There was still a very cold wind on Wednesday (24th), with a mixture of sun and showers. Judy came round to watch The Chosen, and then all three of us went to church for Bible Study – joined by Debbie, Steve and Phoebe (for the first time). Did most of Philemon! Afterwards Dot and I drove directly to Salthouse to see the Christian artists’ exhibition; had a chat with Charlotte Ashenden and bought a few cards. Also spoke to Ian Dyble’s wife. Afterwards called in at the Manor in Blakeney for tea and cake – it’s getting very smart – and got home around 5pm. Had pea and ham soup for supper, watched Masterchef and then Dot went to orchestra rehearsal with Janet. Neither of us was well, but we were pretending we were. 

Thursday – Same old weather. David Archer left car in drive while he went to London. I felt good when I woke up but went downhill: felt very cold again. Better by evening. Dot still stuffed up, but seems to be recovering. I finished Parish Pump articles: last two on Mallory and Sudan. Bridget came to clean: I sort of said I’d do a new treasure trail for C&C group for September, starting at the Cathedral and ending at the Assembly House. Des got fish and chips instead of tomorrow, when they’re going to Lichfield to see their new grandson. Difficult delivery for daughter. Rang Annette to check on arrangements for Saturday. 

Friday was still cool and grey, but mostly dry. Dot felt very under weather this morning: so I drove her up to the surgery, and amazingly she was able to get an appointment for 4pm. This meant I had to get the bus home from my 3pm hospital appointment, looking at my flow. That didn’t go too well as I find it hard to perform on demand, but it was helpful in that they told me I should be reducing my catheterisation to once a week. I was already reducing it, but will now do it faster. Should be getting another flow appointment in June. Yippee. Meanwhile Dot got a good going over by a nurse practitioner and was given some nasal spray as well as instructions on how to do the special manoeuvre to stop her vertigo. Also told her she no longer had chest infection. She did the manoeuvre later and it seemed to have worked – for a while anyway. My skin has started itching again, and I’m very tired. Can do stuff ok though. 

Saturday was overcast and cool but mainly dry. Dot has been having lots of trouble with vertigo: we tried the manoeuvre described by the nurse practitioner, but it didn’t seem to work after all – in fact it was worse for a while. Annette rang to say she had an ear infection and couldn’t come to Caroline Gilfillan’s memorial afternoon at Hempton Memorial Hall. As I’d been intending to pick her up, that made it much easier for me : sad for her though. Despite her condition, Dot went to match – Norwich drew 2-2 –and I left around 1pm with my box of books and CDs and plate of food, which I’d remembered to cook at the last minute when Dot reminded me.

Traffic was heavy getting out of city, but I got to Hempton in time. About 25 people there altogether – several others were ill – including organisers Dave and Liz Easley, Kay and David Riggs, Di Griffiths, and Elizabeth Bracken from Beccles. Almost everyone contributed – I read Rebecca Clayton, from the Oxnead book. Songs, poems and so on. Even a couple of recordings of Caroline reading and singing. Left at just after 6.15 and got home just after 7pm. Cooked salmon ( though I didn’t need it). Amy FaceTimed to check on our health. We watched  some TV including a short documentary on the Yardbirds and a bit of Match of the Day. 

Sunday was still wintry: mainly grey and quite a bit of rain. Bad day for Dot: her vertigo was giving her a lot of trouble, especially in church in the morning. She sat at the back with Liz and didn’t play in the music group. Graham led and Howard preached on Ecclesiastes again. Took Ray home: he was not too good today – got a helping hand to car from Amanda. Tried the Epley manoeuvre again with Dot. Doesn’t really seem to work. Best when she sits quietly watching TV. All very unlike her usual bubbly self: quite worrying. Didn’t feel particularly well myself: head, teeth and eyes not at their best. Watched last Montalbano and a couple of other things. Carrie came round because Dot was bad and had a chat and cup of tea. 

Yesterday was a much nicer day. Lots of sun, and milder, though still windy. Dot and I decided to go for a bluebell walk in Lion Wood. Drove up to back of Rosary, then walked through Lion  Wood – plenty of bluebells on the west side. Eventually emerged at Pilling Road and met a couple of people looking for Barrack Street. Then back to car and a brief excursion into Rosary to look at graves, which need some TLC. Back home, felt very tired and lay down after lunch. Then went into garden to cut back ivy. After supper watched Night Mail – a brilliant little film that made you feel good. Later David rang and we had a really long talk about various things, including Dot’s vertigo problem (which seems to be improving) and Diderot, especially how we remember our past. I have a bit of a pain around my right groin. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. 

