I’ve now finished the article for the diocesan magazine and have sent the relevant pieces to the four interviewees for checking. The two ordained people (one male, one female) wanted to rewrite everything, and the two lay people were quite happy. Who would have guessed?

Obviously I shall not let the clergy get away with it. You can’t, can you?

On Monday I had a pleasant surprise when a lay person, namely Anne Robinson, called in to go for a walk with Dot. Dot, however, was in Hounslow philosophising: there had been a diary mix-up. When we got over the shock I gave Anne a coffee and then decided to go for a walk with her myself , through the Rosary and Lion Wood, into Pilling Park and then down by Pinebanks and back along Thorpe Road.

Very glad I did, because it was (as Anne predicted) the last fine and warm day before autumn set in. It had turned decidedly chilly by Tuesday morning, when Dot and I went up to Archant for a coffee morning with a number of lay pensioners. Everyone was there except the Hendersons, who had recently returned from the USA and had forgotten.

In the evening it was even chillier. Two lay persons, Bridget and David, gave us a lift to Judy’s for a cake and compline evening, marred very slightly by the fact that I had lost my wallet. After searching the house thoroughly I decided we just hadn’t looked in the right places, and so we looked again afterwards, and I eventually found it on the shelf next to my computer, where it had got mixed up with some other stuff, including my old wallet.

The Paston Footprints meeting was cancelled on Wednesday because of Karen’s illness, and so Rob Knee, another lay person, called in on me instead. After chatting about it, we decided we would probably have to remain back our ambitions slightly and reorganise. Karen fell and broke a couple of bones in her neck, and now apparently has flu and has lost her laptop.

Yesterday I went to Coventry to see another stricken (and equally lay) person, Andrew. I called in to Minster Lodge to have a cup of tea with Helen, and as they were about to dispatch Abdul(?) to the Caludon Centre in a taxi to pick up some drugs, they let me share it with him, which made life a bit easier. I was also able to have a chat with Abdul: nice bloke, as all the staff at Minster Lodge seem to be.

Andrew seemed in better shape than last time, partly because he’d had a haircut, was dressed and was not carrying a teddy bear. He also seemed a bit more coherent and ate his food quite well. Nurses seemed positive too. However, he was walking strangely (rather in John Cleese fashion), and I pointed this out to the nurses, who said they would have a look at it. He may, of course, have been messing around.

I got the bus back to the station and caught the 1752 (running late) to Euston, walking to King’s Cross and getting the Metropolitan line to Liverpool Street, where I caught the 2000 with time to spare. Progress to Norwich was painfully slow, however, and we didn’t arrive till 2228 – some 37 minutes late. Deformed track at Manor Park, apparently, coupled with congestion.