Beautifully sunny this Friday morning. I’ve already had a bath and been to the post office to send off a couple of my poetry books to friends. This costs £1.53 a time because each one is five grams over the limit for normal second class. The sorting office was closed; so I went to the post office at Budgens, where I discovered you couldn’t buy £1.53 stamps; so I’ve come back with a selection that may or may not add up. Like Government covid figures, really.

On Monday, after my Zoom session with Rob and Peter, we watched Suspicion, starring Cary Grant, who is always good value – but I don’t think the film really worked. Am also getting a bit fed up with Marcella, a TV series set in Northern Ireland, because the title character is just too weird. Another Northern Ireland series, Bloodlands, starring James Nesbitt, had just started and is far, far better.

Norwich beat Birmingham 3-1 on Tuesday, but didn’t play particularly well and looked as if they could lose it in the first half. I think Farke gave them a heavy pep talk at half-time. Earlier Dot went up to the garden centre. We watched the start of the new season of Unforgotten, which is pretty good, as far as I can remember 🙂

The next day we did a lot of work in the garden. I cut back all the roses outside the back door and spent ages squeezing them into the brown bin – almost a miracle. Multiple cuts, but probably not serious… Dot also cut the roses at the front and did a lot of tidying up. Later we both had a bath, though not simultaneously.

This was a big day, because while looking for the cricket on All4 I stumbled across P’Tang, Yang, Kipperbang, a brilliant film which I had been sort of looking for for some time. It’s the ultimate feelgood movie, so beautifully written and acted it made you want to laugh and cry at the same time. If anyone ever reads this blog, I urge you try to watch it. Dot and I watched it, and I’m happy to say she liked it about as much as I did.

We also managed to squeeze in our regular Compline, again with a full attendance, plus the first day of the third Test against India, in which England managed 112 all out. This was matched only by the second innings, when they achieved 81 all out, losing by ten wickets. They did manage to get India out for 145, but took no wickets in their second innings. The abject batting was matched only by pathetic complaints about the pitch (they won the toss and chose to bat) and on-field complaints about the umpiring, which was excellent, considering the conditions. They complained about a “catch” by Stokes that was given not out. It clearly touched the ground – bit surprised at Stokes, who is usually very fair-minded and walks when he knows he’s out.

Yesterday I did an online session with the Norfolk Record Office about how to use their new online catalogue. This would have been slightly better if they hadn’t assumed that everyone knew how to use their old online catalogue, but still it was useful and came with a workbook containing full notes. After lunch Dot and I went up to the garden centre and bought some new tools for pruning (note the excellent timing – we did the pruning the day before) plus various other things, including a sack of birdseed and some cards. Afterwards we went for a walk on the dark side of Mousehold, stumbling on St William’s Chapel remains. All very beautiful, but of course lots of people and a fair number of dogs. We did manage to find some quiet spots.

Watched the end of The Bay, which pulled up rather sudden but was pretty good, and the second episode of Elizabeth R, an old series starring Glenda Jackson that’s beautifully done, though amusingly pedestrian, or should I say equestrian. Lots of scenes with people walking and riding. One or two shots reminiscent of Monty Python, but still very well worth watching.

Have just discovered that Helen Champion, the brilliant manager at Andrew’s care home in Coventry, is leaving next week. Very sad news: she is a superb organiser and extremely kind. Things are changing all round. Phil rang the other day to say they had a place at Eckling Grange in Dereham, and they would probably be moving in May or June. He is a bit stressed about everything that has to be done before then, but who wouldn’t be? The same morning Dot’s cousin Roger rang to say that he and Debbie would be moving to North Walsham. They have been living at Heartsease, but Debbie is retiring (her eyes are very bad), and North Walsham has many advantages for them, as well as being his birthplace, of course. Su Lee is moving from Bacton after many years (I worked with her on the EDP), and of course Lucy is moving from Bowthorpe to Horstead.

Today I had a Zoom meeting with Rob and Peter about the future of the Paston Heritage Society. Bit unclear about what’s going to happen, but Rob is putting together some proposals, which involve him stepping down as chairman and possibly the PHS being dissolved. But we shall see. It’s hard to get people interested in being members, let alone trustees. I am likely to step down too at the end of the year, at least as an active member.

