Just back from a brief visit to the chess club. I had been due to play a Bulgarian (Yosif) in the club tournament, but he rang to say he couldn’t make it. However, I was second reserve in our cup team, so I thought I’d better put in an appearance. Had a quick offhand game, then CP put in an appearance and said he was “fighting off flu”, which I guess is OK if you’re particularly self-centred. I turned down an offer to play him and his flu army, and returned home.
Quite relieved at not having to play, actually, as I’ve had a busy day catching up and preparing stuff to take to Coventry tomorrow for an interview with a woman from the council finance department. Andrew has just reached the stage where his money has reduced to such an extent that the council will have to pay his residential fees, and this has to be discussed. I also had to summarise some Board minutes for HG as well as fill in a Gift Aid form for church. And so on.
The catching up arose because Dot and I spent a couple of days assisting at a speaker event. The visitor this time was Fr Robert Kennedy from New York, who has some interesting ideas on zen and Christianity. Some of these ideas prompted me to write some poems, which got read out on the second day, but generally he was a little too radical for me, seeming unwilling to commit himself to anything, which I suppose is very zen. It clearly worked for him (and for some others) but not for me, despite the poetry. The poetry worked OK. The first-day weather was beautiful, which was fortunate because part of his “thing” was walking meditation, in which the entire audience (about 100) processed around the car park in Japanese style. On the second day it rained, and the walking meditation ended up indoors, which was a bit crowded. To be honest it all looked a bit silly, but I guess that’s a failure of imagination on my part.
The weather had also turned colder again, and it was still cold on Sunday – but dry, which was fortunate as we had to walk up to Magdalen Street to meet Heather, Sam and Simon with their friends Luke and Jenny. After a beer in the King’s Head we proceeded to the Ali Tandoori as usual for a curry. I was a bit nervous about this, as some unexpected fish and chips the previous night (first for ages) had given me a very bad night with acid reflux. But the curry worked out all right, perhaps because I took an extra pill. Or maybe I didn’t take the first pill. Who knows?
Had a very jolly time at Ali’s, ending with a sambuca. Luke and Jenny are moving to Loughborough, so it may be the last time we see them. However, I am now following Jenny on Twitter. The curry was in celebration of Sam’s 17th birthday and is becoming traditional. Hope his grandfather, with whom I went to university and played golf on Wimbledon Common, would approve.
Getting back to last Thursday, my dental appointment for crown preparation went surprisingly well. No pain, just rather lengthy discomfort – especially when taking the impression. No problems since with the temporary crown, despite my partaking enthusiastically of the sandwiches the same evening at the Ship Inn, Mundesley, venue for the Paston Heritage Society’s agm. Quite a pleasant evening. Chatted with Rob and Penny Knee for a while, and with others for a bit less of a while. We are getting to be almost regulars at the Ship Inn.