Sunny spells on Thursday 18 April, with more rain in the evening. Dot hasn’t been at all well, with her head/ear problem recurring. But she improved towards evening, as did I – I had been feeling pretty ropey, but not too ropey to function. Had a bad night and was up early – probably my speed awareness course was on my mind. This started around 9.15 and was run by Natalie, from Suffolk, who did a pretty good job. There were about nine of us.

It was pretty predictable, but the stuff about recognising speed limits and types of road signs was good. The stopping distances stuff was nonsense because it ignored visibility and anticipation, and there was general acceptance that driving slowly is safer, which it isn’t. However she came across well and did as good a job as she could given the circumstances. Dot had a at very quiet day, but had a distanced chat with Bridget when she came to clean. Needless to say we watched a good bit of TV, including Masterchef, Professor T and a Palin documentary on Nigeria. Printed out a hymn for Sunday (Cornerstone).

Friday started off wet, then dry but with a cold wind from the north. Got up early to be ready for the guy coming to service our alarm, but he didn’t come till nearly 10am. Had a bath afterwards and felt tired out as a result. Felt pretty ropey most of the day, but went out for street meet ( all male – Des, young John and Mark) and despite the low temperature felt better, though I was out for nearly 90 minutes. Dot didn’t feel up to it: she is halfway through her antibiotics. Cooked salmon afterwards and we watched TV. I fell asleep during Beyond Paradise. Earlier Dot and I looked at ceilidh music. 

Saturday was dry, coolish, windy. Strange day. Dot had a bad night. Got her a drink around 4am. Neither of us got much more sleep. Wasn’t feeling great, but went to church to help with spring-cleaning. Very little energy, but I did a bit. Found some old treasurer’s files, which went out, and some of my poetry books – and my cousin Adrian’s – which I brought home. Felt very tired and went to sleep after lunch: woke to find Dot, amazingly, intending to go to Carrow Road.

I took her in the car – slow because of Morrisons-generated queue. Came home and watched episode of Beyond Paradise that I had largely slept through yesterday. City drew 1-1 with Bristol City. Cooked venison grillettes, then we watched a couple of episodes of This Town – a drama series based mainly in Birmingham at the time of the IRA troubles, but brilliantly done and with good music. In between the two episodes, wrote prayers for Sunday. 

Sunday was a similar day, weatherwise. Cold wind becoming tiresome. Dot stayed in bed while I went to church and played in worship group with Steve and Matt. Also did the prayers. Afterwards took Ray home after fetching car from way up Oak Street. Watched quite a lot of TV, including end of Wisting (Norway noir) and more of This Town. David FaceTimed and we had a slightly shorter talk than usual. Cooked eggs and bacon – Dot had a rather more exotic egg concoction. 

Monday was still chilly and overcast, but mainly dry. Felt pretty lousy in the morning and toyed with taking my random antibiotics, but Dot didn’t mention them when she came out of the shower, so instead I went to the ear clinic (now on St Augustine’s) and had a microsuction clear-out.  Left ear was bit painful – wax stuck to eardrum, but felt better afterwards. Before that Dot went to Morrisons for food, after I’d checked with Joy that she and Phil could come for lunch tomorrow. I wrote two out of the four pieces for Parish Pump, on D-Day and 1984. Too much information! We decided not to go the parish AGM: Dot was definitely improving but was not right yet. I cooked salmon instead. We watched some TV, and Dot finished her Peter May thriller. Mark has gone to Australia.

Yesterday (Tuesday) the weather was pretty much unchanged: cool, overcast, some rain. Neither of us felt particularly well in the morning, but we didn’t want to put off Phil and Joy again; so we went ahead, and it worked out very well. They arrived just after noon and had coffee while I cooked chilli con carne and mushrooms. Dot had bought poppadoms, and we had mango chutney etc. All went down well. Cheesecake afterwards, and quite a long talk after that – found we had similar opinions on some critical issues.

They left around 5pm, and I dozed for a while, then we watched the last three episodes of This Town, partly because the penultimate one lost about half an hour in recording; so we caught it on iPlayer and then watched the last one, which doesn’t broadcast till next week. Excellent production and a good ending, despite a negative review in Private Eye. 

Friday 12 April  – Mild and dry. The scaffolders finished taking their stuff away, and we went for a walk down Bungalow Lane by the marshes – all very run down, but we found Thorpe Ferry and a cafe that we didn’t know existed, run by a very nice Thai woman. Had tea and coffee then walked back. I finished my En Passant chess games. Out for street meet – Des, Chris (who has a chest infection and went to the walk-in centre), Mark, John, Jonathan, Matt. Des got us fish and chips, which were excellent, and we watched TV. 