When the batteries in my PINsentry went flat mid-transaction this morning, Dot and I went for a walk and called in at Boots and Morrisons to get replacements. I wasn’t too happy at what was on offer, though they eventually turned out to be the right ones, and Dot went back for them while I was Zooming. But on the way back first time we bumped into Paul Dickson on the Julian Bridge: he is now doing virtual tours online, and we’re going to tune into one on Wednesday. May be able to persuade him to do a Paston one.

Meanwhile Robin has sent me his logbook of the yomps we did between 1996 and 2000, which proved very interesting as well as containing a very unflattering picture of me. I have submitted four tanka to the “On a Knife Edge” project being run by some Lettering organisation which is working with the Suffolk Poetry Society. I was persuaded to get my finger out by Lynne Nesbit, who is the copy editor for the project.

On Saturday Norwich won 1-0 against Rotherham, but should have won about 5-0. Thanks to other top championship teams losing unexpectedly, it turned out to be a very, very good result. Sadly Spurs have not yet come out of their poor run, though they played well in the second half yesterday against West Ham, losing 2-1.

Dot and I have been doing quite a lot of walking, much of it involving the Rosary. The weather is extremely spring-like. I was actually too warm on a couple of the walks. Yesterday I preached on Zoom at our church meeting. Bit odd because of the lack of visible reaction (no eggs or tomatoes). Later watched Finding Alice, a TV serial that seemed particularly pointless. Surprised Keeley Hawes went for it. Have finished reading Born Bad, a book on original sin by James Boyce, who used to come to St Augustine’s before returning to Tasmania. Interesting book, though I have one or two questions…

The snow has utterly vanished, and today it’s quite pleasantly mild and bright, though rain is predicted for later. It’s only 11am, and already I’ve been to the chemist’s to pick up my repeat prescription, to the printer’s to take delivery of my poetry books, and to the Rosary and Lion Wood to get my steps up after a day in yesterday. Quite a thrill seeing my poetry books, Under Cover of Day – 50 of them altogether – all snug in their package.

Back to last Friday. I dug the car out from under a pretty thick coating of snow and took it for a test drive, then returned to pick up Dot and her hearts for delivery to the church hall. No problem with any of this. The roads were pretty clear – even Aspland Road was easily drivable. Fred rang up as I was backing out of the drive; so I rang him back later to discover he had prostate cancer, though happily at an early, treatable stage. He is having radiotherapy. Also spoke to David and Julia about holidays; they have now booked a week in Blakeney for June, but I am a bit uncertain as to what to do, because I don’t want to mess up any Canadian plans.

Later we watched Young Guns, which I have to say was a pretty good western, if you like westerns, which I do.

Had a long chat with Lucy on Saturday about the Paston Heritage Society. She is moving from Bowthorpe to Horstead in a couple of months. Norwich beat Stoke 4-1, rediscovering their ability to shoot. Later we watched It Always Rains on Sunday, an old film set in the East End. I thought it was brilliant, catching the mood of the time perfectly, and starring Googie Withers, who is truly wonderful, despite her name.

Sunday was Valentine’s Day, and Dot sneakily made me a card, as well as sending me an e-card using her Jacqui Lawson account. I got her breakfast in bed, and we listened to the last of Virginia Mary Rolf, Season 2. We decided to skip Season 3. We had a Zoom service at the usual time, and a “proper” meal at the table! In this case it consisted of trout pate and flatbreads as a starter, one of our favourite soups as main, and a fruit salad afterwards. All accompanied by a rather nice rosé, which we demolished between us. Amy FaceTimed, and so did Andrew, who is not too well with a possible urinary tract infection. We watched the last episode of The Serpent, which was excellent.

By Monday it was definitely warmer, and nearly all the snow had melted. We watched India demolishing England on a turning pitch in the Second Test, and had a long chat with David and Chrissy on FaceTime. We posted Rosie’s birthday card and went for a walk down past the railway cottages and back along the river.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I wrote my Parish Pump pieces on Marcus Aurelius, Robert Walpole, Graham Greene and the Peak District. Went for a late walk on Tuesday – after a pancake lunch – up to the roundabout, down to the lights and then back down Riverside Road. In the evening I had a two-hour Zoom session with the Jurnet poets, including two or three from the USA, one from South Cambridgeshire and one from Korea. Bit of a mixed bag. I read Compline: the theme was Light and Dark.

