The newish vicar and our friend Judy came to an evening meal on Friday last week, and it was a pleasant time. He wasn’t feeling on top of the world, and I forgot to mention a couple of things I meant to, but apart from that it was OK. We showed them a few of our pictures, purely because David (the vicar) had previously asked us when we were going to invite him round to see our pictures. Two can play at that game 🙂
The next day we saw him (and Judy) again when we went carol-singing in Anglia Square. There had been a lot of confusion leading up to this as to prospective musicians; so I didn’t take my guitar, which turned out to be a good decision. We had one guitarist, a guy named Richard from St Luke’s, and with amplification that worked well. There were about 14 of us – an equal number from each church – plus the vicar, who was pretty pro-active with carol sheets and giveaways for watching children. We both enjoyed it, as did most people who came by. About £80 was collected for refugees.
Before we started, Dot ran into Rupert Mallin, and we had a chat. Good to see him.
That evening Joe and Birgit came round for supper. Both of them seemed in good health compared to recent months, and Joe’s business seems to be getting somewhere. They are going to Germany for Christmas. Phil and Joy are going to Southampton to be with Sam, Lucy and Elliott for nearly a fortnight; so I guess they must be feeling better too.
On Sunday I preached and followed it up by assisting Dot in dramatically changing the rooms round to accommodate Oliver’s bed downstairs. We put the big filing cabinet in the hall, where it looks surprisingly in place, and I used the opportunity (both on Sunday and Monday) to weed out lots of redundant paper from the files. I have now been through the top three drawers and will leave the bottom drawer until the new year and I’ve forgotten how painful the other three drawers were. The bookcase went into the kitchen and then upstairs. I have now contacted Colin (At Your Convenience) to come and move the shelves on Saturday, so that Dot has a study upstairs. I will of course have to buy her a printer, preferably one which uses the same cartridges as mine.
That still leaves the garage to be restored to some sort of order…
Also on Monday I went up to Boots to collect my new glasses, which are rather startling frame-wise, but fortunately Dot is happy with them. My eyes seem reasonably happy too, though they have been watering a lot over recent weeks. I have a hospital appointment on December 30, after having been booked into the wrong clinic by mistake on a different day. No problem with my vision, I’m happy to say.
A couple of frustrating days followed, when I was unable to get to grips with stuff I needed to do for various reasons. But on Tuesday we had a Christmas “meal and compline” at our house, with David, Bridget, Judy and Vicky. We all supplied part of the meal.
Yesterday, while Dot was attending a DSSO meeting at Easton with Paul, I posted a wildlife magazine and letter to Andrew and then bought some flowers for Mum’s grave, as it was her 104th birthday. I took them up to the Rosary in the afternoon while Dot was shopping. I also managed to almost finish my Paston short story and got a reasonable ending out of it.
Meanwhile, sad to say that Jack Earl has died – aged, I believe, 102.