The world has changed. To everyone’s surprise we woke up on Friday to find the country had voted by a majority of about 4% to leave the European Union (not Europe, as many misrepresented it). Even more surprising was the wave of hate emanating from some who voted to Remain – accusing those who voted to leave of everything from xenophobia and being Little Englanders to being gullible lovers of Farage and Boris, and much else. Although I could fully understand the deep concern being felt at the uncertainty, I didn’t feel there was much excuse for a great deal of what was written, and the complete failure to grasp what motivated people. It turned out to be Goodies and Baddies, and that was it.
Happily not everyone was so simplistic in their thinking, and it was encouraging to find attempts to unify and bring people together. Love is stronger than hate, or even fear.
On the Friday evening, at a more local level, we played host to a discussion between our vicar, David, Carrie and ourselves. David seemed anxious to explore where we were coming from and root out any possibility of heresy. He didn’t actually say that, but there was a kind of undercurrent, though I have to say that we agreed on a great deal too. He is a man who goes very much by the rules, and what you have to have in Anglican church services, whereas our previous vicar was quite the opposite. Difficult.
On Saturday morning we had our first Paston Heritage Society Footprints project volunteers’ meeting. There were about 15 of us in a building with a straw roof. The UEA, being a small organisation with few resources, was unable to supply us with hot drinks, so I assisted one of Karen’s friends – Holly, who came from Chicago, stayed at UEA for a while and is now at Brunel University doing advanced theatre studies – in fetching TV and coffee from the Sports Park, which is quite a stroll.
The whole event went very well, though, and several volunteers came up with good ideas. I hastened back to make sure I could drop Dot off at the rehearsal for that evening’s mammoth concert in St Stephen’s Church. It was Sillars’ 90th anniversary, and the programme included some Proms-type music at the end. It had to be explained that this had been planned long in advance and was nothing to do with the referendum result. The concert was in fact excellent, and packed the church out.
Better still, David was able to come up for it, and we watched football in the afternoon before I cooked sausage, egg and chips for us all. The Archers and Hendersons were present at the concert, and Maryta insisted on standing up during one of the patriotic songs when no-one else did, which was a bit embarrassing, mainly for Paul. Several other friends present, mainly from the orchestra (of course) but also Adrian O’dell and his wife, and Margaret Wheels from the Bramerton Group, who I was surprised to see was still alive.
Afterwards David left quickly to drive back to Caddington, and Dot and I declined an offer of champagne chez Henderson because it would have meant a long walk with all Dot’s equipment, and a late night before a tiring day on Sunday.
We had to pack the car before church on Sunday, because immediately afterwards we headed for Aldeburgh, where we were attending a concert with the Greens at 2.30. We got there in good time, but it was raining heavily, and we waited in the car for a break, which duly came. We met Anna in the foyer, and she was with Penny Sydenham, who we had stayed at Iona with. The concert was hugely long and didn’t finish till about 6pm, including an interval of about 20 minutes. It was just piano, consisting mostly of Bartok’s Mikrokosmos (part two) played by a variety of people, some of them quite young.
Much of it was really good, but it was a bit of a marathon. Halfway through it rained so heavily that the noise on the roof must have affected the soloist, though not visibly. By the end however we were able to walk to the car and then drive to the nearby Abbey Farm, where the Greens and Penny were staying. Nice place, but we had to sleep on sofa beds. That was after we walked to the nearby pub for a really nice meal. Unfortunately during the night I got acid reflux and had to sleep on the chair for about three hours. This wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds.
The next morning we were away after breakfast, leaving around 9.30am and enjoying a rather circuitous drive home, taking in Metfield and Harleston. In the afternoon I called round to see Phil, with the intention of taking his car for a drive. Sadly, its battery was flat; so instead we had a chat and I took some laundry away. Phil seems to be making good progress: he walked in the garden and on the pavement, using crutches.
In the evening England lost 2-1 to Iceland, which has a population the size of Leicester. They played really badly. I mean really, really badly. This time we really were out of Europe.