Saturday was again mild and dry. Went up to podiatrist with Dot, and while she had her other ingrowing toenail dealt with I walked up to the cemetery and had a stroll round. Am trying to get my walking up again. In the afternoon Dot worked in the garden. Bob brought us a second bottle of wine to compensate for the trouble we’ve had with scaffolders working in our garden. Not much trouble really. Also flowers! Norwich beat Preston 1-0 away, scoring very late on. Watched Grand National. Had sea bass. 

Sunday – Still fairly mild, but with the hint of a cool breeze. Dry. Drove to church and led the service, with Anna doing lectio. After fried lunch walked up to Rosary with Dot and removed dead flowers. Bluebells looking good. Reached over 4500 steps for third day running, but had backache, which I hope is muscles rather than kidney. Had pizza in the evening. Watched a couple of episodes of scandi noir and the final one of Criminal Record on Apple TV, which was good. Also a Chaplin film, The Kid, which was brilliant. 

Monday – Complete change in the weather. Cold, very windy and some heavy rain, including hail. A few bright intervals. Linda came and cut our hair. I had a bath and felt very tired afterwards. Reading The Rest is History, which is a strange mixture of the fascinating and the trivial. Printed out some liturgy pages. Graham came round for safeguarding meeting with Dot and Howard, but Howard forgot to come. He took part by phone. In the evening we gave Judy a lift to Bridget’s for Cake and Compline. Should have been at Eleanor’s, but she was ill. Phil didn’t come. Nice scones. 

Yesterday was still pretty chilly, with wind and a fair bit of rain. Went to Morrisons in the morning, then after a quick lunch we drove to Sainsbury’s at Thorpe to take part in an NHS cancer test by giving blood. Later Dot walked up into the city and bought a bra, followed by a meal with Kim and a performance of Edward Scissorhands – a modern ballet, which they both enjoyed. Dot walked home afterwards: it had stopped raining. 

Today was no real improvement, weatherwise. Generally pretty damp, but with some dry spells. Drove to church for Bible study, which turned into a free-ranging discussion with both Ellie and Judy absent. I then drove home while Dot stayed, but just after I fried some potatoes I got a call from Dot, who had had a very bad coughing fit. I drove up to fetch her and took her to the walk-in centre. They said 45 minutes, but it was nearer half an hour.

I drove home but was again called by Dot pretty quickly. She has a chest infection and was prescribed antibiotics – specifically from her chemist on Heartsease: so we drove up there. She has been taking it fairly easy for the rest of the day, though she says she doesn’t feel really ill. I’ve been feeling pretty ropey, but I’m not sure why. Not bad enough to get out of looking after Dot, I’m happy to say. I walked up to the post office and posted a birthday card to Angela, too. Watched first episode of new series of Blue Lights, which was excellent. Also watched Midsomer Murders to see if it was as bad as I remembered. It is, but I don’t know why. Bad acting? Bad directing? Bad script? General disbelief? Who knows?

Almost forgot – it’s my father’s birthday. He would have been 111.

Friday, April 12, and it’s still mild. I’ve just taken Dot up to the hospital for a blood test: sat in the new housing estate to wait for her, but it wasn’t long. When we got home the roofers were waiting politely to ask if they could go in and take the rest of their stuff away – apart from the scaffolding, which apparently goes this afternoon.

To complete last Saturday – the D’Souzas got home from their Egyptian holiday about 9pm. Pretty mild day. Celebrations after City’s 1-0 win against Ipswich. Cooked chili con carne and we watched a film, some football and part of an Abba  documentary. 

Sunday was dry and fairly mild but very windy. Anna had migraine: so only Dot, Martin and I in music group. Congregation bit on small side – 18 – must have heard I was preaching. Dot did prayers. Sophie had a message while I was speaking! Howard and Matt are halfway through mending the wall. Took Ray home: his legs are pretty bad. Took Des his key back. They had a good time in Egypt. Spent most of day watching TV, including new Apple series called Criminal Record, which is pretty good. Spurs won and Liverpool only drew – both good. 

Monday was mild again. Mainly dry, till late. Drove up to chemist to pick up pills while Dot gave urine sample at surgery: she also heard she had to have a blood test at the hospital later this week – not sure what for. She still has severe coughing/choking fits occasionally, but she is improving. Des came over to show us his grandson. Gravel has been delivered for next-door front garden. Caught up with e-mails etc. Watched a lot of TV again. We changed bed. Dot did a lot of washing and felt very tired. Very warm in sun. 

