. Helped with washing up, and it was well into the afternoon by the time we got home.

We then cooked a Christmas meal for early evening, and it turned out to be very nice. We watched a bit of TV.

The next two days were Andrew-centric. We set off around 11, and called in at Sainsbury’s Pound Lane to get some petrol (we had a voucher) and something for the staff at Minster Lodge. Dot drove at first. It was pretty awful weather all the way: darkly overcast and mainly raining. We stopped at Cambridge Services and were pleasantly surprised shortly afterwards to find ourselves on the new section of the A14, which was brilliant, probably saving 10-15 minutes.

We got to Andrew’s just before 3pm, gave him his presents and then progressed to the Old Mill Hotel at Baginton, where we had an unexpectedly big evening meal. We had intended to have fish and chips but instead found ourselves faced with a Boxing Day set menu: three courses that we just survived. Watched TV afterwards, of course., but didn’t sleep very well, although I had brought my new pillow (a present from Dot).

Just about managed to get up in time for breakfast and got to Andrew’s at about 10.40. Took him out for a drive, but not before calling in at Oak Furniture Land and buying him a chair for his room. We then drove round where we used to live (Beanfield Avenue and The Chesils) and stopped for a walk to the Pond at Quinton Park. Andrew was obviously very tired and breathless, as he was both times we saw him. He looked better on this occasion, with a proper jacket and trousers instead of yesterday’s track suit bottoms.

Drove back in time for lunch just after noon and we left him appearing rather ill at ease. Possibly disruption of routine, or the complication of the chair… Dot drove the first leg home in much better weather (though still grey), and got on to the new stretch of the A14 without incident. The effect was ruined however by a huge queue as we reached the old section of the road, and we crawled for two or three miles before getting into Cambridge Services – which were full! Judging by the number of children, it looked like this was a regular spot for a family outing.

I eventually managed to locate a parking spot, and Dot bought a coffee, which she brought back into the car. But as I took an alternative route via Boxworth and on to the A14 near Cambourne, she found it hard to drink (rather bumpy). But it all worked out in the end. The A14 was the usual 40mph funeral for some miles, but after that there was no real problem apart from a short diversion near Barton Mills. We got home about 4pm, had another Christmas meal and watched some more TV. We fell asleep of course, but woke in time to see a good documentary on Fleetwood Mac’s Christine Perfect.

Today I have mainly been writing tomorrow’s sermon, but Naomi turned up to have a drink before accompanying Dot to the Norwich-Spurs match, which Norwich were cheated out of winning by inept VAR. It ended 2-2. I am cooking another Christmas meal as Dot makes her way home.

Feeling tired after a hectic week. Oliver and Amy are due to go to Canada tomorrow, hopefully avoiding the flooded roads in Sussex. IT has been raining here too, but nothing like as much, and it has been quite a bit warmer.

Last Sunday we had the familiar jacket potato lunch at church while discussing St Augustine’s Way. Quite a good discussion, actually, to which I unexpectedly contributed. Bridget and David came and joined in.

On Tuesday they were with us again for our Christmas edition of Cake and Compline, which went well. Surprisingly, everyone managed to come – even Claire, who was getting over a cold. Hope we don’t reap the results of that. I did a special compline – which is to say I put bits together from various sources.

On Wednesday Dot went to Alpington for a leaving assembly for the head teacher, where she sat next to Elaine Wright, who is a governor. i guess her name isn’t Elaine Wright now, but I don’t know what it is. She rushed back to get ready for the lunch visit of the Higbees, which went very well, I had considered going into the city afterwards, but decided not to, because it was unexpectedly 4pm and not very nice weather.

The next day we drove to North Walsham and called in to see Sheila and Bridget, whose day it was to look after her. I very much like Bridget, as I do her sister Teresa, which is odd because they don’t get on with each other. Sheila is still sprightly at 91, and her hearing is excellent – picks up on everything. Afterwards we went to Sainsburys to buy food and some flowers, then went to the cemetery.

Back in Norwich, I got a bus into the city, paid in a cheque and then went to Jarrolds, where I bought a few books before getting a bus home. In the evening we went to Yelverton for nibbles with Denise (if you see what I mean). Clive was there looking bright and breezy in a laid back sort of way, but Elaine was unable to come because of trouble with her boys. The Jarys and Pitts were there, as was Linda from Tanglewood, who we discovered had been in Sainsburys in North Walsham (with her husband) at the same time as we were. How fascinating is that?