Dot has been struggling with a bad back; so had had to restrict her violin practice. This is improved now, but she has a problem with the muscle in her neck, which can be quite painful. Oddly, I have an almost exactly similar problem, making it difficult to look right and causing a bit of a headache. It couldn’t be a side-effect of the vaccination, could it? That was four weeks ago now.

Yesterday I finished my sermon, and we watched Norwich beat Coventry 2-0, playing very well in the first half and a bit ineptly in the second, for some reason. England lost to India at cricket. We went to bed early because we were both feeling rather sorry for ourselves. I haven’t slept well for the last two nights. Perhaps it’s Lent-related… As part of St Augustine’s Way we are reading through some Psalms, and I’m having a go at writing some poems.

Very cold week, with snow cover persisting. On Tuesday there was a bit of blue sky with occasional snow showers, and we went for a walk before lunch, posting a letter and then venturing into the Rosary, which of course looked beautiful. No milk had been delivered; so Dot popped into shop on Rosary Road. No bins emptied either: we have just heard that the blue one will be emptied tomorrow and the brown one not at all. The road does look a bit dodgy.

In the evening we had a CNSOB Zoom meeting, which featured a general ineptness. Even the organiser, who is a nuclear physicist, didn’t seem to know what he was doing as far as screen-sharing was concerned. Lots of time wasted. My contribution on Westray was not particularly inspiring, but Fred’s was interesting. Adrian of course did a full-scale Powerpoint production, exceeding the time limit. He could have taken all evening, and probably should have. Meanwhile Dot was FaceTiming with Amy, which was almost certainly more interesting.

I think it was on Tuesday that we watched Jaws, which featured a large shark that these days looked decidedly wooden. However the film’s depiction of idiot authorities who put making money before people’s safety seemed up to date. I wasn’t entirely clear, though, why councillors should be urging people to get in the sea when they were already on the beach. You can’t buy things in the sea.

Wednesday was very sunny, with a deep blue sky. Still very cool, though snow was being melted by the sun. The Hello Fresh guy drove up the road with no trouble, but reversed all the way down. We watched The Thomas Crown Affair, which was a delight: very cleverly done and well acted, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Also had a Compline session, which went well, though Kim couldn’t join us. Saw highlights of superb FA Cup game between Everton and Spurs, which sadly Everton won 5-4.

It was sunny again yesterday, and at one point Dot and I were standing in the utility room doorway, enjoying the sun’s warmth on our faces. However, it was still very cold generally, and the previous night had seen extremely low temperatures all over the country, notably –23C in Braemar. The pavements were extremely slippery; so we resisted the temptation to go for walk. Des brought round the groceries, and Dot and I did some reading in the afternoon, which was unexpectedly nice. I am nearing the end of Clive James’ Poetry Notebook.

Dot has a dodgy back, and my neck is painful if I get it in the wrong position. Later we watched Crimson Tide, a good nuclear sub thriller, and most of The Lost City of Z, a film about an explorer in the Amazon. We saw the end of it this morning: interesting but by no means perfect, though that would have been difficult when the subject matter is true, but no-one knows what happened at the end. David FaceTimed, which was slightly less surreal.

So it’s now Friday. Still extremely cold, though it shouldn’t last much longer if we are to believe the forecasters. Des is getting Dot some fish and chips tonight: too fatty for me, unfortunately. At some point we are supposed to be taking up some hearts to the church hall to be put in the windows for Valentine’s Day with reassuring messages. As I write, Dot is creating them.

Well, the snow has arrived, despite predictions from someone who shall remain nameless (Matt W) that we would never see snow again in Norfolk. It made a weak appearance yesterday, then a more determined approach during the night. Today we have a convincing covering, and I have to say that it looks quite attractive.

We got up late this morning and have had a fairly relaxing day, though I have put the bins out, bumping into Margaret, Michael and Mary (at a distance). Des and Mark have shovelled the pavement and their footpaths: you can see who pulls their weight around here, and who just waits for it to thaw. (Me.)

Yesterday we had a Zoom church meeting as usual. I led it, and Anna did a really good talk on a Psalm and Isaiah 40. Pretty much a full complement, including Martin, who had previously sent a message saying he wasn’t into computer worship. I didn’t even start to reply.