Tuesday was still fairly mild, but overcast and quite a lot of rain. I stayed in, but Dot went to Morrisons in the afternoon. I caught up with three months of En Passant – playing through the games – and kept up to date on the computer. Saw the end of Passenger, a crime drama, which was a complete cop-out. I should sue them to get the time we spent watching it refunded. Rob dropped off some poetry books for me to take to the Caroline Gilfillan celebration at the end of the month. Norwich drew 2-2 with Sheff Wed away after being 2-0 up after 17 minutes. Watched fourth episode of Criminal Record on Apple – very good. 

Wednesday – Overcast and windy, though fairly mild. No total eclipse here, but big in America and Canada. Quiet day. Spent a lot of time on computer, playing through some more En Passant games and generally sorting things out. Watched a lot of TV again. Adjusting to Dot’s new diet plan: had sweet potatoes this evening. Happily the duck was very good. In late morning Judy came round to watch The Chosen, and stayed for two episodes. Dot sorted through lots of old photos, with Diderot in mind. FaceTimed David in the evening. 

Thursday – Quite mild again, and dry. After lunch I picked up Mike Read from his house, and we drove to Cromer to visit checks stars Owen and Kathleen Hindle. Owen is now 84 and Kathy’s in her late 70s. They were very welcoming: tea and cakes offered repeatedly! Discovered Kathy was born in Gorbals (Catholic) and once lived in Ballater Road, Glasgow.  Also that Mark Hindle (their elder son) was now married to Liz Nice, one of my former trainees and now in a senior management position in the company!! They live at Bury St Edmunds. House (bungalow) full of chess books – Owen insisted I take two duplicate ones. Took pictures in the garden. When I got home Bridget was still here; so was able to say hello. Dot is now on a diet so we don’t have the same food as each other, which is interesting. I think that’s the word. I had sausages eggs and fried potatoes – she had eggs and fried sweet potatoes in tortillas. Watched a bit of TV  football and Masterchef.

As I write this, Dot is at Carrow Road, hoping that Norwich hang on to beat Ipswich in the big local derby. At the moment they are leading 1-0. She has got over her cold (enough to go out, anyway), but I am feeling pretty tired, especially after walking her down to the ground. Have been feeling quite tired recently, for some reason.

Monday was overcast at first, but some sun later. Dry. Got up late. Dot had a cold, but this made me do more things and therefore feel better. Thanks to Oliver’s link we were able to watch Norwich lose 3-1 to Leicester on Sky TV. In the afternoon I did a bit of work and Dot went for a walk. Looked at our photos on TV. I cooked the meal – salmon. Afterwards we watched Fargo: think O and A liked it. To bed fairly late. 

Tuesday was dry most of the day, but wet in the evening. Not too cold. Dot now had pretty bad cold; hoped (vainly) it would go away by Friday. This morning she went up to the surgery to get checked over for general health, and got some advice she would rather not have, involving not eating things she likes. While she was out, Oliver, Amy and I looked at our old photobooks, and when she came back we went to Gem for lunch, which was very pleasant. They set off for home just after 3pm and made good time. They both had plans for this evening! Dot took it easy and I did quite a bit of clearing up, involving moving the car, making the bed, washing dishes, putting the bins out and so on. We watched the end of the Coma drama serial, which was pretty good, actually, and then a documentary about the UK hurricane of January 1990.

Wednesday was fairly mild and mainly dry. Strange day. Dot was feeling pretty ill all day with cold symptoms and stayed in bed till mid-afternoon. I was feeling pretty mediocre but quite a bit better than her. Bridget came late morning and did the cleaning, while Dot stayed in her room to avoid giving her a cold. Bin men came quite early. i caught up with some e-mails and started to think about my sermon. Dot came down and we watched a bit of TV – a really good programme about the Zambezi, and the first episode of a drama series called Passenger. I made a soup from some leftover chicken and later cooked some smoked haddock. Went to bed early.

