Feeling pretty tired: not sure if this is a combination of a continued infection (if that’s what it is) and the stronger antibiotics that the doctor gave me or just the result of a packed few days. Because of the tiredness it’s hard to tell if I’m actually feeling better, but I think I am: I don’t have the nauseous feeling any more, and the strange headiness is much diminished, but the heaviness in my abdomen is no better. The doctor wants me to get this looked at by insertion of what he calls a telescope into my nether regions. The letter for me to book an appointment has arrived, but when I tried to book, neither Norwich nor Cromer had any appointments available. I am resisting the massively uncompelling lure of Gorleston and Bury St Edmunds.

Dot meanwhile still has a back problem: she is under the chiropractor and feeling a bit better, but nervous of doing any stretching at all. Walking is a bit painful after a while. Meanwhile my brother Phil tells me that he and Joy are both suffering severe leg pains. Nevertheless he came with me this afternoon to John Lewis (before he told me about his legs) to buy a television/DVD player for Andrew. A quick operation: I had gone home for the car and returned to pick it up within half an hour. Just hope Andrew will be able to use it. I’m dropping it off on the way to Derbyshire on Friday.

Yesterday I had a bit of déjà vu at Wicklewood, where I had been invited to talk about journalism for a modest fee. Year 6 class and teacher proved very amenable once I had managed to find the way into the school, and it all came back to me. Seemed to go well: I enjoyed it anyway. Afterwards I met Dot at Park Farm for lunch. In the evening I played Steve Crane at chess and won on time after seeing a winning combination earlier and wrongly dismissing it. Made hard work of the whole thing.

I made my first tentative stabs at being church treasurer last Thursday, when I called round Vicky’s for an explanation of how it worked. Seemed reasonably straightforward (hah!), but she is hanging on to the accounts until she finishes them off for last year and reconciles a discrepancy on the statement.

The next day we went to the Banningham Crown for a birthday lunch with Jessie. Also present: Roger, Jude and Philip; Janet and Ray and their daughter Judy and her husband Don. Meal and service were first-class; they even lit a birthday candle for Jessie and stuck it in her sweet. Went back to Jessie’s for tea and coffee and suddenly realised it was 5.45pm, and we were supposed to be helping to set up St Luke’s for Robert Beckford at 6.30pm. Well, we were a bit late, but there were plenty of helpers. RB is a theologian who makes documentaries for Channel 4, and he was very challenging on “picking a fight” with people who were persecuting the poor. He highlighted the USA’s exploitation of Ghana by dumping subsidised rice there and ruining the local farmers, with appalling results (teenage girls leaving the villages and working in town brothels). Hard to understand how people can do this and still sleep at night.

Dot has just returned from visiting another school (Wreningham) and the odd shop on the way back. She heard a story on the radio about headlines, which included one about a road crash on the Azores, where there were only two roads and only one crossroads on the island. Azores a first time. Olé.