Today we braved the rain to go the Cellar House at Eaton for a Christmas lunch with the CNS Old Boys crowd. As a result of a misunderstanding we got there early, but so did Neville and Mary, who bought us a mulled wine. Discovered (Mike?) Huggins had just had a similar prostate cancer operation to the one I had, with slightly different complications. He seems OK now, though it’s only three months on.

Very good meal, though I mistakenly had someone else’s main course of turkey, when I had ordered beef. This caused minor chaos, but it was sorted out fairly quickly. The woman whose meal I stole didn’t mind, and the waiter took it well. Adrian did a couple of quizzes afterwards, which our group didn’t win. He seemed surprised. I don’t know why.

Chilly and damp, but it’s been worse. Started the week with a visit to Verena, Plumstead’s top sports masseuse, and she had a go at my neck and arm, which felt pretty good. Can now just about play my guitar, which is nice – though only for me.

Wrote just about all our Christmas cards this week and sent off our parcels, including one to Waterloo, which we paid for online.

On Tuesday went to the Archant pensioners’ Christmas meal – by taxi, because the weather was so miserable. Peter Franzen also turned up. Food was a bit better than last year, and it was quite enjoyable. Sat next to Bill Woodcock, which was entertaining.

A clash of dates on Wednesday saw Dot departing to the Marsh Harrier for Christmas dinner with Sillars while I walked to the Greens’ for supper with them and the Bowers (Vicky’s parents). Dot had a frustrating evening because the service was funereal and the food less than brilliant. As a result she arrived at the Greens’ just as Derek and Janet were leaving. However she had to perform a piece of brilliant driving to achieve that, getting out of a very tight parking space by superlative manoeuvring. I rely on her own description, but it did sound good, and it certainly cheered her up. I had a great time, with a delicious meal and good conversation. Struck up rapport with Derek, I think.

The next day we gave lunch to the Eagles. Dot did some of her delicious carrot soup, I opened some rose, and we had a convivial time, partly discussing the Pastons and Dot’s philosophy plans for the schools conference organised by Sue. When they left in wind and rain they gave us a lift up to the polling station; so we were able to vote and reduce the Labour majority in our constituency by 0.000000001 per cent. Everywhere else in East Anglia returned a Conservative, and they got an overall majority of about 80.

Today we had our hair cut in the morning and discovered Linda had broken up with Mike again, though they are still living together. After lunch Paul came round for two cups of tea, a mince pie and quite a long chat. Earlier spoke to David on FaceTime, and he sent us some money.

Not the best of weeks, health-wise. While never being too ill to do things, I had a painful stomach and a very mild headache most of the time, with an occasional slight rise in temperature. Hard to spot the culprit. Dodgy duck egg? Too much seeded bread? Or are the pills I take for stomach problems disagreeing with me? In the event I have switched back to my original pills, and seem to be feeling better…

Got up to the Archant coffee morning last Tuesday and took a load of old Prospects home, which I have since scoured for items of interest and found a couple. Followed this by walking over to the Forum to see an art exhibition in which Lucy was featured. Her pictures were pretty good, but if I had money to spend on pictures, there were a couple of others I would have gone for. We then walked up to Revelation and bought 100 Christmas cards.

The next day I roused myself and went to see Andrew, leaving Norwich at 10am and returning just after 8pm. Miraculously all the trains were on time, but a couple of my walking routes were blocked by road works; so those bits took a bit longer than usual. Andrew was not in the most talkative of moods, but OK after a bit. Spent a long time talking to one of the senior carers about his care plan. He is not allowed out on his own any more because he is a bit unsteady and getting more forgetful.

I spent most of the next couple of days writing the Alternative Carol Service. On Saturday I felt I needed to get out of the house, so went into the city to do a little shopping and bought some more Christmas cards, among other things. Dot was already in the city doing her own shopping.

