I still have the broken tooth. Rang the dentist this morning, and they are closed for refurbishment. I am booked in for January 7, which is not really what I was looking for, but on the plus side it doesn’t hurt: it’s just a bit uncomfortable. I have been told to ring back if it does start hurting. Preventative dentistry – not.

The journey back to Coventry was a bit of a nightmare, though the weather was not a factor. Every car in the country seemed to be on the road. Thank goodness the Elveden bypass was finished: no problem there. But there was a problem on the A14, and after Cambridge  we detoured via Eaton Socon and the A1. More queues approaching the A1, of course, but after that not too bad, and I aborted a plan to turn off at Junction 1 on the A14. Half a mile later this was revealed as a huge mistake, with a very slow queue for over five miles approaching the M6 junction. On the plus side, we did get through Coventry all right and dropped Andrew off. He seemed fine.

Many trepidations about tackling the M1 down to Caddington, but in the event it turned out not bad at all. Lots of traffic, but moving steadily, and we reached Winchfield quite quickly – only to find the heating had failed and the house was very cold. I spent a lot of time trying to fix it, but in the end restored to the electric emergency override as recommended by David. Went to shops, then petrol station, had chicken curry and went to bed early.

Yesterday we woke in good time to pick David up from Heathrow. The M25 was clear at such an early hour (8-9am), and we arrived in plenty of time to park and await his emergence from Arrivals. The journey back was a bit busier, but still no problem, and after a cup of tea we left him to sort out the heating (which he looked as if he might be doing) and drove back to Norwich, pausing briefly to get some bread and a beef casserole from the Hitchin M&S Simply Food petrol station.

Again, lots of traffic, but everything was moving well until we got to Norwich, where everyone seemed to have decided to go shopping – in their cars. Attempting to avoid Riverside, we got stuck on Ber Street/Thorn Lane for a while before reverting to Riverside by way of Rouen Road. This turned out to be OK, but still…

Felt very tired and eventually had a bath, but recovered enough to help Dot clean up the house and prepare for our visitors today. Norwich City managed to build on their excellent 6-1 win a couple of days ago by losing 2-1 at Reading. We ended the day by watching TV: Victoria Wood, Wallander, Match of the Day.

Now we are about to go to Morrisons.