Thursday – Grey day, with lots of rain later. Not cold. Stayed in all day, except for going over to Des’s with papers. While I was there he messaged me to ask me to turn on solar panel boost.  Dot was still bad to start with, but improved quite a bit later, though not before I’d contacted Joy to suggest postponing tomorrow’s birthday meal. After a phone conversation we agreed to do that. I felt mediocre early on, but improved. David FaceTimed early evening as I was cooking a meal (pies), and he said Amy the had caught the cold. I wrote my sermon during the afternoon after spending ages trying to get Microsoft Word back for Dot after it had disappeared during a Mac upgrade. Eventually shared my Microsoft 365 with her, and happily it retrieved all her files. Watched a bit of TV in evening, including a documentary on the Yukon river, plus Professor T and a couple of other things. 

Friday started very wet, then dry and quite mild, with some sun: ended with rain again. Very full day. Drove out to Dereham to bring Phil and Joy into Norwich to their solicitor for will-signing; then drove them home again. Tired. After lunch went to Morrisons and bought food and petrol. Dot still suffering, with bad cough: unfortunately Harriet arrived just as I was leaving. Had long talk with David on FaceTime, mainly about Diderot – he’s made some simplifying changes. Looks good. Went out for street meet with Mark, Matt and Jonathan, and met Maybelle, who has moved into No9, with her husband (Daniel?).  Des and Chris still in Egypt. Had mussels for supper, then watched two more episodes of Passenger, which is weirdly compelling. Then Beyond Paradise, which was pretty silly. 

PS They won 1-0. Dot was quite pleased.

It’s April 1 – no kidding. We were roused by some guys wanting to access our back garden so that they could do work on the chimney next door (more accurately, the joint chimney belonging to Bob and Sean). No, really. We were. Dot has a sore throat, and I’m a little bit the worse for wear, and Oliver and Amy are still in bed as I write. No, Amy’s just come down.

Last Wednesday was mostly dry and cool. A busy couple of days in prospect became much less busy when I told Kristine I had a cold: she is still suffering from a chest infection and antibiotics that make her feel sick; so we cancelled her visit for Thursday. I managed to do the Bible study at church with Judy, Steve, Debbie, Leanne and Dot, which went quite well. Dot stayed on for Taizé etc and didn’t get home till 4.30pm. I had phone call from Paul, who has been to Belize. He seemed well. Some confusion over a possible meeting with Nikki etc on Saturday. Decided to give it a miss (it was eventually cancelled). Dot went to orchestra rehearsal in the evening. I watched some football and part of a documentary about Indian railways that was unexpectedly interesting. Cold is a bit annoying but not as bad as I used to get them. 

Thursday was mainly dry, but some heavy rain in the afternoon. My cold got worse, and I felt pretty rotten all day. Glad Kristine didn’t come. Stayed in bed most of morning while Dot went to shops. Around lunchtime got up and wrote a couple of things for Diderot. Read quite a bit of Peter May book I bought in Buxton. Very good. Watched a bit of television – finished Schitts Creek again. Cooked evening meal. Went to bed early. 

Friday – Dry. Felt pretty down all day with a cold and cough. Finished Peter May book – Freeze Frame – which was very good. Watched a long documentary on the Serpent, a serial killer, which was a bit different because done by  interviewing him. Interesting. Dot went to football: Norwich won 2-1 against Plymouth. Spoke to Oliver on FaceTime to try to arrange visit, but will try again tomorrow to see if I’m feeling better. 

Saturday – Dry. Felt better than yesterday, but still well under par. Bit  of a headache, some sneezing and a slight cough. Did quite a bit of clearing up, especially after we spoke to Oliver around midday, and he decided they would come. Dot went to Morrisons, and I popped over to Des’s to leave some papers there and tidy up. Set the alarm off by mistake, but soon put it right. Dot made a couple of cakes – one for church and one for us. Watched a bit of a drama called Coma, which is quite good. Earlier watched football and the boat race (women and men – both won by Cambridge). Oliver and Amy arrived about 9.30, and we looked at some old photos. Oliver and I went to bed while the other two watched Gilmour  Girls, I think. 

Easter Sunday started quite pleasant, but by the end of church slid into a pretty horrible grey and wet day. Took Oliver and Amy to church, and they got a very nice reception from people generally. I decided not to play in the band, and they did very well without me. Nice service led by Liz, and with a good sermon from Howard on the Resurrection. Some nice conversations afterwards. Stayed in rest of day: David FaceTimed – he was rear-ended in his new car, but no serious damage other than a dent. Did a series of quizzes with Oliver and Amy, with the usual results. Lovely evening meal of chicken, roast potatoes, parsnips, beans and gravy. Played hunt the Easter chicks, with again the usual results. Earlier at Oliver’s request I played some Bob Dylan and a couple of other songs that everyone seemed to like. Bed quite late – now British Summer Time, but no one told the weather.