Yesterday it was a little warmer, though with a few outbreaks of rain and getting windier. Very windy today. I led the church service and afterwards attempted a little handbell ringing, but it was a bit painful on my left wrist. Howard is keen to so some bell-ringing in the church, but surprisingly few members of the congregation can read music. Dot left early to go to the football match with Fred, who had driven over from Banbury. Sadly after leading 1-0 at halftime Norwich disintegrated afterwards and lost 1-2. Not sure what’s wrong with them. Don’t seem to have enough energy. Fred dropped in for tea afterwards.

At long last a bit of sunshine over the last couple of days, and today Dot is in Yarmouth. I would be there too, but Joe Logan is here tuning the piano, and Hello Fresh are knocking at the door. They also serve who only stand and wait. Despite the sun, it’s pretty chilly.

Our dishwasher is still broken, but we have been out for a couple of meals recently; so it’s not making a huge impact. Yesterday evening we went to the Cottage on Thunder Lane with Des and Chris and had a roast, which was unpretentious but very nice. They came in for a coffee afterwards. Earlier Dot had been to watch Norwich draw 2-2 with Arsenal in a really good game that City could easily have won, but for a brilliant display by the Arsenal goalkeeper. I watched it on NOW TV. Earlier still I preached at St Augustine’s: it was Advent Sunday.

Dot is in Yarmouth today because Carrie, who was leading the service yesterday, took a party of people for lunch at Dale’s B&B hotel. He is keen to host a weekend or something for church people, partly because we are nice to his mother and his neighbours, and partly because the hotel is empty out of season. We might suggest it to our Cake and Compline group.

On Saturday Caren came round for coffee (Phil was not feeling so good; so he stayed at home). We took her along the riverside footpath to St Andrew’s Hall, where there was an Art Fair. Being American, she loved the riverside path. No, I mean she really loved it. The Art Fair was pretty packed, mainly with artists, because it cost £3.50 to get in if you weren’t one. There was some good stuff, but a lot of it was hugely expensive. We chatted to a few of the artists, but the only ones I knew were Martin Mitchell and Sarah Cannell. I didn’t chat to them, but not because I don’t like them.

Afterwards we went to Jarrolds for lunch, running into my former trainee Abigail Saltmarsh on the way, which was nice. Dot and Caren had Croque Monsieur, and I had Croque Madame (with duck egg). On the way out we ran into Kim from Carrie’s book club, who is lovely and probably Irish, I wouldn’t wonder. I went to the loo as Dot and Caren walked home, and arrived back just as Caren was about to leave.

The week as a whole had been quite satisfying, as I got through a long list of stuff and then realised I didn’t have to file a tax return because I’m earning too little. Which is good and bad simultaneously.

On Monday we also had a meal with Angela and Rodney at Gem, the new restaurant that has replaces Prezzo and Sasses. It’s sort of Eastern Mediterranean, but I chose the only dish with chips. Surprisingly, the chips were superb, as was the chicken. The others had moussaka, which they liked. Dot and I had a sharing sweet, which included baklava.

On Tuesday David went to Canada for Christmas, and Dot went to the ballet (Cinderella) with Ruth. On Wednesday the Hendersons came round in the afternoon for a brief cup of tea/coffee, and in the evening I had drinks in the pub with Neville while Dot rehearsed. Cold and wet, as I recall. The weather, not Neville. Or Dot.

The next day we went to the Book Club, but it wasn’t terribly inspiring. Much more inspiring was Friday evening, when we went to Choral Evensong at the Cathedral before the meeting of participants in the Holy Land pilgrimage, which is scheduled for the end of February. At the Evensong we sat in the choir, which proved quite fascinating – almost as fascinating as the fact that we were joined there by Ann and James (Knox) Whittet, who will also be on the trip. James is a very good poet who comes from Islay and has worked a bit on the Paston stuff. Ann works for the Bishop of Lynn, who is also coming.

From the Cathedral we walked to the Westron Room for the meeting, with Dot engaging in a chat with the Dean, who then took us all through the itinerary, using slides. I sat next to a lady called Sarah, who was very pleasant. Her husband didn’t want to go, which is interesting, because neither James nor I was all that keen, but our wives both were. Is it a sex thing? We are flying from Luton Airport. If only we knew someone who lives near Luton…

Actually, it doesn’t matter, because we are likely to travel to Luton by coach. There is a list of people who want to. We signed it.