To celebrate Amy’s birthday, Dot and I travelled to Caddington the day afterwards and surprised her (and Oliver) on their return from school. Dot had made a chocolate cake, and we had pizzas and various other things. Amy seemed very pleased: we gave her a new duvet cover, pillowcase and a throw, plus some other smaller things.

Our visit coincided with the arrival of their new neighbours opposite: David tried to turn on the oil heating for them, but there may be some work to do there. On the way down (with Dot driving, of course) I wrote a new song, The Sands of Luskentyre, which now has a tune. I am currently working on a new one, inspired partly by Leonard Cohen’s new album, You Want it Darker, which arrived yesterday.

We relaxed a bit on the Saturday after the Caddington trip, though at some point I tidied up in the garden and put some stuff in the brown bin, which is always pleasing. I also did some work on article for Parish Pump, which I completed on Monday morning.

I am also writing an article for The (diocesan) Magazine, and yesterday – a beautiful sunny day in North Norfolk – I did two interviews: one with the Rev Ruth Adamson at West Runton and another with Brian Wigg at Cromer. The former turned out to have taken Bruce Robinson’s funeral, and the latter is a friend of Philip Robinson. Small world. The article is on the older generation in Church, and I’m doing two more interviews tomorrow – one at Wymondham and one at Chedgrave.

Cromer was absolutely packed yesterday, probably because it was half-term, and for the first time ever I couldn’t get into the main car park. Happily i was able to park free on the street in a spot I remembered from previous visits to the EDP office.

The previous day (Monday) I played my second chess game this year and played pretty well, but I lost in the end. For the record, here it is. White is John Allison (151), who I lost to last year in the same tournament (the Dons Knockout). 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 a3 Bxc3 5 bc c5 6 e3 Nc6 7 Bd3 0-0 8 Ne2 d5 9 cd ed 10 f3 Re8 11 0-0 cd 12 ed h6 13 Rb1 a6 14 Nf4 Qa5 15 Qb3 b5! (Nxd5, Nxd5; Qxd5 Qxc3 looks good for Black) 16 Rd1 Ne7 (…Nxd4 nearly works, but not quite) 17 Bd2 Qc7 18 a4 g5 (a bit too aggressive, maybe) 19 Ne2 ba 20 Qxa4 Bf5 21 Qc2 Qc4?! (too flashy; the position had been about equal) 22 Bxf5 Qxe2 (the knight on g6 is hanging) 23 Bd3 Qe6 24 Re1 Qd6 25 Be3 Kg7 26 Bf2 a5? (…Nh5 is essential to prevent the bishop getting to Bg3, a threat I had seen but  underestimated) 27 Bg3 Qd7 28 Bb5 (another downside of 26…a5) Nc6 29 Be5 Qc8 30 Qa2 Nxe5? (panicking; Rc8 was a better try but probably also loses) 31 de Qc5+ 32 Qf2 Rec8 (moving the knight may be better, but by now we were both very short of time) 33 ef+ Kxf6 34 Qd4+ Qxd4 35 cd Rc2 36 Bd3 Rd2 37 Red1 Ra2 38 Ra1 Rb2 39 Kf1 a4? 40 Ra3 Rb3 41 R1a1 Rab8 42 Be2 R8b4 43 Rxa4 Rb1+ 44 Rxb1  Rxa4 and we both stopped writing our scores here because we were so short of time. Eventually 1-0

Sunday was almost as sad. The Communion service was fine, with David making a surprise appearance after having been reported seriously ill a day or two earlier, and this was followed by a bring-and-share featuring some Polish stew called something like Biggles. But then we all had to answer certain questions on our tables and then report back, with the usual result that people who liked talking but didn’t say much were in the ascendancy. We left early to visit Jessie, who is much more fun. Roger and Debbie also showed up for a cup of tea and cake. So that was good.