I had a surprise phone call today from Maurice Brown, one of our CNS group who I think I worked with at the City Hall in 1963-65. He had a chess query, which came as a bit of a surprise. He wanted to know how many Queens you could have on the board, because his set came with only one. Tricky. Meanwhile I have just beaten Oliver on time because he forgot to reply. I was two pawns up, but he had some interesting possibilities.

It’s very cold, what with the snow and everything. Another Beast from the East, apparently. Dot and I are watching cricket highlights on All 4 on my iPad because we had difficulty getting it on the TV. It actually comes over very well on the iPad.

It rained most of the day on Saturday; so we stayed in. I sorted out another tray of paper, which was quite heartening, and Dot wrote her P4C stuff for David’s platform, with a little editing help from me. Dot had long phone calls with Anne and with Julia Higbee, and I scraped over 4000 steps by walking up and down the kitchen. Dot has had a bit of a back ache for a few days, which is worrying, though she usually gets over such things quite quickly. If only Verena were available! David and Chrissy FaceTimed us in the evening, and we had quite a long talk. Spurs won and Liverpool lost; so quite a good day. Norwich had lost 2-0 to Swansea on Friday evening, which wasn’t so good.

Meanwhile we have been researching our family trees, and Dot got a reply from someone related to the Myhills (Dot’s great-grandmother was Ruth Myhill). Apparently they may have originated in the north of England. Another more mysterious connection seems to be with Northern Ireland, but we’re waiting for news of that.

Zoom meeting for church went well on Sunday evening. Getting quite used to it, worryingly. On Monday it was still cold, but we had some sun in the afternoon and went for a walk together to the Rosary, plus a little bit extra on the way back. Spoke to the Evetts on the phone; also, unexpectedly, Pat Burgess from church. Des came over in the evening to get back the book he’d lent us by Tom Bower on Jeremy Corbyn. He wanted to return it to the person who’d lent it to him… Finished reading the Antlers book on Scotland: some really interesting stuff in the second half, particularly a piece about the far north (Ben Loyal), and one on the island of Mingulay, near Barra. 

Tuesday was milder, but we didn’t go out, partly because it was rather damp. Instead I sorted out the books that had been ousted from the shelves now hidden behind a wardrobe in the guest bedroom, and then we took down the Christmas decorations, because it was Candlemas. Strange how much lighter the house seems, presumably because it’s now uncluttered. Put the decorations in the attic, which Dot cleaned up while she was there. Later watched Norwich draw 0-0 with Millwall in another dreary game. On the plus side, I sent off my poetry book to the printers, and we watched a brilliant old film called The Train, set at the end of the second world war. 

Wednesday was still reasonably mild. We received a delivery from Naked Wines, but no Hello Fresh this week, which makes a surprising difference. Dot had a Zoom meeting with a head, so I had a late bath, then sorted out some papers, which was quite satisfying. Later we picked up a proof copy of my book from the printers, then walked round Pilling Park and down the road and back. Dropped Dot off at Boots, and she walked home. 

Yesterday was sunny and quite warm in the morning; so we went for a walk to the Rosary before lunch, and sat in the sun for a while. Strange sensation! We then picked up the groceries from Des and changed all the bed sheets. Watched The Dig on Netflix. This is about Sutton Hoo and had been widely praised. Glad to say it was indeed excellent. Ralph Fiennes was excellent as the man who found and excavated it and was then treated appallingly by the experts because he wasn’t an academic.

I gave the go-ahead for the poetry book, then Dot and I investigated her DNA and found a possible link with someone from Belfast. Have contacted, rather nervously, the owner of that tree. There seems little doubt that Dot’s DNA is Celtic, by a very large majority, and no English at all. What was going on in Glasgow 75 years ago?

We’ve been watching four series on TV in which the lead character is a rather neurotic woman (to varying degrees). Must be the in thing. We’ve just finished watching The Drowning on Channel 5, and it was pretty dreadful. The plot and motivations were very shaky, and possibly as a result the acting was unconvincing. No sympathy for lead character at all.

Sunny again today, and after a fairly productive morning we went for a walk after lunch, round the Cathedral up to the top of the Close and then back to Pull’s Ferry and along the path. Spent some time trying to find the cricket on All 4, and when we did, the Broadband link was fragile; so we decided to try it later.